Presented below is ripped directly from our own internal documentation about difficulties and what each “category” represented. Obviously things have changed since, but this should act as a general guideline for how we approached difficulty for most of the charts in the game.

Official UNBEATABLE charts fall into a difficulty rating of 1-25.

What does each difficulty mean?

• Beginner is for those who’ve never played rhythm games and simply want to get through the story / play to a song. Notes are placed on very simple, clean rhythms. The note types will likely be limited to normal and holds, with higher difficulty charts employing more note types depending on story relevance or general audience for the song. Camera switches are at a minimum or practically non-existent (except for story purposes).
• Normal is for those who’ve had little-to-no experience with rhythm games and want a good starting point. This should be challenging for those kind of players but still simple enough for satisfying clears. More note types will make a presence, and patterns will follow the general flow of the song without being too tough. Camera switches will happen occasionally.
• Hard for those who have basic familiarity with rhythm games and want to start off with something that’s at a comfortably challenging level. This should be good for those new to UNBEATABLE specifically. Camera switches are dialed down from higher difficulties.
• Expert is for those who want to either jump right into the action. It’s tough for newcomers, an “okay” starting point for experienced rhythm game players, and usually will employ most of the current note-type set. Patterns are less dense and more spaced out to allow for breathing room. Camera switches are slightly reduced from UNBEATABLE.
• UNBEATABLE is tough. It can be best described as the baseline difficulty for the whole game (it’s usually the one I work on first). Charts are focused on a fast, snappy feel that takes full advantage of the rhythm. There are a few no-nos when it comes to these charts (certain patterns are made illegal) but for the most part, the intention is for these to challenge a player at the top of their game.
• STAR is for endgame charts - challenging in a unique way, maybe taking good advantage of certain mechanics/visuals. Rules are definitely relaxed on what is and isn’t allowed in the chart. Sometimes they exist to emphasize a certain gimmick or concept, and may act as an alternative rather than a strictly harder variant of a chart, but we like to use STAR charts as a way to break the limits of the game.

CHART RANGES

For [white label]:

• Beginner is between 1-3.

• Easy is between 2-7.

• Hard is between 7-11.

• UNBEATABLE is between 9-13.

• STAR is a hard jump to 18-22.

  The hardest chart in [white label], SubWOOFer is a “22” for example. Familiar, on Easy, is a “2”.

For the final game, charts are set around this range (with some exceptions):

• Beginner is between 1-6.
• Normal is between 3-13.