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DDR X AC shipped out this week to US arcades, our local Gameworks was lucky to get it in Monday night to set it up.

For those that aren't aware, similar to the US Supernova cabs, Betson's producing the new US DDR X cabs as well. You would think that Betson learned their lesson about developing their own cabs while cutting corners from the abyssmal quality in the Supernova prototypes. DDR X bodes a little better, but not a whole lot.

Just a few notables before I continue:
-e-Amusement system runs off the tap system rather than a card slot.
-The slots for edits are USB, not SD card slots as originally announced.
-The build of the game was 2009060301, but there wasn't anything noticeably new from the previous test build. X-Mix1 was the only long version available, On The Break was the 3rd Boss Stage, and Saber Wing was the Extra Stage. Presumably, Horatio is the Encore Extra Stage (untested).
-Dynamite Rave "Air" Special is a new version that sounds very much unlike the original. All other "Special" songs (Chaos, Freeze, Voltage, Groove, etc) seemed to be the same versions as before.

In an effort to cut costs, several cuts were made to the cabinet itself, and understandably so. The six LED light stands are gone, the LED's under the screen as well as the circle sensor are absent as well. The pads are now connected with one large metal plate rather than metal panels. The cabinet is a lot skinnier as well (although fatter due to the widescreen HD monitor). The pads also now are almost 60% thinner and lower to the ground. There is also a metal panel between the pads and the cabinet so no wiring hose to be careful for. These cosmetic changes are excusable (and I supposed neat too), but unfortunately Betson's efforts to frugal habits also makes the game suffer as well.

Just a background with me and DDR X, I've played on the US dedicab test, US upgraded location test, and the Japanese upgraded cabinets, and I've had plenty of fun AA and AAA'ing songs with relative ease. The experience of the US dedicab on the other hand completely trounces the game play compared to what I was used to. Now, I'm no super star AAA'er or quad-star player, but I've got a couple heavy AAA's under my belt on single and double so I consider myself at least a decent player. But when I'm getting B's and A's on 6-8 foot songs, there's something wrong.

Let's start with the HD lag. Yes, it was present in the previous dedicab test, but you could adjust to it since it wasn't too big. At least I could AA Saber Wing without too many problems. This is much worse. Before you ask, there's no option to adjust the timing either on the system menu either (we've checked). Did Betson even look at this game before they bothered to roll it out?

Even if you can adjust to the HD lag, the other major problem is that Betson really didn't take notes from Supernova how horrible their sensors and construction of their pads are. These arrows were stuck on, sensors that are VERY insensitive or sensors that just didn't work. I'm 170 pounds, I shouldn't have problems holding freezes while my foot is squarely and weight shifted onto that held arrow. This left lots of inconsistent game play and scoring and of course lots of room for pad perfects/goods/boos/misses/NG's, especially if you're not a heavy stepper.

Despite these enormous glaring game play obstacles, I eventually learned to adjust to the pad that was kind of working already by stepping HARD, which of course really is something one would expect from a severely aged and thoroughly played 3rd Mix with all the original factory parts and no modifications. Hardly my notion of fun. It's almost as if Betson didn't even bother doing any kind of field test or if they did, didn't bother taking any notes. I wish to have just a glimmer of hope that this is a unique case, but I doubt it.

The sound system is pretty lackluster as well. Compared to the Supernova machine that was next to it, the bass was a bit weak and speakers just didn't sound very good. That's pretty sad considering how poor Betson's Supernova sound system and construction was already.

In short, the game is fine, the new cabinet is crap. I'm rather tolerant of crappy pads (after 10 years of playing on different machines, I've learned to put up with a lot), but these are a waste of time. Inconsistent pad performance on top of the HD lag doesn't say much for design. I would get into trying to push this venue into getting e-Amusement up and running, but with a poor excuse for a working machine it wouldn't be worth anyone's time. The game is playable at best, but for serious players that are trying for score you'll find yourself all kinds of frustrated. You might be better off praying for an upgrade kit for those old DDR Extreme cabinets.

Your milage of course may vary; there are a few players that were OK with the machine and pads despite the issues.


I apologize for the poor quality pictures as I only had a cell phone camera on me.

edit; updated with another picture from -dark-xuxa.. he couldn't get any better pictures because Gameworks told him not to take any more.