Advanced Step

From Fit Game Wiki

Contents 1 Object of the Game 2 Equipment required 3 MET 4 How to play the game 4.1 Red Units 4.2 Blue Units 4.3 Hybrid Units 4.4 Green Units 4.5 Purple Units 4.6 Groups 5 Timing 6 Scoring 6.1 Perfect score 7 Hints and tips 8 Board raisers

Object of the Game

Advanced Step is a tape-following game, akin to games like Dance Dance Revolution, where you must make moves according to icons on a moving tape. In this case, the moves are stepping onto and off of the Wii Balance Board.

Equipment required

This game requires:

• The Wii Balance Board

MET

Advanced Step has a MET of 3.5, meaning that it is a moderate intensity activity.

How to play the game

You are on stage with a number of non-player Miis who will do the exercise along with you. They have arms and legs, unlike the Miis in the audience, who have no legs, floating dots for hands, and are actually two-dimensional figures. It's a bit spooky, as if you have an audience of cardboard cut-outs that jump up and down and clap, but there you are.

The exercise consists of stepping onto and off of the balance board in time with the other Miis, but which steps you make is dictated by a moving tape in the middle of the screen.

In Advanced Step there are four kinds of moves, red (front-to-back), blue (side-to-side), green (one foot in the air), and purple (like red but turned to the side). In all of them, the tape can be thought of as divided into four-move groups, called units. A unit is red if it contains only red moves, blue if they are all blue, hybrid if it contains red and blue, green if it contains red and green, and purple if it contains purple moves. No unit contains a mixture of purple and other colours. The tape itself is broken down into groups. A group is a sequence of units, and groups are separated by stationary images. A group will always start and end with the board in front of you.

Red Units

A red unit consists of starting with the board in front of you, stepping on with one foot, on with the other, off with the first, off with the second, e.g. on-right, on-left, off-right, off-left. The tape will show you whether to start on the right or left. A sequence of red units will all start on the same foot, RLRL*RLRL*... or LRLR*LRLR*...

Blue Units

A blue unit is similar to a red unit, but starts on one side of the board and ends on the other.

Hybrid Units

You will sometimes have to switch between red units and blue units. A hybrid unit is inserted to do this. It starts with red moves and ends with blue, or the other way around.

Green Units

Green units start with a red move so you have one foot on the board. The other foot is lifted in a green move. It has been described as a kicking move, but that isn't actually necessary. You just need to lift it up and hold it in the air for a moment. The third move of the unit is also green, but this time you put the lifted foot back on the floor. To finish, put the first foot back on the floor (red move).

Purple Units

Purple units are like red units, except that you step on with your foot turned to one side (both feet to the same side in the same unit), and off with your feet facing forward. The sequence is either Right-on-face-left, left-on-face-left, left-off-face-front, right-off-face-front, or it is the opposite: L+left, R+left, R-front, L-front. Purple units are left-handed if you face left when you are on the board, otherwise right-handed.

Groups

A single group will consist of a number of units. Each group will have a theme. The groups are:

• All red, starting each unit with the right foot. 7 units.
• All green, starting on the left foot and then alternating which foot is first. 13 units
• Alternating green and red units, starting and ending with green. 5 green and 4 red.
• All blue. An all-blue group is technically impossible, as groups always start and end with red moves, but "All blue" opens with a red-to-blue hybrid, and ends with a blue-to-red hybrid. 8 units.
• Left-handed purple. 7 units
• Right-handed purple followed by two red units followed by alternating left and right hand purples. 4+2+4 units
• Speed increases
• A hybrid group: a series of red units followed by a series of green units. 8 red, 6 green
• All blue. 8 units.
• Purples on alternating sides then blues. 4 purples, 1+2+1 blue section.
• Four green units.

Timing

Timing is important in this game. Your feet should move in time with the other Miis' feet.

Scoring

Your score is calculated per move based on how you handle each unit:

• You score up to two points per move.
• Each unit's scoring rules is applied independently of the ones before it or after it.
• You may score two points ("Perfect") on a move only if the previous moves in the same unit also scored "Perfect".
• If you do not follow the instructions on the tape, you will score zero for that move.
• If you follow the instructions, but do not match the timing of the Miis beside you, you will score one for that move ("OK").
• If you get the timing right on a move, you will score two for the move ("Perfect") unless you have made a mistake earlier in the unit.
• The last move of a unit always ends with both feet on the floor, and the board cannot measure when you finish this. Unless you still have a foot on the board, you will score "Perfect" if you are eligible, otherwise "OK".

The overall score is the sum of the individual per-move scores.

It is impossible to score one point less than the maximum, as that would require you to have a unit whose scoring was 2-2-2-1, and that cannot happen.

Perfect score

If you score Perfect for all moves, your score will be 672 points

Hints and tips

• Beware of becoming locked into a pattern, as there are pattern breaks and these will aggressively damage your score.
• To avoid zero-point failures, make sure that you get your feet centred in the two little depressions in the top of the board.
• The green units are the most difficult, as the timing required for putting down the foot that waves in the air is not clear. The only remedy for this is...
• Practice, practice, and practice.
• Actually, that's not true. Anything that delays you slightly and causes a "bump" in your weight pattern, like kicking your foot or bobbing down, will help do the green ones correctly.
• And in fact, that's not true either. The correct solution is to project your weight forward as you lift the second foot. The game decides your timing on the way down based on when your weight crosses a fixed point. If you are early crossing this, you will get an "OK". Projecting your weight forward means it will take longer to get it back across the fixed point, and you will be on time.

Board raisers

If you have one of those sets of feet that allow you to raise the board above floor level, be aware that when you switch between using the feet and not using them, your timing will be messed up. Practice afterwards to reset your timing.