Starting off life as a Rayman Rabbids minigame and transforming into Ubisoft’s second biggest franchise, here’s the story of how Just Dance turned into a cultural phenomenon and a third-party revelation on Wii. This week I'm joined by my eternal rival and dancing partner Dazz, known as Animal on the N-Europe Forums!

Creating an entirely new genre in the gaming dance market, Just Dance transformed the way we move on consoles and transferred the foot stomping action of DDR into full body movement with its simple yet ground-breaking concept – mirroring on-screen dancing. The premise is simple - you can dance alone, trying to get the best score possible out of 5 stars or pit yourself against up to 3 other friends for a true dance-off.

Early days

The original game was a surprise for many, Ubisoft and Nintendo included. Released with slight scepticism by Ubisoft, it had a strict budget and limited copies available when it first came out in the November of 2009, not only that, but there wasn’t much media buzz around it either. I read two of the main Nintendo magazines at the time and each of them had a tiny 1/8th page review of the game hidden near the back, pretty much proclaiming it as ‘another party game’.

Thanks to its dramatic YouTube video and word of mouth, word got around about Just Dance and its fun party atmosphere very quickly and it was suddenly sold out everywhere. My friend used to work at a gaming store and said so many people were requesting it but they simply couldn’t get the game in. With initial projections in the hundreds of thousands, Just Dance smashed expectations and the original went on to sell over 4 million copies. Just Dance suddenly went from a low-budget single release to a yearly franchise and one that would become a huge name.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEE2cCH2QCs

The video that started the snowball success of Just Dance

Given its low budget, short development time and a team of merely 20-people, the original Just Dance was fun but had plenty of problems. Whilst there were some classic pop hits and party songs, the first game had plenty of covers and a few questionable inclusions to fill up the numbers and with no unlockable content or DLC, there wasn't much room for progression. Add to that very iffy motion detecting (at times, I wasn’t sure if the game was actually tracking my movements or just making up my score on the fly) it was clear that people fell in love with the concept far more than the game itself.

2 Infinity and Beyond

Ubisoft were quick to react after the huge success of the first game and Just Dance 2 released a year later fixing all of the problems found in the first and laying down the foundations for future Just Dance games. With refined motion controls that were now much more accurate, an improved song-list thanks to the bigger budget (no doubt thanks to the massive sales of the first game), unlockable avatars with separate dancer cards and DLC, including a free day one download of Katy Perry’s Firework the same day the single released, Just Dance 2 was a fantastic follow-up.

Just Dance 2 is where the series really came into its own, with quality pro-dancers providing the choreography and a load of popular music. The improved graphics were a welcome addition and continued throughout the seres, too. The original had the neon dancers in front of a single backdrop whereas Just Dance 2 onwards has changeable backgrounds with things going on, with inspiration taken from music videos.

Just Dance was now not only about you and the lone on-screen dancer with everyone dancing together, but was also about people dancing with one another as dual dancing was introduced, with duets storming the living room stage, encouraging people to twirl and link arms with one another.

The Only Way is Up (Baby)

Each addition improved upon the last visually and musically, offering more songs, alternate dances, additional on-screen dancers (with the 4 player group dances being the most fun) and VS battles! It’s a series that could have so easily taken the easy route and just slapped a new soundtrack on every year, but instead strived for more with each entry.

Embracing the late-comers of the party, Just Dance 3 expanded its horizons and landed on Microsoft’s Kinect and Sony’s Move, bringing the dance craze to even more people whilst also embracing the outside world. Just Dance was now seen in all sorts of places, with an entire scene of Katy Perry’s ‘Last Friday Night’ music video being dedicated to some Wii Remote flinging dance offs to Justin Bieber's pool party in Beauty and a Beat sporting a pool-side Kinect dance area. Not only was Just Dance leaking into other territory's but the outside world was entering Just Dance too. How I Met Your Mother frequently featured Barney and Marshall playing the Wii and this love was returned with the inclusion of Robin Sparkles in Just Dance 3.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeQ35k5aF40

Famous vocaloid and Japanese holographic wonder, Hatsune Miku, making her Just Dance debut

Just Dance even made it to Japan with funding from Nintendo. Given the entire game is based around dances to specific songs, it was hard to release Just Dance in none English speaking countries as the music wouldn't be recognisable, instead requiring new songs and choreographs for that region – basically it would mean making a new game. Given the success of the series though, Nintendo thought it’d be worth it and threw money in Ubisoft's direction to create a Japan-specific title, with a bunch of the most popular songs from Just Dance 1 and 2 along with exclusive Japanese songs, featuring huge names such as Kyrary Pamyu Pamyu and popular boy band Exile. I had a go for your viewing pleasure, this is how I spend my Monday mornings:

Escaping the confines of our EU HQ, N-Europe spread their wings to test out the Japanese Just Dance

Party Time

Of all the party games I’ve experienced, Just Dance has to be the one I’ve played the most as it’s just so damn fun, with the crazier the choreography the better. Me and my friend Linzi are so dedicated to Ke$ha’s ‘Come On’ that I bet we could re-create the panda dance without the game if we had to, not that we should or ever will.

Even the N-Europe Forum got in on the action, and I’ve been in a 3 year Just Dance-off with Animal, though it’s clear at this point he is the much better dancer. Challenging each other to a certain song, we used to shake our behinds all week to try and get the highest score. That 5 star rating of Bieber’s ‘Beauty and a Beat’ haunts me to this day. In fact, Animal, otherwise known as Dazz in the real world, is such a big fan that I invited him to this episode to give us his thoughts on a series he loves as much as I do! 

As somebody who adores dance games (and I'm taking you all back to the 90s where Dancing Stage was Godly and I didn't stop until every song was AAA), Just Dance was an absolute game-changer for me. Unlike DDR, Just Dance actually had you dancing.

I remember the very first time I ever bought Just Dance. This was back in my DDR days and I was looking on YouTube on tips for Max 300 when I saw a video for Just Dance- Who Let the Dogs Out and I just knew I had to buy the game. On the very first day, I bought it and after playing Kids in America by Kim Wilde, I knew that this game was special. I played it for five hours straight. Day in and day out, I would be on the Wii non-stop, trying to beat my high score, shaking what Nicki Minaj only wished she had (my fat arse) to songs like Jin Go Lo Ba, Fame and my highest score, I Like to Move It and you best believe that I LIKE TO MOVE IT! To say it was an obsession is definitely an understatement. The game quickly turned into my life. Every single song I used to play, I tried my best to not only fill the score metre but to also get AT LEAST 15,000.

Just Dance has been one of the best gaming series, the best party game series and also one of the biggest game-changers in gaming. Most of you may laugh at this but Just Dance really does improve with every game released. It doesn't just change the routines but it also has difficulty modes for those who actually want to look professional (and believe me- extreme mode IS very difficult), props (yes- chairs and umbrellas included), sweat mode (for those who want to get a great workout and trust me, it is actually a great cardio workout) and World Dancefloor (a place where you compete with 20 other people around the world on a song). There's just so much to explore on Just Dance that it's actually crazy how far it's come and how it also spawned other dance games such as The Experience series and Mel B's own game (LOL, wut!). Not to mention that it's also started me and Josh64 with our very own Just Dance Off (think of it as Poundland's very own Step Up) and it's been ongoing for three years. There's only one song I can't beat him on and it irritates me because it's genuinely the only song I can't get five stars on: Love You Like a Love Song by Selena Gomez. HE HAS FIVE STARS! HOW?! Still, I'm always a Beauty and the Beat

(Well Daz, I guess there is only space for one Selena on N-Europe. *flicks hair*)

The Final Countdown

Whilst Just Dance has most definitely peaked, it’s still a highly successful series that is set to continue for years to come. With yearly releases on the now 10 year old Wii, as well as appearing on PS3, 360, PS4, Xbox One and Wii U, not to mention the new streaming service and the ability to play with your smart phone's motion sensing abilities, it's clear that Ubisoft are eager to keep the dancing dream alive for new-age gamers and classic Wii vetans alike. 

There are many motion-controlled dancing games out there these days, all released off the back of Just Dance, but the difference here is that Just Dance is not only a great party game but a really high quality one. The original title aside, if you want a quality dancing game with real routines by great professional dancers, you needn’t look any further.