Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix

Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix, known as Dancing Stage Mario Mix in Europe and Dance Dance Revolution with Mario in Japan, is a 2005 rhythm video game for the Nintendo GameCube. It was developed by Konami and published by Nintendo. The game came packaged with a Nintendo GameCube Action Pad, allowing for others to perform dance moves while playing the game.
==Plot==
Once upon a time, in 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 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"/"Pipe Pop"). 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 Tweester appears and sends the ship flying towards Toadette's Hotel, severely deforming the building. Toadette pins the blame squarely on the trio, and commands them to undo 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 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 a 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 Bowser's 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.
==Gameplay==
The game is divided into five "worlds", each of which has a corresponding set of songs. The game features 29 songs, including some classic Nintendo themes. Each song has five 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 Nintendo GameCube 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 Dance Dance Revolution 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 Dance Dance Revolution 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.
There is an extra mode that one can play after completing story mode that replaces some songs with new ones.
==Characters==
===Playable===
*Mario
*Luigi
==Non-playable==
*Wario
*Waluigi
*Hammer Bro
*Lakitu
*Toad
*Toadette
*Bowser
==Music==
*"Here We Go!"
*"Underground Mozart"
*"Pipe Pop"
*"Garden Boogie"
*"Destruction Dance"
*"Jump! Jump! Jump!"
*"Pirate Dance"
*"In the Whirlpool"
*"Step by Step"
*"Blooper Bop"
*"Rollercoasting"
*"Hammer Dance"
*"Boo Boogie"
*"Starring Wario!"
*"Frozen Pipes"
*"Cabin Fever"
*"Ms. Mowz's Song"
*"Deep Freeze"
*"Rendezvous on Ice"
*"Midnight Drive"
*"Always Smiling"
*"Bowser's Castle"
*"Up, Down, Left, Right"
*"Choir on the Green"
*"Where's the Exit?"
*"Piroli"
==Trivia==
*This is the first Dance Dance Revolution game to be released on a Nintendo system outside of Japan.
*Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix uses a modified engine based on Mario Party 4, Mario Party 5, and Mario Party 6. As such, many poses, voice clips, and animations, such as the losing animation, are reused from these games
==Gallery==
==External links==
*Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix at the DDR Wiki.
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Category:Nintendo GameCube games
Category:2005 games
Category:2000s games