Dance Party Hits

While other gaming trends have come and gone, the dancemat genre is just as relevant today as it was when it debuted in the arcades.

Its influence is still being felt in rhythm-based software such as Guitar Hero, whilst active titles such as Wii Fit certainly owe it a major debt. So it’s only right that companies should continue to develop dancing products.

New European games publisher Nordic Games has opted to centre its first ever console release around dancemats, creating a duo of rhythmically appealing titles in Dance Party Pop Hits and Dance Party Club Hits.

These games continue the tradition of the ever-popular dancemat games, challenging players to follow a set routine of foot-stomping moves along to a variety of popular tunes.

Although the games are compatible with all major dancemats already available for the Wii and PS2, Nordic will also be releasing special Dance Party dancemats, made specifically for use with the game. These mats will be available separately, but the publisher is hoping sales for both the peripheral and the game will be strong.

“We expect retail will sell the games with the mats together at very competitive prices – it is generally how this type of product is bought,” says Nordic’s international sales manager Nik Blower. “We’ve worked very hard to ensure ours are the lowest price and highest value combination of rhythm-action or music games available.”

TOP TUNES
One of the key features of Nordic’s own-brand dance mat is that they feature eight directional pressure pads. This means that instead of just the traditional dance routines revolving around four directions, the two titles will really put players to the test with eight arrows to follow.

As with other dancemat games, the appeal of Nordic’s titles will be dependent on its roster of tunes. Fortunately, each of the Dance Party games boast 15 familiar hits, with tunes from the Sugababes, Sam Spaaro, Booty Luv and Sophie Ellis Bextor amongst many others.

Each song has a set routine for players to master on three different difficulty levels, making for a grand total of 45 routines.

However, if gamers manage to perfect all of these, or just believe they can do better, there is the opportunity to record their own dance moves for any of the tracks. There is even a fitness mode, with routines designed to work up a sweat and help dancers improve their health.

TWO TO TANGO
Another element of the dancemat genre’s popularity has been the multiplayer – be it two-player dance offs or points-battling amongst the family. Dance Party also caters to gamers’ competitive streaks, with a head-to-head two-player setup as well as a Party mode, which supports up to eight players.

“We recognise that not everyone with a PS2 or Wii has access to an internet connection, so we took this into account and made sure the party and social elements weren’t forgotten,” adds Blower. “With Dance Party, you can have eight players with just one game, one dancemat and one console.”

Although the launch campaign is being kept to a minimum, Nordic is aiming for long-tail success with marketing planned for the summer. However, there will be plenty of POS available in the form of dummy mat and game boxes, posters, FSDUs, shelf wobblers and A4 flyers. The firm’s above-the-line summer campaign will be detailed in due course.

“The Dance Party games and others like it tend to sell over a long period so there is no need for us to focus too much on the launch period,” explains Blower. “When I worked at Big Ben UK, we had the same approach with Dance:UK – coincidentally also developed by Broadsword – and it worked well. We sold over 750,000 units in the UK alone.

“Doing it this way also allows us to better target our marketing, as we will have already had some sales and therefore a real consumer group to work on. Retailers can also look forward to more titles being added to the Dance Party series with some very clever and exciting features.”