Buying DDR

bloodatonement

So my wife has taken to playing DDR when we hit up the arcades. Last night she expressed a desire to have DDR at home. Saw DDR 3 w/mat over at Amazon for $25 and seemed like a good deal. I have a few questions though:

How well does a soft dance pad like that work on carpet?

We also have a Wii, any significant difference between getting it for 360 vs Wii?

EliteLamer

Soft pads on carpet work not well from my understanding but you could always put something under it to solve that problem.

MoSiAc

The soft mat works terrible on carpet, they like to slip unless you place something on them to keep them from doing so. I think they have pads on the bottom that are supposed to stop that but they don't do an amazing job.

You could try to help reduce the slip with probably with some extra velcro on the bottom to grip the carpet a bit but this might damage your carpet.

Madpanda

Walmart/target has this no slip material used for I think holding rugs in place on carpet that works pretty well for hard pads. Might work ok for soft pads.

I'll see if I can find a link to it.

Without actually touching it I am pretty sure this is it

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/187-8838564-2250732?asin=B001ST6Z4W&AFID=Froogle_df&LNM=|B001ST6Z4W&CPNG=home%20decor&ref=tgt_adv_XSG10001

I've had a decent sized square for years and I play 2-3 times a week on a hard mat with only that no slip stuff between the pad and carpet.

I dont think Wii vs 360 makes any difference. The main thing to pay attention to is the actual songs featured in the mix you are looking at. Google for a full tracklist for the version you are looking at, in this case universe 3. There are even tracklist differences between arcade and console versions with the same name so keep that in mind.

bloodatonement

Hmm, well maybe I can get a small one of those rolling chair pads. Might add some stiffness and grip for the pad.

Cool, thanks.

darkmayo

the cheap pads suck and will break, but since they are cheap its not too bad.

Mmmm... Cocks...

Duct taping them to a piece of wood works wonders. It sounds cheap, but so is the pad.
If she gets into enough, surprise her with a better pad.

As for the different versions, look at the playlists, but that typically won't get you very far (as a alot are crazy japanese songs you've never heard of)
Just read some reviews, over the years I've heard some DDR games are "teh suck" while others are amazing compilations. Shouldn't be to hard to find which is which.

Peen

We use ours on carpet, it works ok. We're having some trouble now with the sensors migrating inside the pads, we've got to smooth them out well, but we're not rolling them up anymore and that seems to help. I liked the older style ps2 pads that had the stiff foam inside but they don't make them like that anymore.

mully

Your best bet is to fork out the cash and get a thick foam dance mat. The ddr pads that are just like, vinyl, will bunch up and are not as accurate.

Here is what I'm talking about that you should consider purchasing instead:



It has a zipper along the side that keeps the foam in, it's much more pleasant to play the game on.

Peen

That's exactly the kind I meant mully, do they still sell those for the new consoles?

TDawg

If your wife still on the beginning difficulty in DDR, the soft pad shouldn't be that much of an issue. Even medium difficulty is workable. I would honestly buy the game as-is to begin with since its not very expensive, and if she really wants to upgrade, then upgrade to a nicer mat. I know a lot of people don't like playing DDR at home nearly as much as they do at the arcade, so a low entry point is good for testing the water.

If you want to upgrade, Google search suggests that mods are one way to go, but I can tell you its more trouble than its worth by just looking at it. The ideal solution is the foam-insert pads that have already been mentioned, though I don't know which current models are the best for which system.

bloodatonement

Cool thanks for all the input. $25 seems like a good starting point and if she likes it I know what to upgrade to.

cj iwakura

Soft pads are really worthless for anything above beginner level. If you're going to play on anything at Standard and up, you're better off getting a Red Octane fusion(or something similar). They're soft pads with a foam insert, and even work for expert level.

For the price and effort that modding the soft pads requires, I'd suggest just getting a nice one from the start.


Regarding the versions: Universe(360)'s songlist has a more trance/techno/'hard' atmosphere going.

The Wii DDRs are mostly party music with really easy charts. If you want casual play, you want Hottest Party. If you want the more challenging versions, Universe.


The PS2 overall has the best variety, since it had upwards of eight versions made for it.