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3D Accelerator
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Dance Dance Revolution Controller (Import)
Yeah, it’s only a souped-up Power Pad -- but I don’t remember being able to play Space Channel 5 on the NES!
February 24, 2000
What’s four feet square, made of soft plastic, and lets you impress chicks with impeccable dancing style? Why, it’s the Konami Dance Dance Revolution controller, and if you wanna play DDR on your Dreamcast, it’s the only choice you’ve got.
Resembling an old-school Nintendo Power Pad, the DDR controller has four directional arrows, “X” and “O” action buttons, and a start button – all of which are stepped on, of course. The cord that emerges from the front of the controller is just long enough to get some space between the mat and the Dreamcast itself, and the whole package can be folded up for easy storage.
The white plastic coating on the mat shows off the presence of any dirt rather nicely, so remember to take off your shoes before dancing up a storm. After some of the crazier songs, I found that the mat was slipping around pretty badly – be sure to apply the small added “feet” included in the box for extra traction. And since this is essentially the same as the Playstation DDR controller, there’s no place to plug in a VMS. Naughty, naughty Konami.
While DDR DC is the big reason to buy the controller, Japanese gamers have discovered that Space Channel 5 is also quite playable. Ulala’s dancing adventure becomes an exponentially more physical experience with the mat – and Ulala’s A and B-button beams are easily fired with the oversized “X” and “O” buttons. A word of warning: the final stages get reeeally hard, and you’ll need superhuman skills to beat the bosses.
Aside from that, I couldn’t find anything that was really playable with the mat – attempting to play Soul Calibur with the controller felt a bit moronic, and Power Stone was pointless – but you’ve gotta admit it works better than the old Sega Activator for the Genesis. Shudder.
On a side note, you can pick up something called a Manner Pad for the controller – this is a fold-up, foamy overlay-thing that makes jumping around on the pad less noisy (a definite consideration for those of you living in apartments, or Japanese houses with those damn paper walls). It runs for around twenty bucks at fine Japanese electronics stores, and has similar packaging to the controller – make sure you don’t mix ‘em up next time you’re vacationing in Akihabara!
In any case, if you’re thinking of buying Dance Dance Revolution 2nD Mix Dreamcast Edition, picking up this bad boy is an absolute must. Happy dancing!
-- Colin “Kansai Ballroom Dancing Team Member” Williamson, IGNDC
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