Starlight Stage is your typical five panel top-down rhythm game, and it's notorious of the Nintendo Hard charts they offer, so expect this a lot.
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WIDE LIVE charts up to Lv 30
In general, most Level 28 in normal Master charts are this, as well as the newer 27s, but even some 26s can be frustrating to play. This is more apparent on their MASTER+ variants.
- "Chiisana Koi no Misshitsu Jiken" is infamous for its Difficulty Spike, where the normally simple chart becomes downright chaotic right after the chorus, with only very thin breathing moments.
- "TOKIMEKI Escalate", both on MASTER and MASTER+. While its MASTER chart (a 28) can be frustating due to the occasional 16th tap jacks (specifically, the parts that have 16th tap jacks in the middle of the lane for one measure which can be found near the end of the song), its MASTER+ chart is another way to say "good bye fingers". TOKIMEKI Escalate M+ (a 30) takes what its MASTER chart is famous for, and crank it up a notch, with even worse double tap 16th jacks during the ending part.
- "NUDIE★" by Mika Jougasaki, again. This time, they decided to avoid using the dreaded 16th tap jacks gimmick Mika is known of and instead spread the notes evenly throughout the high speed chart. The catch? They ended up repeating the same formula from the original TOKIMEKI Escalate where they would repeat the same pattern over and over again, especially during the chorus onwards, resulting in basically a chart that plays and feels like the original TOKIMEKI and is as monotonous and twice as frustrating.
- For its awesomeness, "Souyoku no Aria" MASTER+ is pretty difficult. After the mostly normal flick stairs intro, the player will be introduced with a lot of jumpy notes, fast paced zigzagging swipe notes and very little gap between notes. The ending part after the vocal ends takes the cake, and the player will probably have to retry for the first time. On other hand, it doesn't rely on gimmicks and artificial difficulty like "Anzu No Uta" or "TOKIMEKI Escalate", making this song a worthwhile to a certain degree.
- Asuka Ninomiya's image song "Kyoumei Sekai no Ontology" is infamous not just of the small gap between each notes and frequent flick-happy nature, but is also random and poorly paced that some suspect the charter has no real sense of beat placement and just add and throw in notes to ramp up the difficulty that shouldn't be there. Many so far claim that the song is considerably harder than "-Engel- Adanasu Tsurugi Hikari no Shirabe", which is a 28 star, Kyoumei Sekai is 27. Needless to say, this chart considered very divisive.
- "Anzu no Uta", both MASTER and MASTER+. Being one of the first song to receive a 28 on MASTER, surely "Anzu no Uta" will throw the player to death with its single, repeated slides (especially during the "Mayday" part) and of course, some hard and fast note placements. Its MASTER+ chart, though, takes the already hard gimmick to new heights... and it is a level 30 chart.
- As if Anzu no Uta is not hard enough, there's another hard song that features Anzu on it. "Ankira!? Kyousokyoku"'s MASTER+ chart is considered to be one of the hardest 30s in the game. Unless the player is lucky enough (with healers, to be exact) to survive throughout the song, the chart will give the player a hell amount of notes and slides to make them fail easily, and it is much, much faster than Anzu no Uta.
- "Himitsu no Toilette", on MASTER and MASTER+. Its MASTER chart is one of the hardest non-MASTER+ 28 in the game, infamous for throwing players off with a twisty 16th stream taps during the middle part, and the fast-enough-to-break-easily flick zig-zags and tap+flick stairs during the ending. Toilette's MASTER+ chart, while not as hard as M+ 30 charts for "Anzu no Uta" and "TOKIMEKI Escalate", is still harsh for a 30.
- "Tulip (SP Version)" manages to eclipse "Kyoumei Sekai no Ontology" as one of the poorly piece of chart ever done in Starlight Stage, at least according to the majority of the MASTER player. To start it off, the chart greatly differs from the original chart it was based off, since now every beat is spread all over the place instead of the usual one-spaced drum-like beat the original has done. Then everything went downhill afterwards; the beat spread everywhere, the gap inbetween each note is unrealistically wide and badly arranged, and the overall buildup is just terrible. It strips off the elements that makes Tulip a fun and enjoyable chart for its own right, with some of the player base swear off that Kyoumei Sekai no Ontology, while a divisive chart, is better than this chart.
- "Just Us Justice" is fairly okay for a Level 27 MASTER, but in MASTER+ it turns into a non-stop tap-jacks with no breathing room inbetween. The upside of this chart is that there's no dreaded flick chains and slide notes to be seen (for a 29 even), but can you last long and beat it?
- "Honoo no Hana" MASTER+. Looks okay for a 30 during the first few minutes, and then things are getting more cruel because the 16th jack triplet taps can catch you off-guard. Especially said 16th jack taps are faster (at 188BPM) compared to how 16th jacks in "TOKIMEKI Escalate" MASTER and MASTER+ run. Even funnier that the song has a laughably easy MASTER chart rated 24, making this a sudden huge difficulty jump from 24 in MASTER to 30 in MASTER+. As of this writing, this chart is considered as the hardest 30 in the entire game, even beating the likes of Trinity Field, Ankira!? Kyousokyoku, and TOKIMEKI Escalate (according to the fan-curated tier list found on the Gamerch Wiki for Starlight Stage).
- "Bloody Festa" MASTER+ combines the gimmicky fast scrolling found in most of Koume-involved songs with questionable burst streams found in hard 30s, especially during the chorus part where you must survive a combination of these bursts with slide notes. No healer and other assist skills? Then you're out of luck. Yes, this is Koume's second solo, so that's a heads up already. This chart ties with "Honoo no Hana" M+ as one of the hardest 30 M+ in the game, although "Bloody Festa" is another kind of beast.
WIDE MASTER+ Lv 31 charts
MASTER+ Level 31 charts. When 30s are not enough to be hard-worthy... so begets the merciless 31s. A common recurrence in 31s is that they all have at least 1000 notes and up, wtih one exception below.
- "Decoboco Speedstar" on MASTER+. It is the first song whose very first chart to have a whopping 31 star difficulty; the amount of flicks and note streams made "Ankira!? Kyousokyoku" and "Trinity Field" looked like Debut mode in comparison. It also surpasses the 999 notes limit (the trend that started with Absolute NIne M+) at a whopping 1077 notes, the first time we saw a 1000 notes and up appearing in a single song (not counting a LIVE Groove or a LIVE Parade set, of course). And the song is at 230 BPM, the fastest one from the 31s.
- "Babel" on the surface looks and sounds like a cool 128 BPM EDM song that makes you groove with it. Now put a bunch of dense note placements, the abundance of slide-holds and 16th short jack taps, and top it with 24ths in some measures. Congratulations, you've just made the second MASTER+ chart rated 31, even though it's still tamer than other 31s...
- Then comes "Gossip Club". Again, sounds like it's a tame song with a tame pace at 155 BPM about gyarus and stuff. But its MASTER+ chart is even WORSE than Speedstar and Babel, as if dense, wacky note placements in the first and second choruses are not enough... 16th triplet stair taps can be infuriating too. With little breather sections throughout the song, Gossip Club is the third MASTER+ chart rated 31, and also notoriously hard even the fan-curated tier list in the Gamerch Starlight Stage wiki
put Gossip Club M+ as the hardest chart in the 31s section. - "Great Journey". The relentless speed of Decoboco Speedstar (though the song itself is at 188 BPM but still fast enough), the already densely-packed stream notes of Babel and Gossip Club, and the true hell that is fast flick chains (especially when the flicks are zig-zagged). Without a place to rest, are you tough enough to get at least rank C and up in combo ranks? Then, good luck with the fourth MASTER+ chart rated 31!
- Welcoming to the level 31 family is "EVIL LIVE" MASTER+. Throwing bursts that just question your dignity at 156 BPM, this chart is never meant to be played on thumbs unless you want to break your thumbs easily. EVIL LIVE combines the worst aspect of level 31 overcharting and cranking them up like it was a hypotetical 32. Suddenly Gossip Club feels like a warm-up 31.
- "Ochiru Kajitsu" MASTER+, currently the only M+ level 31 chart to end with less than 1000 notes (734 notes), starts off rather tame for supposedly a 31, but once the chorus hits in, the chart is a completely different beast. Featuring numerous flick chains inbetween ruthless stair taps at 128 BPM that won't stop until near the second half of the song, which is merely a small room for breathing for a brutal beatdown up until the end. To add insult to injury, the same second half spikes up to 190 BPM. This is jarring because that the regular MASTER chart, a 25, is considered one of the most well-designed chart in the game thus far, and the gap between MASTER and MASTER+ feels way similar to Honoo no Hana's (which is six levels gap).
Flick-heavy charts
Certain charts that focuses on flick chains tends to be notorious thanks to the counterintuitive nature of flick chains and many players still don't know how to circumvent them. Worse yet, Flick notes are some of the most score-yielding notes to hit and while unlike hold or slide notes that missing one still allows you to swipe the rest, the amount of score obtained from it accumulates for each successful flick chains swipe, which is vital if you want to reach the S Score in MASTER+ charts.Chances are most frustrating Flick-heavy charts will almost always have rather calming tone and lower BPM to fake you out, so be wary of it.
- The flick notes that's hard to swipe properly tends to force you to tap and hold it first before you can swipe it. "Hanakanzashi" on MASTER+ and "Hotel Moonside" MASTER emphasize just how bullshit and frustrating flick chains can be, thanks to the repetitive tap-hold and swipe sections you can miss the timing easily, the latter has the cross kiss~ kiss~ portion which will caught you off guard and will ruin your full combo run. Did you know that Hotel Moonside was supposed to be one of the easier 27's?
- "Tsubomi" MASTER is particularly notable in this regard, to the point where it was re-rated from a 25 to 26 when this event-first song was available for everyone.
- "Sakura no Koro" MASTER is "Tsubomi" with even worse flick spams, to the point that many players consider this chart not a 26.
- "Koi Kaze" MASTER managed to be one of the most frustrating flick chains galore. The chain is so long that it 'vanishes' before reaching another flick. Again, it is also 26 on MASTER, the same tier with "Tsubomi" and "Sakura no Koro". The MASTER+ chart cranks it up even more.
- "Inori no Hana" has the nightmarish duet between this, occasional rapid tap jacks, and several hold notes that hard to predict due to the way it force you to multitask both of it at the same time.
- "Treasure☆" MASTER+, rated 29, lacks any presence of taps in exchange for a flick-feast (especially apparent during the first half, before the chorus part hits) that tests your patience. If you have patience to swipe the flicks in time, the chart is easy for you. But if you don't have one, good luck FC-ing it.
- "THE VILLAIN'S NIGHT" has the chorus part that can be summed up as a flick chain hell. Combined with the exhausting "jumpscare" taps before where it tricks you into repositioning your thumb's position like Chiisana Koi above, it becomes one of the hardest 27 ranked song so far.
- "God Knows..." by Karen starts off with rapid-fast flick chain patterns that's requires you to learn the pattern for each swipe otherwise you'll miss the timing
GRAND-exclusive charts
GRAND charts is a group of three teams rounded together in a single row, where the taps are made thin and usually harder to click. if you know those type of vertical scrolling rhythm games with varying note sizes, which have made either Deemo or CHUNITHM famous, this is the idol game equivalent of them. Combine that with the intensity of MASTER-MASTER+ and you have a recipe for disaster. There are two variants of Grand charts; PIANO, the easiest, and FORTE, the hardest, being comparable or even much harder than their MASTER+ variant.
- M@GIC FORTE is less hard than "Trust Me" but just because it is doesn't meant it's safe to play, right? Put em some unreadable flick patterns and tap jacks, and M@GIC is a guaranteed 32.
- On the hardest FORTE variant is "Trust Me". Already a difficult chart in the regular MASTER+, the FORTE variant amps it up to eleven thanks to the smaller notes to tap and maintain the intensity of the original chart, and you're bound to failed at least once, so make sure you have enough Star Jewels to continue. FORTE "Trust Me" hold the title of the hardest chart of the game so far, a 32 besides M@GIC.
- "Hungry Bambi" proceeds to shoot you in the kneecaps with both of their PIANO and FORTE variants. Imagine its MASTER+ combined with small and repetitive tap jacks, flick chains, and slide notes, and you have a recipe for disaster. And that is a 31 even. It's surprising considering that their regular MASTER and MASTER+ is considered hard and challenging but still manageable enough that you could still FC it on your first try.
- "Joker" FORTE is frustating mainly due to a combination of 8th jacks with crossing flicks followed by slide notes that change size during the chorus, making players trying to FC Joker feel dead inside. Otherwise, it's still a 31, albeit manageable than "Hungry Bambi".
- All versions of "MOTTO!" qualifies, but both GRAND live MOTTO! are noticeably harder than the rest. Once you reach the first chorus, it won't stop barraging you with multiple slides and dashes
WITCH-exclusive charts
Early on in the middle of December 2020, the new difficulty called "WITCH" mode was released. This is a five-lane WIDE LIVE chart with added tricks and obstacles that's not limited to Fake Difficulty and Interface Screw, such as halting and/or reversing the notes flow to play with your fingers, or even tricking you into tapping a wrong note. It also added the Hazard notes, where if you tap them not only it break your combo and it's considered as a miss, but you cannot tap more than specific amount of Hazard notes or your run is over. Feel free to be frustrated of the songs that you're already familiar with and had it thrown away and fucked all over the wall without warning, and as such it's a pure Trial-and-Error Gameplay to the wazoo. In other words, Starlight Stage: notITG edition. Good luck, you really need it.
- Just to clarify how hard the WITCH-charts can get you, this incarnation "Kagayaku Sekai No Mahou" is easily the easiest of them all (until Hare Hare Yukai comes in at least) and it's still hard and irritating to finish perfectly.
- "Himitsu no Toilette" emphasizes the Interface Screw aspect of WITCH mode to serious degree. Not only there are flashing and disappearing notes, but there are also Hazard notes disguised as regular notes waiting for you to accidentally tap on it and it won't show its ugly rear up until near your finger range.
- "Anzu no Uta" strikes again with their own brand of bullshittery. It will shower you by enlarging both normal notes and Hazard notes to a gigantic big red button that's nearly hard to distinguish, then add Anzu's brand of justice from the original MASTER charts as well as lag and reversed notes that's very in-character for her, which will causes you to miss a lot of notes without knowing.
- Like the WIDE counterpart, "Chiisana Koi no Misshitsu Jiken" will screw you with lots of jumpscare notes, especially once the chorus hits. It also keeps you busy by spawning false hold notes tricking you often into holding them while you should have tapped the other note instead.
- "Nagareboshi Kiseki" tricks you into tapping hold notes and holding regular tap notes very often and it starts to get irritating even once you get used to it. At least the closing segment is rather tame.
- "O-Ku-Ri-Mo-No Sunday!" just straight up hid almost every note and only reveal it near the time you should have tapped them. They also swapped a lot of the regular notes with the Hazard ones to fool you into tapping them instead, have fun!
- "Spice Paradise" slows down the chart more often than other WITCH charts in the game that you have to readjust your muscle memory into using slower speed just to get a good tap for each note, good luck!
- "HARURUNRUN" looks like an easy chart, but all the sudden the scrolling speed starts to gradually increase, to the point that you almost can't read them in the last part. Does this remind you of DeltaMAX?
