Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix is the first Dance Dance Revolution game to be released on a Nintendo console outside of Japan (a Dance Dance Revolution was released for the Nintendo 64 in Japan). It came packaged with a dance pad made specifically for the Nintendo GameCube.
Gameplay[ | ]
Gameplay is like any other Dance Dance Revolution game. There are four stationary arrows at the top of the screen, as well as other arrows that will come up from the bottom. Once these arrows come in contact with the top arrows, you step on the appropriate arrow on the dance pad. If you miss an arrow, your dance meter will lower. If the dance meter goes all the way down, you fail the level. There are five difficulty levels: Easy, Normal, Hard, Very Hard, and Super Hard, with Super Hard only being unlocked once a song is passed in Very Hard mode.
You'll get a specific amount of points for each arrow depending on how accurately you step on the arrow. Accuracy ratings range from "Perfect", "Great", "Early / Late", and "Miss".
There is also a variant of the regular game mode called Mush Mode, in which various other items or creatures from the Mario series will replace or alter arrows in some way. These include:
- Goomba - Goombas act as normal arrows and need only be stomped once.
- Koopa - Koopas act as normal arrows, and need to be stomped once to have them retreat into their shell. They'll bounce down a bit at which point you must stomp again to get rid of them.
- Cheep-Cheep - These will jump up from the bottom of the screen, changing an arrow's direction about halfway up.
- Blooper - A Blooper will act as an arrow, more or less like a Goomba.
- Blooper Tentacle - A giant Blooper tentacle will rush up the screen, up to twice as fast as a normal arrow, and must be stomped to keep the giant Blooper at the bottom of the screen from rising up to the top.
- Bob-omb - Acts as a normal arrow. In two player modes, this will be tossed back and forth between players. If a player misses a Bob-Omb, their dance meter will lower dramatically.
- Bullet Bill - Bullet Bills will shoot up from the bottom, acting almost like Bob-Ombs, only if you hit it, it will destroy any arrow directly below it and automatically give you "Perfect" for each one of them.
Criticism[ | ]
The game has been criticized for not having enough songs (the DDR average is around 60 to 70 songs) and for being far too easy compared to other DDR games. The hardest song is equivalent to about a 9-footer in other DDR games, whereas in other DDR games the hardest is a 10-footer (sometimes harder, depending on the song).
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