I feel it's relatively even up until like probably high 17s and 18s to 19s. The most recent KAC had a men's and women's division and the difference in level of difficulty choice and scores is pretty notable. Granted, the sample size was limited to JP players and I don't follow US tournaments so idk.
I've also seen a few streams with o4ma and his wife Shizu in the past and you can tell o4ma just has a lot more stamina on the hardest songs even though they're both pretty ripped.
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I have no vendetta against tournaments and I understand why people find them fun, but yeah I find it to be too srs biz to me and this whole DEI ally crap isn't helping, among other factors. I've played with some tournament scene people before in casual settings and it's really distracting when they quit out a song early or sometimes make gestures or loudly swear at the screen when they mess up or get a "pad miss" cause that screws me up. It's funny you mention the Maxx Unlimited/Cartoon Heroes thing because I'm currently at a "limbo" stage where all the regulars I see at my arcade are either too pro or too beginner in comparison so it's nigh impossible to find people of similar skillset to play with to begin with. (I know there's online stuff like LIFE4 and SkillAttack but that's not really the same.) I also cannot for the life of me sperg about charts and techniques and all that at a rate a lot of diehard players do.