Although I was late to the game (literally!) and only really played my first Dance Dance Revolution game in early 2015, by now five years later I've played plenty of them, and I'm still enjoying working my way through the various nooks and crannies of the series. Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix was actually the second game in the overall series that I played, and at the time I didn't fully appreciate its many charms. At the time I found the game to be a bit easy (not surprising, given its target audience), and I found the Mario hazards added to stages (such as Podobos that you have to avoid stepping on) to be a nuisance. Also, although I enjoy classical music in general, I found the game's inclusion of remixes of classical music to be pretty cheesy.
Looking back at the game now and in the context of the series, I appreciate its charms much more than I did before. Only about a fifth of the game's thirty-ish tracks are actually classical music remixes unrelated to any Mario game. The rest are a nice assortment of reworked tracks from across the range of the Mario series, including tracks from fellow GameCube titles Wario World and fan favorite Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. At the time I was also annoyed by the Mario Party-like mini-games, but now I can appreciate how they provide a bit of a break from the familiar DDR gameplay. I also have to give a shout-out to the DDR pad that was bundled with the game, as it's light years more durable than any other home dance pad I've used.
The highlight of Mario Mix, though, has got to be the star turn that Waluigi takes. Mario's dance-off battle against him is nothing short of epic, and I know I'm not the only Walu fan who is clamoring for more attention to be paid to this too-often ignored anti-hero of the Mario universe. In any case, I enjoyed reminiscing over this unique entry in the Mario and DDR series, and I hope you have a Happy MAR10 day!
Wahoo! You are a Super Reader! But the adventure doesn't stop here... There's more of this project in another castle! This article is just one level in an entire Super Mario Multiverse, a galactic collaboration between writers around the world sharing a bit of our hearts and memories about our favorite Mario games. Visit the Center of the Multiverse to see more:
https://thewellredmage.com/2020/03/10/center-of-the-mario-multiverse