Got hooked on a new game DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION!

[Papagayo]

We played Dance Dance Revolution on New Year's Eve for about 5 hours at my wife's sister's house..

We purchased the DDR4 and mats from Best buy..

But they were different brand and we did not like it as much..

Anyone recommend a good mat for DDR?
I know that the steel is better, but I'm not forking $300 for the pair..

We want to spend no more than $100 for the pair..

 

[Pepsi90919]

404 New Game Not Found

 

[spidey07]

Got the Red Octance one. It's awesome. When I was looking around for one there are 3 kinds:

1) soft that lay on the carpet - avoid these
2) Soft with thick/dense foam inserts - very nice, not a lot of money, this is what I got, very comofortable
3) hard/metal - the best, but expensive

 

[dainthomas]

OMFG, I got this new game for xmas called Pong! The graphics are friggin' sweet, I am totally addicted!

 

[ArchCenturion]

Whatever you decide on make sure that you have a warrantee with it.

I believe that my brothers have shredded about 3 different pairs of DDR pads.

We used the crappy plastic ones that just lay on the carpet, those sucked in the first place and only got worse till they died after about 3 weeks.

I dont know if there is a posted wight limit for those things, but you should keep fat people, and people wearing shoes away from it.

After a couple sets of the DDR pads, we finally decided to get the metal pads, and about 2 weeks later, some of the direction buttons stopped working. We have tested most of the connections with a multimeter, and still cannot figure out wtf is wrong.

 

[Papagayo]

Originally posted by: spidey07
Got the Red Octance one. It's awesome. When I was looking around for one there are 3 kinds:

1) soft that lay on the carpet - avoid these
2) Soft with thick/dense foam inserts - very nice, not a lot of money, this is what I got, very comofortable
3) hard/metal - the best, but expensive

We got the one with the foam inserts..
We like it, but I think depending on the brand.. the quality is different..

 

[Dessert Tears]

Originally posted by: Papagayo
Anyone recommend a good mat for DDR?

Find my post here (note that this thread is nearly 2 years old and is probably out of date):
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...hreadid=1531099&enterthread=y&arctab=y

Another old DDR thread:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...hreadid=1655718&enterthread=y&arctab=y

Originally sent as a Private Message on 2005/08/05 by: Flatscan
Since I made that post, I burned out my new BNS pad with static - the pad had accumulated a sizeable amount of charge, and I plugged it into my computer, which has a good ground. It's not as much of a problem with consoles because they're not grounded and will share the charge more gracefully. I replaced it with a www.ddrnation.com pad which has PS2 and XBox connectors, a roughly equivalent vinyl surface, but somewhat worse (thinner and smaller sections) foam. I put in the foam from the DX in the replacement pad, and it's still going strong. I have another mostly worn-out DX at my old place in another state, and I think I can put together a working pad if I ever get it.

If I ever start doing doubles, I would buy another BNS DX for the foam. If I wore out my pad, I would probably get a DDRNation v2.5 pad and reuse the DX foam.

DDR Nation Ignition Dance Pad (v2.5), PS2/XBox 33.95
DDR Nation Ignition Dance Pad (v3.5), PS2/XBox 45.95 - haven't tried
BNS DX-Xtreme - PS2, it comes with an XBox adapter for 58.95, 48.95 without adapter (look carefully for the link up top)

I didn't like the responsiveness of the 2.5 vs the DX at first, but I don't really care any more. It has distinctly raised areas (good for feeling position) that are stiff and require a little extra push to register. The big difference in price overrides this nitpick, as long as the foam is replaced.

I've posted my opinion on Red Octane - not worth the extra cost.

Since it seems like you're willing to lay down the money for an XBox, I would go with the 2 pack of BNS DX for 89.95 + 25 shipping, IIRC. The 14.95 v3.1 USB adapter will work for 2 controllers simultaneously (I didn't test it with pads before I blew everything out).

If you have a computer hooked up to your playing screen, I would go with Stepmania. Not sure how difficult it is to get song torrents these days. My computer gets out of sync every once in a while, so I switch it up between my computer and PS2, depending if I want song selection or guaranteed sync'd play. I would recommend against PSX unless you can get one for free, as the games available are quite limited. For the PS2, DDRMAX2 is very good (I've read that it's the best for PS2), and there's also DDRMAX and Extreme. One of my friends really likes In the Groove (DDR-like game by DDR fans). For the XBox, I don't know about either of the Ultramixes, but the Stepmania download sounds interesting.

Hope this helps.

 

[torpid]

Red Octane. And interesting definition of "new".

 

[Papagayo]

It's for Xbox.. It's lot of fun, but it also looks like it's good for cardio workout..
I might buy some ankle weights and do it..


My wife and I tried it naked, but it wasn't much fun as I thought it would be. I needed underwear and she needed bra..

 

[OutHouse]

do they make the games for game cube?

 

[Dessert Tears]

Originally posted by: Papagayo
I might buy some ankle weights and do it..

I tried this once, didn't like it too much. I recommend increasing the "feet" difficulty instead.

Originally posted by: Citrix
do they make the games for game cube?

IIRC, there's 1 "Mario Mix" for GC.

 

[Zolty]

still waiting for a ddr game for the 360

 

[hans030390]

Originally posted by: Papagayo
It's for Xbox.. It's lot of fun, but it also looks like it's good for cardio workout..
I might buy some ankle weights and do it..


My wife and I tried it naked, but it wasn't much fun as I thought it would be. I needed underwear and she needed bra..

Why did you just tell us that???

 

[MBrown]

Forget DDR. Guitar Hero is where its at.

 

[jdini76]

Originally posted by: Papagayo
It's for Xbox.. It's lot of fun, but it also looks like it's good for cardio workout..
I might buy some ankle weights and do it..


My wife and I tried it naked, but it wasn't much fun as I thought it would be. I needed underwear and she needed bra..

wow TMI!!!!!

 

[OutHouse]

Originally posted by: Flatscan

Originally posted by: Papagayo
I might buy some ankle weights and do it..

I tried this once, didn't like it too much. I recommend increasing the "feet" difficulty instead.

Originally posted by: Citrix
do they make the games for game cube?

IIRC, there's 1 "Mario Mix" for GC.

thanks. my wife bought the mat for the kids for xmas but didnt know she had to buy the game too. so we have been looking for the game.

 

[Glavinsolo]

I am also interested in mat reviews

 

[Tifababy]

Originally posted by: Citrix

Originally posted by: Flatscan

Originally posted by: Papagayo
I might buy some ankle weights and do it..

I tried this once, didn't like it too much. I recommend increasing the "feet" difficulty instead.

Originally posted by: Citrix
do they make the games for game cube?

IIRC, there's 1 "Mario Mix" for GC.

thanks. my wife bought the mat for the kids for xmas but didnt know she had to buy the game too. so we have been looking for the game.

Ebay is your only hope for finding the game. It isn't being sold in stores anymore. It was discontinued in Oct. 2005 and was released around april 2006, but it's gone again. Most people on ebay are asking close to $100, so if might be best to just return the pads if possible.

 

[MrChad]

Originally posted by: Papagayo
It's for Xbox.. It's lot of fun, but it also looks like it's good for cardio workout..
I might buy some ankle weights and do it..


My wife and I tried it naked, but it wasn't much fun as I thought it would be. I needed underwear and she needed bra..

Well that post was unexpected.

 

[Dessert Tears]

Originally posted by: Tifababy

Originally posted by: Citrix

Originally posted by: Flatscan

Originally posted by: Citrix
do they make the games for game cube?

IIRC, there's 1 "Mario Mix" for GC.

thanks. my wife bought the mat for the kids for xmas but didnt know she had to buy the game too. so we have been looking for the game.

Ebay is your only hope for finding the game. It isn't being sold in stores anymore. It was discontinued in Oct. 2005 and was released around april 2006, but it's gone again. Most people on ebay are asking close to $100, so if might be best to just return the pads if possible.

Ditto bolded section. If you don't have a PS/PS2/XBox/computer already, you might be able to find a used PSOne and appropriate DDR game (DDR USA or Konamix) for $100.

 

[Kaido]

I bought the $10 cheapo pads on ebay. Then I went down to Home Depot and bought some office floor mats (carpeted on top, rubber on the bottom), cut them out to fit, sliced open the pads, and slid them inside. Cheap trick to turn them into "quality" mats that don't bunch up and slip around. You can also use velcro (the furry side, not the sticky side) to line the arrows so that you actually know where you're touching. Looks a bit ghetto but adds more enjoyment

 

[bondboy]

DIY is the way to go.

http://www.geocities.com/ddrhomepad/

 

[Ika]

Originally posted by: bondboy
DIY is the way to go.

http://www.geocities.com/ddrhomepad/

YES! I definitely recommend this. The site bondboy gave above is a decent starter for DIY, but if you want to make it look prettier, go with Stoli's modification of DDRHomepad's design. Looks a lot better, but only if you can get the right kind of sheet metal. I used aluminum flashing in my design; it isn't nearly as nice, but it works well.

Another option, which is a little more expensive, is going with Riptide's Arcade-style DDR pad. This thing uses 2x4s to make a far heavier and bigger dance pad, but the result of what he does is much more realistic to real arcade pads. It's a little more expensive and harder to build, but he does provide videos to help with construction.

I made my homepad with Stoli's design and tutorial, and the materials cost around $120 (but I wanted to make it special, so I added some extra parts, mostly $20 from RadioShack for a separate control box). I think it took me around 40 hours or so from scratch to finish, but this was my first major DIY project, and I was 15 anyway.

Oops, I better cut myself off before I go any longer. Enjoy!