Dance mat(s) you use

for even the most realistic arcade experience. Thanks Konami/arcade operators

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So does that mean dual shock 2?

Mad Catz Beat Pad Pro for the XBox 360. Their pads for the PS2 were shit, but the thick pad for the 360 works a lot better than the flimsy, unresponsive pads that come in the bundles.

I don't even bother getting pads for the PS2 anymore. If Konami's going to make charts that look like BMS simfile rejects, why should I bother taking them seriously?

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They mostly do that for the boss songs. The normal songs are usually fine.

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That's no excuse. Boss song or not, a clusterfuck is still a clusterfuck. Sure, boss songs should be damn hard, but they should still be fun.

The arcade/PS2 boss songs prior to SN2? Tough, but fun.

The boss songs on the XBox series? Same thing. Sure, Insaner (L.E.D.'s Punishment Mix) on UM4 was a little iffy, but they more than made up for it with the boss songs on UNIVERSE.

However, when I look at some of the higher-end songs on SN2, like say, Pluto Relinquish and Dead End GRS, it convinces me that whoever made those charts did little more than drag their sack across the arrow keys for a minute and a half. It's not that I think Konami can't make good-yet-challenging charts anymore (hell, I still think Pluto on Oni is crazy-fun), it's that they just don't seem to want to put any real effort into it.

"Hey, should we give this song a challenging chart that features tricky things like gallops and well-placed triplets?"
"Nah, let's just cut and paste some of the shittiest BMS files we can find. They'll never be able to tell the difference."

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Red Octane Ignition 3.0

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i use the official konami ones. i bought one from EB games that was made by GameStop (their own brand). it was complete garbage! i would play Fascination ~ELM~ on basic and the pad literally moved a meter and a half!
Also the X and triangle buttons under the left and right arrows screwed me up all the time as I would always accidentally press one and it would give me an almost or a good. I'm now trying to find a cheap GameCube to PS2 converter so I can use my HP mat on SN2

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React professional series is what I use, it even comes with a 7 year warranty. <not a typo by the way>

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After Extreme 2, PS2 took a turn for the worse. SN was okay save for the boss songs, but SN2 sucked. Bland, unimaginative charts that happened to have superficial death runs in the case of boss songs.

Ultramix 2-4 and Universe 1-2 are very good, although there are occasional quirks along the way.

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I thought SN's boss songs were acceptable. The only ones I had a problem with were:

CHAOS
HDV
FELM
FAXX and

SN2 was incredibly crappy to the point where some of the charts were crap. Most of the charts were littered with jumps and generally not fun to play.

The only chart I found acceptable in that incredible mess of charts was Pluto . Pluto Relinquish made sense and followed the beat but that ending run was too crazy when most of the chart was 9 footer material.

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Am I the only one who somewhat likes the newer boss songs? Sure the oni charts for all of them are shit (sans Pluto), but imo, PH, HDV, NGO, FELM are pretty fun on . FAXX and PR are hard but they arent impossible; it actually reminds me of when I thought M300 was impossible .

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Oh, I'll agree that they're not impossible. After all, Strangeprogram has been passed, and it puts them all to shame. And if you see no separation between "hard" and "fun", then you can see them as fun. But even playing them on half speed, I didn't really enjoy any of them. Too many awkwardly placed jumps.

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I've got two Cobalt Flux Arcade for 2 years. They're modified for my association.

I currently use a RedOctane Ignition 3.0 because:
1) The StepMania website claims it is "officially recommended" (by the SM developers?)
2) I am a n00b who usually only plays up to charts (and never boss songs)
3) I often have to transport the pad between my home and university locations (in two adjacent U.S. states)

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ATomik, I must say those pads are awesome.

In the case of PH , it's somewhat acceptable, being the expert chart of a boss song but the and charts were created by potheads.

Jump streams, step-jump streams, fully-fledged gallops, and quarter note spins at 300 BPM does not a chart make.

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Hey, don't bash potheads like that.

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Is that better?

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This just made me think of something I saw on Groovestats, where they were discussing what to do with crap custom charts that were uploaded.

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That's really, really, really funny.

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I have to use my stupid Gamestop pad that has been stomped on so much by little kids with their shoes on, has a bunch of rips, and this chocolate stain under the pad that I have no idea on how to get out >_>