Mazje

Okay, I just got the Eye Toy, and I'm thinking of taking the plunge into the DDR craze. I did a search and read the lengthy thread that had been on here previously, but it didn't answer my questions. So, here they are:

How easy is a dance pad to come by?

What's the weight limit on them (not the expensive, metal numbers, but just the regular ones). Thanks in advance.

PixyJunket

Back in 1998/1999 they were damn diffucult to come by. (and the quality was horrifying)

Now since it's so trendy, you can get one at Wal-Mart.

I don't think there's any limit for the standard pads and there's not really anything to break.

Mazje

Really? That's cool. I'm kind of a big guy, so I'd hate to just step on it and hear it crush or something. Without hijacking my own thread, Pixy, got any recommendations (for ps2)? Game or pads?

PixyJunket

Sorry, I stopped playing around 2001. I do know that PS2 has DDRMAX and DDRMAX2 and if it's anything like the old days you'd be better off getting the Japanese import, but again, I'm out of the loop on it.

Though if you going to get the soft pads, I'd really try to go out of your way and spend the extra bling on the official Konami pads, they were very excellent. But I must stress, it's been 3 years and back then the knock-off pads were so dire, I'm sure they've gotten a bit better now.

DavePack

Hey Darth, I had very similar questions a few months back. I'm a pretty big guy myself, so I too was concerned about possible weight limits. Still, I wanted to get into DDR as a nice way to exercise in addition to the Weight Watchers program I was doing.

I picked up the Madcatz pad from Best Buy, and I've had no problems with it. It seems to register steps very well. It does tend to slip around slightly on our berber carpet after a song, but it's not a big deal. If you look around, there are plenty of instructions out there on how to "mod" your pad so it doesn't slip. My wife wants to put some of that rubbery stuff you can line kitchen cabinets with, and I'm guessing that'll do a great, simple job of keeping it from sliding around at all while playing.

I think the berber carpet in my case makes a big difference, though. If it were on my older carpet, it'd probably slide all over the place.

I see that the Ignition dance pads are highly regarded, but they're expensive. I'm looking into the $100 Ignition pad with the pad inside of it as a possible option down the line, as a comfort thing. Overall, though, this biggun has no problem using a simple Madcatz pad with DDR. Believe me, I was expecting the game to come back and say "Hey, one person on the mat at a time, please" but it didn't.

Mazje

Thanks for the advice both of you (and the laughs, Dave). I'm thinking of just buying the game and grabbing a couple cheap pads off ebay (seem to go 2 for 10 or 20) just to get started, so it's good to hear it'll support us hefty-sized dancers. I just had this fear of dropping 60 bucks on game/pads and stepping up for my first game to a big old CRUNCH!

Miami Joe

I've got the game for the Xbox (ultramix) and stepped up to an Ignition type pad from a place called Level 6. It has been great and only was like $50 as I remember. Same pad as the $100 variety with the hard pad insert with the "raised" arrows. I would recommend it highly. I think it's www.levelsix.com
(I don't work for them or know them, just bought the pad and think it's great... by the way, the Konami pad that came with it works great too. I went to OfficeMax and bought a desk chair pad that goes on carpet (that you roll the chair on) and it works great with the Konami pad) Good luck!