For those of you intrigued by the potential health benefits and den-floor fun of Dance Dance Revolution, but who chose Nintendo's GameCube as your family console, you've been out of luck. Either you needed to add the requisite PlayStation or Xbox console necessary to play the numerous versions of the game pumped out by Konami, or you had to settle for lower quality alternatives.

Until today, that is. Available today for GameCube is Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix.

Unlike previous DDR's, Mario Mix has a story, if you can believe that. Waluigi (that's the evil doppelgänger of Mario: Wario:Mario::Waluigi:Luigi) steals the "music keys" which the player must retrieve to restore order to the Mushroom Kingdom. Story mode intersperses traditional DDR play with pad-friendly minigames like Whack-a-Goomba and a running/jumping game. Many of these games are reminiscent of old NES Power Pad games (aka "yore"). The player can squash Goombas and the like during musical numbers to win coins (law of Mario universe: 100 coins = extra life).

Unfortunately, as was the case with Donkey Konga, DDR: Mario Mix doesn't have very many songs. You start with 18, and you can unlock another 10 or so. All of them are more or less Mario-themed, but remixed to better resemble dance music. The dance pad is also GC-specific, with A, B, Z, and Start buttons represented. Oddly, a whole mess of legal disclaimer is printed on the bottom corners of the pad. I guess Nintendo has less risk tolerance for this sort of thing than Konami does. I wonder what kind of contract we'll have to sign to get to play the Revolution.

All in all, DDR: Mario Mix is a welcome addition to the dance pad family. GC might be my only home console if I weren't such a freak (I have 8 mated to the happily-filled inputs of my TV at present). It's too bad the game comes so late in the GC's life, but judging by the rumors we may have to wait for next Fall for Revolution. And it's too bad the game doesn't include more songs. You'd think Nintendo could pony up and license more non-Mario music. Or perhaps we'll see another DDR title soon with additional music... but I fear it will just be Mario Mix 2.