Disco Scoring Guide (with actual numbers)

After all these years it appears there's still no proper Disco Scoring guide around, and people still have the misconception of Combo being the most important part. I will tell you how the score behind this mini game really works, so you can finally kick Ogita\Miss Isobe\Media King's ass or even become the mad highscoring Disco Queen\King yourself. This guide is really big just because of the image dump at the end, don't worry.

Intro

Art by: https://twitter.com/hadronhaze/status/1328954894787751940

So you want to learn how to dance? You won't become the Disco Goddess like I (and Majima-chan...) are, but you might try~

How Score Works (and tips)

This was my desktop wallpaper for a long-ass time.

TL;DR is at the very end of this section (past "Other tips").

Score mechanics+tips

• Each Note (K, L, J on a keyboard, or squares and circles on a gamepad) gives you 40 score.
  
  
• Each Step (jumping around the field before pressing a Note) gives +10 score, max 9 count, means max +90 score. If you step inside the square with a Note and press it, you won't get an additional Step, but will get it if you step on the other square and then return to that Note. Stepping multiple times on the same square won't raise the Steps count. Pressing or failing a Note also counts as the first Step for the next Note, that is the next square will be the 2nd Step.
  
  
• Dancing Fever always gives you fixed 800 points, and you can do it 3 times per song. There's a lot to strategize with it. You can choose to not use DF at all in the songs with a lot of Notes like "I'm gonna make her mine", where you can get more score that way (but it will be a lot harder to do so than to just press DF), or can use it only 2 times instead of 3 for example. It can be an easy way to get score and skip hard parts of the song, or you can skip easy parts to get more score from the harder parts with more Notes, and you can delay any DF to time so. I'm not sure how much you can delay spending DF to get all 3 of them by the end however, should depend on the song. You can delay using DF for almost as long as you want, however you will lose an ability to use DF some time before the song ends. For example, in "Koi no Disco Queen", it's the last line of the lyrics, "heroine ni naritai no yo onegai wow dance with me tonight", after the singer sings "gai" in "onegai". But I use DF when she sings "one" in "onegai", that is sooner than I would've lost the ability to do so, why? Because using it later will make me lose two last Notes of the song, they will not appear at all, so again, strategy. Also, I don't know how filling of DF meter actually works, it is seemingly a randomized amount, I can't see a correlation with anything, but if you use DF right away and don't fail too much Notes you should always get all 3.

• Combo is the most overrated part by the community. You get Combo for pressing multiple Notes in a row without failing any. Each Combo gives you only +2 score (starting at 2 Combo) and max Combo is 6, that is +10 score per Note. If you see something like 70 Combo at the end result of your dance, it just means you haven't failed 70 Notes in a row, there is no bonus score past 6 Combo. Yes, unlike Steps you don't need to jump around as much, but you don't get much of an increase in score either. You can even fail Combo multiple times per song and still recover that 6 Combo count easily. The actual problem with failing Combo comes from the fact that this will mean that you fail a Note as well, which gives you +40 score by default and can net you even more score with more Steps.
  
  

  Devsman's Comet lähetti viestin:

  Something that's interesting is that by my figures, missing a note in the middle of a combo costs you 70 points: 40 for this note, 10 for combo on this note, then 8 for the next note because you only get 2 instead of the 10 you would have gotten, then 6, then 4, then 2.

  This means that a missed Note with max Combo equals a Note with no Combo+3 Steps, an easy "refund". So, again, it's not about having 100+ Combo by the end of the song, but about simply missing as few Notes a possible, but even if you do miss a couple it's not the end of the world.
  
  
• Table of stars-score-song difficulty taken from Japanese wiki (last song is "Koi no Disco Queen"; also wiki says using Dancing Fever 3 times will net you 3 stars automatically, but I haven't tested it):
  
  

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Only Miss Isobe gets this. Miracle Johnson has a unique title as well: "Popstar Prince".

Other tips

• Song difficulty only gives you more Notes to press, so you can actually get more score. Each song difficulty has one unique layout that won't change between retries on the same difficulty. If you get different Notes per same song on the same difficulty, it means you are using Dancing Fever at different points, which makes it skip some parts.
  
  
• AI performs the same on any song difficulty (depending on who the AI is of course, some are harder, and they will obviously get different score depending on the song difficulty), that is they won't become smarter or dumber. However, AI is not consistent, and can get pretty different results, so if you can't beat Miss Isobe or Ogita, then just try more, they can have "a bad day" with low score. For example, out of my 19 documented attempts against Miss Isobe, her average score (on Hard) is around 7500, the highest was 8652, and the lowest was 6326 with no correlation to my own score (I keep the save before her dance battle just to enjoy myself against a top tier, waifu opponent, telephone girls are pathetic dancers). The one who kicked my ass the most is Media King though, he also dances the hardest song in the game so good luck, playing it on Hard sucks, choose Normal or Easy huh (also you will get more score if you don't use DF at all in this song and slap all the Notes instead, but that's probably harder than DFing. Miracle Johnson is untouchable however (even technically, since you are coded to always lose even if you cheat a higher score), he always gets the max amount of Steps per each Note no matter how he actually dances (Combo still influences him normally, but he never fails his Notes anyway) - he is the only AI in the game who totally cheats, and he dances the hardest song in the game (just like Media King) where it's also physically impossible to get max Steps count for certain Notes, even with TAS-like program I feel(?).
  
  
• I've heard claims about Isobe Fan making you score less, but I haven't heard why. My guess is that it has lenghtier Dancing Fever animation thus leading to more "no Notes" downtime? Once you obtain the fan you can't get rid of it, and it will be used with DF at random, so you have to make a separate save before getting it, if you're really tryharding to score as highest as possible that is.
  
  
• You can stop dancing at any moment by pressing M on a keyboard, and for gamepad I don't know lol (you will lose no matter the score).
  
  
• I don't have enough latest practice to rank the difficulty of all the songs properly, but the hardest one is "I'm gonna maker her mine" that's for sure. "Friday Night" I remember as the easiest one, "Koi no Disco Queen" is also not hard.
  
  

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  TL;DR - Don't fail Notes > get the most Steps you can (max 9 per Note) > use Dancing Fever (max 3 times per song, 800 score each, don't use it at "I'm gonna make her mine" if you're really confident since it will skip too much Notes to score with) > Combo doesn't matter, matters the fact of not failing Notes+getting Steps > Hard song difficulty gives you the most Notes to score > each difficulty has unique Notes layout that won't change after retries > don't use Isobe Fan if you're a real tryhard, can get a little more score without it > press M to stop dancing.
  
  If you can't beat the AI just try more, they can have a "bad day". MJ is unbeatable. Notes layout is always the same and you can memorize+practice, but depends on the song difficulty and are you skipping certain parts with Dancing Fever or not.

Best Community Dancers (You!) | Part 1

Still think it's impossible? Watch these people. If you have your own records to share or know someone who already got some real high score then do it! Hard-only, and I won't add it if the score is too little, won't be adding too much of the same song either. 5 per song maybe? One entry per song per person and provide a video please, or score screenshot at the very least (it can be fake so it's not ideal).

Share your highscores here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/638970/discussions/0/6374326702145880755/

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"Koi no Disco Queen"

1) Sama Hoàng (keyboard): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zWAadXIRGk&lc=Ugwl_Qk2O0mtLDfr1CV4AaABAg
2) NotYourAvStalin (keyboard): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4nQSMP0iy0
3) MrJoshuaSalway1990 (gamepad): https://youtu.be/QpJi7NeMZKw
4) Ctrekoz (keyboard; hey it's me, watch me kick Miss Isobe's ass! should go over 10k one day): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9P0mo6QAk4
5) MicVlaD (gamepad):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypgAbB3NZDo

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"I'm gonna make her mine"

1) Sama Hoàng (keyboard): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kvTSXqcFQc&lc=Ugy-rMfol2IKncFI6u94AaABAg
2) MicVlaD (gamepad): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qnj_tXPqk1o

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"Queen of the Passion"

1) Sama Hoàng (keyboard; they have also said they have reached 9980 score but don't have a video about it and can't reach it again yet): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjNw4cILuwo
2) MicVlaD (gamepad): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPtEhlJ_0tw

Best Community Dancers (You!) | Part 2

Part 2 since there's a limit on embedded videos per section.

"I wanna Take You Home"

1) MicVlaD (gamepad): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fefMFRrKjsg
2) Dizzy Ziddy (gamepad): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcWqo5UsXyg

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"Friday Night"

1) MicVlaD (gamepad): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jz2zx0fOL0Y

Outro

Miss Isobe is the best girl (also Chika, Reina, Makoto and Ai) and I have fully memorized Koi no Disco Queen lyrics and can freely sing it (I am not joking, it's amusing and fun, so why not; no, I don't know Japanese). Miss Isobe is also one of the best cabaret hostesses in the game if you defeat and recruit her as Majima: at max level which is 40, she has 900 HP out of 1000 max (can work for really long), 100 Party which is max, 70 Talk which can be good if you have no better talkers at hand, 2 circles in Sexy which is max and 1 in Funny (only platinum hostesses can get 2 circles in 2 categories simultaneously), 200k yen deployment cost which is cheaper than 400k for Platinum ones but who cares about that unless you're a total hobo? Anyway, just slap her onto anyone wishing to party and she will give them the happiest face, or rarely just a happy one. She is even better at the cabaret's late game since Club Moon is the richest area and clients there like to party a lot.



The first time I've played Disco mini game I was frustrated to no end since I couldn't do ♥♥♥♥, iirc haven't pressed a single Note right, but with time I've learned to love it. It's really fun, each song has a rhythm to its Notes, and if you hate Disco it's either skill or hearing issue. My Holy Trio of Yakuza 0 fun is Cabaret, Karaoke and Disco.

Cool song titled "Queen of the Disco" by a Russian band "Car-Man":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7N6SQqwJrY
Originally I was writing my guide 2 years ago but ah, my hard drive died and I've lost everything.
;(
Maybe one day I will restore it and compare to what I've wrote now (I remember there was more math meant to prove something, more Miss Isobe err roleplay, it was way more wordy in overall...). Most info is found through my own tests since there's not much to find online, Japanese wiki has some but not that much: https://dswiipspwikips3.jp/yakuza0/disco.html

Thank you for reading. I understand that it's 8 years since game's release and even 2 years ago this topic was not much relevant but whatever, it's my own inspiration. It was fun to me at the time to be really heavy into Yakuza 0 disco, and, well, I've finally done it. Should've spent my efforts into something more promising but, welp, that's my life of caring too much about great but unrelevant stuff, makes me depressed huh. Well one day I will be doing something great I hope, lots of potential being wasted currently, but don't mind me. Disco might be dead but I am not :).

Just like the famous Dragon of Dojima himself once said:

Well, I've actually wrote this guide pretty fast, since I've found my past notes on how scoring works, and Yakuza 0 will remain a masterpiece even after 10 and more years, so this guide will be still useful to all new people. Also maybe there will be more games using Y0 disco system...

Funny disco image dump

Rip 2mb limit so I can't upload some gifs. Also sorry there is no Kiryu, you can send me pics with him through Google Drive or something, maybe I will add them (maybe not).

If you draw any Miss Isobe art notifity me ASAP. No I'm not crazy, half-ironic but also half-serious. It's all fun and games, alright.

Miss Isobe drawn by my acquitance (thank you doof, 13 August 2021).


Another acquitance (Kampan, 26 October 2022).


Art by:https://twitter.com/__miek/status/1256274781856362496


Art by:https://twitter.com/brobexx/status/1034219952385941504

Changelog

16 May 2023 - Guide release; edits about Combo and Notes layout by song difficulty based on Devsman's Comet feedback;
17 May 2023 - added a tip about pressing a button to stop dancing (idk which one for gamepad); formatting improvements;
18 May 2023 - added MicVlaD as the 5th place for Koi no Disco Queen at "Best Community Dancers"; moved "I'm gonna make her mine" to the Part 2;
21 May 2023 - better formatting for "How Score Works (and tips)", added a tip about ranking the difficulty of 3 out of 5 songs;
20 July 2024 - minor wording\typo\"How Score Works (and tips)" improvements.
27 November 2024 - added "Support" section.
22 January 2025 - fixed the tip about pressing a button to stop dancing, M instead of F (thanks @julikaiba for pointing out).

Support

Life is tough, you can support me, if you wish (and find some free content too). If you do, huge thank you: https://boosty.to/ctrekoz/donate

[Ctrekoz]

You are right, it is indeed M, my mistake. Fixed.

[julikaiba]

never used keyboard so dont think i changed anything, when I press esc during dance it shows me the controls

I just reset my keyboard controls to default, grab is on q not f
could it be that you changed the controls yourself?
for me it sais M on keyboard / back on the controller

[Ctrekoz]

Maybe, but I won't test.
F should work. Probably tied to grab button which is F and you've changed it to M?

[julikaiba]

also for me its m to stop dancing, f doesnt do anything

[julikaiba]

i'm too bad to reliably test it, but to me it feels like having a higher combo charges the fever meter faster

[TMK2013]

[Ctrekoz]

Glad to see this!

[TMK2013]

This legit helped me with the final 2 i had to finish (I Wanna Make You Mine & I Wanna Take You Home) thank you so much!