Dancing Stage: Mario Mix Review

Blame it on the boogie.

Version tested: GameCube

We've always known that our favourite tubby plumber was a bit of a groover: why else would his adventures always be accompanied by such a fabulous array of toe-tapping gems? That many of these show-stoppers have been rounded-up and grafted onto a Dancing Stage title sounds like an idea of stultifying genius that even our pretend pet cat, Eric, seemed pleased with the prospect of pirouetting around the living room in a shiny suit.

After the innumerable editions put out by Konami over the years, the phenomenally popular series seriously needed some novelty value attached to it to persuade us to review it all over again. Let's face it, not many of us fancy prancing around the living room to crap pop (unless you happen to have some sort of worrying kitsch fetish), yet somehow the idea of getting jiggy to the theme tune from Bowser's Castle is instantly appealing. How very wrong.

This is the story

This time around there's even a proper story mode to play through n'all, and plenty of silly mini-games interspersed throughout to break up the non-stop, foot-stomping, sweat-inducing action that inevitably ensues. Unsurprisingly, someone (can you guess who) has stolen the Music Keys that were locked up in Truffle Towers - thus breaking the seal and unleashing their chaotic power onto the Mushroom Kingdom. Call the cops! Actually, as per bloomin' usual, it's Mario (or Luigi) that's forced to do the dirty work: "legend has it" that dancing can make magic happen. Didn't work for Michael Flatley, did it?

Anyway. Yes. Dance. Recapture Music Keys. Save world. Sweat. Pass out.

As ever, the premise seems simple enough, but it all depends on whether you've got the funk or not. Once again, arrows scroll up the screen and it's down to you to hit the appropriate direction as it enters the 'step zone'. If you time it well, you'll build up your dance meter, and if you time it badly or miss it entirely your meter goes down. Simple.

But it doesn't end there. Consecutive successful steps build up your combo count, but if you misstime any subsequent step you'll have to start from scratch. Meanwhile, if your dance meter runs out at any point, it's Game Over, man. Needless to say, the game follows identical mechanics to any previous Dancing Stage game, with gradings dished out at the end of your little dance, and progressively harder difficulty settings to try out once you're comfortable with strutting your stuff.

Boogie wonderland

'Dancing Stage: Mario Mix' Screenshot 1

Squash those Goombas, Mazza.

While all this arrow-stomping nonsense is going on, all sorts of craziness occurs on the screen in the form of bizarre dance routines from Mario and the cast of adversaries that he meets on his journeys. Along the way you get to endure 'dance-offs' with his traditional enemies, such as Waluigi, Wario and of course Bowser. Over the course of the five 'worlds' in the story mode, you'll also face all manner of bizarre tasks, such as dancing your way out of an avalanche or boogieing along a rollercoaster track. You couldn't make it up: all in a day's work, presumably.

In between the stages you also get to try your hand (or should be say feet?) at 13 or so mini-games which help break it all up. Some are just simple coin-collecting exercises, with up to jump and down to duck, while others have you dodging giant snowballs rolling down the mountain, or trying to collect as many bananas as possible as monkeys lob them out of trees. No-one said it had to make any sense...

All of them are pretty simple score-based interludes, and none are especially challenging, but for young kids they'll be well-received and certainly help make the game feel a little more varied. You can even play them individually once you've unlocked them, giving you a chance to go for the high-score.

Mushy please

'Dancing Stage: Mario Mix' Screenshot 2

Whack-a-rat, Goomba-style.

In addition, once you've had your fun in the Story Mode you can also return to a song of your choice in the Free Mode at one of the four difficulty levels - with a special 'Mush Mode' throwing in Goombas, Koopa Troopers, Ice Spinies, Boos and more into the arrow-scrolling mix, forcing you to think a little harder than which direction to hit. For example, Ice Spinies have to be avoided entirely, Goombas must be squashed with the appropriate arrow direction, Koopas have to be hit twice to get rid of them, while missing a Boo obscures the screen with a giant Boo.

If you're really determined to use the game as some sort of twisted, perverted exercise tool, there's also the Workout mode, allowing you to meddle with various calorie-count settings, and burn off those Christmas choccies. Or, just run on the spot for an hour to your favourite Celine Dion 'classic'. We're full of similar top tips. Just ask.

Two-player split-screen antics are possible, but using a joypad against the 'Action Mat' (as they call it) seems a little silly. For the full dance-a-thon experience you'll require a separate mat - and unless you've got a pal who's got a copy of the game, you're going to be forced to buy the full kit all over again. For those that do have access, though, a versus mode lets you show off who's got the best dancing feet to whatever songs you've unlocked. It's no more simple or complicated than that.

For the poor, deprived Cube owners out there that have been thus far denied the chance to strut their stuff in front of their TV, this is easily the best Dancing Stage title on any platform. That it's exclusive to the little Nintendo boxlet might just help make up for the long wait, and the fact that it comes in a nice big box with a mat included helps sweeten the deal. Sure, Dancing Stage Mario is nothing new, but it's an enduring, bizarre little concept with practically universal appeal, and a great way of wearing out super energetic kids.

7 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy

Comments (21) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • rinoaMW #1 6 years ago

    that lil' plumber turns up in EVERY genre, doesn't he :)
  • Pac-man-ate-my-wife #2 6 years ago

    Without mario I personally think Nintendo will be dead. I'm honest and love the DS more than PSP. So dont take it as an attack. Just being honest

    That's a bit like saying "Without Halo the Xbox wouldn't have sold half as many units". But it does and it did.

    Nintendo DOES have Mario, and he's a hugely successful icon for the company. He's not going to suddenly disappear and Nintendo aren't about to 'drop' him so your point is, well, pointless.
    Edited by 1 at 15/12/05 @ 12:29
  • smelly #3 6 years ago

    Without mario I personally think Nintendo will be dead.


    You mean, without mario, pokemon, donkey kong, pikmin, zelda, etc etc nintendo would be dead. But with them, they're the most profitable console manufacturer there is at the moment?
  • kebab #4 6 years ago

    >>Without mario I personally think Nintendo will be dead.

    thats like saying if we went to war without solders we would be dead... or if manchester united had no players, it would be dead, or if we didnt have air in our lungs, we would be dead.
  • #5 6 years ago

  • Wrobel #6 6 years ago

    Why isn't this game marked out of 5 like the other kids titles EG has reviewed ;-)
  • tengu #7 6 years ago

    They should just move all Nintendo games into the /5 bin.
  • megastar #8 6 years ago

    "Pathetic. Mario only tunes? Who does that appeal to? Nobody. They need to make it with proper pop songs".

    you mean like all the other dancing stage games previously released.

    MUPPET!
  • ST.. #9 6 years ago

    Tom would have given this 10/10.
  • Sid-Nice #10 6 years ago

    I bought this for my daughter for Christmas and I also bought the US Cube version of Karaoke Revolution; the Mario Dance Mat is compatible with this game. She'll have the best of both worlds; as singing and dancing is her thing.
  • ekko #11 6 years ago

    So it features Mario classics? Hmm, I think a Nintendo wide "Smash Bros" version would have worked a little better.
  • neuroniky #12 6 years ago

    Leaving all the anti-or-pro-Nintendo chit chat alone... the questions I have about this are:
    1) What is the difficulty level of this compared to standard DDR? I mean, it is like Disney DDR, or are there some solid 9s and maybe a tenner (I doubt it, but you never know...)?
    2) Is there a way to link a PS2 mat to the GC as far as anybody knows for we owner of a metal pad?
    Cya, I won't forget your dancing!
    Niky
    Edited by 1 at 15/12/05 @ 13:53
  • abacabb #13 6 years ago

    To all those cheeky little beggers poking Eurogamer with their out of 5 taunts... Kristan happened to say in teh review that this game had "practically universal appeal"... making it an out of 10 review.
    Edited by 1 at 15/12/05 @ 14:04
  • Ignatius_Cheese #14 6 years ago

    I agree with Talha that profitablility is not important to Mr Joe Public-Gamer but, at the end of the day, that is what keeps a company like Nintendo in the market. They, unlike their "competition", do not have other sections of the market to fall back on, other than their prolific investments in numerous areas. So yes, Nintendo may have taken a backseat in the market and are less "mainstream" than other major platforms but if it means they're around for longer than everyone's predicting then I don't give a flying monkey! :oD

    /is feeling a little tipsy after xmas lunch at work...
  • Kami #15 6 years ago

    Jesus, with all the crap that's currently being released in the Xmas run-up, why oh why do you people whinge over an "alright-it's-pretty-good" game? No pleasing some of you, is there? Yes, it's Mario in a dancing game. But it's not crap.
  • Ignatius_Cheese #16 6 years ago

    @Neuronicky - Answering your point 1 (and avoiding the flame-fuelled conflict...), I have read quite a few reviews of this game and have briefly played on the PAL version and can confirm that this is quite a bit easier than your "usual" Dancing Stage game. It could possibly be seen as an equivalent to the Disney versions but, then again, its mean't to appeal to (i) the kiddies, (ii) Nintendo/Mario fans & (iii) Joe Public Cube owner so that doesn't really impact as much as I would think...

    As to point 2, I'm pretty sure that a GC to PS2 convertor is available through Lik-Sang or such online retailer but I'm not sure if that means if a dance pad will work through it... If you have a quick "google-a-thon", I'm sure something will turn up! :oD
  • Sid-Nice #17 6 years ago

    BTW; my daughter is 22, how old are you guy's who think this game should be in the /5 category?
  • neuroniky #18 6 years ago

    @Ignatius: Thanks for the infos. Guess I will pass on this then.

    /goes back to Healing Vision (Angelic Mix)...
  • #19 6 years ago

    I say all games should be marked out of 5.

    The only reason they're marked out of 10 is for some elitist, snobbery reason. Or simply because it's tradition (like percentages before it).

    AFAIK, the vast majority of hardware and films/music in magazines/newspapers is marked out of 5 (usually a star rating).
  • neon #20 6 years ago

    Isnt it about time Mario shaved his moustache off, lost some weight and moved with the times abit ;P
  • #21 6 years ago

    In this major city it took some Aussie sucker 2 hours to deliver my pizza to where I was staying.

    Not only that but your average aussies think a pretzel is something you wear round your head (and is about the size of the average aussies intellect) and that something 'cultural' is watching Neighbours or Home and Away.

    But then what do you expect from a place the white dude used as a former penal colony.

    One good thing to come out from Aus? John Pilger.
  • Talha #22 6 years ago