125-130 lbs still isn't enough to hold down some freeze arrows at locations that don't keep their pads up.

5'6" is short - it isn't a good height for using a bar, and long leg stretches for doubles are also harder.

Size 8-9 mens seems to be a good foot size - less shoe to move back and forth, still large enough to fit the arrows.

lol @ this topic.

I'm 6'2" ......I think, I'm pretty sure I am. Anyways I believe being this tall is perfect for dance games. Tall enough to play with or without bar, but I weigh like 135-140. So sometimes on bad machines I get plenty of dropped holds and pad misses/greats.

Really though I think anyone can play dances games with whatever height or weight they are.
Just look at Suko! He's like 6'7", but he plays fine or Amber who's pretty short, but basically owns the crap out of us on ITG and she's like 5'5 - 5'6 lol.

lol @ topic hahaha

I definitely agree that any body type can play the game well.  The best player in New England is about 300lbs.  He just bracket rapes everything ever.

But I do think that it makes it a lot harder for some body types.  If I were taller, I could use the bar on Pump without losing my center of balance from leaning too far out.  Also, if I had bigger feet, I wouldn't have to go down on all fours and I wouldn't lose my timing or energy.

I'm just wondering who on this forum is the Michael Phelps of DDR. lol

I like this topic!
 
At 5'5'' - ish and, well, overweight, I actually have very few problems. I'm small enough that the screen is a good height for me and the lights don't get in my eyes, and I weigh enough to hold freeze arrows. The only thing I'd change is my feet - at a woman's size 8, I feel that I am slightly disadvantaged when it comes to quads and bracket raping.

Honestly, if it weren't for the fact that Tony is crippled (lol knee injuries) I'd say he's probably one of the best body types for these games - also small enough that the lights don't get in his eyes, built like a fucking linebacker so he never drops freezes, etc etc. I'll have to let him comment though.

Lol, I understand having bigger feet is nice. So I can bracket rape when needed, but I suck so bad at it anyways so it doesn't really matter.

besides, aren't hands fun? I hit them all the time with my hands. you know......because they're hands, ba dun tsh!

That's another thing about the perfect dance games body - breasts are not part of it. I actually have severe back problems, due largely in part to my F cups, and going down on all fours can be problematic. If I can see it coming for a long time and the song is pretty slow, it's not as much of a problem, but I can't bend over quickly if I want to be able to walk tomorrow. :<

Long story short, I can rarely do hands at all.

Good point Laura.

I kinda missed that since.......I don't have......boobs hahaha

/resisting so many puns right now.

Jon I hate you for pointing that out, because I am resisting so bad right now......and you just made it hader by mentioning it. *struggles*

That's totally me 
I'm 5'4, like an inch taller than you Tricksy so no excuses! All it takes to be good is consistent dedication to getting better. Especially in the physical aspect of the game.

For reference, I'm currently about 205-210 lbs, 5'9"-10", size 9.5 4E width shoe, extremely wide shoulders, and as mentioned, my right knee isn't always too happy with me when I don't get to the gym regularly.

In terms of sensor issues, I am the last person who ever claims to have them (conversely, if I start getting pad errors, something needs to be looked at).  Wide feet + my weight (the lightest I've been while playing in arcades regularly was 170) means I have enough force to hit and hold three or four sensors with each foot, and my feet rarely only land within range of one.  My feet are, however, basically as wide as the dedicab brackets, so I need to set up for triples or quads (pump is fine though), because I can't magically land my feet in the right place all the time.  Playing hands by actually bending down is hard if there are more than a few instances in the song, since the up down motion with my mass is exhausting and regaining balance (even with the bar) can take longer than you have before the next step.  I can hold a quad freeze via knee drop and can play some basic hand patterns using my knees, though.

At my height, the ITG bar can feel a smidge too tall and the DDR bar a smidge too low, but in general, no problems there, though the DDR bar causes me back problems from time to time as my shoulders are wide enough that I have to bend a little oddly to fit the narrow bar.  I do go home with very sore arms after playing ITG double charts, since they often involve a fair amount of slinging yourself from side to side by arm strength alone, which isn't so easy at my weight.

As mentioned, playing can be really hard on my knee sometimes.  When I'm good about training the right parts of my leg, that's not so bad a problem as is had been (I almost had to quit ITG, and started focusing on DDR or not playing altogether, around the beginning of the year because 3 sets of 10's or 11's would leave me stuck on the couch for the rest of the day.  I'm still figuring out exactly what happened, but after I started playing again, I lost my ability to no bar (due to feeling off balance when I play), but my build used to allow me no bar most 10's and 11's, and I've even gotten through Delirium once (though no barring a 12 is death to an already bad knee, so I haven't tried since), and there's a video of me doing the fake jig to Fleadh Uncut double EX somewhere on youtube; I am, as far as I know, the only person who's done that last one.

In general, for traditional play, I've found my size to be a huge advantage (big enough to avoid pad issues, not so tall as to be uncomfortable or off balance without the bar), but I do need to pull off whatever tricks I can to make hands work, since just bending down just doesn't work.  Until recently, when I had to hold back due to my knee and let myself get out of shape, I'd found that I had much more stamina than most players pretty consistently and that back to back sets usually led to a slow increase in my scores via adrenaline than a decrease due to fatigue like most would expect, mainly since I just don't get tired while playing, which I do feel is tied to how easily I can just step and have everything work.  I'd say that, overall, size has an advantage in 4 panel play, but you can be held back by inertia when playing double or 5 panel charts (harder pump charts really start making feel completely off balance, even with the bar, because of the harder crossover patterns).  I won't say anything about being limited by size, but there's a definite advantage to different builds in certain aspects of play, which actually is analogous to Michael Phelps; in addition to being dedicated, he has some unusual traits (disproportionately sized arms, abnormally flexible ankles) that give him a natural edge over an equally dedicated opponent.

Pro Tip: @ 6'-7" it's too difficult to use the bar regularly.

This is why I mostly play no-bar. Also, I weigh 220lbs, and that's a ton of weight to be moving back and forth really fast. I wish the makers of the next-gen arcade cabinets would put adjustable bars onto the machines (for both short and tall people). Being able to raise it 3" would make all the difference in the world to me.