Best Quality Dance Pads for Serious DDR Players

Dance Dance Revolution has evolved to be one of the trendiest games. There is a huge following and people always await the next release. For the people that have lived under a rock or in Amish areas DDR is a game where players dance to a song by stepping to the beat and pressing arrows on the dance pad in conjunction to the arrows that appear on the screen. The Dance Pad that you play on is very important. If you are a serious player or you foresee a large ammount of usage you need to consider a top end pad. I would like to provide you with the latest info on the Best pads availible.

The following review will cover the following Dance Pads…

• ION Master
• ION Pro
• Energy Arcade

First up is the DDR ION Master PadAfter numerous designing, engineering, prototyping and testing sessions, the newly designed commercial grade iON Master Arcade Metal Dance Pad has finally arrived. Our goal is to develop the industry’s greatest DDR arcade metal dance pad for both exercising and gaming purposes. The iON Master Arcade Metal Dance Pad is excellent for both beginners and aggressive advanced players; most importantly, the iON Master Arcade Metal Dance Pad is designed for fitness exercise players. The iON Master Arcade Metal Dance Pad utilizes Soft Bounce Advanced Technology; it is designed to extend DDR game play. Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) games require heavy stomping and players can become fatigue easily. The soft bounce effect absorbs your energy from your ankle, resulting in less stomping on the rigid arrow panel. You can now extend DDR game play, have a longer exercises and burn more calories at the same time.

Most importantly, the iON Master Arcade Metal Dance Pad is well designed in material and structure. Utilizing heavy duty stretched metal, the iON Master Arcade Metal Dance Pad is significantly stronger and thicker, with weights distributed to the perimeter, the iON Master Arcade Metal Dance Pad has increased stability and longer life span than any other metal dance pads in the market. Many metal pads in the market cannot absorb the heavy stomping, which results in bent or cracked arrows. With all these great improvements, the iON Master Arcade Metal Dance Pad will be your best bang for the buck.

The iON Master Arcade Metal Dance Pad also has enhanced thick metal panels, which are now raised so that you can sense your position on the metal dance pad. The raised buttons help those who tend to lose their positions on the dance pad, and make their game play even more precise. More over, the handle bar of the iON Master Arcade Metal Dance Pad has been greatly improved, and it provides extra stability and durability. This is perfect for advanced, aggressive players. The iON Master Arcade is suitable for both commercial, school, recreational facilities and home use.

The iON Master Arcade Metal Dance Pad is a master piece to master the Dance Dance Revolution game.

Next up is the ION Pro

This commercial graded iON Pro metal pad manufactures with the brake through new Tapeswitch sensor technology. The design of Tapeswitch is extremely sensitive product for electronic signaling and sensing applications. This is a similar sensor technology utilized in the DDR Arcade Machine. The new iON pro metal pad is incredibly heavy duty. Such a super quality metal pad is definitely the ideal solution for commercial or home use.

Next up is the Energy Arcade

This incredible dance pad features the super sensitive-definitely no more delay technology with our brand new look design and offers 3 in One multi-platform plug works flawlessly with the PS&PS2, Xbox, and PC via USB. From complete novices to experienced experts, you can now experience skill level that can match your abilities. Whether you are competing against the challenge of the game or you are seeking particular opponents to match your wits and dexterity, this Energy Series will provide you with a completely new and rich experience.

Dance Dance Revolution - 5 Tips to Greatly Improve Scores

So you picked up Dance Dance Revolution did you? Good for you, it’s a fun game that you’ll surely enjoy. I’m sure you’ve watched someone that was really good and thought, “Wow, how are they that good?” These 5 tips will help you get there!

Don’t Put Your Feet In the Middle

This is the one I see the most and it drives me nuts every time I see it. There is no penalty for leaving your foot on the arrow, so leave it there. NEVER bring it back into the middle. If you do that, you’re doing twice the work, once to the arrow, then once back to the middle. Your feet should never be in the middle.

Alternate Feet as Much as Possible

I’ve noticed a lot of people seem to have a “favorite” foot that they use whenever possible. Avoid this, high speed songs need both feet. Do your best to alternate your feet on every arrow.

Learn to do Crossovers

Going along with the last tip, learn crossovers. They are effective, look cool, and are a must for nearly every tough song. Picture you are alternating feet. Lets say you start with a left (with your left foot), down (with your right), then right (with your left). You’ll see you have to “crossover” your body to get your left foot there. That’s it! It’ll feel weird at first, but you have to do it to get good. A lot of songs go “left, down, right, down, left, down, right, etc” in fast fashion. Imagine trying to do that without a crossover! Try “spin the disc” standard if you have that song for a good practice. Very hard songs will make that even worse, with a series like “left, down, right, UP”…try that one out for a second and you’ll see the problem. That is called a “spin” and those look awesome but are VERY hard.

Learn Gallops

You’ve probably seen these too. A bunch of 1/4 notes followed by a 1/16th note. It’s hard to explain, you’ll know them when you see them. You have to “gallop” to do them. Almost bounce to them. It’s almost like doing a jump (two arrows at a time), but one foot falls just a split second behind the other. Songs like Tsugaru use them.

Don’t Stomp

I see this one a lot too. People just stomping on the pad. While I understand it isn’t truly dancing, flow with it a bit. Don’t stand there, arms stiffly to your side, stomping like a mad man. Flow with the song as if you were dancing. Don’t be afraid to get your arms into it. Bystanders will enjoy it too if you really get into it. “Cowgirl” is a fun one to pretend to be whirling a lasso above your head during the song. Stomping also slows you down a lot. It takes a lot of energy to stomp and is very slow. Just step to the beat.

Those 5 quick tips should really help a staring player get a good foundation at playing DDR! Just remember, NO feet in the middle, alternate those feet, learn crossovers and gallops, and do NOT stomp!