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Author Topic: Anyone ever hack a dance pad for use as an encoder?  (Read 1491 times)

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Well Fed Games

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Anyone ever hack a dance pad for use as an encoder?
« on: October 12, 2012, 03:23:14 pm »
As title states, anyone ever connect arcade controls to the guts of a dance pad? Got a 360 one today at Goodwill for 5 bucks and it seemed worth the risk. I will say that playing Pacman with it in MAME is kind of a kick.
Completed projects: Pac bartop (Plug & Play), 30th Anniversary Pac cab (MAME), Point Blank (PS1), Centipede (arcade hardware- light restore), VS. Super Mario Bros (arcade hardware- light restore) Tetris Cocktail (SNES), Arcade Classics upright (60-in-1, then MAME), Multi-Raiden (arcade hardware). Pac Man vs.(Gamecube),

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Vigo

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Re: Anyone ever hack a dance pad for use as an encoder?
« Reply #1 on: October 12, 2012, 03:38:24 pm »
I'd think it would work, but it would probably be lacking in a few inputs. I think most dance pads have 11 inputs. You're standard street fighter arcade input count is 12 with start and coin.

You might be on to something as a good, cheap solution for classics though. I wonder if you could hack a remote in the same way?

Well Fed Games

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Re: Anyone ever hack a dance pad for use as an encoder?
« Reply #2 on: October 12, 2012, 03:42:09 pm »
Yeah, I think I just get 4 directions and the 4 face buttons, along with start and back and the x button, pretty limited.

I'd think it would work, but it would probably be lacking in a few inputs. I think most dance pads have 11 inputs. You're standard street fighter arcade input count is 12 with start and coin.

You might be on to something as a good, cheap solution for classics though. I wonder if you could hack a remote in the same way?
Completed projects: Pac bartop (Plug & Play), 30th Anniversary Pac cab (MAME), Point Blank (PS1), Centipede (arcade hardware- light restore), VS. Super Mario Bros (arcade hardware- light restore) Tetris Cocktail (SNES), Arcade Classics upright (60-in-1, then MAME), Multi-Raiden (arcade hardware). Pac Man vs.(Gamecube),

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Louis Tully

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Re: Anyone ever hack a dance pad for use as an encoder?
« Reply #3 on: October 12, 2012, 07:15:38 pm »
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« Last Edit: February 12, 2015, 09:40:43 am by Louis Tully »

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Re: Anyone ever hack a dance pad for use as an encoder?
« Reply #4 on: October 12, 2012, 07:27:56 pm »
It would be interesting to do a dedicated foot pac controller.

Actually at one of the (two) arcade auctions I have been to there was this game called spider stomp:


It went for more than I could afford, but made me think about what kind of games (even educational games, like what you might find in a museum or whatever) you could build with a similar idea (foot switches). Maybe I will hack the dance pad into a game like that someday so it can continue its destiny of being stomped on.

(I would say I just need to find a 360 copy of a DDR game, but my PS2 dance pads are still collecting dust in the closet... as they have been for many, many years.)
Completed projects: Pac bartop (Plug & Play), 30th Anniversary Pac cab (MAME), Point Blank (PS1), Centipede (arcade hardware- light restore), VS. Super Mario Bros (arcade hardware- light restore) Tetris Cocktail (SNES), Arcade Classics upright (60-in-1, then MAME), Multi-Raiden (arcade hardware). Pac Man vs.(Gamecube),

Working on: Pinball Re-theme, Homebrew arcade arena shooter