AC pad tier list

This was posted elsewhere and we don't seem to have a thread talking about arcade pads, so thought I'd post here and see if anyone has any thoughts.

In order from best to worst:

Japanese X
Andamiro ITG
Japanese SN
Japanese/American Original
Korean
American SN
American X2
Japanese White
American X

why would JP white down there, below US X2? There were no reports of the pads breaking down after like 2 months of usage (and we all know Japanese plays DDR more extensively than Americans)

personally I'd say it's about the same to JP X (judging from gameplay vids). Though I have to play on one to be sure.

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This isn't about what's best for the arcade (in terms of maintenance), but what's best for the (average) player.

Japanese 2013 is where it is because it's possible to score and play hard songs on American X2, and for many people it's quite difficult to do the same on Japanese 2013. (e.g. me. and to paraphrase ICNH, he can play 16's on American X2 and can't play 14+ on Japanese 2013).

(and yes, I know Takase played Prev on a Japanese 2013.)

I know AeronPeryton believed that Japanese 2013 pads would get better over time, but now that some time has passed I wonder what he's seen.

Silverhawke, They play exactly like the X-series cabinets now. Thanks to the software tweak that was pushed out during that time the X cabinets were crashing for no reason. The software update that fixed the crashing also made the visual timing between the X and white cabinets indistinguishable.

yindesu, I know you don't like the new cabinets because the arrows don't light up, but I wish you had been able to hang around a little longer. Because all the stiffness those stages had in the beginning is gone. I prefer playing on the new cabinet because the stage as a whole feels more solid compared to even the X cabinets and because the screen is larger. Going back to one of the other two cabinets makes the arrows look silly tiny. But I can play perfectly fine and set records on any of the cabinets still in service.

(Speaking of which, when the upgrade kits for DDR landed, I saw old 573-era (black) cabinets running the game just fine but after a couple of weeks those particular cabinets began to get replaced or disappear altogether. I don't know if there was a silent recall or what but now the red SuperNOVA machines are the only legacy cabinets I can find running the current DDR.)

From personal experience:
Konami white HD (DDR (2013))
Konami legacy (SuperNOVA series)
Andamiro SD/DX/GX (PIU series, ITG 2)
Konami black HD (DDR X2, X3)
Andamiro FX (PIU series, PRO series)
Betson legacy (SuperNOVA 2)
Konami legacy (573 series)
Konami black HD (DDR X)
Electrocoin legacy (573 series)
Betson legacy (SuperNOVA)
Cobalt Flux (to drive home a point)
Andamiro CX/TX (PIU series)
Namco legacy (573 bootleg)
Betson black HD (X series) (highest common denominator)

Good grief, I've actually played on all of those machine types. I think the only thing that's missing is TechnoMotion.

Hey, what's wrong with TX-style pads? I do prefer playing on TX other than GX/FX style pads, as TXs don't have any screws so I can bracket easily (being a barefoot player, bracketing on GX/FX is a TON of pain). I also feel they register better from GX/FX pads, but I dunno if it's only my nearby arcade's old GXs and FXs that are due to sensor change...

Anyways, here's my list. We don't really have that many machines here so it's kinda limited...

(with proper maintenance) Andamiro TX
Konami "red" Python
Konami "black" 573 JP
Andamiro GX
Andamiro FX
Betson "bemaniPC/X-series"
Konami "black" 573 KR (yes, it is different, and the pad kinda sucks)

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What's wrong is that I had been looking forward to playing on a bracketless stage for years. Then when I was in Korea last month I finally got to... and all my hopes and dreams (and arms) were dashed upon the rocks.

I have honestly never played on a CX cabinet, I lumped it in with the TX because the list is about the stage, not the cabinet. And both those machine types have the same bracketless stage. My experience with the TX at enter entertainment in Sinchon-dong was very disappointing.

The arrows panels were very loose within their housing. The machine had obviously been heavily played but when you drop your weight on an arrow and it moves parallel to the ground so far you feel like you're sliding, it is not a good thing. Also I never realized that because there are no brackets I had very little telling my feet where I was on the stage. After stepping off the stage twice during a song I figured out how to judge my position without staring straight down. But I had to be more careful about crossing the stage and my Doubles gameplay suffered as a result. There was nothing wrong with the accuracy of the arrow panels but I hadn't realized how much the arrow brackets subconsciously tell me exactly where I'm standing. As far as Pump It Up goes, the best stage and machine overall they've ever made is the FX and the GX.


KR means Korean, right? Aren't all the Asian and Korean cabinets the ones made by Electrocoin?

Well, different style of playing and different state of pads when you try heavily influence the list order, I see. There's a lot of TX/CXs here, and even FXs modded with TX pads. After playing with virtually all of them (with varying condition, from pristine to "sent straight from hell"), I concur that I didn't encounter those bad experiences you encounter there. The panels are screwed tight within their housing, and I have no problem adjusting myself to the absence of the brackets (it took me about 3 games with constant Ds and Fs tho).

eh, I dunno that Korean DDR pads were made by Electrocoin, so yeah, the 573 KR should be Electrocoin. There's no Asian machine in my country (and I haven't tried playing on one), so I assumed that Asian and Korean machines are different.

BTW, how about tiering the pad based on its reliability? My list is:

Konami "black" 573 JP
Konami "red" Python JP
Andamiro GX/FX (they're around the same quality I guess)
Electrocoin "black" 573 KR
Andamiro TX
Betson "BemaniPC/X-series" NA

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AeronPeryton, can you give me a taste of how good you are at DDR?

I'd prefer if we don't discuss PIU pads in this topic for several reasons, most importantly because I doubt anyone actually knows enough about these pads to be able to name them. Since 2010, I am fairly sure there have been at least 5 different revisions of the bracketless pads, so identifying pads as "FX", "TX", and "CX" is meaningless. In rough chronological order,
1. FX - Round 1 PHM's Pro 2
2. TX - Chinese machines manufactured by Baohui Technology
3. FX/TX - Round 1 PHM's Fiesta (FX cabinet) upgraded to Infinity, and Fiesta EX (TX cabinet) upgraded to Fiesta 2
4. TX - Whatever it is is at Enter in Sinchon, Seoul, I don't remember if I actually played on them but Aeron apparently hates them
5. TX - XLanes (Little Tokyo, Los Angeles)'s two TX cabinets

(for the record, I prefer 2 and 5, and it's not an issue of maintenance.)

So yeah, let's please have PIU discussion in a different topic

Um, between 950,000 and 990,000 points per song in general, I usually only play on Doubles. Started getting my first PFCs on Doubles just a month or two ago. These videos are from two years ago, if you want to see how I play.


I doubt very many people here can differentiate between DDR stages either. This kind of thread requires a certain prerequisite.

I knew that there was more than one revision of the bracketless stage design, I just didn't know there were that many. Nevertheless, I lumped them together for simplicity's sake. The same way I lumped all the Betson X stage revisions together. There are bound to be micro-changes to the other stages too and we just don't know about them.

An aside, the corner bumpers on the white DDR stages are already starting to wear through the arrow decal. There's something about the DDR stages that hasn't changed in 15 years.

I dunno. Once you start getting up to harder songs, you might realize how terrible white cabinets really are. It's fine for your skill level but when you have to conserve energy on hard songs by not stepping as full-footed as you do (judging by your video), the pads pale in comparison to X cabinets.

If you say so. Though if I ever decided to play anything higher than a 15 I would be playing the same way as in those videos. Else the game would not be very fun for me. I already came to the conclusion a while ago that one's play style greatly influences which machine is better.

Then you might have moderate success. For me, I can't possibly play that full-footed without passing out after a song or two. I'd argue that other cabinets tend to all playstyles whereas white cabs required a certain playstyle, so white cabs are necessarily worse, but it's just my opinion.