Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix

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Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix
Developer(s)	Konami, Nintendo
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Release date(s)	July 14, 2005 October 24, 2005 October 28, 2005 December 15, 2005 May 15, 2006 (rerelease)
Genre(s)	Music video game
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: Everyone OFLC: G
Platform(s)	Nintendo GameCube, Arcade
Media	1 × MiniDVD
Input	Dance pad

Mario Mix features several of Nintendo's popular characters, including Mario, Luigi, Toad, Toadette, Waluigi, Wario, and Bowser. According to the story, Waluigi has stolen the "Music Keys", unleashing their music upon the Mushroom Kingdom and causing chaos. Mario must restore peace to the land by recovering the Music Keys.

[edit] Gameplay

The game is divided into several "worlds", each of which has a corresponding set of songs. The game features 29 songs, including some classic Nintendo themes. Each song has 5 difficulty levels - Easy, Normal, Hard, Very Hard, and Super Hard. A workout mode is also available for use in Story Mode and Free Mode. The player must clear each song to earn the Music Key belonging to that world. Songs are played in typical DDR fashion, by pressing arrows on the dance pad (the Nintendo GameCube dance pad is officially called an action pad) that correspond to the music and the arrows displayed on-screen. Mario-themed gameplay elements are also incorporated, such as the ability to jump on enemies by hitting enemy icons in place of certain arrows. Clearing songs also unlocks higher difficulty levels, hidden songs, and minigames. Like all DDR games, each step in a song is judged for accuracy. The possible ratings in Mario Mix are "Perfect", "Great", "Early/Late", and "Miss".

"Freeze" arrows (arrows which require the player to keep their foot on the button until a certain amount of time has elapsed) are absent from this game, as are several modes of play such as "challenge" and "edit". Also, the total number of songs is very low compared to other DDR games, though this likely has to do with the fact that the majority of the music is inspired by the Mario series.

Classical tracks such as "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" can be traced back to their original usage in Mario Paint (1992), and "Fishing Frenzy from Csikos Post" can be traced back to Yoshi's Cookie (1993). "Underground Mozart from Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" was originally used as the main title theme of the original Mario Bros. arcade game in 1983. Other classic Mario songs are prevalent throughout the game.

Either Mario or Luigi will be featured in the game based on who the player chooses as their character. Also, there is an extra mode that one can play after he or she completes the story mode that replaces some songs with new ones.

This game is the first and only game thus far to feature Waluigi as a main antagonist.

[edit] Synopsis

A screenshot of Mario proceeding to dance.

Once upon a time, Truffle Towers, its vicinity, and its citizens was a utopia, a place more than what one could ask for, until Waluigi arrived and raided Truffle Towers, hoping to steal the four Music Keys and become the best dancer in the world and "hypnotize the rhythmless masses" with his fancy footwork. As Waluigi stole the Music Keys, he let his guard down, and the Music Keys escaped. Now in possession of the Keys are Waluigi, the Bloopers, Wario, and the Freezie. Toad witnesses this incident, and notifies the Mario Bros. about what he had just seen.

The Mario Bros. and Toad immediately join forces and march off to stop the chaos the Music Keys are causing. The trio's first challenge comes in the form of the river that now runs through the land. Unfortunately, this is only the first of many environmental elements that have been altered by the power of the Music Keys. Toad recalls an old rhyme that states when the Music Keys are loose, one can utilize the power of dance to one's advantage. The Mario Bros. and Toad dance away on a boat ("Here We Go!") and are able to cross the river safely. Shortly after, Goombas, enemies of the Mario Bros., attempt to block the group's path, but to no avail. The trio then marches off to Truffle Towers.

Upon approaching Truffle Towers, Waluigi tosses a lit Bob-omb, forcing Mario into a Warp Pipe, and sending Luigi flying into a hollow tree. Toad is unharmed, and tells the two to dance their way out of their sticky situation ("Underground Mozart"). Upon escaping, the three locate the key to Truffle Towers inside of a shop run by Lakitu. Lakitu complains about the Koopa Troopa Kids loitering at his shop. The brothers chase away the Koopas ("Garden Boogie") and enter Truffle Towers, where they dance off with Waluigi ("Destruction Dance"). Upon Waluigi's defeat, Toad informs the Bros. of a ship, the SS Brass, that can help them retrieve the rest of the Music Keys.

The SS Brass makes its first voyage towards the Music Key with the group on board. The ship also experiences its first disaster, as a waterspout appears and sends the ship flying towards Toadette's Hotel, horribly deforming the building. Toadette pins the blame squarely on the trio, and commands them to restitute the vandalism. Using the power of dance to restore the hotel ("Jump! Jump! Jump!"), Toadette is very grateful of the Bros. Unfortunately, they don't realize that they are being consumed by an unnaturally powerful whirlpool. Upon escaping the whirlpool and landing on an island, Ukikis (monkeys) attack the duo with bananas and Spiny Eggs, but upon catching the bananas, they meet a pirate Lakitu, who holds a fishing dance-off fishing dance off for his Boogie Booster, an engine that allows ships to get through whirlpools ("Fishing Frenzy"/"Pirate Dance"). With the Boogie Booster won, the heroes travel back to the whirlpool and hear a song from the Music Key. The brothers follow the music ("In the Whirlpool"/"Step by Step") and discover a submerged ruin. Upon investigating the ruin, the Bros. are attacked by a swarm of Bloopers, who have a Music Key in their possession. With the power of dance, the Bloopers are defeated ("Blooper Bop") and another Music Key is won.

Mario and company travel to Wario's Carnival. Upon approaching the main gates, they're hindered by the Hammer Bros, and a dance-off is held ("Hammer Dance"), resulting in the defeat of the Hammer Bros. Without delay, the group enters the Carnival. During a shopping spree, Wario is spotted on a roller coaster with a Music Key in tow. The brothers rush to the roller coaster and hold a race ("Rollercoasting"). The chase takes to the Haunted House, and the trio splits up. A large group of Boos appears, forcing the brothers to dance to get rid of them ("Boo Boogie"/"Moustache, Barrel, and Gorilla") and escape the Haunted House. Upon catching up with Wario, a dance-off is decidedly held on the ferris wheel for the possession of the Music Key ("Starring Wario!"). Wario is defeated, and the heroes seize the third Music Key. They sail away on the SS Brass towards the final Music Key.

At an icy mountain, the last Music Key is causing an intense blizzard, making the mountain range a chore to maneuver. Eventually, the group finds a Warp Pipe inhabited by Cheep-Cheeps, who are disposed of with the power of dance ("Frozen Pipes"). Upon crossing the pipe, Toad catches cold, forcing the Mario Bros. to take shelter in a cabin and warm up ("Cabin Fever"/"Ms. Mowz's Song"). With the blizzard gone, the group is able to reach the top of the mountain, where a giant Freezie resides. When the Freezie attacks, the team is forced to melt the Freezie ("Deep Freeze") and retrieve the last Music Key. The heroes ride down the mountain on toboggans during an avalanche ("Rendezvous on Ice"/"Midnight Drive"), and return home for a celebration.

But before the trio can return the Music Keys, Bowser appears and steals the Keys for his own purposes. Chasing down Bowser to the Badlands ("Always Smiling"), where the Keys are placed in a strange device on top of Bowser's Castle. Inside the castle, Mario and his friends steal back the Music Keys, forcing Mario and Bowser to have a dance-off ("Bowser's Castle). Upon his defeat, Bowser confesses to stealing the Music Keys in order to fix his issues recognizing tone. Mario decides to use the power of the Music Keys to turn Bowser's Badlands into a meadow and transplant music into everyone's souls. They all dance happily ever after.

[edit] Songs

The music featured in the game was featured with the level number, song name, and origin in this order (currently up to World 1) (with Luigi as A and Mario as B), so players new to this game, or those unfamiliar with the songs can refer to the music that the song came from. Note: "Real World" indicates that the song not only originated outside of a video game, but refers to a musician or music group, like John Lennon and the Beatles.

This following table is in the order by which the song is placed in Free Play.

Songs marked with an asterisk only appear in the regular Story Mode. In Story Mode EX, these songs are replaced by the song immediately below them.

[edit] Special features

While DDR: Mario Mix may lack certain modes present in other DDR titles, it boasts several new ones.

[edit] Super Hard

If you pass a song on Very Hard level you will unlock the option to play that song on Super Hard.

[edit] Mush mode

In this mode, some arrows have been replaced by enemies or items from the Super Mario Bros. series. This mode may not make much of a difference on the easier difficulties, but it adds another layer of complexity that players may not be able to process in the heat of "Very Hard" or "Super Hard" difficulty. During certain two player dance-offs, some of these special arrows can be used to attack the opponent.

Goomba - Just like a normal arrow, although it is easy to overlook as part of the background if you're focusing too deeply on the arrows. Also, their appearance does not indicate the button that must be pushed to defeat them.

Koopa Troopa - A Koopa Troopa must be hit twice before it is defeated. If your second hit is a "Perfect", his shell slides down and knocks out the next arrow in his column.

Bob-omb and Podoboo - Players step on the Podoboos to send them to their opponent (during duels of the same difficulty). If a player misses one, it causes a Bob-omb to explode on the player and greatly decrease the dance meter. This is similar to the Mine modifier in the similar In The Groove series of games.

Cheep-Cheep (arrow) - Like a normal arrow, but he comes in from the side of the screen, which means players don't know which dance pad button must be pressed to defeat him until just before they need to.

Spiny - If a player steps on one of these, their dance meter will drop significantly. Red ones move faster than green ones.

Mini-Blooper - Almost exactly like Goombas.

Big Blooper Tentacle - Extend up from the bottom of the screen quickly. If a player misses one, his or her dance meter drops significantly.

Hammer - Move quickly and decrease dance meter significantly when missed.

Coin Switch and Coin - When a player steps on a Coin Switch, all of his or her arrows are turned into coins temporarily. Although coins add to your coin total, they become like Goombas in terms of their difficulty.

Mini-Boo - When a Big Boo is at the bottom of the screen, missing arrows will cause him to rise further and further up the screen, blocking the player's vision of most all of the arrows. Mini-Boos pose the same challenge as Goombas. Successfully hitting Mini-Boos will cause the Big Boo to recede back down the screen.

Cheep-Cheep (non-arrow) - They appear and collide with an oncoming arrow, switching its direction. These Cheep-Cheeps cannot be defeated, and special attention must be given to the new direction of the arrow.

Fire Flower - When a Big Freezie is at the bottom of the screen, missing arrows will cause it to grow in size, blocking the player's vision of most all of the arrows. Fire Flowers pose the same challenge as Goombas. Successfully hitting Fire Flowers will cause the Big Freezie to recede back down the screen. The Fire Flower is technically the same as the Mini-Boo.

Ice Spinies - Just like normal Spinies that come in from the bottom of the screen. Stepping on them will cause the dance meter to drop. Unlike regular Spinies, Ice Spinies only come in one variety, and move at the same speed as normal arrows.

Bullet Bills - Bullet Bills are launched from Bill Blasters at the bottom of the screen. They move faster than normal arrows, and like other Mush Mode baddies, don't have any indication of which direction they represent. Upon hitting one, it will richochet back and damage the Bill Blaster. If you successfully hit three, you will defeat the Bill Blaster at the bottom of the screen. This is only a short respite, however, as more Bill Blasters will appear to replace the destroyed ones.

Rocket Parts - Come in three varieties. Collect all three in the proper order (launcher, body, top) to send a rocket at Bowser. If a player misses a part, he or she will eventually suffer substantial damage to the dance meter. In the event that a player fails to send enough at Bowser to defeat him when the song ends, the player will fail the song as if his or her dance meter had dropped to zero.

[edit] Mini-games

There are several Mario-themed mini-games available for play. All but two of them can be unlocked during the story mode (one may have to play more than once to encounter them all). The final two can be unlocked by going through Story Mode EX. One will be unlocked by beating it as Mario, the other by beating it as Luigi.

The mini-games see players using the dance pad in unusual ways, such as alternatively stomping the left and right arrows to run.

See also Dance Pad Games

[edit] Playable characters

• Mario
• Luigi

[edit] Non-playable characters

• Wario
• Waluigi
• Hammer Bro
• Pirate Lakitu
• Toad
• Toadette
• Bowser

[edit] Reception

Following the game's release, Mario Mix was criticized because secondary dance mats were only available through Nintendo's online store. It is also claimed that the game never reaches the extreme difficulty of the other DDR games, making this one more suitable for beginners and not DDR experts. The most difficult song in the mix is comparable to an 8- or 9-"foot" song in other DDR games.^{[citation needed]} Some critics believe the difficulty failed to surpass that of "Standard Mode" in other DDR games. Princesses Peach and Daisy do not appear in the game, despite their popularity. X-play's Adam Sessler said that the game's music "delves deep into the public domain library".^{[citation needed]}

Available only in limited supply, as proven by two NOAs on NSider, the game has proven to be very popular among both DDR and Nintendo fans alike regardless of the difficulty level. Due to popular demand, Nintendo of America restocked US supplies of Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix in March 2006. However, as of 2007, the game has been discontinued.

[edit] References

• "KONAMI and Nintendo Co. jointly develop Dance Dance Revolution with MARIO", Konami Corporation (January 7, 2005) (in Japanese)
• Freund, Josh: "DDR with Mario - more screens & first song details", Games Are Fun (January 18, 2005)
• Niizumi, Hirohiko: "Mario shimmies onto Dance Dance Revolution", GameSpot (January 7, 2005)
• Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix at Nintendo.com. Accessed on May 20, 2005.

[edit] External links

• Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix at MobyGames
• Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix Official site
• Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix at Nintendo
• GameFaqs
• Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix at DDRfitness