Hardkore of the North

Canblaster began his career supplying songs to In The Groove, and because Pro 2 was built by people from that scene, he ended up contributing several tracks to that version as well. He reserves the Diclonius Kid name specifically for his hardcore techno output. The piece itself is built on the traditional "Sakkijarven polkka," pushed to 190 BPM. Its PIU history is unusual: it started in Pro 2, moved to Fiesta 2, and only after several patches stopped requiring a hacked USB to become normally playable.

The S12 (which was S11 until XX) has almost no twists and very few 16th-note runs, though the one-directional spiral staircase can be awkward to read. The S18, added in the XX 2.07.0 patch as a bridge between S12 and S21, is widely seen as easy for its number. The headliner is the S22, one of EXC's oldest charts (made roughly a decade ago under the nickname HJ): the opening is manageable, but the back half blows past the rated difficulty on clean hits, with momentary spikes rivaling Good Night's S23, so it is better to drag and smudge your steps than to chase precise timing. Alongside Donatello and Extravaganza it held the level-21 boss song spot until XX; in PHOENIX all three were bumped to 22, though after the forced slowdowns were removed many now regard it as a low-tier 22.

The D15 is famously soft, often described as "an unfolded S11" and recommended as a D16 entry point. Its 16th notes appear only in the late weight-shift section (stepped in threes) and the bursts are 8th-note based; watch the weight-shift-plus-double-click passage and the momentary slowdowns that can tangle your feet. The D22 spreads the S21 across both pads, converting the twists into weight shifts, which paradoxically eases the trickiest parts and improves readability since the notes that once shot up suddenly return to normal speed before appearing. On the final four notes a freeze rises immediately, so you must keep holding.