Flash Flash Revolution/Gameplay

Before you try playing its recommended that you read up on the controls and play styles as well as checking out elements of this page. Knowing more about the game will help you get past the baby steps more quickly. You might also want to watch the FFR help video, which you can find by going to the game and scrolling down to where the three big circles are. Click on the right one and a help video will appear showing you elements of the game and how to play.

Playing
Playing the game is simple, you select a genre using the mouse (click on the arrows to change genre, then click on the big circle to see the songs within it) and then the song by clicking once and then again to begin loading it. Depending on your internet connection, the particular song or the status of the FFR servers, the download can be either long or short.

Once the game begins, arrows will begin to stream upwards (by default) as designated by the step file. When an arrow matches up with the static arrow outlines at the top, press the corresponding key to "play" that arrow. Think of them as beats, the arrows should match the song in some way so its more like you're playing an instrument than a keyboard.

Difficulties
Difficulties help players distinguish between the various differences in the songs and stepfiles available in the game. Primarily, difficulties represent the overall number and density of the arrows, however you can't really rely on the difficulties as they are slapped onto the descriptions of each song by one of the developers (or stepfile artist). There are thirteen difficulties, ranging from beginner all the way up to the unnamed rank (beyond master and guru).

Your best bet is to just try out every song until you understand the difference between them. Even without knowing the system, you should be able to tell that if you're having difficulty on a beginner or easy song, then one labeled "Guru" is probably not one that you'll do well on.

Credits
No, not song credits. Credits are currency gained from playing the game. Doing well on a difficult song will reward you with much greater amounts of credits than a simple beginner song. If you fail, you will still get credits. Credits are based on obtaining a certain amount of points within a song (generally every 50,000 points, you receive one credit). No matter how long or hard a song is, a single song does not dish out more than 40 credits at one time. If you are hunting strictly for credits, try to play songs that have around 1,300 notes (such as Horizon Remix or {Blaze}).

Credits are used for three things, challenging other players (betting on the matches), purchasing new songs, and unlocking songs from the Secret genre. Purchased songs can be bought in the "FFR Shop" via the red button labeled as such. After purchasing a song, it will go into the Purchased "genre" automatically, while secret song appears determined on how many credits you currently own at a certain period of time. If you just unlocked a secret song and purchase another song, that secret song will no longer be available for play until you obtain that amount of credits again. Don't worry, if you lose the ability to play a secret song for a while, your scores for that song are still saved in the database!

You must have the following credits in your possession at that time to unlock these songs for the secret genre:

''In approximation, it would probably take about 9 to 12 months for a newbie at FFR to obtain about all of these secret songs (without purchasing anything from the shop) if they were to play at least a half hour a day. Credits come by slow to newbies, but when more experienced, you might obtain almost 1,000 credits in a single hour!''

'''The purchased genre will cost you a nice bundle of exactly 93,769 credits to unlock all of the songs, this means to have everything unlocked you would need to have a minimum of exactly 243,769 credits, which to a newbie would probably seem impossible to obtain in a lifetime. Around 1 1/2 to 2 years is about how long it should take a new FFR player from beginning to end, which in that time, will give them more than the skills they need to play, pass, and enjoy all of the songs within these genres.'''

Challenges
Challenges were the original way to play against other people, before the multiplayer mode was added. Challenges work like an email system - you send someone a notice with the number of credits you want to bet on the competition, then you play a song, and then they either reply by playing the game or deleting your message. If the receiving player accepts the challenge, then the player who earns the most amount of points in a game is the winner and acquires the credits that the other player bet.

With the creation of the multiplayer mode, challenges are primarily used by...
 * Players who have bad lag when playing multiplayer.
 * Players who want to challenge people they have chatted with on places like the FFR forum.
 * Players who want to transfer credits from one account to another.
 * Players who are competing in one of the official FFR tournaments.

Multiplayer
Multiplayer within FFR is much like the normal game, although the screen becomes split and you can see your opponent's progress throughout the song. Sometimes players are affected by lag, which will result in the skipping of notes (they may be moving but you won't see them until they skip a large distance). Playing with low quality can help a little bit with this problem. No matter which position the player's name is on in the multiplayer room, the arrows of the game they are playing will appear on the left side of the game match.