Course Mode

*Course mode is a challenge of endurance.*
*Clear each set of songs to earn various rewards.*
*Both difficulty and earned rewards increase with progress.*

**Course Mode** is a special mode added in version **Mobile:** 4.0.0 **Switch:** 2.0.1 where various sets of four songs (called Phases) can be played. Rewards for completing a course include fragments, Ether Drops, and special nameplates displayed behind the player **Mobile:** name **Switch:** icon.

## Mechanics

### Accessing courses

Course Mode can be accessed from the main menu, via the Course Mode button directly under Story Mode. **Mobile:** Players must be logged in to access this mode. Starting a course requires the consumption of either 4 Stamina or 1 Warped Shard. Warped Shards are consumable items that can be earned from World Mode. Courses that contain any charts not owned or unlocked by a player (except Phase 10 and Phase 11) can only be played using a Warped Shard.**Switch:**

**Mobile:** Phases 1 to 8 are playable immediately. However, Phases 9 to 11 cannot be played initially, and their names are hidden. These courses require the previous course to be completed first. **Switch:** Courses can be played for no cost, and with no required cooldown time between finishing or failing one course and starting another. Phase 1 is the only course that can be played initially, while Phases 2 to 11 require the previous course to be completed first. For courses with charts that have additional unlock conditions (via World Mode for example), the charts must be unlocked first before the course can be played. Charts that have not yet been unlocked will appear with a dark overlay.

### Playing courses

To clear a course, all four charts in the course must be played and cleared in order. Charts are played with a variant of the HARD Recollection Gauge (-10 Rate per LOST note instead of the normal -9 when Rate > 40), and do not activate partner skills. Recollection Rate does not refill between charts. After clearing each chart, the player is taken to the Course Progress screen, where they are allowed a skippable 60-second break before automatically entering the next chart. The Course Progress screen displays the scores and grades for all the charts played so far, and the current Recollection Rate.

Unlike in World Mode and Music Play, there is no pause button. Pausing the game by unfocusing it will start a 30-second, unrefreshable countdown until the course is 'abandoned'. Once the countdown is over the resume button becomes greyed-out and the player is forced to abandon the course.

### Course grading

After finishing or failing a course, players receive an overall score given by the sum of the four charts' individual scores. If the course is failed before the final chart, all subsequent charts are assigned a score of 0. Players are also given an overall grade, given by the worst grade earned over all the individual charts. For each course, the highest overall score and grade achieved in the course is recorded.

Scores on individual charts played during a course will be saved along with their grade, as they would in Song Play or World Mode, but with the clear type left undefined. **Mobile:** Course high scores are saved to player accounts, rather than individual devices. Scores will also not be submitted to the songs' leaderboards. **Switch:** Note that course completion status, unlocks, and high scores are recorded separately for Joy-Con and Touch control schemes.

### Rewards

Rewards are earned upon course completion (see next section). Rewards for each course can only be earned once per player account. Fragments are not earned for individual charts as they would be in World Mode and Music Play. Note that higher Phase nameplate rewards override previous nameplates, with no option to change to a lower nameplate.

## Courses

**Mobile:** **Switch:** All songs that appear in Course Mode in the Switch version are available in the base game, with no DLC purchases required. Songs that were changed between the mobile and Switch versions are denoted with a \*.

## Trivia

* The unlock process for Arghena involves playing a special Challenge course that follows mostly similar mechanics to courses in Course Mode, with some differences (see Arghena § Unlock method). The Challenge consists of the songs Technicolour → UNKNOWN LEVELS → Ego Eimi → Arghena on the same difficulty.