Chrystalize Preview: Hush Now, Quiet Now remix

Ben Speirs is one of the latest sensational members of Zenius-I-Vanisher. His first fan mix, titled Speirmix, came out a year ago, and he's made 3 sequels along with 2 spinoffs, all of which have been fantastic plays. These mixes (1, 2, 3, 4, VS Eurovision, and VS One Direction) have a modern pop focus, with some weird tracks and BEMANI crossovers interspersed throughout. He's featured xRGTMx Underground with Kyoto EVOLVED, and his file for Discord (The Living Tombstone's Mix) became the base of ours.

For this mix, however, he has provided a new simfile exclusive to the game: Hush Now Quiet Now (TranceBlossom Remix). A version of the song that feels right at home with the DDR atmosphere, it's a fun warmup that doesn't go too easy on you. It even paces itself, starting off simple, getting into streams with Fluttershy, then adding some nice old chaos once Sweetie Belle takes over. Overall, it's a fun chart that will have pad players spinning around in some very interesting flow!

[HOUSE TRANCE] Hush Now Quiet Now (TranceBlossom Remix) - Trance Blossom
Stepped by Ben Speirs
Lv. 2 / Lv. 4 / Lv. 7 / Lv. 11

Chrystalize Preview: Try Extra Stage?

Do I spy Extra Stage mode?

I sure do!

(No, the Extra Stage song is not Ichigeki Hisshou, obviously.)

Chrystalize Preview: Party With Pinkie [VIP]

Let's make up for all the potential missed previews by doing the last initially confirmed song! Party With Pinkie [VIP] is the brand new version of the dubstep hit by Alex S. that was featured in last game. Personally, I think it's quite the improvement! This simfile is actually a collaboration with SM MaxX, an In The Groove-type stepper who also likes to rig his simfiles with gimmicks. For this one, there are "jerk-stops" all over the place, and it's kind of cool to see (Provided you don't have an already-laggy computer...). The Challenge was his, while the rest of the difficulties were done by yours truly. The song contains a 720p video.

[MODERN DUBSTEP] Party With Pinkie [VIP] - Alex S.
Stepped by RIME and SM MaxX
Lv. 4 / Lv. 7 / Lv. 10 / Lv. 12 / Lv. 16

Chrystalize Preview: Season 3 Normal Tracks

We got 2 show tunes outside of the intro and finale this season, and they were DDR-length. Guess which songs got done for the game earliest! Babs Seed is about at the difficulty of a standard DDR license, but it is still very fun. Raise This Barn has an easy Expert, but there's a suprise lurking... Both songs contain 720p videos courtesy of Renard.

[MY LITTLE PONY] Babs Seed
Stepped by Dreamland200
Lv. 1 / Lv. 5 / Lv. 7 / Lv. 10

[MY LITTLE PONY] Raise This Barn
Stepped by Dreamland200
Lv.1 / Lv. 3 / Lv. 6 / Lv/ 9

Chrystalize Preview: Missions

One of the things we're pushing for in TrotMania Chrystalize is a mission mode. Now, we don't exactly have the plot or organization done yet, but we are starting work on the missions themselves. As TrotMania: RIM content is mostly constant in terms of fine tuning at this point, they are considered safe for making missions for, since, as you'll see, there are some dastardly tricks these missions throw at you.

This one is called Follow Me, and it uses the song Radio Song / Superbus from the in-progress 1.60 patch. Now, the inspiration for this mission is the Pump it Up NX2 mission, Short Term Memory. If you've played that game or the Fiesta series, you know what the gimmick is. For those who don't, it's basically a complex game of Simon Says. For one measure, fake notes play on the screen showing a pattern. Then, the screen fades away, and you step the pattern you just saw in the next measure. It's easier than it sounds, and is definitely easier than Short Term Memory, since you see for a whole measure and you're only playing on single. However, the premise takes some getting used to, so it gets a level 3 out of 5.

Here's a gameplay video, courtesy of new resident videographer Berry Punch!

Chrystalize Preview: Afterlife (Aviators Remix)

[HIP-HOP] Afterlife (Aviators Remix) - Aviators
Stepped by RIME
Lv. 3 / Lv. 5 / Lv. 10 / Lv. 13

While Aviators has been known for doing MLP-related songs, he's also done covers of other songs. In particular was his cover of Switchfoot's song "Afterlife"; but of course, someone just had to find some way to make it MLP-related. But how do you do that? You make a PMV. The result was pure awesome.

From this point onward, chart previews aren't going to be instantaneous with the blog post, but video previews will be.