Peripheral - Playstation - Cobalt Flux Metal Dance Pad
Console: Playstation
Developer: Cobalt Flux
Reviewed by
Ash Paulsen on 2004-02-23
Overall Rating:
9
note: Though listed for PlayStation, this pad will work for PlayStation 2 as well.
Being a two-year veteran
Dance Dance Revolution player, I think it's safe to say that I've gone through my fair share of home dance pads. It is true that I'm primarily an arcade player, but it always pays to practice at home when you just can't make it to the arcade, and hey, there are just some songs that aren't available in the arcade mixes that you just gotta play. But playing
DDR at home can be a daunting challenge indeed: aside from the veritable slew of domestic and import mixes to choose from, finding a reliable, affordable dance pad to use can be one extremely exasperating task. Take it from me: I know, having gone through two soft pads and one metal pad. But I think it's safe to say that I've finally found a winner in Cobalt Flux's brand of homebrew metal dance pads: a winner that really can stand up to the rigors and hell that a veteran player will inevitably put it through.
It looks unassuming enough: weighing in at a hefty forty or so pounds, when you heave thing thing out of its box it doesn't look much different from any other metal home pad, other than the rather nice inclusion of protective plastic on the panels to keep them pristine during shipping. But really, you'd be forgiven for thinking that you weren't really getting anything that special.
Until you play on it for the first time, that is. Then you realize just how sturdy and durable this thing is, and you somehow know that these panels won't crack on you, no matter how hard you play. And I'm talking with shoes, too: this pad was made by pros for pros, so you can play exactly like you would in the arcade and expect the pad to take the punishment. Cobalt Flux says they test their pads by driving Ford SUVs over them... and after playing on one, I believe it. In short, this pad is advertised as the be-all, end-all solution to anyone wanting an absolutely reliable, durable dance pad for the truest at-home arcade experience possible... and I wholeheartedly agree.
But here's the catch (you knew there was one): one of these babies will run you $300, plus tax and shipping and handling. Yes, that's right: three hundred smackaroos. Can any dance pad really be worth all that much money?
My answer? It all depends on one question you need to ask yourself, and that is how seriously you take
DDR. If you're a casual player who does it purely for the fun of the game and don't really anticipate it being much more than a "phase" for you - or if you don't ever anticipate graduating Light or Standard level - then no, this pad is not for you and I implore you not to spend anywhere near $300 on a dance pad.
If, however, you take the game seriously, really strive to get better and are a relatively dedicated arcade player - and especially if you play or anticipate playing high-level Heavy and Oni songs - you really owe it to yourself to order one of these pads right away. I think I've made it clear that I'm a pretty hardcore player, and I'm here to tell you right now that no other pad will satisfy you or work for you in the end (or for very long).
Yes, soft pads run cheap - anywhere from $15 to $50 and up for the foam-inserted ones - but there's a reason for this. They are, of course, cheap, and intended for casual players. Don't even think about trying to play any Heavy songs on one of these and expect to do well: the thing will slip and get bunched up far too much for you to keep yourself centered and coordinated, defeating the entire purpose of the experience. Cheaper metal pads will run you about $150, and I too thought this would be the end of my search for a reliable home pad... until two of the arrow panels cracked after my first play of
Max 300.
And now here I am, with my Cobalt Flux pad. I've had it for about a month now, and I'm more impressed by it every time I use it. It has stood up to four extremely serious players (three of my friends and I) pulling all-nighters with it, playing Oni course after Oni course, 10-footer after flashing 10-footer... and there is not a single crack in it, and it's just as responsive as the day I got it. We're talking entire nights of
MaxX Unlimited,
The Legend of Max, and
Paranoia ~Respect~ here, and my scores are still close to what they are in the arcade.
I say "close" because I do have one functional problem with the pad... just one. That is, unlike the arcade there are no bolts or "raised" sections of pad that you can use to tell where exactly on the pad you are; the whole thing is a flat platform. This can create centering problems when you really get going on some of the faster songs; in the arcade you never have to worry about where you are on the pad because you can feel it beneath your feet, but on a flat platform such as the Cobalt Flux pad you'll likely find yourself looking down at your feet to re-center yourself until you get more acquainted with the pad. Once you do get more used to it, though, the whole experience just becomes more beautiful and arcade-perfect.
In the end, is it a truly arcade-perfect pad? No, I don't believe any home pad can ever recreate that feeling beneath your feet, but the Cobalt Flux pad comes really damn close. I do wish there were some kind of indentations built-in to the platform to alleviate the whole centering issue, but with unparalleled sturdiness, responsiveness, and grip, and unobtrusive Start, Select and other non-arrow buttons, there is no better at-home
DDR experience than one using a Cobalt Flux pad. At $300 it is quite pricey, but with this pad you truly do get what you pay for, and if you're the kind of serious player that'll end up spending that much in the arcade and/or on non-Cobalt Flux replacement pads anyway, then you really have no excuse not to own one of these very fine dance pads.
(You can order one of these pads from the Cobalt Flux home page at www.cobaltflux.com, and on a personal note, the quality of my business with these people gets two big thumbs-up from me as well. The CF team is very personable, professional, and timely, and they take great pride in their pads, as the quality of shipping was very impressive as well.)
