Once upon a time, Nintendo had their holiday plans to counter the Xbox 360 system set in stone. They had one title- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess- ready to defend them from all newcomers, promising the experience of a lifetime for GameCube owners right up there with this year's earlier release, Resident Evil 4. But then, somewhere along the way, the development team called for more time to make it shine, and now it's in the midst of a 2006 release. So where does that leave Nintendo as they combat Microsoft's behemoth of a system? With oddities, ranging from Super Mario Strikers to Fire Emblem to this, Mario's first dancing game.

I'm serious. Mario now has a dancing game, courtesy of the good people at Konami. Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix puts the plumber right in the middle of the dancing engine, as he embarks on a journey that will require only the best footsteps in order to get ahead. It appears that Waluigi has stolen some harmonious music keys that throw the world into turmoil upon disappearance, leaving Mario and his brother Luigi to chase after the crook. Along the way, they run into various enemies and obstacles, and instead of taking the traditional action route to get around, the problem must be solved through the "magic of dance". Hey, I tell you, if the "magic of dance" worked better for me, I wouldn't have so many traffic tickets.

Okay, so the story's flimsy, but I'll give Konami credit, they added more appeal to this game than I expected. Throughout his adventure, Mario will engage in two different types of gameplay, both involving the dance pad that comes packaged with the game for no extra charge (a nice touch). The first involves the traditional DDR play, with arrows scrolling up the screen that must be pressed precisely when they pass over a particular point in order to get credit. The second comes in the form of quick mini-games that pop up during the story, where you must complete a particular segment using the foot pad to complete Mario's motions.