I’m looking for a way to exercise late at night after work, and I am a video game fan, so I thought this would be ideal for me until I find a permanent location and can move my treadmill.
However, there seem to be, oh, about half a zillion versions of game and gamepad out there.
Anyone have a favorite version and a good pad that will stand up to my considerable weight pounding on it on a (hopefully) routine basis?
Any good online vendors to buy it from would be great, too. I can’t find a good deal locally.
I just e-mailed my brother, who is a pretty heavy guy who exercises with Dance Dance Revolution for the PS2. This is what he said:
"A special package with DDRMAX2 and a compatible DDR pad is common wherever Playstation 2 games are sold. It comes in a box, unlike the DVD cases most PS2 games come in.
If you have carpet, the soft pad that comes with DDRMAX2 won’t last long. You need to put it on top of a piece of particle board that measures at least 36x33 inches, which you can get cut to order at a hardware store like Lowe’s or the Home Depot."
We hope that helped. As for deals, I don’t play video games and he got his at a local Gamestop store. Have you checked eBay yet?
What I did was take a pair of fairly inexpensive BNS pads, tape them to particle board, and then cover the whole thing with relatively thick plastic floor lining (the kind of stuff you might put over a runner on a staircase). 3/8’’ staples applied liberally along the bottom should hold the lining to medium-density fiberboard, but make sure that the plastic is as snug as possible. Loose plastic doesn’t feel right and isn’t nearly as responsive. Constructed correctly, this setup should last fairly long; mine went for about two years before becoming unresponsive.
If you’ve got some cash to throw around, there’s Redoctane’s hard plastic, metal-framed pads. I’ve only used it once, but it seemed very responsive, though hard to play on in socks. The only disadvantage to them that I see is their cost; it takes roughly 400-500 games before you start saving money compared to going to the local arcade.
I have X-Box, so I have the Ultramix game. But the pad I bought at BestBuy for around $25. It’s made by Mad Catz, so I’d have to assume they also make the pad for PS2.
I’ve been playing for quite some time, and have gone through four pads at this point. The only home pad to bother looking at is Red Octane’s (http://www.redoctane.com/) ignition pad. Mine has outlasted all the other pads combined.
At the very least, you want a foam filled pad. The flat ones can’t be used with shoes, but also don’t give you a significant amount of impact protection. The rigid (metal or hard plastic) are more like the real arcade pads, and you play them with shoes, but they’re really expensive. The foam filled pads give you much more comfort than the flat ones, letting you play longer and have more fun, which is really the goal.
The nice thing about the Red Octane pads is that they’re made out of much better materials than the other pads. Their switches last longer, the surface material takes more abuse, and they’re generally more responsive than cheaper pads. Mine has withstood me pounding on it for hundreds of songs and still looks new. On the other hand, the pad it replaced (A “My My Box” foam filled pad I got at Fry’s) was used for a couple of months and the buttons are now cracking open. Even out of the box, it would frequently miss steps that I know should’ve registered.
There are a kajillion versions of the game, but the vast bulk of those are imports that require you to have a chipped PS2. For an unchipped US PS2, you have DDR Max, and DDR Max 2. I would suggest DDR Max 2 to someone just starting out, because DDR Max 1 has a lot of Japanese pop music that’s kinda off putting if you’re not used to it (or, like me, even if you are used to it). DDR Max 2 has a lot more songs or remixes of songs, that you’d here on the radio in the US. Not that it doesn’t also have lots of J-pop, but I think it’s more accessable.
Another vote for the Redoctane pad. I did the same thing **buckgully ** did: started out with the foam MyMyBox pad and then switched to Redoctane after the cheap foam pad started to crack. I’ve been using the Redoctane pad for about six months now and it’s holding up great.
BTW, if you want to do DDR to get into shape, I highly recommend hunting down the “DDR Konamix” game for Playstation 1 (which will, of course, run in your PS2). IMHO it provides a much better out-of-the-box workout than DDRMAX 1 or 2. Konamix in Workout Mode and the Calorie Burner workout for half an hour on Basic mode is fantastic.
Thanks for the info, winterhawk11. Do I have to worry about compatibility with the gamepad if using a DDR game for PS1?
Also, I did go out and buy an inexpensive pad and DDRMax1. I really like it. It’s just as well that it’s not super difficult as a workout, though, as I’m not in good shape at all. I used it for a half an hour on Friday. I’ve been away from the house but I plan to start using it daily. It’s fun!
I’ve experimented with StepMania, but haven’t really gotten into it. I need to find the adapter cable that lets me connect my laptop to the TV to really play it. Getting the music/step packs was a pain in the rear.
Doh, totally forgot about Kona Mix. The controllers should work fine (PS1 & PS2 controllers are mostly compatable), but you need a PS1 memory card to store your progress, because PS1 games on the PS2 don’t work with the PS2’s memory cards.
That’s fine. I play plenty of games on PS1 and must have a memory card around here somewhere.
Thanks everyone for the great advice. I have found that it is a bit hard on my knees using the pad on the floor. I put it on the rug and wear two pairs of athletic socks and that gives me a bit of bounce. I really like it and am exercising with it often! I have you all to thank for that.
I have a RedOctane Ignition pad, and it worked great for a few months, but now the right arrow is starting to stick. RedOctane also makes some nice plastic covers to make your pads last a bit longer.
I put particle board or a big sheet of hard plastic under the pad, since I play on carpet, but the board tends to slide around on the carpet as I play. You might want to use one of those office floor mats with cleats on the bottom instead.