I feel as if the beginning of any rhythm game you truly commit to is the most enjoyable period in the journey. You don't worry about getting top scores or getting the slightest increase to your rank but more so just playing charts with songs you like, plus the skill payoff is huge when starting out but dies out the more you are at "endgame". This can be said for any game though.

For a 16k player, I really like playing with random people who's not above 14k. They be picking out the songs I never knew existed and sometimes I enjoyed the break because I know I would just pick master 14 or above over and over again.

Playing in the air is soooo relatable even though people think your a weirdo when u do that

0:59 the other monitor lmaoooo

I tend to crash out at the machine when I "don't perform as well as I know I should", sometimes it's important to step back and tell ourselves that some days are just down days and we can do better next time

On another note: Pandora girl popping off upon finally passing gave me so much happiness lol. I felt the same way finally getting S on Latent Kingdom (101st play, last S for folder)

I play rhythm games to listen to anime songs, god damn! Leave me alone 😭😭

I only play VOCALOID songs xD

Back when i was still 10k i saw a 12k girl who cleared plus boy as a legendary player. Now being a 14.6k i don't see anyone under 15k as good anymore. Hits hard to realize how much my perspective changed. Rating chasing is real, 14/14+ S clear chasing is real, I remember being so frustrated that i couldn't S mystique as iris despire having an S+ Virtus.

TLDR: play maimai for fun, banger songs, and to have fun for your friends. Don't get lost in the sauce.

new maimai player here, i only started a month ago and i only have around 3.5k rating. if im lucky, i get to play once a week lol

im really happy the community where im from is super friendly, theyre all around 13-14k. i remember this one really good player would watch me fumble 9+ to 10+ charts and he would help me with my settings. needless to say im slowly improving.

my goal right now would be to get S on expert on two of my favorite songs - roki and my personal demon, goodbye sengen.

i dont see myself ever clearing 13+ and up songs, nor do i see myself ever taking this game seriously. i do enjoy the social aspect since my friends and i (we all started at the same time but theyre all around 7-8k now haha) would just randomly agree to play maimai on that day!

I lived in japan for half a year, actually I just got back.
We don't have arcades where I live, heck the whole continent doesn't have a single fully up to date cab (europe).
Literally everyone around me in japan had rainbow rating, from little kids who brought a stool with them to cute girls in cosplay where I still don't know how they didn't break off their fingernails while playing. Add to that that I decided to play both chunithm and maimai and yea, my progress feels bad. To add to that, my japanese is horrible, so I wasn't really able to speak to any of them (minus one or two exceptions), always had to solo because I was way under their level (minus one exception).

But, the game was still weirdly fun. In the end I left japan with just over 11k in maimai and just over 13 in chunithm.
My best play to date was Override EX 100.8 and I absolutely can't play masters in maimai at all, I got like two S's on super low masters and that's about it.

I can't wait to get back to japan and spend 2/3rds of my vacation grinding back to where I am now :(

I'm a dedicated WMMT player with a casual interest in DDR and MaiMai because I have respect for rhythm arcade machines. I feel like you nail the feeling of impostor syndrome you feel when trying to learn a game and getting intimidated by players with higher skills or stats than you. Truly the focus should be on finding some friends or a community and having fun, in due time you'll be able to motivate each other and improve your skills :)  thanks for the video

"Man why am i still playing this game"

Sigh... i felt that bro damn

The one thing I enjoy watching as a 14k player is seeing a lower rating player slowly overcome Umiyuri MAS. It's like watching a boy grow up into a man. Also reminds me of my struggles with that chart though it's a million times easier now in Prism because of Umiyuri UTAGE

Holy this is nostalgic.
Lowkey I do reminisce on the old days of having fun with playing anything a while ago but these days at least the game is still fun in a different way.

I started playing maimai 11 years ago (it was maimai green+ at that time). I got through the rollercoasters of emotions through that time, but eventually I've learned to just enjoy the damn songs and charts

Playing vocaloid songs that I love, clearing fragrance at 80%, S the sweet little sister, chasing S for those lvl 14 and 14+ songs (after level recalibration), burnt out due to competition that I've created in my own head. Those are core memories in my mind.

The burn out is real. Songs are getting boring, I got stuck on harder levels due to stamina, I keep on comparing myself to my peers. I even stopped playing maimai for some time cause SDVX and IIDX songs are more varied at that time

However, from those 11 years, some things that I've learned is how beautiful the journey is. Meeting new people in the community, laughing over charts, dancing and singing along the song, and many more.

Eventually, I got back to maimai, cause there are lots of songs to play now AND the most important thing is, I've stopped comparing myself to others.

All in all, for new maimai/rhythm game players, welcome and most importantly, have fun! Don't let ratings hold you from the joy of playing rhythm games and appreciating cool songs from various composers. Join local communities and socialize too. If you're bad at it, you'll get good later on

You just gotta keep on playing

Lucky for me... Even after 10 years of playing rhythm games and over a year of maimai, I can confidently say that I still play for the love of the game and don't think I'm ever falling into the trap of making micro perfections on songs✌️

Started playing maimai in about october 2024, am around 12k and holy hell this is basically me

Except the vocaloid bit, i just picked vocaloid cos im a vocaloid/pjsk addict

6:31 I can feel the pure happiness in that scream lmao

as someone who's played rhythm games for much of my life, but recently started maimai as the only arcade rhythm game I've ever gotten invested in:

I'm just having fun with it. number go up is fun, but I'll play task tracks as they come, and whatever my play partner picks. I pick my vocaloid songs happily because I know and enjoy them, which makes them fun to play. and it's easier to motivate yourself to learn fundamentals when you're having fun even if you do poorly.

thankfully, half the time I'm playing with my roommate, and when I'm not, the others in our community have been pretty chill so far. I always try to pay attention to what level my play partner is usually picking, and pick songs with a chart in a comfortable range for them. and I've gotten some nice conversation and advice in return.

I am a little afraid of my propensity to eventually become obsessed with numbers, because it happened to me a bit in the past on osu!, but I think it's less likely because of the nature of maimai as an arcade game. time spent playing it is money spent, so it's better to focus on having fun.

I can understand playing a chart again and again. I myself as a beginner really likes spamming my favorite folder just because the songs are so good