Dance Dance Revolution

[Bigfoot]

Here's a video of my friend getting 1 pad great on Mythology Expert.

And I did this on Friday, woo. I love random 1st try AAAs.

[atmuh]

sucks

all the arcades near me are dieing because fags who play video games are too lazy to leave their houses

there isnt an extreme machine for miles

[Trash Man]

The way I got my arrow graphics in was I cut TWO pieces of 1/8 inch Lexan (It's cheaper than polycarbonate and just about as strong, the only downside is that it will shatter if the stress limit is broken, but trust me, you'd have to weight 500lbs to do so, or hit it with a hammer). I put the graphic in-between the two pieces of Lexan and left enough space for an edge bordering the entire thing. Then I just used plastic bonding glue and wammo, graphic arrows.

Also, it looks like you used the more expensive kind of wood. I simply just bought two big pieces of plywood (total 14 bucks), then some other thin wood for making the arrow wells and the spacing required for the sensors. I used 3 2x4 beams to go underneath the first plywood layer, and then underneath the 2x4s I made a bottom panel that comes off so I could access the wiring. I used terminals to allow the addition of ANY new controller if I plan it.

You can actually skip on the sheet metal covering if you want. The only thing YOU Actually need sheet metal for is making the sensors. You also DON'T HAVE to use weather stripping to make the space like some say. And I actually recommend against it. I made a 1/16" Space by just using a thin wood boarder around the well. It made them super sensitive and the off response was very good.

Edit: details on how I recommend making the sensors.. First, solder the wire to a piece of sheet metal that will cover the entire bottom surface of the arrow well. Use strong glue (I used gorilla glue) and glue the sucker to the wood. Make sure the arrow well border where the arrow will rest on is only 1/16 inch tall and that it goes in about 1/2 inch or so. Now, solder another piece of sheet metal that will fit just on top of the other one. Same size and everything.. Then, GLUE this sucker to the arrow on top of it.. IF you really are worried about the solder joint coming loose, you can rig a thin strip across one of the well edges and solder to that instead, and just glue a metal piece to the arrow that sticks out over it. IF you are having problems with it warping and the off time being bad, then your metal is too thick, or you are covering up the edges of the well which is why it doesn't want to come back up or go down fast enough. I hope my advice made sense. If you do it right, you will have super super sensitive arrows. Also, make sure you use sand paper in the area you will solder on, It allows for a much better solder joint.

Edit again: BTW, you do NOT need any cushions. Yeah, I know it may be hard to believe, but trust me, as long as the border is 1/16 inch and you have gaps to allow air out, you'll be fine. Also, from looking at that picture, it appears you are attempting to do the method where they make the sensors on the edges of the well. I recommend against this method, because it's not as accurate as the sheet metal method. If that's not what those black things are, then I apologize for my assumption.

So, if you skip the sheet metal covering (I didn't but I know it would save a good amount of money), you can just use the brackets to hold your arrows in place. I actually skipped the brackets part, because I instead just made a lip border that holds the arrows in place. It also makes it easier in the event something goes wrong, since I have no skrews to undo.

Personally, I never used a guide online, I saw them and never trusted them as some of their ideas looked hacky at best. I never looked at the ones you guys just linked though.

The absolute most expensive part of the pad may be buying a controller to sacrifice. I just bought some pads that were for both Xbox and PS2 and gutted their controller parts because it was perfect for soldering, and wasn't made of that cheap plastic thing that PS2 official controllers use (Don't make the mistake I did and try to gut those). Those soft pads were like 30 bucks each, and I was willing to do it. You can prolly get the even cheaper kind and gut them and it might be the same way they do the controller. It's probably much easier to solder those than regular controllers.

Whatever you do, make sure you plan it out before you go and do it. Make sure you will have the proper tools like a good soldering kit and a good knife to cut the polycarbonate/lexan (that stuff can be a pain to cut, trust me).

[Bigfoot]

sucks

all the arcades near me are dieing because fags who play video games are too lazy to leave their houses

there isnt an extreme machine for miles

My location for dance games was pretty bad back in the day. I used to have to travel over an hour to play on a good machine.

Luckily, my friend is a manager at the place where the Extreme machine is, and our ITG2 machine is owned by a really nice guy(Owns the park I mean), and the arcade manager listens to any problems we have. He even gave me his email address if the pads start acting up at all.

But yeah, our player count isn't as big as it used to be years ago, but there's a good 5-6 regulars.

[Trash Man]

The arcade I have, hardly has any regulars. I know because my scores are still there and it's been two weeks. And they weren't very good scores either. In a way I guess it's a good thing, because well, sometimes the people who are good at it hog the machine all day, and then when you play they purposely try to mess you up.

Though most of the times, when I encountered regulars, they were polite enough and actually wanted to play the game with me.

IMO, a good player is one that does not have to harass others because they don't do as good as he/she does. I may be able to AA 9 footers, but I won't go making fun of somebody because they can't.

[Drack]

I played Pump It Up over the weekend. It's an interesting take on the DDR style of games. The game and pad have 5 places to step, one in every corner and one in the center. On top of that, the game's selection is very cool, including an album of remixed classical songs.

[Broken]

I played Pump It Up over the weekend. It's an interesting take on the DDR style of games. The game and pad have 5 places to step, one in every corner and one in the center. On top of that, the game's selection is very cool, including an album of remixed classical songs.

Yeah, pump is great if you give it a chance. Bigfoot, I know the arcade experince is a lot better if the manager of the store that has the machines knows what he's doing and listens to the players. That's why I enjoy going to the card shop (where I know the staff and they listen to me usually) which has PUI and why I dislike going to PutPut (who clearly only has DDR as a secondary method of revenue and does nothing to entice players to come there.)

TrashMan and PowerSurge, thanks for the tips on pad making. It really helps when someone with experience gives you advice.

[eternal Zero]

PIU is harder for smaller people to get into...not to be rude, but it just requires covering more distance. You either see taller guys and gals or little kids who jump the distance playing it. You'll rarely see the casual DDR player who's shorter being able to play PIU with some proficiency. I do enjoy it, but just not as much as DDR or ITG.

I haven't played in arcade since school let out (RU has a couple in the student center, an extreme and a supernova, really sweet deal @ 50 cents/3 songs, a rare find in this day and age). I have a couple of cobalt fluxes here at home though, so I don't mind too much. (Yea, I'm too lazy to make my own pads and I spoiled myself with them.) The only thing I wish I had is the back bar you need for the hardest songs when you're not uber amazing...32nd note runs make me lose balance far too quickly when I don't have a bar. (Think Anubis on expert. I can easily get an S/S- in the arcade, but fail every time at home...)

Edit: Forgot to mention...Bigfoot...you're one of those guys who's big enough to hit multiple arrows with the same foot. ::glare:: That's what holds me back on a LOT of ITG.

[Bigfoot]

I like PIU, but there's not any good locations to play around here. :[ But I do hate the Nightmare difficulty because I suck at playing doubles in general.

[DarkAura]

My location for dance games was pretty bad back in the day. I used to have to travel over an hour to play on a good machine.

Luckily, my friend is a manager at the place where the Extreme machine is, and our ITG2 machine is owned by a really nice guy(Owns the park I mean), and the arcade manager listens to any problems we have. He even gave me his email address if the pads start acting up at all.

You're lucky. I have to travel 45 minutes to play a DDR machine, and I would have to travel nearly 4 hours to find an ITG2 machine...

[Trash Man]

I have to travel 30 mins to get to the good DDR machine (Supernova, oh yeah). And only 10 mins to get to the ITG machine, but the people who play there are real jerks, so I avoid it. The arcade is in a bad bad side of town, and like all the punks go there. It's like this strip mall right off the street and they just leave the doors open and the ITG machine is like right there.

Terrible. It's nice to go to the supernova machine though, not so many jerks go there. Sad part is, not so many regs go there either.

[Drack]

PIU is harder for smaller people to get into...not to be rude, but it just requires covering more distance. You either see taller guys and gals or little kids who jump the distance playing it. You'll rarely see the casual DDR player who's shorter being able to play PIU with some proficiency. I do enjoy it, but just not as much as DDR or ITG.

Interesting that you say that. I'm tall but the first thing I noticed when I played PIU is how big the pad was. Mathematically, with the steps in the corners you need to move sqrt(2)x the distance. I think a smaller pad would help this game a lot.

[Trash Man]

I'm 6' 1.5", and I weigh 180 pounds (that weight won't be going down either, as it's not fat). And yeah, I noticed that most people who reg DDR seem to be on the short side (no offense). I wonder if it's easier because of that. Maybe somebody can clarify that. It took me I think 2 years to get to where I am now, which feels like it took longer than it should.

[Broken]

I'm 6' 1.5", and I weigh 180 pounds (that weight won't be going down either, as it's not fat). And yeah, I noticed that most people who reg DDR seem to be on the short side (no offense). I wonder if it's easier because of that. Maybe somebody can clarify that. It took me I think 2 years to get to where I am now, which feels like it took longer than it should.

I always thought that heavier people and people with a lower center of gravity had an advantage because they don't have to step with as much force as a lighter person or someone who is taller. That's just my personal bias though. It's probably not true.

[Bigfoot]

Yeah, being tall, it sucks hitting the down arrow sometimes on fast streams.

[eternal Zero]

Interesting that you say that. I'm tall but the first thing I noticed when I played PIU is how big the pad was. Mathematically, with the steps in the corners you need to move sqrt(2)x the distance. I think a smaller pad would help this game a lot.

A smaller pad wouldn't be very viable in my opinion because you want the space for the middle button or you might hit multiple or notes by accident which isn't allowed in PIU (afaik...might have changed with newer mixes).

Yeah, being tall, it sucks hitting the down arrow sometimes on fast streams.

But the fact that you have big feet means you don't have to bother with squatting down to hit multiple arrows in ITG or PIU. My feet barely make it, so I don't always get the notes, so I just exert the extra energy and use my hands...but it gets so tiring.

[Trash Man]

I think you'd have to be a size 13 or 14 to be able to hit two arrows with one foot. I know I can't do that, and I have size 11.5 shoes.

Also, my biggest problem, probably from being so heavy as well as tall, is jumps at really fast succession. Or hitting the same arrow over and over like how some of the Paranoias have you do that (luckily it's not enough to screw up my AA).

songs like Legend of Max, I just can't do because the jumps are ridiculous. Others like Paranoia Survivor and PSM are easy because the jumps aren't there. There's like only 3 songs I can't do:

Legend of Max

FaxX

Felm

I can't do FaxX because it's too fast to understand.

I can almost do Felm, but the slow down things mess me up big time.

Keep in mind, I don't use the bar, and this is probably what's keeping me from passing them. However, I prefer to stay away from the bar, so if I can't pass them, then so be it. Someday I'll get there.

[Ghetto Lee Lewis]

I don't play at arcades anymore. It's usually so loud or the machine not loud enough (especially not enough bass) I can't keep rhythm to the song. I get AAA's on my redoctane pad at home and can't even get AA on supernova.

ITG just pisses me off. I failed a song because I hit too many of the stupid mines. All they do is make you jump off the pad to throw you off balance and it ruins the fun.

As for playing with mods, I only use them to make the game harder, never as a crutch (used to playing Bag on Oni mode).

[Bigfoot]

I usually play with speed mods and use the bar, but lately I've been playing all of the oni courses(except legend road) on our Extreme machine without using the bar. It's pretty fun.

[Broken]

I use mods. I don't see why deciphering the arrows should be a hassle. For me it's all about step patterns; those are what should be difficult.

And mines are gay. especially when the appear suddenly (speed up suddenly and cover the entire pad.) Is it true that hitting a mine doesn't break your combo/lower your score? If it is then, I'm going to be a lot less timid around them.

[Bigfoot]

Hitting a mine does lower your score and health bar, but it doesn't break your combo. They're also very annoying when you hit them, so i'd just try to avoid them as much as you can lol.

Some charts try to fool you and make you think you have to avoid them, but you don't.

[bmhedgehog]

id take it no one has The Cult of Gnosyillis from DDR Ultramix 3?

[DarkAura]

I'm looking around for Cult, but the closest I could find was just the music, with no steps.

[bmhedgehog]

ok ill take the music. I can run it through the dancing gorillia

[sonicbhoc]

Well, I take it then that there's no place that has all of the official steps for every song in Ultramix 3... My copy got destroyed by my xbox and I want to play it again, but I can't. So I thought that I could find simfiles for all of them...