Just Dance 2017 is the eighth installment of the Just Dance franchise. The game was first teased on June 10, 2016[5], and was officially revealed at E3 2016. The game was released in North America on October 25, 2016. The Nintendo Switch version of the game was released on March 3, 2017 as a launch title.[6] In addition, a Chinese version, 舞力全开2017, was announced on March 22, 2017.
Just Dance Controller (for Android and iOS only, Windows Phone version is not updated to work with Just Dance 2017 only 2016) (Required to play in the PC version)
Your smartphone acts as a tracking device and scores your moves - no camera, Kinect, or PS Move required!
Take photos of your Just Dance moments, apply fun filters, and share them on your favorite social networks!
Access Just Dance TV video content anywhere, anytime. Watch, like, and share exclusive videos including autodances, dance lessons, behind the scenes videos and Just Dance Minutes. For the Xbox 360 version, you would need a Hard Drive to use this feature.
The dance-on-demand service is back and brings fresh content to all game modes!
More than 250 songs will be available at launch and more content, including EXCLUSIVE songs, will be added throughout the year!
New search tools and customized playlists will help you find your favorite tracks to dance to and keep the party going.
A 3-month trial (PAL, given as a reward after completing your first Dancer Card)[7] of Just Dance Unlimited comes in every box of Just Dance 2017[8] while for NTSC there is two boxes one box "Regular Package" includes a 48 hour pass and another one "Just Dance 2017 Gold Edition" on the box includes a 3 month pass plus a 48 hour pass for Just Dance Unlimited.
Aliens have abducted you! They need your dance energy to refill their spaceship's batteries and go back home.
Each Dance Machine session is composed of five short exclusive and unique dance experiences that span different types of dance: Flamenco, Charleston, Ballet, Haka, French Cancan... Never seen before on Just Dance!
If you have provided the Aliens with enough energy, they will unlock new dance segments for you to try and help them out!
Sweat + Playlists
Make workouts fun by creating playlists with your favorite tracks, or launching the non-stop shuffle mode! Track your calories burnt, time spent dancing, and number of songs played!
The player-vs-player feature will be returning to all 7th and 8th-Gen consoles including PC and Nintendo Switch. [9] This year, you get to defeat a boss who's trying to defeat everyone's high score (8th-Gen, PC and Nintendo Switch only)
Customize the background of your avatar with skins!
World Video Challenge(PS4, Xbox One, Wii U, and PC only as Video Challenge, Challenge Mode for 7th-Gen)
The video challenge returns to Just Dance this year! Compete with other people around the world while watching them dance!
Dance Mashup(8th Gen, Nintendo Switch, PC and Wii only)
Mashups return from Just Dance 2016 and the background returns from Just Dance 2015 and Just Dance 2016!
Dance Quest (8th Gen, Nintendo Switch and PC only)
The Dance Quest feature from Just Dance 2016 returns.
You are a Superstar!
When you reach a score of 12,000 in any song in this game, you'll receive a Superstar! That means the letters are now shown on the score bar and the 5 golden stars are changed to Platinum.
Keep an eye out after the Fifth Star is achieved, the score bar will flash if you are about the achieve the Superstar. The letters will appear on the top of the stars you achieved as a player in the routine.
NOTE: This feature is only available if you are doing the routine in Rivals. Co-Op will not get this new feature.
These songs can be unlocked on Just Dance 2017 through Ubisoft Club.[10]
Note: Let Me Love You is unlocked at start if the player has a Uplay account until June 2017.
Additional Note: These songs are not available in-game for the Nintendo Switch, as Ubisoft Club is not available for the said console. Due to this, these songs must be played through Just Dance Unlimited, with the exception of William Tell Overture, due to it being on the main track list of the Nintendo Switch version of the game.
Note: On eighth generation consoles, Switch and PC, the Mashups are playable via Just Dance Unlimited'Just Dance Unlimited, excluding Scream & Shout (Mashup). However, they do not require a paid subscription. On Wii, Mashups are unlockable via Mojo Coins. Mashups are not available on the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3.
(2016R) - The Mashup used to be available in Just Dance 2016 but was subsequently removed.
An (F) means that the song was originally exclusive to Just Dance Unlimited when playing in France, Luxembourg or Belgium but has since been made available worldwide.
An (S) means that the song is exclusive to Just Dance Unlimited on the Nintendo Switch.
Steve Hannley of Hardcore Gamer noted that Ubisoft had defied his prediction that Just Dance Unlimited would be the future of the franchise and that would be no further physical releases, but felt that Ubisoft had put a larger effort into the on-disc content of 2017 than 2016 (which he described as being a "last minute afterthought" to introduce Unlimited). The Just Dance Machine mode was considered to be "pointless" due to being a basic concept driven by its presentation, but was "a concept that's never been done before in rhythm games and an example of the innovation the series needs to warrant a another physical release". Hannley also praised the higher quality of the game’s soundtrack, including more recent hit music, fewer "joke" songs, and surfacing Gigi Rowe’s "impressive" debut single "Run the Night". In conclusion, Hannley continued to assert that Ubisoft should focus more on providing more immediate access to recent music rather than requiring players to wait for the next annual physical release, but that Just Dance 2017 was "thankfully a marked improvement over its predecessor."[12][13]
Trivia
The game's name was revealed in a video uploaded by Ubisoft Brasil on YouTube, which also confirmed a virtual reality mode. The video later went private for a few hours before being released to the public again.
However, Ubisoft Brasil claimed that the game would not feature a virtual reality mode. This was later proven to be false.[14]
However, the Gold Move effect from Just Dance 2015 is still retained on 7th gen consoles since all assets from that said game are used.
The Gold Move effect from this game is used in Just Dance 2018 in a similar way but with less particles and a red glow effect.
In the preview video of Me Too on Just Dance Now, the full Gold Move effect uses a similar red glow effect.
Just like the last two games, Just Dance 2017 has captions for every alternate routine that is unlocked, but only on seventh-gen consoles. Here are the captions attributed to each routine, in order of when they are unlocked:
Don’t Stop Me Now - Never say no to Panda!
Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae) - Dance with your family!
Cake By The Ocean - Ready for a date?
RADICAL - Put your helmet on!
DADDY - Ready for a little workout?
What Is Love - In the mood for a road trip?
Lean On - Don't step on the scarf!
Hips Don’t Lie - Follow my hips!
Cheap Thrills - Want to be a Bollywood star?
El Tiki - The more the merrier!
September - Are you ready to sweat?
Sorry - Do you need a second chance?
Worth It - Ready to rock the stage?
Scream & Shout - Golden is not silence!
This is the first game in the main series to be available for PC (via Steam and Uplay) and Nintendo Switch (formerly known as Nintendo NX).
However, this is the only game to be available for PC.
It is also the first main series game not to have a Katy Perry song in the main tracklist or appear as an original/recycled DLC.
If the Japan-exclusive Just Dance Wii is taken into account, then this is the second game overall in the entire franchise (excluding the Just Dance Kids and Experience series) in which a Katy Perry song is not featured.
To date, this main series game has the most console releases (eight).
Just Dance 2017 is the most linguistically diverse, containing songs performed in the following eleven languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, Albanian, Romanian, Russian, French, Turkish, and Polish.
The game was 'released' in France two weeks before it was meant to be officially released.
This is the second time (after Kiss You in Just Dance 2014) that the first song in the menu is not performed by a solo female. On seventh-gen consoles, the first song is Cake By The Ocean, which is performed by a solo man; on eighth-gen consoles, the first song is All About Us, which is performed by a trio of a man and two women.
All three returning Ubisoft Club Exclusive songs are from Just Dance 2016.
When a holiday is near, the game will display a theme of the said holiday in the Song Selection screen (ex: a Halloween theme was added on October 26, 2016). This only happens on eighth generation consoles and the PC, however.
The PC and the Switch versions of the game do not have the Karaoke feature.
The digital Gold edition for Xbox One does not contain three months for Just Dance Unlimited.
There is a glitch where when the player is about to get superstar, the first "S" is delayed.
Out of all the games in the series, Just Dance 2017 has the fewest tracks, after Just Dance, with only 40 songs (excluding Unlimited exclusives). It also has the fewest Mashups (10) and is the first game since Just Dance 3 to not have Party Master Mode.
Coincidentally, William Tell Overture is only available on other consoles through Ubisoft Club. It is not available on the Switch.
All of the Mashups on the game end with the last dancer performing the end of their routine (for example, Hips Don’t Lie’s Mashup ends with the dancer for Stuck On A Feeling performing the last moves of his original routine). This is the first game in the series to do this.
All the Mashups except for Cheap Thrills and What Is Love also start the audio before the player can see the entire background.
When attempting to play a Community Remix while having an expired Unlimited pass, Break Free and Taste The Feeling will not have an "Unlimited" marker and, when trying to play the two routines, the game leads you to the normal screen to sign up for Unlimited while playing a preview of the song.
However, if you choose Playlist and then attempt to play one of the two Community Remixes, a warning saying the Ubisoft server is down will appear in front of the coach selection screen; after that, the game will lead to the startup screen.
All of the Dance Crews are mixed gender Dance Crews except for Worth It’s Alternate routine.
Just Dance 2017 marks the first game since Just Dance 3 to not have any mashups. It is later followed by Just Dance 2018.
However, this is only the case for the Xbox 360 and PS3. While Just Dance 2018 doesn't have any mashups on all consoles.
Just Dance 2017 marks the first game in the series where Ubisoft’s reward system, Uplay, changed its name into Ubisoft Club. You can still see the Uplay logo on the back of the game case and on 7th-Gen consoles when entering the browser.
Just Dance 2017 is also the first game in the main series to have Chinese language.
However, Chinese translations are not available for 7th-Gen consoles.
If you decide to play without the app, you'll have the option connect your phone to the game.
You can also play without a phone connected but, on the coach selection screen, there is a warning message reading that scoring will not be possible. Therefore, no starbar will appear in-game.
While you can use the app or a controller to navigate the menus on all 8th Gen consoles, you can also use a keyboard, an Xbox One controller or a compatible controller to navigate in the PC version.
In the Wii version, when another player gets Superstar during the Superstar sound effect or up to 4 players get Superstar at the same time, it will play multiple times in unison or as a chain for up to 4 times. On other consoles, it cuts off and plays for the next player when another player gets Superstar during the Superstar sound effect or plays once when up to 4 or 6 players get Superstar at the same time.
This also happens when one player reaches 5 stars, and another gets Superstar.
As of January 18 2018, Let Me Love You is no longer free to play and requiers a paid Just Dance Unlimited subscription.
If one has both this game and Just Dance 2018, scores from this game will be imported to Just Dance 2018, as well as dancer cards.
Playing the Wii U version of this game can cause your console to freeze many of times. Due to the heavy storage that this game provides for the Wii U, this game can tend to freeze a lot causing only about 30 minutes of play time before the game freezes.