Customer Reviews

Dance Pad Non Slip PS2

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

When I first became addicted to dancing games, specifically Dance Dance Revolution, I went right out and purchased a game for the Playstation, along with a pair of Naki dance mats. And for the first few weeks, I really had a lot of fun playing.

Then, I got better. And the pads got worse. As I moved up to harder and faster songs, the mats started sliding around significantly on the carpet. They stopped responding fast enough when I had to step on them quickly. I started to become annoyed with them very quickly, and haven't touched them in months, preferring to play on arcade machines.

The mat is sufficient for a beginning player. But the problem is that no player will stay a beginner for long, and the mat doesn't have the quality to be truly useful for more advanced players. There's also a very significant engineering flaw with the mats - often, you'll step on one of the arrows, and your foot will overlap one of the corner buttons. And when that happens, often no other button on the pad will respond until you've stopped stepping on the multiple buttons at once. When you're playing on a faster song, it becomes very easy for this to occur, and suddenly the controller is not registering steps that you're making. This is not a flaw in the Playstation either - the standard controllers work fine in this situation, and higher quality dance mats don't have that problem either. This is simply a huge engineering flaw in these pads.

So I'd recommend that you stay away from these mats, and find ones of higher quality if you plan on seriously playing dance games on your Playstation. They'll cost more, but they'll also last a lot longer.

This is a warning for everyone...DO NOT BUY THIS PAD UNTIL YOU READ MY REVIEW! I will start off with the bad first. First off, the pad is LESS that 1 inch thick meaning that there is no padding to support your feet. After 30 minutes the MAX your feet will be sore. Second, the no padding means that this pad will rip very easily...yep, after about a month of use the bottom got all ripped up and now it looks all ugly with ductape all over the bottom. Now here's the worst thing with this pad- it slips. If you plan on playing on a hard wood surface then forget it...the pad will slip to the other end of the room before you know it.

Now for the good features...well...err..is cost efficient, extremely cheap compared to the quality pads. You pay for what you get. Umm...it looks nice?? Well thats about all I can think of.

If you an extreme DDR player, then this pad is definately not for you. If you play on basic or light, then you can consider this pad for your starting pad if you have absolutely no money to buy another pad. This is the cheapest and worst kind of pad there is...it will last you for about a month the most. For players like me who play on heavy or even people that play on standard will see that this pad wont even last them through one game. All the slipping and no padding effects your score and your feet. ...

I got a pair of these pads along with my copy of DDRMAX for the Playstation 2. While I had a lot of fun with them in the first few weeks that I owned them, once you become more experienced with them you'd do well to get a sturdier, albeit more expensive pad as soon as possible. Two major problems with these pads caused me to give up on them within 2 months of buying them and to seek a better pad elsewhere.

Problem 1: These pads slide around a bit more than is acceptable when you use them on a carpet. By which I mean you can start with the pad perfectly lined up in front of your TV, but by the end of a medium-level song the pad will be skewed about 10-20 degrees, and that's the sort of thing that can cause you to miss a step or two, which is VERY frustrating for experienced players. They don't slide around so much on wood or stone floors, but I'm guessing the majority of the people who own these pads use them in their living room or bedroom, which are rooms that are carpeted way more often than not.

Problem 2: The pads are pretty flimsy. I found my pad curling up at the rear corners as I used them, which was annoying. The reason for this, I think, is that the foam-rubber-type material on the underside of the pad stretches ever-so-slightly over time, but the material the upper side of the pad is made of does not. As a result, the underside is slightly larger and since the two portions are stitched together, the pad curls up. Another example of the poor quality of this pad is the time I overstepped and my foot came down on the plastic casing at the head of the pad and, well... *CRUNCH*. From then on, any time I used the pad it would not work sometimes, and would cause the game to behave strangely (like a song would end 1 second after it started!). The other pad worked fine for a while, but eventually the cushiness of that pad disappeared and also the accuracy of the sensors. I began to notice that sometimes when I stepped on the pad and tried to hold my foot there, the pad would read it as two quick taps, which is a pain when you hit a note in a song where you are SUPPOSED to keep your foot down for a second or two. Also, the right-arrow "button" stuck occasionally - I'd take my foot off of it and the lights at the top of the pad indicated I was still standing on it. This is beyond frustrating when you're doing well on a song, and even more so when you're doing a song you've done perfectly dozens of times in the past and can no longer get, not due to YOUR lack of skill, but because of the shoddy craftsmanship behind the pad.

In defense of the pads, though, the price is quite reasonable, considering a metal-based, 40 lb pad can cost you hundreds of dollars, and from what I've heard some of them aren't much better in durability than this pad (The Cobalt Flux model pad is excellent, based on things I've read on message board). You could easily buy about 7 of the Naki pads for the price of a more expensive one, and if you don't mind the hassle of replacing them (and you almost certainly WILL). Just be sure to wear socks when you use these pads, despite what the manual says (going barefoot will often cause the pad to stick to the soles of your feet when they sweat). Otherwise, cross your fingers and pray this pad holds out until something better comes along.

most complaints about soft pads can be fixed witha quick trip to home depot and a few bucks

1: mount it on plywood using tape. do not use tacs or nails. use it along the edge of the pad as to not interfere with the sensors.

2: cover the pad with plastic sheeting. (and you though it was only good for protection from terrorists) a thick plastic cover will protect the pad and even allow you to leave your shoes on.

3: Make shure that you turn of the control in the options menu. Otherwise the X/O/Square/Triangle can read as wrong buttons and influence your score. this can happen easily on a soft pad.

4: optionally you can add soft padding (1/4 inch foam works) if you are not going to play with your shoes on to kepp your feet from yelling at you for playing all those hours.

Other reviewers are mistaken. You can step on multiple panels and have arrows register. The X, Square, Triangle and Circle panels can be turned off by setting an option in the menus of the games. If those panels aren't turned off, they act just like the same buttons would on a PSX controller: they all correspond to arrows. If you're stepping on one, you can't register the same arrow with the directional panel. This is how it is supposed to work, not a limitation of the pad.

This is a good soft pad for the money. It's much better than the Mad Catz and similar pads as they don't slide as much and the padding is thicker. It isn't as good as the 1" thick pads, but it also costs about 1/2 the price.

This mat is great for beginners. It won't last too long for advance users but this mat is a great way for a beginners to learn how to play. Some people recommend duct tapping plywood on the bottom of the mat some it responds better, but if you get a mat anywhere, I STRONGLY RECOMMEND getting one on eBay. Usually, they are brand new and factory sealed. They usually come in a sets of two (one for you and a friend) and sell for about $8.50 like this one (either in XBox or PS2) and $15.95 for shipping (The Buy It Now price on eBay is usually $8.50 but you can still bid on it to save a couple of bucks). Shipping for these mats on amazon.com are $4.49 for 3-5 day shipping and $8.98 for two day shipping so you still come out ahead on eBay. I got a mat that retails for $130 (its sort of like the mat that sells for $99 here; its more expensive because it has extra padding and it will last longer) for $20 and $25 dollar shipping. For hardcore fans who really got some moves and play the DDR games a lot, eBay has the metal dance mats with the bar (looks exactly like the one in the arcades) for about $150 (not including shipping). Otherwise, this is an awesome mat but if you want to save money and get one for when a friend comes over, get one on eBay (if you get one on eBay, search ddr or search ddr extreme).

This was the first kind of DDR mat i've ever bought for my DDR game when I got it about 8 months ago. These pads are durable, but better made for beginners. When I play heavy mode songs, I slide clear cut across the carpet, and I dont even push very hard. I reccomend actually buying an official Konami pad, because these stick to the floor better and stay in place. Of course, when I always play against someone, I end up against a wall and my pad rides into it, while my friend is in place the whole time. >>; Do not buy this if your a good DDR player. This is for beginners only.

I really only had a few problems with mine. Ive had them for 8 months and it hasnt ripped or anything. So sometimes the sensors get out of position.. but they do go back. My two pads are fine. Although I usually have to drag my pad back to the other side of the room after I play one heavy song. X_X;

I seem to have had a different relationship with this pad. I bought this new along with a copy of DDRMAX. I have yet to encounter any slipping or ripping problems at all while it was in use (This might be due to the surface I use it on - a plastic carpet pad to protect the carpet underneath from getting ripped up due to office chairs or what-have-you). Yes, the corners do fold up a little due to stretching, but it's negligible, and overall the exterior makeup is fairly sturdy.

The big pitfalls that I've found to this pad are sticking, as mentioned before, and sensor misplacement. Within 3 days of using the pad the up arrow had already gotten to the point where any amount of pressure would light it up for at least 1 second, and the left arrow was heading that way, too. The up arrow's sensor, also, had somehow managed in that amount of time to shift out of place - just standing on the upper half of the center circle would activate it, and consequently most of my attempts to hit the up arrow would miss completely. This made the pad completely undancable, and I'm left feeling bitter and cynical towards the world.

I would definately recommend spending your money on something more durable and less prone to inaccuracies such as this.

I've got two dance pads; one from Mad Katz and this Naki pad. This one is more comfortable, since it's got extra padding on the bottom, and it stays put on my wood floors no matter what I do with it. Unfortunately, it never makes the good grades, because it has a fatal flaw: you can't press two of the same buttons simultaneously.

While this may not seem like a big deal, it comes up quite often for those of us with big feet. You step on the left or right arrow and your foot overlaps the triangle or square. With your other foot, you step on an arrow; you hit it square, "Perfect!" on the beat, but the dance pad won't register the step. "Boo!" There goes you score, your strobe light, your rating... Extremely annoying.

Additionally, the extra padding makes it difficult to fold, and it never seems to lie exactly flat. (Mine always has a hump on the top row.)

I bought this pad as a spare because I was having a group of people over for a party. I brought it out since I didn't want everyone to ruin my better pads and sure enough this thing broke after about 6 hours of playing on it. It is thin and pretty flimsy and my friends who own it have said the same thing. Stick with redoctane and you'll never be sorry you spent the extra money.