TROUTSITE III.0

WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH DANCE:UK ?

On the surface, the DANCE:UK / DANCE:EUROPE series is merely another product of the 2000s DDR boom. (And not even an especially odd one, like DANCE PRAISE.)
But in truth, it is something far more sinister - it really, really sucks... XD

The problem with DANCE:UK is not that it is a 4 panel game like DDR or ITG, or even a 5 panel game like PIU, just with bad charting. It is an 8 panel game. With really bad charting. That's up, down, left, right, up left, up right, down left, and down right.
Together with the lag, the awful design, and the crunchiness and confusing labyrinths of graphics (not even in a cool way), DANCE:UK is enough to make anyone rip their hair out. It is also nigh unplayable on controller - trust me, I've tried.

But at the same time, I feel I am often too cruel to this game. It's charming in it's own, terrible way, and I have a lot of fond memories playing it both ironically and unironically. It's an untouched pillar of UK dance game history - with it's main gimmick being that it's tracklist includes a number of top charting UK songs. It doesn't even have a Wikipedia page - I did all this research myself.

Developed by Broadsword Interactive and published by BigBen Interactive, DANCE:UK was released first on the Playstation 2, bundled with the proprietary dancemat as well as including a bag to carry the mat around in, on the 3rd of October 2003.
I know all this, because I own this bag, and used to use it every day of my life, despite my distain for this game. (The bag's strap eventually broke. I mourn it, somewhat. If anything, this game produced a decent bag.)

The DANCE:UK bag is pictured here with my copy of the PS1 game and my e-amusement card, as if anyone would ever steal this photo. Click the images to enlarge.

Two weeks later, it would be released again on the Playstation 1 as DANCE:UK in the UK and DANCE:EUROPE in other European countries, on the 17th of October, 2003. presumably a scan of a DANCE:UK box, advertising the 8-step dancemat.
This original version of the game was also released on the original XBox, nearly a year later on the 2nd of July, 2004.

Eventually, the games would recieve a few additions - first, DANCE:UK eXtra TraX, which is just the same game with a different music selection. It released for PS2 on 23rd of April 2004, and for PS1 a week later on the 30th of April 2004.
Then, on the 30th of September, 2004, the updated DANCE:UK XL for the PS2 only released. It came bundled with, surprisingly, a USB dancemat, and again it's own carry-bag. However, this came with an annoying caveat - the USB dancemat, from what I can tell from amazon.co.uk reviews, was not compatible with older games in the series.

Two later games were released - both at least within a few days of each other in September 2005 - DANCE:UK XL Party and DANCE:UK XL Lite.

BONUS!

While updating this page, I found an archive of DANCE:UK's website on the Wayback Machine. It's mostly broken due to unarchived flash, but has an inexplicably perfectly functioning music player! [LINK]

With any luck, I'd like to upload some scans of the game manuals eventually. But for now, here is my DANCE:UK collection of every game ^_^