I'm thinking of buying a new pad also for very casual use at home. I'm not a DDR fanatic so a cheap pad is good. The React looks nice but if its the same as the ignition, why is it so much cheaper? Which of the 2 would be best price for quality wise?
Also, you guys speak of a "pinnacle" of DDR, but isnt the only difference the songs? And if so, isnt that completely based on preference? I happen to like Fallout Boy.
It's so much cheaper because: 1. it's not red octane, 2. it's slightly less quality wise. It slips a little more, the pads aren't as good, though they do hold up for as long.
As for the pinnacle...IMO the DDR and ITG scene isn't that bad in Ohio. There's still a few arcades with a solid DDR/ITG scene. I can also name at least 4-5 places within a 30-40 minute drive with a machine. So it's not totally turned to shit. It's not as good as it used to be, but it's not totally shit yet. Also, if you like FOB, then whatever. You're in the vast minority. It's also not only on the songs. There's the amount of songs on a machine, there's difficulty and different mods you can throw on (for instance, extreme and 5th mix machines had next to no mods, supernova is a little better, ITG still kicks ass mods wise), how they run extra stage, scoring (supernova is VASTLY different scoring wise than extreme).
One more question, does anyone have any experience playing on carpet floors?
Carpet is actually better in some cases. It really depends on the carpet. Your biggest worry is the mat slipping and sliding around.
Actually, one thing you have to worry about is the strength of the floor. Playing in a basement is best. Playing in a loft is a very bad idea. You don't want a floor that will fall apart, and you don't want a floor that will make lots of noise and disturb others.
One more question, does anyone have any experience playing on carpet floors?
Yes- don't do it. Honestly, if you want to play seriously, just go to an arcade. Cause as is, you'd have to pay for gas and tokens. At home, you'd have to pay for the games (which have limited selections compared to machines), pads, pad replacements, ways to secure the pad on the floor, if you want to get really serious- a metal pad...which costs about 6mo-1yr in tokens (depending on how often you play)....so yeah.
And if you don't want to play seriously- don't care where you play the game at...
I've never had a problem with carpet floors, even with metal pads.
More to the point, DDR is all but dead on the coasts, so you're hard-pressed to find a machine anywhere. The ones you do find are usually in dives or busted old bowling alleys and barely work. Unless you play at home, there's nowhere to play.
Rym, you haven't been to wildwood.. There is about 15 machines there...
Yes, in Wildwood, where there are arcades. There are more DDR machines in Wildwood than there are in Manhattan! And most of the ones in Manhattan don't work!
I've never had a problem with carpet floors, even with metal pads.
Well, with metal it matters a bit less on what floor you play on, as far as I'm concerned. Then again, with soft pads, they'll slip on just about anything.
More to the point, DDR is all but dead on the coasts, so you're hard-pressed to find a machine anywhere. The ones you do find are usually in dives or busted old bowling alleys and barely work. Unless you play at home, there's nowhere to play.
Blanket statements FTL! Using the DDRfreak machine locator, I've found that there are 11 machines within 20 miles of where I live (which is a tiny suburb of Cleveland, BTW). ITG on the other hand is a little less fortunate- 2 machines within 20 miles...but whatever. 1 machine within ~5 miles, so that's cool.
But you know what? That's still good as far as I care. Sure, there aren't 50 machines within 10 miles of me. But why would that matter? Why would there be a need for a shitload of machines in a small area?
I've found that there are 11 machines within 20 miles of where I live (which is a tiny suburb of Cleveland, BTW).
Yes. Exactly my point. There were originally a ton of machines on the west coast, and we out on the east were desperate for them. Then they sprang up everywhere in the east as the falling demand on the west freed up cheap machines. Now that demand has declined in the east, most of the machines have migrated to the middle parts of the US.
Here in DC the DDR scarce is true. The only DDR machines are at Springfield Mall in VA. A mall that went downhill and the only reason to go there is for DDR. Never seen one in the city itself. I think there's one at Six Flag America though.
Thanks Dkong1026, I found a machine that's a high-quality original Japanese import DDR machine that's about a 20 minute drive from my house. It's at some hotel and conference place. I was able to play in there arcade and they don't care if I'm a Guest or no. The best part is that they allow free access to the volume so I can crank it when I'm the only one in there.
I went to the place closest to me and the machine was great. Thanks too Dkong1026 for the location map. It's a DDR Extreme machine, the same I've played before. It had a lot of the songs I like and all the songs are unlocked. I'm sure I'll be there at opening tomorrow when none of the pesky kids are there. They kept staring at me with there mouth open and looked at me like I'm weired. Whatever. And the College kid working there was more than happy to crank up the volume for me. I'm rambling now. I'm done. Oh and here's the machine I played at. Too bad I don't have anyone to play Doubles with DDR in Wisconsin
Oh, are there any machines at RIT, I'm thinking about going there for college. Well there seems to be at least 6 machines in Rochester.
Where on the Internaught can I go or can you guys give advance and some hints, on how to become better at the game. I'm play mostly the DDR: Hottest party for the Wii, Yes I'm a noob, And I'm okay on a lot of the basic level songs but I want to get better at DDR in general.
One other problem is that when I play in the arcades on a DDR extreme machine, the beginner songs are too easy and the light songs are to hard for someone at my level. Anything I'm missing on the Machine? a setting of sorts?
Could appreacite to help. I feel like I hit a wall in becoming better at the game. Hope someone can help.
1) Don't bring your feet back into the middle of the pad. Both feet should be on arrows at all times. 2) Rotate your hips. If you lock your hips facing forward, you will fail. You need to turn your body to the left and to the right. 3) Learn the tricks for certain patters. For example, let's say the arrows are left, up, right, up, left, up, right, up. Some people will face forward hit left with the left foot, up with the right foot, right with the right foot, up with the left foot, left with the left foot, up with the right foot, etc. What you want to do is rotate your body sideways. Put the right foot on the up arrow. Then hit all the lefts and rights with the left foot, but hit all the ups with the right foot.
Thanks, I started to do the hips moving, and I've figured out that if I move from the center when possible it helps. Like up, left, up, left, down of sorts, I'll usaaly move to the Top left of the pad. and put my feet on the Up and Left or Up and Down facing Left. Stuff Like that helps, What I've also figured out was that Using your toes helped a lot.
What's funny is that the first time I played, It was on a DDR extreme machine and the instruction video showed the kid standing in the center. Which is why I sucked for a couple months until the lesson by DJ on DDR Hottest party, in which he said, "feet on the left and right don't go to the center."
Speaking of Hottest Party, rumor of a squeal by the holidays is spreading.
Edit: Help Which knob is for volume?
Youtube is of very little help. for tutorials.
Which of the PlayStation 2 games are the best? I'm thinking of picking up a Red Octane pad and a PS2. or should I stick with Step Mania and the DDR songs pack I downloaded?
Good god. There is an edit button, you know. No need to quad post.
One other problem is that when I play in the arcades on a DDR extreme machine, the beginner songs are too easy and the light songs are to hard for someone at my level. Anything I'm missing on the Machine? a setting of sorts?
Scott already gave some good advice. But I'll give some basic advice: look at the foot rankings for each song. The circled area is the foot ranking. Try to keep within a certain foot number. For instance, some light songs can get up to 7-8, which will absolutely rape you, as a newbie player. Try to stick within the 2-4 (honestly, I think 1 can be skipped by anyone) foot ranking until you're confident that you can move up. That means you have options in Beginner, Light, and even some Standard songs (not many, though). As you move up, a lot of people tend to go from light, to standard, then to heavy...it really works better if you go by feet. There are easily a lot of heavy songs (butterfly, golden sky, etc) that are easier than some standard songs (max 300, legend of max, etc), so it really is important to move up by the foot rankings.
Where is the coast in Cleveland?
Somewhere near the lake....
middle parts of the US.
Damn, do you guys really think Ohio is middle? You can go two states away and hit the Atlantic Ocean (Virginia Beach). Sure it's not a coastal state, but does that really make it middle? It's more of a "upper right" type of state, far as I'm concerned. Middle, to me, is Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, South Dakota, Colorado, Missouri...and a few others. But I guess if your definition of "middle" is "everything not touching the Pacific or Atlantic", then Ohio is middle. Though, that's a little ass backwards, though, since Texas touches the Atlantic, but it's quite in the middle of the US.
There were originally a ton of machines on the west coast
"were"? According to DDRFreak, there's 382 machines in Cali. That's still a ton, if you ask me, and that's not even including Washington (56) and Oregon (47). Plus, according to DDRfreak, it really seems that the population of a state is in (more or less) direct variation to the amount of machines in it. That being said, NY has the 5th most amount of DDR machines in the country, despite being #3 in the country in population. It's close enough, though. With 92 machines in the state, it's not as if they all got up and left, as you guys seem to be implying... Quality machines, on the other hand, are another story....
According to DDRFreak, there's 382 machines in Cali
There used to be more. California is big: that 382 spreads awfully thin.
Cali has around 13 machines in San Diego, and 8 in LA....hell, just about every city that's listed in DDRfreak's Cali list has at least 2 machines. The ones that have one (or none, I guess, but those wouldn't be on the list) I'm assuming are either close enough to other machines or are a small city, in general.
Really, it's big, but it's not THAT big. I'm sure that almost anywhere you could live in California, there'd be 5 machines within 10-15 miles.
Comments
As for the pinnacle...IMO the DDR and ITG scene isn't that bad in Ohio. There's still a few arcades with a solid DDR/ITG scene. I can also name at least 4-5 places within a 30-40 minute drive with a machine. So it's not totally turned to shit. It's not as good as it used to be, but it's not totally shit yet.
Also, if you like FOB, then whatever. You're in the vast minority. It's also not only on the songs. There's the amount of songs on a machine, there's difficulty and different mods you can throw on (for instance, extreme and 5th mix machines had next to no mods, supernova is a little better, ITG still kicks ass mods wise), how they run extra stage, scoring (supernova is VASTLY different scoring wise than extreme).
Actually, one thing you have to worry about is the strength of the floor. Playing in a basement is best. Playing in a loft is a very bad idea. You don't want a floor that will fall apart, and you don't want a floor that will make lots of noise and disturb others.
And if you don't want to play seriously- don't care where you play the game at...
More to the point, DDR is all but dead on the coasts, so you're hard-pressed to find a machine anywhere. The ones you do find are usually in dives or busted old bowling alleys and barely work. Unless you play at home, there's nowhere to play.
ITG on the other hand is a little less fortunate- 2 machines within 20 miles...but whatever. 1 machine within ~5 miles, so that's cool.
But you know what? That's still good as far as I care. Sure, there aren't 50 machines within 10 miles of me. But why would that matter? Why would there be a need for a shitload of machines in a small area?
Oh and here's the machine I played at. Too bad I don't have anyone to play Doubles with
DDR in Wisconsin
Oh, are there any machines at RIT, I'm thinking about going there for college. Well there seems to be at least 6 machines in Rochester.
One other problem is that when I play in the arcades on a DDR extreme machine, the beginner songs are too easy and the light songs are to hard for someone at my level. Anything I'm missing on the Machine? a setting of sorts?
Could appreacite to help. I feel like I hit a wall in becoming better at the game. Hope someone can help.
2) Rotate your hips. If you lock your hips facing forward, you will fail. You need to turn your body to the left and to the right.
3) Learn the tricks for certain patters. For example, let's say the arrows are left, up, right, up, left, up, right, up. Some people will face forward hit left with the left foot, up with the right foot, right with the right foot, up with the left foot, left with the left foot, up with the right foot, etc. What you want to do is rotate your body sideways. Put the right foot on the up arrow. Then hit all the lefts and rights with the left foot, but hit all the ups with the right foot.
I'll make a video.
I got most of my ddr practice on my ps2 softpad, so my skills on the arcades aren't so good.
What's funny is that the first time I played, It was on a DDR extreme machine and the instruction video showed the kid standing in the center. Which is why I sucked for a couple months until the lesson by DJ on DDR Hottest party, in which he said, "feet on the left and right don't go to the center."
Speaking of Hottest Party, rumor of a squeal by the holidays is spreading.
Edit:
Help
Which knob is for volume?
Youtube is of very little help. for tutorials.
Which of the PlayStation 2 games are the best? I'm thinking of picking up a Red Octane pad and a PS2. or should I stick with Step Mania and the DDR songs pack I downloaded?
The circled area is the foot ranking. Try to keep within a certain foot number. For instance, some light songs can get up to 7-8, which will absolutely rape you, as a newbie player. Try to stick within the 2-4 (honestly, I think 1 can be skipped by anyone) foot ranking until you're confident that you can move up. That means you have options in Beginner, Light, and even some Standard songs (not many, though).
As you move up, a lot of people tend to go from light, to standard, then to heavy...it really works better if you go by feet. There are easily a lot of heavy songs (butterfly, golden sky, etc) that are easier than some standard songs (max 300, legend of max, etc), so it really is important to move up by the foot rankings.
Somewhere near the lake....
But I guess if your definition of "middle" is "everything not touching the Pacific or Atlantic", then Ohio is middle. Though, that's a little ass backwards, though, since Texas touches the Atlantic, but it's quite in the middle of the US. "were"? According to DDRFreak, there's 382 machines in Cali. That's still a ton, if you ask me, and that's not even including Washington (56) and Oregon (47).
Plus, according to DDRfreak, it really seems that the population of a state is in (more or less) direct variation to the amount of machines in it. That being said, NY has the 5th most amount of DDR machines in the country, despite being #3 in the country in population. It's close enough, though. With 92 machines in the state, it's not as if they all got up and left, as you guys seem to be implying...
Quality machines, on the other hand, are another story....
Really, it's big, but it's not THAT big. I'm sure that almost anywhere you could live in California, there'd be 5 machines within 10-15 miles.