I would highly recommend checking out Zenius-i-vanisher's arcade search[0], you might have a local operator with something worth playing. Even if it's just StepManiaX. Actually, SMX is pretty cool on its own, I shouldn't talk about it like it's the red-headed stepchild of dance games.
Speaking of UI/UX... that's actually the reason why I prefer Pump It Up to DDR right now. DDR A has this extremely irritating menu noise. If I want to switch from level 7 to 8, I have to BZZ-BZZ-BZZ-BZZ-BZZT up, close the level 7 folder, open the level 8 folder, BZZ-BZZ-BZZ-BZZ-BZZT down through the song list, etc. Pump's UI noises are far more tolerable, you can pick songs from the dance pad, and you can quickly get in and out of different level folders. StepManiaX actually takes this one step further and just makes the monitor a touch screen so you can swipe through songs.
DDR actually rebalanced their level curve a while back, so MAX 300 is now a level 15 instead of a 10-footer, and the scale goes up to 20. So there's harder stuff now, but top-level players still want stuff harder than that, and complain that DDR isn't giving it to them. I don't know about SMX but Pump has some pretty insane high-level charts[1] that I will probably never be good enough to clear.
Speaking of UI/UX... that's actually the reason why I prefer Pump It Up to DDR right now. DDR A has this extremely irritating menu noise. If I want to switch from level 7 to 8, I have to BZZ-BZZ-BZZ-BZZ-BZZT up, close the level 7 folder, open the level 8 folder, BZZ-BZZ-BZZ-BZZ-BZZT down through the song list, etc. Pump's UI noises are far more tolerable, you can pick songs from the dance pad, and you can quickly get in and out of different level folders. StepManiaX actually takes this one step further and just makes the monitor a touch screen so you can swipe through songs.
DDR actually rebalanced their level curve a while back, so MAX 300 is now a level 15 instead of a 10-footer, and the scale goes up to 20. So there's harder stuff now, but top-level players still want stuff harder than that, and complain that DDR isn't giving it to them. I don't know about SMX but Pump has some pretty insane high-level charts[1] that I will probably never be good enough to clear.
[0] https://zenius-i-vanisher.com/v5.2/arcades.php
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ8DPAD2zCs