Kraft dance pad came today

[squirrellydw]

I received my Kraft Dance Pad today.  Didn't really look at it but surprised it came so quick

[whatzcrackn]

I ordered 041807 and nothing yet but the deduction from my back!!   

[AwesomeAlbert]

Got mine today...... What can i play with this thing? 

[Organic Jerk]

What can i play with this thing? 

http://www.kraftbrands.com/activegame/

From what I understand, that's about it.

[patrickmaher]

http://www.kraftbrands.com/activegame/

From what I understand, that's about it.

As far as I have read, just those 4 games would be playable.
Unless you do the modification mentioned here: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=65568.msg663508#msg663508

[Freeplay]

Can someone order me one...... and send it to Australia... I'll pay the freight of course

[knave]

Pretty interesting, from what I understand the issue with these pads is that the hat switch cannot recognise up and down or right and left at the same time.

So the hack switches start and select with up and right or whatever and then you can get full range of motion. you just need to map the buttons in stepmania.

(just no down and start or left and select...pretty sure this is no big deal)

I can't wait for mine to arrive...I think my kids will love it.  even if I just use the Kraft games...but the hack looks pretty easy and stepmania looks pretty cool.

[vidmouse]

If you do the hack, can you use it for other games besides Stepmania?

I'm wondering about Track and Field, Punch Out, etc... that'd kinda neat, have to run that fast for real in Track and Field.

[um3k]

If you do the hack, can you use it for other games besides Stepmania?
I'm wondering about Track and Field, Punch Out, etc... that'd kinda neat, have to run that fast for real in Track and Field.

Even if you didn't do the hack, you could use it for the games you mentioned as none of them require up+down or left+right at the same time.   The hack makes it so up+down and left+right can be pressed at the same time for the DDR-type games.

[vidmouse]

Cool... one more thing, I know the instructions call it to work under XP, but can it work under Win98?  My cab computer (currently down) is Win98, just wondering.  Would it recognize it as a simple joystick?

[knave]

Guess what was waiting for me when I got home yesterday...

I was actually impressed...from the pictures it looks a bit smaller that it really is.  I might have to try out some of those Kraft games just to see how it works.

Question: Those of you with dance pads, is it ok to lay them out on carpet or is a hard surface better?  I suppose I could make a platform to lay it on or just use an office mat.

How do they wear over time. (I don't expect the Freebie Kraft one to last too long but who knows)

If I like stepmania I might have to get a better pad.  I think the kids will like it.

As far as Win98 goes. It might recognise it but chances are you'll need a driver.  Just load XP. 

[KenToad]

I've been searching in vain for a review of these things.  Everybody just says it's good for the price.  Well, that's not really saying much.  It will just take up space and be a waste of time and resources if its not much good.

I have no experience with dance pads, so that's why I'm looking for a experienced viewpoint on the subject. 

[fatfingers]

Can someone order me one...... and send it to Australia... I'll pay the freight of course

Did anyone take you up on this yet?  If not, I can try to get you one but I might have to be creative since I already got one.   

[whatzcrackn]

got mine today!  But now what 

What games do I use?  I currently do not have any......

Will this work on any consoles?

edit: other than the link above.

[vidmouse]

Just tested it on one of my Win98 cabs... it works!  Win98 recognizes it as a "USB Human Interface Device" and doesn't seem to need any new drivers.  Ran it with MAME and once I mapped over the controls it worked fine, although - heh - it makes Pac-Man harder than dinosaur doo-doo.  I experimented a little bit and tried it with Joust, that seemed to work pretty good (use the dance pad for left/right, and a separate handheld button for flight).  Track and Field worked ok... still pretty hard, don't think it responds fast enough or I"M not fast enough

Anyone else experiment with this and different MAME games?  Wondering what works well, what doesn't.

[KenToad]

Not in MAME, but one of the comments that I found was that someone used it to play Bushido Blade.  I really want to try that.

[rovingmind]

Mine arrived, since its for my daughter i downloaded stepmania to see if it worked. 

It did after button mapping.  played with it for 2 minutes before giving  up because it was stepmania.

I didn't see the problem everybody has been reporting with this, although that might be because i didn't dance myself stupid.  I just tapped the buttons.

I'm not going to do the upgrade hack of cutting board traces and rewiring. 
If this ends up needing an upgrade for the kiddo, i think a gamepad mod would work better.

[vidmouse]

I tried this too and it does work except that you
can't press up/down or left/right simultaneously
(well, you can, but the program records a "miss"
even if you get it right).

Haven't had a problem in "Pump" mode where you're
mostly working the diagonals and a "Center" square.
It seems to register double-hits fine there, but I think
that's b/c  the diagonals use buttons instead of the
hat switch.

I suppose you could turn your pad 45degrees for
"Dance" mode and use the diagonal buttons for
up/down and left/right.  But it's not perfectly
square and so your hit zones might be off a bit.

Still, easier than doing the hack and you can still
play your Kraft games that way.

[rovingmind]

I don't play the ddr or the stepmania, just got it for the kiddo.  by the time she knows the difference it will probably be dead anyway or i'll do a joypad hack.

[KenToad]

Thanks for posting your impressions of the product, guys.   

[vidmouse]

Sorry, guess I was talking more about what I was doing with the pad than the actual pad itself.
This is my first dance pad and really the first time I'd ever tried one so my basis for comparsion is zilch.

But, still have an opinion on a couple of things:

The material seems kinda like it will tear over time... almost like cheap vinyl.
I would definitely not wear shoes on it and I'm thinking even bare-feet
may stick/snag/tear it eventually.  Use socks but be careful not to slip.

It does come with some stick-on pads on the bottom, presumably for
those with hard flooring.  I'm using it on a short-pile cheap carpet and
have found no need for the extra pads and it responds to presses well.

As I stated before, it is recognized under Win98 (and WinXP for
that matter), no problem.  Heh, wonder if it's Vista-friendly.

The Kraft games are fun enough that I don't think I will hack mine, just
remap keys as I stated above.

Hope this helps... still looking for others who've tried MAME on this thing,
see what you think.