DDR n00b -- Dance Mat Question
 

Well, my wife recently requested I get a DDR game for us to play. Since that's her first video game request since we demo'd Bust A Move (aka Bust A Groove) in Japan in '98, I figured I'd better get it.
I saw that the Mad Catz Beat Pads were on sale this week at BB for $19.99. and I figured that $30 for 2 (a/c) was a pretty good deal. Now I look at the user reviews at ebgames.com and they're mostly terrible. Are these pads going to be useless? Are there better ones that are inexpensive? I know Fry's is always selling some type but I never checked the price. Should I return these and get different ones? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I bought one of those Mad Catz Beat Pads - I suppose it depends on how extensive and intensive your use of the pads will be. If you and your wife don't play on the heaviest settings, I think it might be alright. However, If you play at heavy, I think the life of the pad decreases dramatically - I know after about 50 hours or so of play on "Heavy" the pad started experiencing glitches.

I've heard that the Konami ones are probably the best of the soft pads (they make the DDR game, after all).

That the one I have, since it came with the Xbox DDR Ultramix package, and I don't really have many complaints about it.

Thanks. As the Mad Catz mat comes with a 5-yr warranty, I'm not as worried about it's durability. I just registered both. I hope they're OK. I saw there were some cheap mats on Ebay, but the seller is charging $22 to ship them, and that smells fishy to me. If these suck, I can still return them to BB.

A friend of mine is a hardcore DDR'er, he's gone through pretty much every pad on the market. He's got a couple of the top-o-the-line pads... around $300 each... and he loves them. He's a big guy, so all the soft pads broke easily as he kept getting better and more intense. But I've played with him on these, and it's practically like the arcade:
https://host156.ipowerweb.com/~cobal...oducts/Pad.jpg

Anyways, you should be good with the 5-year warranty on the Mad Catz. I just like talking about my friend's pads because they're sweet. But like I said, he's a hardcore DDR player. If you just want to get some pads to jump around on every once in awhile... go cheap. It all depends on you're gaming. You wouldn't buy a Porsche if you just needed to go out grocery shopping once a week.

I've been a hardcore DDR freak for a couple of years now. I swear by the Red Octane stuff - their hard pad ("Ignition" - $60) is supposed to be good, and I own one of their metal pads ($200) that I find to be excellent.

- David Stein

-gulp- $200 is a little steep for me. I saw that soft Red Octane pad for $50 at EB games. I guess I could look into it, but I'd sure prefer to spend $30 to $100 if it's playable.

I must say, it's thrilling to watch really good DDR players. My daughter and I sat in rapt awe at Fry's as we watched a couple work a pair of mats with feet flying , racking up scores greater than a half-million without any seeming effort. It was really a sight to behold. I'm in no danger of ever being remotely that good.

Not sure if you know, but there is a whole trend of people using DDR to exercise and lose weight... may convience you to get the metal one since it would be a fun and healthy solution.... who knows if some health insurance companies would pay for part of it (probably not :))

I saw a pad at frys that looked just like the arcade I think it was almost 500 bucks.

I would suggest getting the Mad Catz pad from Electronics Boutique. You will pay alittle more but you can get a warranty there, for an extra $3, where you just return it when it eventually breaks (which it will). The warranty that comes with the pad is all for show. From what I've heard it doesn't cover failings that come from regular use also you are responsible for shipping which equals out the extra cost for the warranty at EB and you don't have to wait the time to have it shipped and returned. Also I would recommend going up to Lowes. They should have an 8' x 4' particle board for about $15. Just get it cut into the size of the pad (can't remember the exact dimensions) and then just tape them down with packing tape. This will increase the life of the pad and prevent sliding and bunching of the pad when you move up to Standard and Heavy modes.