Lance, piccy:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/paul.beards/DC_MC_Padz.jpg

I seem to remember seeing one or two DC OEM coloured pads over here, but the majority were like this trio.

My DC was pretty quiet, but then I had (still got) one of the first Japanese ones (with pics from the Japanese TV ad all over the box) and it was water cooled... (...Hey, I'd rather have my S2000 than a VW beetle, so what gives?!?) I know the UK version had a noisier fan and no water piping (and a blue spiral...)

But you're dead right - the DC was well ahead of it's time, and is sadly missed by anyone who knows their stuff. I had Dead or Alive 2 on both DC and PS2, and the PS2 version looked really shoddy in places in comparison. Curse you aliasing issues!!!