Dang I can't believe no one has reviewed this game yet- Anyways I feel Dance Maniax is easier for people to get into than games like Beatmania, Pop'n Music, and DDR games after 3rd Mix since you just wave your hands around and the lights track your motion. (Hitting your hand on the machine is gonna happen a lot) I think it has a pretty solid tracklist and I'm glad it isn't dominated by a lot of DDR or Beatmania songs that's not a bad thing but I like having variety, also this is the only game where you can hear "Dr. Love" without having the sfx blaring over the vocals. The visuals are fine but some of the background videos in the songs make my eyes strain, (I'm looking at you "Jane Jana," fun song to play on DDR but not here!) the scoring system is neat it uses a pi chart instead of just telling you how many "Perfects" or "Goods" you got.
It's a just a neat game, 2nd Mix is probably better though.

After grinding to unlock everything in 4th Mix I eventually had to come to this game to finish playing every PS1 DDR game (Yes even Dancing Stage which is just European DDR) anyways THE NEW UI NOW THIS IS WHERE DDR UIS PEAKED same goes for characters this is Alice and Maho's debut game and it has my favorite version of Janet.
The tracklist is fine, personally I'm not a fan of most of the default songs for this game but after playing these songs over and over again just to unlock things I did grow to like a few of them.

It's a fun novelty game and probably something that's fun to play with a friend but as a fighting game it's pretty meh it's clear they focused more on the style and soundtrack of the game which in this case isn't a bad thing since I love it's art style.
I wish there was a bit more to its rhythm game within in a fighting game gimmick that's an idea that has a lot of untapped potential and they don't do much without here, your level 3 supers are just a mini rhythm games that will give you a small cutscene if you use it when your opponent is near death but sometimes they can interrupt the flow of your super by adding their own notes during your super which serves as a small challenge but it's pretty easy to avoid.
If this game wasn't Japan exclusive and it's battle system got some refinements I'd like it as a whole but it's more of a eye candy game.

It's a fun game that could be better. If you're a newcomer to fighting games in general this should be one of the first tag fighting games you play cuz its got really simple controls and mechanics but for people who have been playing fighting games for awhile or even years you notice that the controls feel WAY to simple and dumbed down which is something I'm not too big on (seriously a few of the moves are just pressing the same button for 3 or 4 times)
The roster for this game is strange but welcoming, I'm glad smaller fighters like Under Night and Akatsuki Blitzkampf have rep in this game but then you have RWBY and Senran? Senran I kinda understand but RWBY? (At least they make up for being there with their gameplay...) for one of the major 2D fighter crossovers we've had in awhile the roster is pretty mixed for me.
The single player content could be better... You have the standard story mode, versus, etc but no arcade mode? Which is an essential that most fighting games should have, other than that the single player content is fine.
Like I said its a fun game that could be better.

HELL YEAH THE PEAK OF SOUL CALIBUR! I only played Soul Calibur a year ago but the evolution of the series is so good, the first SC was alright it did set the standard for the series and it improved the combat greatly from the proto-game Soul Edge since everyone was actually balanced, then 2 was released and the rest is history. (Extra points on this game for introducing my main, Cassandra)
Stepping and moving around the stages feels smoother than the games prior also guarding feels like it has an actual impact in this game (actually they revised guarding for this game which is why it feels so much better than Edge and 1) also Soul Charge was introduced this game too, all of this topped with memorable stages and music to go along with that.

For the first game in the stage of history its pretty mid but that's expected since it is the first game. My biggest gripe is how easy it is to get ring out thanks to what I call SQUARE STAGES which makes it pretty easy to just kick your opponent around until the reach the edge of the stage and get close enough to fall out, you can also do this with the final boss which is how I beat the game. Choosing your main doesn't matter too much when everyone in the game is broken lol just find the character that fits your style the best and you'll be good to go.
Soul Calibur and the series onwards (except 5, we don't talk about 5) is a pretty big improvement compared to this game so just start with the REAL first SC game.