How to Play Dance Rush

Familiarize yourself with the step zone. The step zone is the highlighted strip at the bottom of the screen. Observe that the orange footmarks on the step zone correspond with the left/right position of your feet. You can use them to readjust your position. The following notes will appear from back to front on the highway (playfield).

Step on steps. Steps are rectangular marks colored orange or blue and labeled with a letter L or R. When these reach the step zone, step anywhere in the corresponding area.

• The machine does not detect pressure, so it isn't necessary to stomp down hard.
• Orange notes with the letter L are meant to be stepped on with your left foot; blue notes with the letter R are meant to be stepped on with your right foot. However, the game does not care about which foot you use, so in a pinch, you could ignore the difference.

Keep your foot down all the way through Holds. Holds have an additional tail. Hit them as you would do a Step, then for the duration of the Hold, keep your foot down anywhere in the corresponding area.

Glide your foot along Slides. Slides are like Holds, but they move diagonally. Hit one as you would a Hold, but slide your foot to keep it in range of the Slide.

Skid your foot along Skids. Skids are sharp, horizontal segments in the middle or end of a Hold or a Slide. When it reaches the step zone, sharply skid your foot in the direction of the Skid.

Bend your knees with the Downs. Downs are yellow with two parts: an arch above a mark spanning the width of the highway, with the letters "DOWN" in the middle. When it reaches the step zone, move the center of your gravity down in time.

• What matters is not the position of your center of gravity, but the speed at which you move it.

Hop above the stage with the Jumps. Jumps are aqua marks with the word "JUMP" in the middle. When it reaches the step zone, lift both feet off the platform.

• Long sequences of Jumps can be hit by leaving the platform. This is because the game does not detect when you release your feet, but simply checks if there are no feet on the platform.

Get into the rhythm. A common mistake by new players is focusing too hard on the step zone. Instead, players should listen to the music and step to the beat, because the notes are synchronized to the music. The same goes for all rhythm games.

Learn the timing judgment. In order from best to worst timing, the judgments are Perfect, Great, Good, and Bad. You could get a Bad by stepping too early or missing the note entirely.

• A Great is worth 9/10 of a Perfect. A Good is worth half of a Perfect. A Bad gives no points.
• Skids, Downs, and Jumps only give you a Perfect or a Bad.

Keep the life bar in mind. Below the step zone is the life bar. It increases when you perform well but decreases when you perform badly. Under normal gameplay, you should not have to worry about it.

• In Extra Stage, the life bar is replaced with 10 heart symbols. Each time you miss anything but a Down or a Jump, you lose a heart. When you lose 10 hearts, you fail out of the level.

Collect stars by completing rounds. Each game gives you up to 5 stars, not counting mode bonuses. Standard mode will give you 1 bonus star per round. Premium mode will give you a large bonus.

• 90% or above: 5 stars
• 80% or above: 4 stars
• 60% or above: 3 stars
• 30% or above: 2 stars
• less: 1 star
• Stars can be used to unlock new songs.

Learn dance moves and patterns. Dance Rush is just as much about accuracy as it is about flair and freestyle dancing. Learn some useful dance moves and memorize some common patterns. It will give your performance flair while increasing your ability to hit notes.

• Many dance moves are taught in the tutorial and lessons in the game.

Learn the T-step. The T-step is a dance move where you stomp on one foot while you twist the other foot, moving yourself laterally.

Learn the Crab Step. It is similar to the T-step, except that both feet twist at once. The feet should face the opposite direction at all times. Think "out, in, out, in" instead of "left, right, left, right".

Learn the Charleston. The Charleston is a dance move where you twist your feet like in the Crab Step, while stepping forward and backward. This move originates from swing dancing.

Learn the Running Man. The Running Man is a dance move where you imitate someone running. You will most likely perform this move facing sideways.

• The T-step and Running Man are explained in the articles How to Melbourne Shuffle and How to Shuffle.