The dance game shoes red herring: that lighter weight = better

For a while, I thought that using a shoe as lightweight as possible would be ideal for dance games. 

The logic was if I don't need to lift as much and put in as much effort with each step, I would get more energy savings in lighter shoes.

This is true in a vacuum. 

The problem is that many shoe manufacturers have a tendency to cheap out by saving weight in the upper portion of the shoe, which is the piece of the shoe that is responsible for the responsiveness of lift-off time and player perception of speed at which the foot goes airborne.

Having responsive lift-off time is really important for dance games to me, since I play with a "steppy" form for accuracy on SMX and DDR. My experience has been that there is less overall latency between sending the command to my foot to lift and the foot+shoe raising together, knowing that my foot+shoe is airborne, and moving it to a new panel quickly without risk of tripping.

So recently, I started playing in the Tiger Serrano which I've really been enjoying due to the incredibly fast lift-off speed they have due to the durable materials. They clock in at something like 250g/260g for a US Men's Size 9/EU42.5/27cm, so they feel super nice in terms of weight balance, durable materials in the upper, etc. I throw a cheap bouncy latex insole in them and they feel like the perfect shoe for me now. 

But I got curious about other shoes with fast liftoff speed, so I took note of the materials that the Tiger Serrano are made out of in the upper.  They're mainly like, leather & suede with some sort of reinforcement in the heel counter, and nylon & suede in the upper. It gives it a really flexible fit that also feels super secure/sturdy without it being too heavy. 

Looked into shoes that are similar recently to figure out something similar but cheap I can recommend to people. Remembered a newer local player swore on original DaFu Feiyue shoes. Ordered a pair off of AliExpress for like $16. They have an insanely fast feeling lift to them, a really secure lockdown fit, and the insole/outsole is like this super "squishy" soft rubber that feels unlike any other shoe I've tried before. Like it's a very, very soft rubber that feels super durable, but like clouds on your feet. But the entire shoe weighs like 280-290 grams or something crazy, but it doesn't feel like that when it's on your foot because of how nice the ergonomics of the shoe feel.



 

Lore on Feiyue is there's two different types of Feiyue shoes. There's a Chinese version and French/American version. You want the Chinese ones by Da Fu Rubber Co Ltd. You want those (the ones pictured above) because they have the soft rubber outsole-insole that's one piece. The French/American ones are inferior and cost more-- they don't have the same soft rubber outsole-insole minimalist lightweight-but-durable one piece construction that the original Chinese ones do. You gotta order them off of AliExpress and specifically make sure you're buying the ones that have the red stripe and have the bulbous looking outsole (not completely flat like vans) like the ones in my pics above.

The packaging is pretty old-school and hilarious. They come in a brown paper bag with some cool art, with the shoelaces tied around the shoes instead of being pre-laced, almost like they're saying "fuck you lace your own shoes" which is some energy that I love, LMFAO.

I'll do a follow-up post to report on the dance game performance. I put them on at home and did some foot lifts and was blown away by how responsive they felt (very similar to the Tigers Serranos) but also had really nice shock absorbency/weight balance/zero heel drop.

If the performance feels similar to my tigers with the insoles when I hop on the pads tonight, these will def be my ultimate cheap shoe recc. $16 w/ free shipping is insane for how quality these feel in terms of durability & build quality relative to the price.

 

 

 

 

 

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