The end of an era

Well, it finally happened. The BNS metal pad I bought in September 2002 crapped out on me.

I really can't believe it lasted as long as it did. It was seriously bent when I got it, and the arrows used to stick all the time until I figured out the problem (the metallic tape on the underside of the arrows wears down and sticks to the circuit board - solution, new tape). The arrows are all severely cracked (which began happening less than a month after I got it). The problem there is that the wires connected to the LED lights poke into the plastic and cause cracks along the wires. I figured that out, too, and pulled all the wires out. Now the arrows are all covered with various kinds of tape. Also, the screws are all sharp because I used a power screwdriver to screw them in, and it slipped several times. So all my socks have holes.

Despite *all* of that, it was a great pad. When it was working well, I never missed a step unfairly... and it definitely never budged on the carpet, so no looking down.

Today I tried to play using my wife's Red Octane soft pad. Songs that I AA most of the time, I was getting C's on (like Xenon standard) and songs that I usually A, I was failing (like Rain of Sorrow). Ugh.

Anyway, I'm about to order another metal pad on eBay, for the same price as my last one ($100 + $40 shipping). This time, I'm going with the polycarbonate arrows, which shouldn't break, and I know how to handle the other problems before they happen.

Share your home-pad experiences here, I guess. :)

Whoa, those three things you talked about that happened to your pad are the EXACT same things that my friend has going wrong with his. I guess I'll be talking to him.

My little pad that came with the game broke on me about two months after I bought it, but that would be my fault as I taped a peice of cardboard to the down/back arrow so that I could practice hitting it every time. Now the only thing I can pass with that thing are fairly easy light songs, with a D.

Questions: Is your wife's pad an Ignition pad? And were you just having a problem getting used to it, or is it a stinky pad? I was thinking about getting that particular pad as a replacement, and don't want to buy a pad that's hard to beat songs with.

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Favorite Roald Dahl prank: Placing a dead rat in the evil candy store owner's jar of gobstoppers.

Yes, it's an Ignition pad, and the problem is, it just slides too much, and I can't tell where my feet are, so I'm constantly looking down. I would go so far as to say anyone playing exclusively on one of those pads could probably raise their skill level by 2 feet just by switching to a metal pad.

I'm convinced that people who are used to playing on soft pads compensate for movement. Granted, I don't do 9-footers or anything, but on 7's I manage to get through and they move a good four or five inches through the song.

I have a soft pad and yesterday I played DDR at my local arcade for the first time and I absolutely sucked ass because my pad is much smaller than standard and I was constantly missing arrows.

It also didn't help that the soft pad requires almost no pressure and you need a little stomp on the real machines. Oh well, I guess I need to buy a bigger hard pad, because I really enjoy the game.

If your arcade pad is in good shape, you should not have to stomp.

That's a problem. I don't think I've ever encountered an arcade machine where at least one arrow was less than ideal in terms of being responsive.

The two Magic Mountain arcades in Columbus keep their machines in tip-top shape all the time. The other four machines in town vary from acceptable to unplayable as far as responsiveness goes.

I use a soft pad ($15) mounted with screws and washers ($1) on ply wood ($5), covered in clear vinyl ($1) with pipe cleaners ($2) taped ($1) on to outline the arrows. Doesn't move an inch, I can feel around on the pad, and very responsive. I've been playing very heavily (1-2 hrs. on avg. a day since Sept.) and have no problems so far.

Total cost: $25.

If you'd like more details, I can give them.

Yeah, but that actually requires physical labor and skill.

Yeah, getting a hard pad really didn't help me that much compared to the ignitions. My combos stayed the same but my perfect to great ratio skyrocketed. I guess thats what a Cobalt Flux will do. I highly recomend one. i have come oh so close to AAAing xenon heavy, kakumei heavy, afronova heavy, breakdown heavy, and rythem and police heavy. Before the flux i would get atleast 150 greats on all those songs, now it is no more then ten.

Um, it sounds like the hard pad *did* help you a lot. Going from 150 greats to 10 is awesome.

I have yet to A a song I can A or AA on my soft pads on an arcade machine. I don't know what the deal is, but my performance the the arcade versions just goes to hell.

Maybe it's because I play in shoes on the arcade version and socks on the soft pads at home?

At any rate, it's frustrating.

CP Lady, it's because the grading scale is MUCH harder in the arcade, assuming you're playing 6th, 7th or 8th mix (CP has 8th mix).

At home, a full combo pretty much guarantees you a AA. In the arcade, you have to get 93% perfects to get a AA. To get an A, you have to have, I believe, 80% perfects. So what was a AA at home could be a B or even a C in the arcade.

I have at least 60 AA's on the two PS2 versions, but only 4 AA's in the arcade.
*** Edited 3/5/2004 7:29:46 PM UTC by Den***

OK, I got my new metal pad yesterday. The one I ordered looks like this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3083519489&category=21185
...but what I received in the mail looks a lot different. It has the green diagonal arrows in the top corners, and the bottom corners are dull plastic, not shiny metal. Also, the brackets in the middle are round and have only one screw each, which is good.

At any rate, it looks a lot cooler than my old pad. What's better about it so far is that the arrows are obviously stronger... I was stomping with my shoes and there were no cracking noises, as there were on the first day with my old pad (even in my socks).

Also, it has a solid bottom instead of rubber legs, so it shouldn't bend. And, it has a separate control box for the start and select buttons, instead of the buttons being on the edge of the pad.

It's just as responsive as my old pad.

The bad news is, because it has a solid bottom and not rubber legs, it slides just a little bit. Not enough to affect my play, but I do have to move it a little after a set or two of songs. Also, I was disappointed to see that there is plywood under the arrows, not metal, but it should be fine.

And of course, it has metallic tape under the arrows instead of sheet metal, so I'll have to keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn't start peeling. I've got a brand new roll of such tape for when it does.

See... that's why I can't justify spending that much on a metal pad. If I spent that much, I don't expect to have to perform maintenance on it.

Den, that's the same thing that happened to me. My friend ordered that pad and got a pad that says BNS on it, with white boxes for the X and O buttons. I ordered the same thing and got what you got.

Oh well, my pad's better than his anyway. :)

Edit: Dag yo. Bad spelling. *** Edited 3/11/2004 1:52:24 AM UTC by thepinkdoomofmonkeys***

That's another reason why I'd rather build my own hard pad and/or mod a soft one... if it's screwed up, I've got no one to blame but myself ;)

But like Den said, that requires physical labor and skill...

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Jeff said:See... that's why I can't justify spending that much on a metal pad. If I spent that much, I don't expect to have to perform maintenance on it.

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So I guess you've never bought a car, then...

It's about performance. Once you reach a certain level, soft pads will not allow you to advance any further.

Besides, $89 is not really that much considering the heft of one of these pads. I paid $79 for freaking Karaoke Revolution and a mic. People pay hundreds for those huge tank-game controllers.

For that matter, my dad spends thousands of dollars every year playing golf. If it's your hobby and you have fun doing it, why not?

No... I just buy the right cars. I've had four Toyotas so far and the worst maintenance I've done is replace the oil or tires. I don't consider having to take apart a pad "normal maintenance."