Dancing Stage - Euromix 2

[drawfull]

I just picked one of these up.. does anyone know of anywhere in the UK that sells official replacement arrows? Failing that a US distributor? All my google searches are pulling up sites in Australia.

And, I know this is a popular game in the arcades but was amazed that the one I have got has 415,000 plays on the counter! 

Pics to follow

[RayB]

Wow, and they charge what, about $1 per play these days? That's a big ROI!

[EightBySix]

Has anyone done a BYO project for one of these? Perfect to have in your game room I would think .... For playing in private   

I love these, but don't like to use them in public unless the kids have been bad, and need punishing via public embarassment, dad dancing and all that.

Would be an interesting project from an audio point of view.

[drventure]

There's lots of plans out there for building your own dancepads. Not terribly involved, but not super easy either.

I picked up some foldable foam mats that work ok, but full on hard mats with button pads ala DDR would be far better.

And yeah, I'd never play one of those in public. Jeez, the kids I've seen play them would utterly put me to shame 

[Q*Bert_OP]

And, I know this is a popular game in the arcades but was amazed that the one I have got has 415,000 plays on the counter! 

415,000 plays, or coins in? No matter what, that's a ton of plays

[drawfull]

I guess it's coins in, there is no credit button and the machine wasn't set to free play when I got it. It's £1 per play.

I was sure someone on here had built a DDR cabinet?

Forgot pics! Overall it's in pretty good condition, monitor is a little dim, but needs new artwork (ordered) and new arrows as the graphics in them are quite worn at the corners. And it's disgustingly filthy, but once I get the art and arrows I'll strip it down and clean it properly


Sorry about the focus


All lit up

[drawfull]

There's lots of plans out there for building your own dancepads. Not terribly involved, but not super easy either.

I picked up some foldable foam mats that work ok, but full on hard mats with button pads ala DDR would be far better.

And yeah, I'd never play one of those in public. Jeez, the kids I've seen play them would utterly put me to shame 

I have a cobalt flux for sale which I will put in BST

[DCsegaDH]

Cool, I want that machine I play DDR in the arcade when I get the chance, I'm not super good, I'm lucky to get a C on standard mode, but I play it for fun anyway. Some of those guys are crazy good, but I don't play it that often to get really good, anyway, nice find

I was going to build a DDR project, but I just don't have the room, those things are huge! Maybe later if I get a bigger Place.

[AlienInferno]

I'd like to either get one of those or build one.  I used to have several versions of DDR for the PS2 and was decently good at it.  I played in the arcade a few times.  Probably was getting some funny looks but who cares I was having fun.

[MonMotha]

I've seen DDR machines stateside that have had the coin counter rolled over.  They don't earn nearly as well as they used to, and most of them that have seen that much play are pretty beat up, but they used to make absolute bank.  That Dancing Stage is in pretty good shape for 400k+ coins, probably better than mine (which I think has somewhere around 600k coins on the counter but may have rolled over), and I've done a fair bit of work on mine.  The operator must have actually cared enough to clean it now and then, and the players must not have abused it like seems to happen here in the states.

The SSR code is LLLRRRLR on the cabinet selection arrows, btw  Works on 3rd Mix (Japan and Korea regions).  Other regions and versions used other methods of getting to the highest difficulty (called "Expert", "Maniac", "Heavy", etc. depending on region and version).

Finding official arrow panels is darned near impossible outside of Japan.  Betson in the US *might* have official ones, but they probably have the same knock-offs from China that everybody else has.  The knock-offs aren't bad, but the material is wrong (it's stiffer and tends to shatter when it breaks - probably some sort of polycarbonate material whereas the originals are Lexan) and the silk screening on the underside isn't nearly as robust.  They also sometimes need the corners trimmed to fit which is easily done on a bandsaw with a slapped together jig.  I have a set of them on my machine, and while they feel a bit different, they're waaaay better than the worn out originals I got with it.

FYI, a simple vacuuming out of the insides of the stage does amazing things for the performance of them, and doing so frequently prevents wear and tear.  Generally no need to go crazy cleaning everything, but it doesn't hurt.  Be careful that you don't break the CCFL lights; they're a bit expensive to replace and are fragile.

[amendonz]

when i was younger my older brother was quite good at these games, did 'no looks' and using his hand stuff, was quite embaressing 

[drawfull]

Finding official arrow panels is darned near impossible outside of Japan.  Betson in the US *might* have official ones, but they probably have the same knock-offs from China that everybody else has.

FYI, a simple vacuuming out of the insides of the stage does amazing things for the performance of them, and doing so frequently prevents wear and tear.  Generally no need to go crazy cleaning everything, but it doesn't hurt.  Be careful that you don't break the CCFL lights; they're a bit expensive to replace and are fragile.

Thanks MonMotha - I have ordered from betson and found this on Konami.com:

General Information
As a result of closure of its Midwest Service Center in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, Konami appoints Betson Enterprises, a division of H. Betti Industries, Inc. as its solely authorized parts and service company for Konami's video games.

PS - CCFL are very expensive on Betson!

[MonMotha]

Betson may be Konami's "authorized distributor" in the US, but be aware that not everything they sell "for Konami games" is actually a real Konami part.  They do stock a number of 3rd party parts (and don't really identify if they're real or not), but everything they have seems generally of decent quality.  Nothing is cheap from them, though

[drawfull]

Well they have to contact me to arrange shipping, so I will ask them if they're genuine parts. I can get repro for a lot less.

I assume the latest machines use the same basic parts? So I dn't need to stock up on spare switches or anything yet?

Thanks

[Q*Bert_OP]

Happ has the arrows, CCFL tubes and inverters, pressure sensor switches, etc. for much lower prices than Betson 

[drawfull]

Bah. I think Betson have already taken basic payment for the arrows. Will have a look at Happ.

[MonMotha]

Betson puts their DDR parts on sale from time to time and handily beats those Happ prices, but the Happ prices do appear to be better regularly.  Happ stocking this stuff is relatively new.

I'm curious how well their switches compare to Betson's.  Betson's are pretty good, but I got some from a Chinese outfit (for way cheaper, though add tons of shipping and payment fees as usual) that were just awful.  I actually took them out and put my original ones back in.  Unfortunately, they look largely the same in a low res picture.  The Happ picture resembles my cheap/crap ones (which have the mold protrusion where the wires exit) more than the Betson ones (which do not), but at $22 and presumably being able to get them through a Happ disty like Divemaster that doesn't kill on shipping fees, it may be worth trying them out.

If you want a bunch of the cheap/crap ones (which may still be better than really worn out/dead/sticking ones), I can sell you some (for cheap).

[MonMotha]

Well they have to contact me to arrange shipping, so I will ask them if they're genuine parts. I can get repro for a lot less.

I assume the latest machines use the same basic parts? So I dn't need to stock up on spare switches or anything yet?

Thanks

The new stuff (DDRX / DDRX2) is totally different.  Almost none of the parts are the same, and the old ones generally don't fit.  This goes especially for the US made (and terrible quality, btw) ones.  However, the cabinets made in Japan (sold in JP, US, and maybe EU region) from 1st Mix all the way through Extreme were identical.  The DDR Supernova US cabinets are different but mostly use the same parts for the stages.  The Korean cabinets are also different, but again the stages mostly use the same parts.

[RayB]

Who does most of the laundry in your house? They must not be impressed.

[drawfull]

They just dance from washer to dryer.

[HaRuMaN]

What the hell do you do for a living?

[grantspain]

http://www.happmart.com/Products.aspx?sid=62

[drawfull]

What the hell do you do for a living?

I'm in hospitality, but the games that used to be a part of that business are now here.

[MonMotha]

http://www.happmart.com/Products.aspx?sid=62

Those look to be 100% identical to the Chinese knock-off parts I have from various other places.  The sensors are crap but apparently highly variable - others have bought from the same vendors as I have at different times and gotten usable stuff.  The panels work decently but are the wrong material, so they feel a bit "off", and the silkscreening isn't very good, and you often times have to trim them to fit.  The corner retention pieces are absolute garbage that will bend and break when being stepped on (which is of course going to happen) as they're made out of cheap metal that's almost half the thickness of the original piece.  I've not bought any of the levelers as mine work fine.

The CD-ROM drive might actually work, but it's of course overpriced.  The system 573 used in those things is pretty picky, but you can usually find a drive that will work (old Matsushita/Panasonic CR-xxx have a good chance of making it happy), and what works will depend on which bootleg style you have (you are almost guaranteed to have a bootleg if you have anything other than 3rd or a Euromix).

If you end up needing sensors for a drummania, just buy cheap piezos from an electronic distributor.  They're the same thing for like 50c each

[drawfull]

Well I haven't heard from Betson but it looks like they have debited my account (it's hard to tell as a few foreign transactions). But I definitely haven't paid anything for shipping according to their website. How long should I give them?

[MonMotha]

I can't say I've noted them for being fast, but it doesn't usually seem to take more than a few days for them to get their act together.  Things may be different for international buyers, though.