Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix for GameCube Reviews by Gamers

Up, down, left and right. These four simple directions have provided the backbone for Konami's hit Dance Dance Revolution games. The DDR titles took Japan by surprise a decade ago and have since invaded the rest of the world, attracting hardcore players and newcomers (see: girls) more interested in dancing than partaking in traditional videogames. The premise is simple. Players position their feet atop an included dance mat and tap directional pads in unison with on-screen cues. The design seems basic, but the good dance games are separated from the bad ones by way of two key components: a strong selection of popular, groove-inspiring music and well-implemented on-screen instruction that is matched to said tunes. PlayStation 2 owners have over the years come into many rock-solid DDR games. GameCube fans, on the other hand, have not -- they were treated to only one, and it lacked both good music and well-placed on-screen cues.

Luckily, GCN owners finally have a DDR game to get excited about and it comes from Konami, the company that created and advanced the genre over the years. The studio has teamed up with the Big N to deliver GameCubers DDR Mario Mix, a new take on the classic formula with a Mushroom Kingdom-themed twist. Mario Mix enables players to become such characters as Mario and Luigi as they set off through a simplified storyline and participate in dance-offs and mat-ready mini-games. The game's selection of music is light on pop hits and over-the-top difficulty, but heavy on Nintendo inspired themes, storyline and music. The result is an offering that is more likely to please fans of the Big N than conventional DDR types. And that may not be a bad thing.

It's Dance Time
We have to give Konami credit for avoiding the undesirable copy and paste job of the basic DDR setup. Mario Mix arrives with a complete, albeit marginal storyline and a presentation that rivals the best of the Mario Party franchise. The powerful Music Keys, which naturally contain the power of music, have been stolen from the Truffle Towers. It's up to Mario (or Luigi) to get them back before villains such was Waluigi can use them to his dancing advantage. The title's simple storyline is of course merely a means to connect together the various play modes, but it is nevertheless an important and welcomed part of the package if for no other reason than it gives gamers reasons to dance. Cut-scenes take place using the game engine and dialogue is disappointingly delivered in text. Still, the world that players explore is rich with Mushroom Kingdom locations and characters that any Nintendo fan can appreciate.

The title's unique story option is its main attraction and players will need to go through it in order to unlock stages and songs for use in the other modes. The story takes players to four different worlds, each with its own varying dance-offs and mini-games. Seasoned DDR players will have no trouble advancing through the relatively shallow offering in no time flat, and even novices should be able to get through it in a matter of hours. Still, DDR games have never been known for their depth, but for their replayability, and Mario Mix stands tall with its predecessors in this regard.

The title comes packaged with a stylized, Nintendo-themed dance mat that could very well end up being something of a collector's item for Nintendo fans. The mat is plugged into a GameCube and then enables the basic up, down, left and right movement to kick out the various steps needed to become a dance master and advance through the rounds. Gamers will be pleased to know that the "action pad," as Konami calls it, is quite durable, although we wouldn't recommend that anybody wear shoes while dancing. A word of warning, though: gamers hoping to take part in some two-player dance-offs (which Mario Mix does support) can only get a second dance mat through Nintendo's online store, which is ridiculous given that one of this game's greatest appeals is its multiplayer potential.

Mario Mix does not stray far from the traditional dance formula, which is both good and bad. The title pits players across a variety of different dance stages and challenges them to tap their feet in accordance with on-screen arrows. That qualifies as dancing and the configuration is really that simple. The game dishes out several different challenge settings, from easy to very difficult, and having played them all we can safely recommend that players avoid the easier settings because they are ridiculously forgiving. Playing on difficult or very difficult throws more action arrows on-screen at any given moment, and in turn proves to be much harder and more satisfying.

The good news is that Konami has put some thought into the dance-offs. Not only are the levels intelligently designed as extensions of the simple storyline -- Mario might have to face off against Koopas in order to get beyond a point they're guarding, for example -- but they are varied. Gone are the plainly psychedelic dance backgrounds that have provided the arenas for DDR games too long. In their place are welcomed locations and characters from the Mushroom Kingdom, including recognizable (and to Nintendo fans, beloved) mascots like Toad, Waluigi and Bowser.

In addition, Konami has breathed new life into the same-old-same-old dance mechanics by serving up new mini-games that use the same dance mechanics in new ways. In one mini challenge, players have to tap left and right on the dance pad repeatedly in order to accelerate Mario into a classic flagpole jump. In another, gamers must tap the directional pad to hit the heads of Goombas that appear on-screen. These aren't exactly the deepest challenges ever created, but they nevertheless break from the standard dance-offs and as a result inject an extra layer of variety into the whole package. And since most of these minis are -- like the rest of the game -- drenched in Nintendo themes, we're certain that diehard fans will be pleased.

The bad news is that DDR Mario Mix features both a disappointing lack of extensive pop soundtracks to dance to and a surprisingly slim (compared to what was possible) selection of Nintendo-themed remixes. Don't get us wrong. There are definitely some hit Nintendo songs to dance to, including remixes of tracks from such games as Super Mario Bros. 3 and Dr. Mario. But even so the selection feels paltry. So many great Mushroom Kingdom-themed music tracks are conspicuously absent from Mario Mix's lineup and it us this feels like a giant missed opportunity.

Unlike the previous DDR-style project to hit GameCube, Mario Mix's music is at least timed to the on-screen action arrow cues. What this ultimately means is that players will find themselves moving in conjunction with the music instead of beside it, and that's always a plus because it makes catching a rhythm and sticking with it that much more intuitive.

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