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| DDR Pads: Which one to buy? |
| By Mike Huttman |
| There are a lot of choices for buying DDR pads today. You have soft pads, which can be bought anywhere (or at most gaming outlets), hard plastic pads, metal pads, and now official Konami pads. Each of these pads work slightly differently in terms of feel and performance, and carry different price tags, ranging from $10 to $1800. Below is a description of each pad type, how much they cost, and who should use them. |
| Third-party Soft Pads: |
| These pads are the cheapest type of pads that are available. Most of these pads feature the Triangle and Square buttons, and generally mimic the design of the arrows on an arcade pad. Some of these pads may have a thin layer of foam inserted between the thin plastic circuit boards, and may contain a non-slip surface on the bottom. These pads will not last for long, or at least for any player that does harder songs. I have managed to keep my first soft pad working for over a year and a half, but my second soft pad died about six months into playing on it. These pads "ghost step" often, and sometimes do not respond to input as quickly as they should. While these pads are "total crap" in my opinion, they are cheap ($15 to $25), and can be found at most gaming retailers (such as Babbages). |
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| A typical soft pad. |
| Hard Plastic Pads: |
| As the name suggests, these pads are made out of hard plastic. The outer casing on these pads are made of a hard type of plastic, which makes a creaking sound when you step on it. There are mixed reviews on these pads. Some users say that the pads are horrible because of occasional "ghost stepping" and the loud noises that they make, while other users that they are the perfect alternative to spending extra money on metal pads. Hard plastic pads can be bought online at Ebay or Redoctane, and generally cost around $100. |
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| A hard plastic pad. |
| Metal Pads: |
| Metal pads are arguably the best pads that you can buy, but they do come at a high price. Most metal pads cost around $200-250, with premium pads costing more. These pads generally have very good performance, with no reports of ghost stepping or the like. The metal pads will need occasional cleaning, however, as dust can get into the circuitry through the metal encasing. Otherwise, metal pads are the pads to buy if you are a hardcore player, or if you have the money. |
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| A metal pad. |
| Konami Pads |
| At first glance, one would say that the official Konami dance pads are the same as plain old soft pads. That is, until they actually dance on them! The offical dance pads by Konami are simply the best soft pads that you can get, period. These pads have the same amount of resilience as the deluxe soft pads, at a fraction of the cost. Furthermore, I have heard reports of the Redoctane and other similar deluxe pads ghost stepping occasionally, while I have heard nothing but praise for the Konami pads. These pads cannot be bought in stores (yet), but can be purchased in a bundle pack with the DDRMAX2 game for $60. |
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| An Official Konami Pad. |