Psst, have you heard the latest gossips? Rumours go Mario is in the break dancing scene nowadays...Now it's really time to do the Mario!

It's generally known Nintendo is pushing Mario more and more in the spotlight. (can he do much more?) Soccer game here, another party game there, even an EA baseball title is good enough for our red-suited guy. It seems like everybody can hire Mario to play a role in their game. This is also what Konami have latched managed to latch onto. The company was looking for a successful way to bring the famous Dance Dance Revolution series to the GameCube, so they hired the fat plumber for their dance series.

The result is Dancing Stage: Mario Mix (in Japan and the US better known as Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix). The basics are the same as in the arcades. When music starts pumping out of your speakers it's time to show who's the real dancing queen. Just follow the footstep instructions on the tv-screen. Thanks to the free-added dance mat peripheral your stunning input reaches the GameCube.

The Dancing Mat looks like a typical Nintendo peripheral. There're four direction arrows, an 'A' spot in the upper left and the 'B' is next to it. There're also two little start and z-spots so you don't have to pick up your controller from the floor every time you want to change a mode. In the middle of the Mat there's a drawing of… Mario! The mat comes bundled with the game, just like the Donkey Konga bongos.

What's special about this DDR game is that it screams Mario all over the place. The cast of dancers are the familiar Mushroom Kingdom inhabitants, like the always brisk Toadette, the Hammer Bro, Waluigi, Bowser and the rest of the gang. They're showing their moves like they were born for it. The dancing takes place on several suitable Mushroom Kingdom 'dance floors', like inside Princess Peach castle.

I wish I could spare the cheesy and dull excuse-story for this game, but hey, now I'm at it. Someone stole the Music Keys in Mushroom Kingdom and is releasing them ('oh no, help us Mario!' is Toad's reaction). Its Mario's task to get them back, before someone does terrible wrong with them. Of course the only way to do this is by the dancing. You get to wonder when Mario gets tired of saving Mushroom Kingdom for stupid reasons.

The look of DS:MM is just what you'd expect from a usual Mario-title. Lots of colours, characters are all dressed in their daily outfits in their usual 'kiddy' look. Nothing special here, but who cares about graphics in a game like this? It's about the music. Having listened to the songs of the Japenese version (29 in total), I must say I'm impressed. This sure isn't stuff you would find in Donkey Konga. These are very danceable, modern, Mario tunes! Songs you won't feel humiliated when filmed dancing to…

If the music in our version is going to be somehow close to the Japanese one, well, it's going to be great, fantastic even. You can hear the Mario influence in every song. Even Mozart's 'Eine Kleine Nachtmusik' gets some Mazza style thanks to the classic game-sounds. Sure, the songs have all beats included, not good for modern-music-hater, but the good memories from the classis Nintendo tunes will make it all up. How about the famous Super Mario Bros. 3 song, or a latin version of a Mario Party 5 song. Original and danceable!

But there is a downside. If you expected some intense Zelda songs to dance to, I must disappoint you. Only songs of Mario games and some classic music compositions are included. Konami probably had to stick to Mazza music only. Another drawback is the fact that you can only select Mario or his brother as your character. Strange.

There are several game modes in DS:MM. There's a story mode where you can unlock new songs, you can try to set new record scores on each song, do a two-player battle and of course play several mini-games; one example being a whack-the-mole game. Put your foot on the side where a mole pops out onscreen. Next to these little games there are five difficult settings guaranteeing you get enough challenges. Looking for loosing some weight? A 'Calories Burned Estimator' is also present.

The dark game package with a drawing of a break dancing Mario reveals it all. This isn't your normal happy happy fun fun Mario game. This is going to be serious dancing fun and lots of classic Mario songs. I don't need to tell you don't have to expect much of this game if you don't like dancing, but if you don't mind moving your butt around, this may be the game for you.

It should be hitting Europe by the end of October.