Is it worth it to buy dance pads

[Ryan Dorkoski]

I was going to order two dance pads today. Thing is, I will most likely only use the dance pads for CotND.

1. Do many players use the mats regularly? Or is it more 'gimmicky'?

2. There are several mat styles available. I was going to start with the cheapest, and upgrade if I really enjoyed it. Any advice here?

Thanks much,

[John Beaver]

1.I don't have any statistics, I used the Dance pad few times. I don't think it's gimmycky, it's a nice way to play something else than "Stepmania"...
...but the truth is that it's very difficult(the game itself is quite diff by the keyboard, so imagine if you add the "don't twist my legs!!!!!" factor :P)

2.I can tell what I learn from my Stepmania research that I've done few years ago(many not totally up-to-date but still valid). There's 3 category of dance pad:
-plastic Konami bundle ones:the cheapest, durable but slippy, not many feedback(plastic...), responsive for most of them, enough to play. I have a xbox 360 one, and the main problem is just... that it's 360 designed :D (beware that Microsoft wireless protocole is not wifi and finding a driver for those kindof things can be difficult)
-foam ones: the best choices imao, a little bit expensive but affordable, non slip, very responsive, good feedback... durability can be injured if used regularly(I didn't changed the foam, but I know some DDR fanatics who change it each years). Caution: the adapter is crucial, most of those you find are PS2 designed!
-metal ones:I can't tell you anything, this is way out of my budget and not conceivable when you live in appartement :P

those available at ddrgame.com are good deals for me (I got a DDR non slip dance pad Super deluxe version 2, and it's a very good product.)

P.S.: If you're in Europe, futuremax.eu which was the main saler is now closed definetely :(, the site is still on, but don't command to them.
Otherwise, I heard about a Swedish saler which... I can't rememeber the name sorry. I think ebay is the best way nowadays for Europe.

There's surely a lot of good deal, this is not totally exhausting I think

[Ryan Dorkoski]

Originally posted by John Beaver:

1.I don't have any statistics, I used the Dance pad few times. I don't think it's gimmycky, it's a nice way to play something else than "Stepmania"...
...but the truth is that it's very difficult(the game itself is quite diff by the keyboard, so imagine if you add the "don't twist my legs!!!!!" factor :P)

2.I can tell what I learn from my Stepmania research that I've done few years ago(many not totally up-to-date but still valid). There's 3 category of dance pad:
-plastic Konami bundle ones:the cheapest, durable but slippy, not many feedback(plastic...), responsive for most of them, enough to play. I have a xbox 360 one, and the main problem is just... that it's 360 designed :D (beware that Microsoft wireless protocole is not wifi and finding a driver for those kindof things can be difficult)
-foam ones: the best choices imao, a little bit expensive but affordable, non slip, very responsive, good feedback... durability can be injured if used regularly(I didn't changed the foam, but I know some DDR fanatics who change it each years). Caution: the adapter is crucial, most of those you find are PS2 designed!
-metal ones:I can't tell you anything, this is way out of my budget and not conceivable when you live in appartement :P

those available at ddrgame.com are good deals for me (I got a DDR non slip dance pad Super deluxe version 2, and it's a very good product.)

P.S.: If you're in Europe, futuremax.eu which was the main saler is now closed definetely :(, the site is still on, but don't command to them.
Otherwise, I heard about a Swedish saler which... I can't rememeber the name sorry. I think ebay is the best way nowadays for Europe.

There's sorry a lot of good deal, this is not totally exhausting I think

Awesome, thanks for the great info. This is similiar to what my Amazon.com research has found. I think I will try two cheap ones (and maybe try to anchor them down permanently some how). If I got ~10 or more hours out of them, I would upgrade. Thanks again!