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Review: Naki DDR Dance Pads

 Naki DancePadMy two nieces were over at my mom's place today and I had a good time teaching them how to play DDR

One of the most bizarre gaming experiences out there today is Dance Dance Revolution.

This is a game for raver kids and people who have too much sugar in their diet and do not care about making an ass out of them selves in public. Now I was turned on to this game by an exgirlfriend of mine who was smitten with it. I also have a cousin Gavin who is so incredibly gifted in the ways of DDR that he puts the game on it’s hardest level and then complains that it doesn’t give him a work out.

I honestly believe that those who are Asian and under 30 have a special genetic predispositioned towards being very good at DDR. These game have been elevated to pure cult status and if you have ever heard of DDRFreak.com then this review really is not for you. But enough of the introductions.

MeDancingOnDancePad.JPGI have two DDR devices and if you don’t have a DDR pad then there really is no point on playing the game. A DDR pad is as essential as the Zapper is to playing a game of Nintendo Duck Hunt. DDR is like aerobics but with a techno beat and a videogame that you actually have to move too.

Warning: this review contains explicit and disturbing picture of white boy dancing.

The Naki DDR dance pad is a soft flexible controller that reminds one of the NES exercise pad but be unlike the NES exercise pad this thing is actually fun. The DDR arcade game has a hard dance floor while this is a softer pad that works best with your socks. I have been worried about slipping and falling on my ass but I have never actually slipped and fallen on this thing. It tends to move back a bit and you need to reposition it after a couple games but this works quite well and is a good value for the price. But cult DDR freaks will shell out a hundred bucks for the high quality dance pads. This is good for the average person who likes DDR but would rather spend a hundred bucks on something else.

MiniDancePad.JPGNow at the software store they also had these cute finger pads for DDR that were to bloody interesting to pass up. These controllers are also made by Naki and are interesting to use when it is too late in the evening to play DDR or your legs are too tired I guess but I just got it because it was too damn ironic. It works well but you get a general feeling that you are cheating.

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Icon of JakeJake at December 23, 2002  Reviews

Comments

You look like a white Sammy Davis Junior! only without the dancing skills. Or the glass eye. Or the whole ten rings on one hand. Or the whole black jew thing.....nevermind you really dont look anything like Sammy. I was just trippin.

Posted by: PETER PETER THE METER READER at December 25, 2002 1:34 AM

lkj

Posted by: d at January 2, 2003 6:06 PM

That really should have been an animated gif!

Hmm, DDR looks interesting. I only have a PS1 so I wonder what I could find used or in a place like Funcoland. I'd need a PS1 DDR game too, hmm time to Google I guess.

Posted by: Promo at February 4, 2003 8:37 AM

There are currently 4 DDR games in the US. Three of them are for the PS One. Dance Dance Revolution, DDR Disney Mix, DDR Konamix. however they just released DDR MAX for the PS2. You can play older PSOne games on the PS2 but with the exception of DDR MAX all the US DDR games and pads would work just fine on a PSOne.

Posted by: Jake at February 4, 2003 8:56 AM

well lets just say that I have ben into ddr for two weeks and I can already do the hard stafes and well I am also white not assian I think it is really fun and I would shell ou 100 bucks for a metal pad or two

Posted by: Blade at April 18, 2003 7:46 PM

Or you could shell out that much to make ur own metal dance pad. Seriously, the metal dance pads out there are crap and can and will break in a couple months thats of course without any modding to them. The only metal pad worth.......or should I say......naw, they're not worth buying, but they are the exact same thing as the arcade and will prolly last forever ( I mean that too), are the official konami metal pads priced up to about 1000 - 2000 bucks for just one, I guess depending on where you are in the world cuz I think they are only in Japan right now. They only made about a hundred of these babies and only crazy people would buy em. But I guess you could say a crazy person would a hundred dollar crap metal pad from a 3rd party. Hehe, consider building ur own, its sooo worth it. Especially when you know what the hell is actually goin on in ur OWN pad, meaning no shipping for exchange or n e thing like that and you can fix it ur self. Theres alot of instructions out there, look it up.

Posted by: Domingo at June 19, 2003 3:04 AM

I have DDR Max (US Version) & DDR Konamix. I love DDR. It is extremly fun. I most like playing in an arcade. It is alot better than playing at home on a crappy plastic mat. I want to get rid of Konamix because it doesn't let you speed up the songs in single play mode (which i like to do.) So if you want to buy it for $30.00 cdn you can!
By the way I am on Heavy mode! And can't wait until September 18 for DDR Max 2!!!!!!

Posted by: Jeff at August 8, 2003 11:40 PM

My cousin Gavin has an Octane pad that he paid a hundred bucks for he is quite the DDR freak. I suck at it.

Posted by: Jake at August 8, 2003 11:47 PM

I have the same exact pad, and I do say that it does work very very well. I had to buy an extra one, because my first one finally wanted to get a gash along the center. But hell, it still works...okay...sorta, but my new one is great. I was wondering what modes you can play and what your favorite DDRMAX songs were, so if you'd like to share, go ahead and e-mail me, I guess. My greatest DDRMAX accomplishment was finishing Max 300 and receiving AA status. Although...it was on Light. Hehe. The hardest song I've done on Heavy is Candy(Star), and I pass marginally with a C...erm, anyway. Enough rambling. Peace out.

Posted by: J at August 13, 2003 11:35 PM

I own a game cube and my PS1s out of commision..
ARE THER any pads you can use with game cube?And are there any games you can get for gamecube???Please...HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!

Posted by: Bobo at November 15, 2003 1:21 PM

I own a game cube and my PS1s out of commision..
ARE THER any pads you can use with game cube?And are there any games you can get for gamecube???Please...HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!

Posted by: Bobo at November 15, 2003 1:22 PM

look only press the button once. No there are no dance games for the Gamecube and there are no dance pads for the Gamecube

Posted by: Jake at November 16, 2003 12:29 AM

ddr is the coolest game on the market yes i am asian at ddr my personal preferance is that maxx unlimited is the bestsong on heavy mode. or in japanese geki i play mostly at the arcade in the Maine mall and i just bought a package of 3 metal pads off of ebay for 400.00 these work great you should check into them sometime by typing ddr dance pads on ebay

Posted by: Bilberten at December 3, 2003 6:07 PM

Ok, so over the summer I bought the whole get up for my teenager and her friends to play. We hooked it up and our house bounced for hrs into the night. I laughed and laughed at them while teasing them because they looked pretty dumb doin' it. Well...once school started up again I decided to play while noone was around. I'm hooked. I play daily, and when I had to send my ps2 off to be fixed I went through major withdrawls. LOL...I'm still mostly on light mode, but can get a couple of them on standard, which I think is pretty good for a white mom who can't dance. I'm looking now for the original DDR (for me) and the DDR Disney Mix so I can get my daycare kids playing. If anyone has either of these games and your willing to sell them please let me know. Thanks and happy dancing!!

Posted by: Clover at March 17, 2004 12:21 PM

When I was 15, I rocked the arcade at DDR. I was dancing at a Catastrophic level, and was the only white girl to be seen dancing on the machine. Im 19 now and have fallen out of it, but I recently bought DDRMAX2 for PS2 and im hooked again. Now all I need is a dance pad and I will be set.

Posted by: Katrina at April 13, 2004 11:13 AM

When I was 15, I rocked the arcade at DDR. I was dancing at a Catastrophic level, and was the only white girl to be seen dancing on the machine. Im 19 now and have fallen out of it, but I recently bought DDRMAX2 for PS2 and im hooked again. Now all I need is a dance pad and I will be set.

Posted by: Katrina at April 13, 2004 11:13 AM

oops, I submitted that twice! sorry 'bout that

Posted by: Katrina at April 13, 2004 11:15 AM

I am 15 and I have been playing ddr for about 10 months now. Not suprisingly one of my asian friends got me into it. I play on heavy for pretty much all the songs except for max 300 and maxx unlimited, oh and legend of max. This is by far the most addicting game I have ever played. I recomend this to everybody.

Posted by: anthony at May 14, 2004 9:11 PM

I want to know if metal ddr pads are worth buying,such as the TX1000. Please just tell me if they are reliable. Also only answer this question if you own or know someone who owned one.

Posted by: anthony at May 14, 2004 9:17 PM

hte metal pads are awesome you have no worrys the idiot that posted before had a cheap metal one (get one from buynshop.com they rule)

Posted by: zeke at September 4, 2004 2:40 PM

anthony, TX--- should be avoided for the most part. CobaltFlux and MyMyBox (if you take care of the MMMs, that is) are worth the money for metal pads. ^_^

Posted by: Travelsonic at June 14, 2006 8:26 AM

There's also the imitation DDRs that plays songs in 8-bit like TV Dance Pad and World's TV Dance Pad. It also has 4 non-dancing games: Whack-a-Mole, Pac-Man, Arkanoid, and Pinball. They make look like the real DDRs on their manufactured boxes, but they're Famiclones made from Hong Kong. If you hate it, don't buy it. If your kids like it, buy it as a birthday present. If any of you are fans of an 8-bit system, then this is the game for you. As people reviewed it as junk, I think music of the Famiclone DDR sounded like ringtones on a cell phone.

Posted by: Josh Tayloy at January 17, 2008 11:15 PM

DDR is awesome. Period. If you have never played it in one form or another, you have not lived. It may not be your thing to take seriously, but you cannot deny it is fun.

I'm very happy because I bought a Black Blade Arcade style metal pad this morning which should arrive next week. Yay! :D. And for £115 brand new too. eBay all the way.

Posted by: AngelOfMusic at February 17, 2008 10:38 AM

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