Appropriately named, the player is expected to lift off the panel at the precise time the lift reaches the end of the playfield.

Lifts - Typically placed at the end of ahold.

Completely avoiding a pit will award the player a small point value. Continuously holding down a direction while a pit is active will punish a player by severely decreasing their health bar the longer it is held.

Pits - Combining both Holds and Mines, pits are 'long mines' that will punish a player if they hold down the indicated direction while the pit is scrolling past the end of the playfield.

Avoiding mines will award the player a small point value. Avoiding the mines generate a checkmark, while failing to avoid generate a 'X' that punishes you. The button that the column corresponds to must not be touched (hit or held) at any point until the mine passes.

Mines - Displayed as a circular shape with a red 'X' through it, these notes must be avoided.

For example, if the number shows 3, you must hit that same panel 3 times before that Roll ends. Rolls display a number of times a panel must be hit before it ends - this is indicated by a number attached to the top of the roll.

Rolls - Similar in appearance to a hold, but typically displayed visibly as spiky.

Continuously failing to hold the indicated direction will decrease the player's health bar significantly, and will continue to deplete until the direction is pressed Successfully completing a hold will generate a green checkmark judgement. If the player releases the hold at any time, the player will instead receive a yellow '!' judgement, regardless if it is being held at the end. Similar to Pump It Up, holds continuously generate combo for the player while being held down and also have the ability to be re-stepped on if the player was to accidentally release the hold before being completed. Players must keep the corresponding direction depressed for the duration of the trail.

Holds - Notes that have longer, extended trails following the initial directional indicator.

If a player's lifebar empties entirely, scoring will halt and the song will no longer be able to be 'passed' for that player, although the game will still continue until a player manually ends the song or the song completes.Īdditional note types are also included with StepManiaX's gameplay. Missing notes will cause a player's lifebar to decrease. Stepping accurately will contribute to the player's life bar, visible on the edge of the screen. Any judgement that is not 'PERFECT!!' will show an indicator if the input was registered early or late compared to the intended timing. These, from most accurate to least, are: PERFECT!!, PERFECT, EARLY, LATE, and MISS. Each note judged has multiple 'windows' that it can be categorized into. When these scrolling arrows reach the end, the player must step on the corresponding arrows on the dance stage, and the player is given a judgement for their accuracy of the input.

During normal gameplay, arrows scroll upwards from the bottom of the screen towards the end of the play area, towards a set of receptor markers on the sides of the arrow lanes. The core gameplay involves players stepping on the panel with their feet to correspond with the scrolling arrows (or 'Notes') on-screen once they reach the end of beat lines (horizontal bars that move up the screen). Players can also customize modifiers adjust to their preferred style, such as changing the visual appearance of patterns, how fast patterns appear, background brightness, etc. Players can select between seven different difficulty levels that affect how many inputs are active and the difficulty of patterns displayed. StepManiaX uses five identically sized inputs, arranged similarly to a Directional Pad - Up, Down, Left, Right, and the inclusion of Center.

Similar to other stepping or dance-based games, StepManiaX uses a 'stage' that the user stands on with certain areas being pressure-sensitive buttons, or 'panels'. SMX Gameplay, showing holds, pits, early perfects, and so forth.

Undertale stepmania