Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix has lived up to all of my DDR-nerd hopes. There's a big selection of classic Mario music mixes, cool minigames, and best of all, plausible difficulty levels for experienced DDR players.

There is already a large selection of music available, almost all Mario-game song remixes, and excellent dance mixes, at that. Core Mario music abounds, and cool surprises like a remix of Dr. Mario's "Fever", the music from Wrecking Crew, and "Cabin Fever" from Mario Party. There isn't any licensed music or original DDR songs in the show version, and no word on if they'll be in or not yet. The only thing outside of Mario was a couple of classical remixes.

The main dance mode lets you pick a character (although only Mario or Mario & Luigi are available in the E3 version) and jump right into some dancing. Mario has some pretty good dance moves for having such stubby limbs! The song selection screen is essentially the same as DDR MAX and DDR Extreme, and it even has the same announcer. The difficulty levels are Easy, Normal, Hard, and Super Hard, which are essentially the same as Beginner, Light, Standard, and Heavy in DDR. Super Hard is real Heavy, with 16th notes and everything. Hardcore DDR fans (Lord knows there are plenty of us now) should be pleased. In the show version, Super Hard unlocks for a song after the Hard version is completed.

The dance pad feels like the usual Konami pad, which is comparably tougher than it was a few years ago. It's a custom Mario-themed design, but nothing too gaudy. White and blue is easy on the eyes. Plenty of companies offer heavy-duty pads for PS2, so controller adaptors are also an option.

"Mush mode" can be turned on or off at will in the song selection. If it's turned on, enemies or items interact with the field, depending on the song. In "Deep Freeze," you need to hit Fire Flowers as if they were arrows so that your field isn't covered with ice. In "Dustruction Dance" (from Wrecking Crew), fireballs are stepped on before they set off your Bob-Ombs. Other songs have good old fashioned goomba-stomping, cheep-cheeps switching your arrows, and other classic Mario elements. I also caught a glance at a two-player battle where players were bouncing a fireball back and forth between fields as it came into the step area.

The minigames are simple, but fun. Whack-a-mole with goombas is as simple as could be; step on the corresponding arrow to stomp the goomba. There was a flag jump game, reminiscent of the original Super Mario Bros.; players build up speed by stepping on the left and right arrows as fast as possible, and then step on the up arrow to make Mario leap into the flagpole at the finish line.

This is true DDR, so hardcore DDR fans should be pleased, but it combines Mario elements surprisingly well. I can't find anything to be disappointed with, honestly.