ITG vs DDR
 

Which one do you guys like better?

I personally find 'In The Groove' more challenging. It also has better music.

It's a surprisingly touchy subject for some people, but I prefer ITG myself. I like the interface, I like the developers, and I like most of the music. The in-house stuff is good, and the liscenses are great, too. The only beef I have with it is stupid notecharts, like Euphoria Expert or Determinator Expert.

I also like the scoring system of ITG. It's less cut-and-dry, with little trophies for One Great, or One Excellent, or Single Digit Greats. My favorite is in ITG2 if at a point that you almost fail in the song on your graph at the end there's an arrow pointing to it saying "Almost!" I thought it was a nice touch.

Can't wait for ITG3, Less Than Three is a hilarious song that I can't wait to play once it comes out XD

I was blown away by ITG's interface the first time I saw it, but then again I'm easily distracted by shiny things. It is more challenging and the songs cater to Western audiences, so pretty much it's awesome.

I haven't played it much, though (I'm currently not in possession of a US PS2). I swear though, I'd jump at that quicker than, say, DDR EXTREME even if they were the same price.

Ick. DDR is a much more solid, polished game than ITG can ever hope to be.

Musically, ITG is in the ghetto. The majority of it sounding like your kid brother got a hold of FruityLoops and had a field day. The artificial difficulty of ITG is also pretty weak. Hands are a nice concept but mines are just lame. Difficulty should come from difficult patterns, not how well you can decipher what you should be hitting, as opposed to what you shouldn't be.

ITG has a better interface. The arrows color help a lot to see what's going on there. The framerate is also superior in ITG. I played DDRExtreme last day... Feels old now... Hope it will be fine with SuperNova..

Not all songs have mines, you know. It doesn't add weak difficulty. It adds a different difficulty. I admit some songs are utterly pattern-stupid, but I prefer many songs on ITG than on DDR. I just don't play those stupids ones, that's all.

I actually prefer PiU more than the other two but when I first saw ITG I thought it was fun..then it slowly became boring. Is there honestly a purpose to have the whole fountain arrow? I'm waiting to see what DDR SuperNOVA has on it because its supposed to have like.300 songs or something.

I've played In The Groove once, although I wasn't really impressed. I've always been a DDR fan though so I have to go with DDR.

I've gotten the best of both worlds... DDR Extreme and an ITG2 Dedicated Cabinet at my arcade... Personally, I like DDR because all the songs are actually passable and it's beginner friendly also. ITG is alright, the songs are a good challenge when you get bored of DDR, but even though I play ITG more these days, I still like DDR better... I actually want our arcade to get rid of our ITG2 machine when SuperNova comes out... We might actually get people who want to play DDR again. We seem to lack a good crowd around the ITG machine these days.

I'm going to go ahead and add PIU to this....

Interface :
As far as ITG having a "Better interface" That it does not... it's a direct copy of DDRs interface... Pump it Up has made great progress at having a user friendly interface again with Pump it Up Zero... this setup works for the amount of songs it has.

Music :
both DDR and PIU have their unique style of music but ITG seems to try to be like DDR as much as possible in terms of music... and has way too many sequel songs for only having two mixes.

Gameplay :
DDR and PIU have a less steep learning curve, easier modes lead to harder modes... PIU has an edge for having choreographed steps so people who want to dance on the dance simulator can with ease compared to the other two... ITG has nothing leading up to a lot of the Expert charts... and the step charts aren't very dance friendly either.
Music :

Graphics :
ITG2 looks shiny however it looks dull as well... Pump it Up Zero looks shiny and polished... DDR Super Nova does also. Both PIU:Z and DDR:SN have those background videos that took time to make... Roxor doesn't really seem to care about them... they do add a nice touch... sure kicks the crap out of looking at generic backgrounds.

Replay value :
DDR Super Nova will have 300 songs.... I think that alone covers replay.
Pump it Up mixes from the past and currently have high replay value in my opinion due to not much being locked... (in otherwords you don't wear out all of the stuff waiting on new stuff.) They've also threw in new modes which
ITG1 and 2 had very little to make it worth coming back to after a month of overplaying it... also there were way too many sequel songs for the series only having 2 mixes so far... it subtracts variety when you have 6 or 7 Disconnected songs...

My verdict :
Since DDR has returned to the arcade market offering 300 songs ITG has become somewhat unstable... it was started as something to give DDR players to play because "There aren't any new arcade mixes" but now that there is and the final version of it will be more polished than ITG2... I doubt Roxor will be able to compete with it... Pump it Up Zero is already out with it's new interface and 133 (or more) songs... since Pump it Up has a different user base than DDR they really aren't directly competeing... however ITG was built up on ex-DDR players who will probably return to DDR considering how much ITG relies on copying the DDR style of music and does it's best job to not supply a decent learning curve for new players.....

lol.. if I didn't know better, I'd have to say your post is an ITG-bash-fest. Seriously, there are a couple of gems in ITG, and while it is more difficult, most of the music is also much worse. I prefer DDR over ITG anyday, but that doesn't keep me from enjoying ITG when I play the songs I like.

Hey I just stated what I thought of the game, I liked the concept of it until I played enough of it (3 months during Summer 2005 when the machine and console mix got here) like I said... not much replay value for me... those courses may work as replay for some but not me... once I pass the songs individually and there is no Freestyle value or interest in listening to the music I move on... I pop in other music games all the time... never pop in ITG anymore. And I don't think I'm up for a console ITG2... I will probably skip it... I can just try that when someone else buys it... problem is I wore out ITG2 so it would need new content... (a lot of) for me to even consider purchase.

So we'll see when ITG3 and ITG2 CS hits... maybe my opinion will be changed by them?

I have a feeling ITG3 will be overlooked because DDR SuperNOVA is coming out. I have no idea if my local arcade is even planning to replace the ITG2 machine or just get another, but if they do, I'm hoping for SuperNOVA....

The Chuck E Cheese's can get PIU Zero ;)

SuperNOVA looks likes its going to suck... once again they arn't listening to what anyone wants and are just making the game the way they want it. The fucked up scoring system, few options, tons of 7-8's when no one really wants them anymore, few new "challenge" difficulty levels, and songs being off sync (with of course no way to fix them) are what you can expect. The people at ITG at least try to make what the people want so i expect that ITG3 will kick superNOVA's ass.

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Most definitely. Not only will the hardcore base be flocking to it, but I fully expect it to have a media blitz thanks to DDR becomming so mainstream in the home.

Good thing that they aren't listening to what the fans want--wait, that means that Konami magically made AA not equal FC anymore--wait, that means the scoring system isn't fucked up. Good thing there are more mods too. And good thing that SuperNOVA is currently a beta so Konami can fix the offsync songs!

You know what, I think you're fucked up.

Ok i'll give you that... they did make AA not equal FC and that does give me slightly more confidence in them. But don't get my wrong, I really like DDR, its just i want something new and different. Something that makes me want to play it over ITG, and right now im not seeing that.

Remind me again, didn't ITG2 have a bunch of off sync songs not to mention songs with NO step pattern when it was first coming out? I don't remember hearing tons of people say "ITG is majorly sucking. Off sync songs and all that jazz"

You're right it did... and i'd criticize that too. Both games have that problem. I just feel that DDR superNOVA is going for more of the same (which isn't necessarily bad in the short run), but ITG is the one trying to keep the genre alive with fresh ideas. That's why i like ITG better.

keep the genre alive with fresh ideas? Like what? The only thing ITG brought to the table was mines.... and it's not like no one hasn't experimented with them in Stepmania so it's not really new...

"Hands" were around before ITG existed in Pump it Up and Technomotion and no you don't have to use your hands on anything except for quads and quints on Pump it Up... On a dedicated ITG2 cab you can hit 3-4 panels without dropping down so it's not really hands...

The "marathon" courses are just courses with scripted modifiers... I believe that has been done in DDR before only slightly harder because of the battery... so what if the arrows aren't 3D.. 3D arrows don't make much difference...

Whats sad is I like to call a few songs in ITG copies of DDR.

Disconnected and the other two disconnecteds remind me of the Paranoia set from 3rd Mix. And the retardation factor of Pandemonium reminds me of Max300. Hand of Time reminds me of Era as well.

I like DDR better. I like the songs better and there's more variety. Everything in ITG feels like heavy techno/trance. ITG is too challenging IMO, but for expert players who have mastered DDR, I suppose it's good for them.

I like DDR better. I got Ultramix 3 for Xbox but it isn't as good as the first two. My favorite is the original Ultramix. The songs were so much better.

If that was actually the case, I might prefer ITG.

Even though I play ITG2 more, I think overall I prefer DDR. Konami's in house artists are a lot more talented, and it has a lot more music that I enjoy listening to. The only things I prefer about ITG2 is the improved cabinet design, and that hands are fun. But a good number of the stepcharts don't feel as polished, and a lot of the music doesn't seem danceable. Inclusion of gimmicky songs like Less Than Three really doesn't help. I'm hoping that with future releases, Roxor will try to be less like Konami and work on their own identity more.

That is exactly why I like ITG better-I'm more fond of its music. Also, DDR's hot colors flashing through the screen makes me dizzy sometimes.

ITG has some cool functions like changing the arrow styles ^_^

what is Less Than Three ? Is it in ITG2 ?! :confused:

By its name, I'd think it's a song that's going to be in ITG3. But I don't know, I haven't paid attention to ITG news.

Umm as far as I know there isn't any ITG3 news...

IT3 arcade + ITG2 CS were announced by Roxor at the North American Tournament '05 Finals in Las Vegas.

no what I mean is there isn't any news of the contents of the game... if there was something big (as in a few confirmed songs) I'm sure it would appear on the main page of DDR Freak or ITG Freak.

One of those confirmed songs is one called "Less Than Three," it uses a ton of internet slang and stuff in the lyrics. My friend had me listen to the full version of the song, and I loved it XD I can't wait to play it in an arcade and get odd looks.

I can't wait to see... if we even get any of the new games... last year we got ITG2... that was just dumb luck.. but the general attitude of arcade operators around here is : Dance game? People will still play old dance game! Why upgrade?!

Well. DDR is the original. There is nothing better than the original. DDR is just a better looking game and with not alot of weird songs. ITG has to many weird songs and thier interface looks so weird. DDR came first. Nothing can knock it out its 1st place position. With NAOKI, revenG, and the fleet of MAXX and Paranioa versions, I don't see ITG winning versus DDR.

On the other hand, ITG is more challenging. The songs are longer, for those that want to use the workout mode, thats great for them. With the mines on ITG with the more challenging songs; mines some people would think thats a stupid idea. DDR still has challenging songs, its much more mainstream.

Of course the "elitists" would hop straight to ITG because it is not as mainstream as DDR is. I mean FFS they have Dip It Low by Christina Milian on Dancing Stage Max lol

Well IMO,

DDR was the beginning for almost every hard-core ITG player out there right now...We all should at least know, if you play ITG this means you've already got tired of DDR or wanted to try something new (means, fans of ITG...stop looking down at DDR).

I can agree with some posts here about the music. No matter how many songs I have bumped into in dance games I can say that MaxX Unlimited, and Paranoia Survivor/Survivor MaxX are the BEST sounds I've heard. Don't get me wrong, there are many more DDR songs that are AWESOME but those 2 take the cake for me.

As for ITG...Pandemonium sounds like a really quick and easy mix on Acid Pro 5.0 or something done with alittle sound editing of Sound Forge. Yet I can't complain because this was only the beginning...songs like Mythology, July, Zodiac, Anubis, and Vertex, are nice songs. As for others Hand Of Time is one of my favorites, Bend Your Mind, Hybrid...those are good songs also, but sadly most of the good songs...are the songs that are licensed. ITG2 is the same way...

DDR stepcharts MAKE SENSE. At least when you play a stepchart for DDR you actually PLAYING and not freaking out all over the dance pad. Great step charts DDR has like, Be Lovin', Sakura, ALL THE MAXX SONGS (exclude MaxX Period., good step chart but one of those "have to remember" things), So Deep...they all make sense...and they are actually fun to play

ITG Stepcharts....Yes they are difficult, this is true...yes they have mines, hands, quads and all that good stuff to do that is true also, but does it make sense...Hardly. I have passed Pandemonium Expert before...a couple of times now, but I still have troubles catching the ending run of PSMO, why is that?, because the arrow placements are 10x easier in Pandy then PSMO...YES!!!. Pandy is hard cuz its just 1 big run for NO reason. ITG has VERY few stepcharts I admire and some would have to be BloodRush, Baby Don't You Want Me, We KNow What To Do, Vertex^2 on hard...Vertex^2 on expert is just retarded.

Well, as you can see I like DDR better...lol...I mean I love the challenge from ITG, I really do and its actually amazing seeing myself beat the songs from ITG1+2 expert especially when I'm a bit over weight ^_^. I will say 1 thing though, ITG has helped me alot on passing the Max songs better...but as for PSMO, and Paranoia Respect...still having troubles FC'ing those...

Sadly, there is no mention of PIU in the topic intro or anything but as far as stepcharts go...I'm going to put PIU for some of the best stepcharts. Quite fun too. Plus PIU doesn't have any 300+BPM WTF songs.

ITG is okay, some of the stepcharts are just wierd/don't make sense like most have said. I enjoy the music without the step charts though.

It's kinda hard to define how stepcharts "make sense" though. Either way you're just mashing arrows on a pad, you're not really dancing no matter how you slice it unless you're freestyling on light doubles. PIU comes the closest being an actual dance simulation game.

On another note, I think DDR SuperNOVA should just dump its interface and have the IIDX interface team whip one up. DDR Happy Sky yesplz.

On The contrary.

MAX 300 Stepchart

http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/3...mage6ai.th.jpg

Pandemonium

http://img362.imageshack.us/img362/1...bdra0ud.th.jpg

Pandemonium has a bunch of random, WTF steps.

I'd justify that because it's an Expert chart, a 13 no less. Take a look at Energizer's steps, even the Expert steps, and by that logic they all "make sense."

Where did you find the step charts?

Pandemonium on expert is just...crazy. The song is too fast.

After many months of NO DRR, ONLY ITG, I played a game of DDR. Wow, ITG helped me to improve my stamina A LOT. I almost pass MAX300. And now I can pass every single songs (except the 10-footer like Paranoia Survivor/Max and all Max). Thanks to ITG. I'm preparing myself to enjoy Supernova as much as possible when it'll come out. ITG helped me to enjoy DDR more, in fact...

they were taken from itgfreak.com, obviously.

Thanks. Didn't notice it at the bottom.

hmm.. I'll have to play Pandemonium tomorrow.

I just played Pandemonium. I can only do medium mode for that song but I'm hoping to get to Hard one day. The only person I've seen scoring above 90% on Expert mode is Kyle Ward himself.

People around here score in the 90's on it all the time, then again I go to the same arcade as Kaze, The Rookie, Devin, Davo, and occasionally Matt300.

It's very humbling :< The only one I don't have any problem playing around is Rookie.

I've been trying to get a record in ANY song at my arcade. Majority of all the Hard and Expert scores are above 97%. I only hold records for Tough Enough (Hard) and Pandemonium (Easy... It was the only song i've EVER gotten a 99.17% in).

I'm aiming for the Disconnected ~Hyper~ record on Hard at my arcade... Record currently is 98.75%...

Mine is:

http://img49.imageshack.us/img49/373...nnected9bx.png

T_T... I'm getting really upset since I only need to reduce my Excellents by like 5 or something... Up to date, I have about 3 records within the top 10, this one being my best.

That's a very nice record....and you're so close to beating the highest %. Keep playing! By the way, do you play Disconnected and Disconnected -Mobius Mix-? For some reason, I find Disconnected to be more challenging even though it's an 8 footer on Hard vs. 9 on -Hyper-.

I have to agree with Kuhazan on this one. In fact, I have a friend who knows one of the people who made ITG, and he confirmed that the technology used to make ITG is in fact copied from DDR. He also says that the people who made the ITG are a bunch of assholes, so you can tell that he is going for DDR.

I would vote for DDR too because I like the music, interface, and generally everything better then ITG. ITG just looks pretty, and seems to attract a lot of easy to amuse people.