Dance Master is a plug and play dance mat distributed by Advance Bright Limited in 2003. It is a loose clone of Dance Dance Revolution, and shares many similarities with other dance mats running on Famiclone hardware, suggesting that it was developed by a group of ex-Subor developers. The system was released in many various countries under different names; including a U.S. release by Senario known as Dance Mania, and several further variants known as Dance Party 3.
Overview[]
Once you boot on the system, you’re greeted with a menu featuring a fiery background and 3 selectable games. Those being “DANCING GAME”, “PINBALL GAME”, and “KNOCK OUT GAME” (TETRIS GAME on some releases) with a rendition of "I Need To Know" by Mark Anthony.
Dancing Game[]
Dancing Game is a DDR clone similar to Hot Dance 2000. Even using the same menu as some variants of it (Revolution 2004). as well as the UI (Dance Xtreme) which now uses new backgrounds featuring a dancing woman. The game also lacks any way to change difficulty. Making you stuck on the 3 feet mode. The songs are also a lot longer. Lasting around 4 minutes. After each song is over, a screen with your results will be shown.
Song List[]
- Independent Woman Part 1
- Merry Christmas (Alternate versions replace it with La Bomba)
- Jingle Bell (Alternate versions replace it with Suavemente)
- Burn
- Africa
- Didadi
- Take On Me
- I Need To Know
- Reach Out
- Only You
Pinball Game[]
A pirated version of Nintendo's Pinball with its copyright information removed. As on earlier "DDR clone" systems, the controls are hacked to use the left and right arrows; whereas the original uses the A button for the right flipper. No known legal action was taken for the (presumably-unauthorized) usage of the game.
Knock Out Game[]
An originally-programmed whack-a-mole game with graphics lifted from Hit Marmot; specifically the "educational computer" version seen on consoles such as the Asder PC-95. The moles retain the letters on their helmets from the keyboard-based version, though are repurposed to indicate the four cardinal directions (i.e. up, down, left and right as U, D, L and R). It appears to be reprogrammed in comparison to the versions seen on Hot Dance 2000 (and its further variants).
Tetris Game[]
Alternate versions of Dance Master include a pirated version of the Tengen NES version of Tetris instead of Pinball. Due to the game being controlled with the dance pad, it's more difficult to play, especially on higher difficulties.
Alternate PCM Version[]
An alternate version of Dance Master, featuring the same Dance Party 3 mat design but with an entirely different game featuring PCM audio, is also known to exist. The graphics are similar to that of Dance Party, a separate Dance Dance Revolution clone that is speculated to have been developed by Cube Technology, featuring backgrounds that are animated and more psychedelic in appearance. A dance mat with a seemingly identical game, Dance Party Professional, was also featured on ABL's website.
This alternate version's dance game also bears a strong resemblance to Mix Party 2nd Remix, the dance game featured on the Mix Party series of dance mats, which is also known to have featured PCM audio. Notably, Mix Party 2 features an identical dance mat design to Dance Party 3, but with a Mix Party 2 logo using the exact same Pokémon-styled typeface. However, unlike that game, this version has up-left and up-right inputs.
Bratz: Stylin' Dance Party[]
Bratz: Stylin' Dance Party is a hack of Dance Master bearing the license of MGA's Bratz doll line. It was released the same year as Dance Master and only in the EU. It was published directly by MGA in the UK, and published by GIG (The official Italian distributer of MGA products) in Italy.
The Bratz version adds a splash screen at the beginning with a new copyright bumper, but also removes copyright bumpers for the songs. The right side of the screen is also replaced with either Cloe, Jade, Yasmin, Sasha or an unknown blue haired character dancing on a simple background featuring lips, diamonds, stars, or bubbles. The Pinball and Knock Out games are retained, despite the dubious legality of the former.
Song List[]
The song list is completely different from Dance Master. Featuring 10 different songs from singers such as Jennifer Lopez and Nelly Furtado.
- Ain't It Funny
- Don't Tell Me
- Jumpin, Jumpin
- Most Girls
- The Boy is Mine
- Turn Off The Lights
- Independent Woman Part 2 (Incorrectly called Independent Woman Part 1 in game)
- Love Don't Cost A Thing
- Hey Baby
- Get The Party Started
Dance Mat Party[]
A variant of Dance Master that comes with a unique softpad distributed by Lexibook under their Lexibook Junior Sub-brand. The game itself appears to be exactly the same, though its not known if it has different songs or games.
Gallery[]
Dance Master/Dance Party 3[]
_.jpg "Dance Master Back (Hilarious) .jpg (157 KB)")
.jpg "Dance Master Box (Alt).jpg (3.39 MB)")
.jpg "Dance Master Back (Alt).jpg (3.56 MB)")
.jpg "Dance Master (Senario).jpg (92 KB)")
Dance Master (Unknown)[]
Bratz: Stylin' Dance Party[]
Dance Mat Party[]
Trivia[]
- The music used in the "Knock Out" game was also used on the title screen of Subor Chinese and English Computer Learning Card (v5.0) as "Childhood Memories"; further suggesting a theorized link between the "DDR clone" lineage and Subor.
- The earlier "Hot Dance" version of the game ("Hit Mouse") instead uses the opening screen theme to "Subor SU-2000".
- Infamously, a variant of Dance Master was sold on HSN. During the infomercial, one of the hosts mistakenly steps on the top portion of the console, resulting in it crashing and having to be reset.[1]
- Most designs of the Dance Master console variants are original conceptually; whereas many earlier "DDR clone" systems directly copied the artwork design of the official Dance Dance Revolution mat.
- Two years after Bratz Stylin' Dance Party was made, a newer, non-Famiclone version was released called Bratz Stylin' Dance Mat. This version appears to have received larger distribution than the NES-based version, and promptly superseded it in production.
- A rare variant known as the Zenda Tronic Electronic Dance Mat uses the same box as the Advance Bright Limited release, but features a unique version of Hot Dance 2000 using assets from Dance Xtreme and Kang Ti Wu Wang known as Hot Dance 2003.
References[]
| Plug and play dance mat games |
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