MC Groovz Dance Craze is a rhythm game for the Nintendo GameCube, developed and published by Mad Catz, Inc. The game is a Dance Dance Revolution

Dance Dance Revolution

Dance Dance Revolution, abbreviated DDR, and previously known as Dancing Stage in Europe and Australasia, is a music video game series produced by Konami. Introduced in Japan in 1998 as part of the Bemani series, and released in North America and Europe in 1999, Dance Dance Revolution is the...

 clone which came bundled with Mad Catz' Beat Pad accessory. The game was originally announced via a press release on November 2, 2004.

Gameplay

There are two main gameplay modes: Scroll and Spin. In Scroll mode, you play by stepping on four different directions on the game pad (right, up, down and left) as the arrows scroll towards four icons at the top of the screen.

Spin mode, however, allows you to step on eight directions. The arrows gravitate towards the icons in the screen from the center. In Easy mode, you only step on four arrows. Moderate and Expert increase the number of arrows to eight. The songs are also longer than other dance games, often lasting around seven minutes.

The game also includes three extra modes of play: Dance Workout mode, which lets you see how many calories you've burned while playing the game; Dance Together, a two player co-op dance mode; and Dance Faceoff, a two-player versus mode.

Features

The game features a total of 28 songs, including several licensed songs from original artists such as KC and the Sunshine Band

KC and the Sunshine Band

KC and the Sunshine Band is an American musical group. Founded in 1973 in Miami, Florida, their style has included funk, R&B, and disco. Their most well known songs include the disco hits "That's the Way ", " Shake Your Booty", "I'm Your Boogie Man", "Keep It Comin' Love", "Get Down Tonight", "Give...

, Earth, Wind & Fire

Earth, Wind & Fire

Earth, Wind & Fire is an American soul and R&B band formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1969 by Verdine and Maurice White. Also known as EWF, the band has won six Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards. They have been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of...

, Jewel

Jewel (singer)

Jewel Kilcher , professionally known as Jewel, is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, actress and poet...

, Jessica Simpson

Jessica Simpson

Jessica Ann Simpson is an American recording artist, actress, television personality, and fashion designer whose rise to fame began in 1999. Since that time, Simpson has achieved many recording milestones, starred in several television shows, movies, and commercials, launched a line of hair and...

, The Emotions

The Emotions

The Emotions are an American all female soul and R&B singing group. The group was formed in its current hometown of Chicago, Illinois originally consisting of the three Hutchinson sisters, all the children of Joseph and Lillian Hutchinson....

, Whodini

Whodini

Whodini is a hip hop group that was formed in 1981. The Brooklyn, New York-based trio consisted of vocalist and main lyricist Jalil Hutchins; co-vocalist John Fletcher, aka Ecstasy ; and turntable artist DJ Drew Carter, aka Grandmaster Dee.-Early years:Whodini was among the first hip-hop groups to...

, Peaches & Herb

Peaches & Herb

Peaches & Herb was an American vocalist duo, once comprising Herb Fame and Francine "Peaches" Hurd Barker...

, Patti LaBelle

Patti LaBelle

Patricia Louise Holte-Edwards , better known under the stage name, Patti LaBelle, is a Grammy Award winning American singer, author and actress who has spent over 50 years in the music industry...

, David Naughton

David Naughton (actor)

David Walsh Naughton is an American actor and singer best known for his starring roles in the 1981 horror film An American Werewolf in London, the 1980 Walt Disney comedy, Midnight Madness, the 1984 comedies Hot Dog.....

, Jump5

Jump5

- History :Siblings Brandon and Brittany Hargest had competed on the same dance team as Lesley Moore, and were familiar with Chris Fedun and Libby Hodges through the competitive dance circuit. The mother of Hodges held an open casting call to find additional members to form a new pop group with her...

, Call Me Alice, Kaskade

Kaskade

Ryan Raddon , better known by his stage name Kaskade, is an American DJ and record producer. On October 20, 2011, DJ Magazine announced the results of their annual Top 100 DJ Poll, with Ultra Records Kaskade placed at #30...

, Rithma, Boogie's Dubtronic Science, Miguel Migs

Miguel Migs

Miguel Steward, better known as Miguel Migs is a deep house DJ, producer and musician from San Francisco, California. -Biography:Migs began his music career at 18 years old, as a lead guitarist and songwriter for a Santa Cruz local band called Zion Sounds...

, Ming+FS, Afro Mystik and DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince

DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince

DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince is a hip hop duo from West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Vocalist Will Smith met Jeff Townes while trying to make a name for himself in West Philadelphia's local hip hop scene. After joining forces with Clarence Holmes the team members became local celebrities...

.

Reception

MC Groovz Dance Craze has a Metacritic

Metacritic

Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

 score of 42. IGN

IGN

IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...

 has says that it is "Playable, but not fun." and suggests that "The footwork doesn't match the music.". In regards to the workout mode, GameSpot

GameSpot

GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...

 said while it can count calories, it has no other differences from normal mode..

Lawsuit

On May 9, 2005, Konami

Konami

is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...

 filed a complaint against Roxor Games

Roxor Games

Founded in 2002, Roxor Games, Inc. is a 25-person company based in Austin, Texas that develops video game software for the arcade and home markets. Roxor works with developers of open source software to deploy games on a Linux-based hardware platform in the arcade and on multiple home consoles...

 claiming an infringement of rights related to their dance game product In the Groove

In the Groove (series)

In the Groove was a series of music video games that used a four-panel dance pad. The series was first distributed by Roxor Games during a time when four-panel dance games in the arcade market were on the decline...

. On July 1, 2005, the complaint was amended to include MC Groovz Dance Craze. The aforementioned lawsuit was settled on November 1, 2006. The exact terms of the settlement were not mentioned in the press release.