For the best hi-Octane soft dance pad, turn the key on this Ignition.
Written: Jan 11 '04 (Updated Jan 11 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Looks great, softest padding for your feet, doesn't slide, almost perfect button accuracy.
Cons: Still can't use your shoes on it, will wear out quicker than a metal pad.
The Bottom Line: If you're serious about Dance Dance Revolution, the Ignition 2.0 is the second best pad you can buy. Only metal pads last longer and play better.
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| openroad's Full Review: Red Octane Ignition Dance Pad |
----- Red Octane in a Nutshell -----
Red Octane is a company most people are unfamiliar with, and they remain unknown even to most video gamers. As a company they do two things; rent games in a similar manner as Netflix rents DVDs, and manufacture dance pad controllers for the insanely popular Dance Dance Revolution game series. If you’re not sure what you need a virtual dance pad for, check out my review of DDRMAX2 for the Playstation 2 to learn more.
Remember the old NES Power Pad controller for track and field games? The one you learned how to pound with your hands instead of running on? Yep, I got smoked by my cousins who were masters at the hand-running technique. Where am I going with this you ask? The NES Power Pad looked very similar to the modern dance pad, only the new dancing games are a lot more fun. Several companies sell high end dance pads, and one of them is Red Octane. They sell a large range of pads, from the top-end $199 metal arcade pad to the lowly $49 beginner soft pad. Marketed squarely in the middle of their product line is the item in the spotlight today, the $99 Ignition 2.0 dance pad. The Ignition is the highest quality soft pad available, and I’ll give you a quick rundown on metal vs soft. The arcade is where DDR started, and since those units can run upward of $10K each, no expense is spared for the dance pad controller. For home use, you can expect much less use and abuse than an arcade machine, but you can still get the same feel by using a metal pad. Metal pads are the only pads you can use while still wearing your shoes. All soft pads require you to use bare feet or socks, and the game feels noticeably different without shoes.
Soft pads come in several styles, from the $15-$20 low-end pads from Konami and Naki, mid-pack offerings for Red Octane and others in the $50 range, and the upper end Ignition model coming in at right around $100.
----- What’s so great about the Ignition? -----
The Ignition 2.0 is almost a full 2” thick, with a very dense rubber core to absorb shock and keep its shape over time. The Ignition 2.0 pad has a denser and longer lasting foam than the old 1.0 model. All low-end pads are about 1/4” thick and have no padding at all. On the Ignition all four directional arrows are covered in a heavy plastic, making them feel quite different from the five soft unused spaces on the pad. This gives you an increased situational awareness and allows you to “feel” your way around the pad without looking down. Cheaper pads feel exactly the same everywhere, and you often become lost as the pad slides while playing.
Speaking of sliding while playing, all the soft pads have this problem due to their light weight and the jumping required to dance effectively. Metal pads don’t move at all, since they weigh almost 50lbs. The Ignition pad stays in position on most carpets better than any other soft pad I’ve used, and only requires adjustment every other game (each game is three songs long) I’ve used a cheap Konami pad a little bit, and I own the $19 Naki Intense pad. Both cheap models exhibited tendencies towards drunkenness, as they slid and crumpled on almost every single song.
The switchgear inside the button pads are professional quality on the Ignition pad, and Red Octane claims they are “arcade quality”. I have never had a single pad press go unregistered, and if I miss an arrow I can be sure I screwed up and not my dance pad. Once again, I need to take a moment and bash on the cheap stuff… the switches in cheaper pads are much more likely to miss an arrow or two. I have a feeling the switches are localized towards the center of each arrow in the cheaper pads. This leads to missed steps as you stab wildly at the arrow and only nail a corner. The Ignition pad is very good at snatching these hard-to-register corner steps and displaying them correctly. I attribute this to a larger switch area that covers the entire arrow surface.
The Ignition feels much better on your feet, and if you wear thick wool or polyester socks you can dance indefinitely. NEVER dance with bare feet, or you'll pick up some very nasty foot blisters. Cotton socks also irritate your feet after about 20 minutes, which I why I recommend synthetic sock material. The dense padding inside the pad makes a nice shock-absorbing layer to keep your feet from contacting the floor.
The bottom line is I would recommend the Ignition to anyone that is planning on playing DDR for any length of time. This pad can grow with your as your skill level changes, and I'm now playing at the highest skill level (heavy mode) and still scoring well. Whether you're competing for points, using the workout mode, or just dancing for fun you'll have a better game with the Ignition 2.0
Relevant links:
Dance Dance Revolution MAX2 (PS2)
http://www.epinions.com/content_125267775108
Naki PS1/PS2 Dance Pad
http://www.epinions.com/content_123714375300
Red Octane
http://www.redoctane.com/ddr.html
Thanks for reading, and feel free to comment!
Openroad
Recommended:
Yes
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