Xbox Dance Mat Reviews

Xbox Dance MatMost Dance Mats compatible for the PlayStation 2 aren't compatible with the Xbox, so I have put together a list of Xbox Dance Mats with some small reviews, to make your choice easier.

The most well-known Dance Mat is the Dance Dance Revolution Pad Mat, now also available for the Xbox. This durable pad allows you to perform all kinds of cool dance moves with some of the hottest dance games for the Xbox. Easy to set up and fun to use, this dance pad is a must have for all gamers. The pad has also been redesigned to give you better sensitivity, resulting in better performance and more accurate game play. The dimension of this Dance Mat is 36" x 32" so it would fit in most living rooms.
Manufacturer: Dance Dance Revolution
Price range: $20-$40

Dance UK, the purple and pink dance mat, has eight steps (standard up, down, left, right as well as the four corners) and these make routines for all levels. Players have the choice to play single player, two-person and eight-player consecutive modes, and there are also four progressive difficulty levels to work through. If you are a beginner, it might be a bit difficult to start with eight steps, so try the tutorial mode which is basic and not as difficult as the Dancing Stages. Other nice features include an aerobic mode and a step recorder allowing you to record, save and dance your own routines. The Dance Mat is fairly big compared to others, so make sure you have enough space!
Manufacturer: Dance UK
Price range: $40

The Mad Catz Xbox 360 Beat Pad is also an 8-way direction control Dance Mat, but this one can be played with 4 steps as well. The Mad Catz Dance Mat is extra stable by using foam inserts and zippered design which provides you a rigid dancing platform. The very durable textured surface makes that the step transitions ar easy and increases tractions.
Manufacturer: Mad Catz
Price range: $40

The next one is Logic 3's Dance Dance Dance. This Dance Mat has 4 action buttons, the mat has slip resistant duty plastic covering and hard wearing pressure pads. It's a fairly simple Dance Mat of which you shouldn't expect a life long lasting, but ideal for starters who've never had a Dance mat before. The manufacturer is an experienced and appreciated Dance Mat maker.
Manufacturer: Logic 3
Price range: $20-$30

Dance Dance Revolution

Dance Dance Revolution is also known as DDR or Stage in Europe are produced by Konami and are well known in the video arcade halls for their Metal Dance Pads. Dance Dance Revolution was first introduced in Japan in 1998 where the arcade halls have always been popular. After Japan, the DDR became very popular in North America, Europe and Australia. Konami is a big player in the Dance Mat world, since 2005, ninety versions of Dance Dance Revolution have been released covering about 1,000 songs to play on.

The Dance Dance Revolution game works as follows:
Players can score points or lose them depending on how well they're playing. De player has an energy level that he/she has to keep up, if you put your foot down at the right time, you get more energy, if you miss the arrow completely, you will lose energy. Do not lose all your energy or you'll have failed your game. These are the points awarded or deducted per performance:
* Perfect: +2
* Great: +1
* Good: 0
* Boo: -4
* Miss: -8
* O.K.: +6 (when a 'freeze' well)
* N.G.: 0 (when missing a'freeze')

If the player plays well, a combo can be made. A combo means that you have done a series of steps with a minimum socre of "good", the longer the combo, the more points. If the player gets to do the full song in one combo, it's called a "full combo".

Once the song is finished, the player gets to see a general score where "AAA" the best is and "E" the worst. During the game DDR also calculates a numeric score, this number is based on achievement combined with bonusses from combo's. This means that it'd be possible for a player to score an "A" with a low numeric score (then the player has done a lot of good scores but not a lot of combo's) whereas another could score a "C" with a high numeric score (less good scores, but good combo's).

Dance Dance Revolution has produced Stepmania and In The Groove as main DDR games.