"Just Mario" by Ubisoft Meets Nintendo (originally composed by Koji Kondo) is featured on Just Dance Wii and was featured on Just Dance 3 (as a Wii-exclusive downloadable track) but was made unavailable for purchase following the shutdown of the Wii Shop Channel in January 2019. The song reappears on Just Dance Unlimited as a remake exclusively for the Nintendo Switch version of Just Dance 2018.[1]
The coach is a man in a Mario costume. Mario wears his trademark red hat with his trademark 'M' on it, red shirt, blue overalls with golden buttons, white gloves (his right glove is colored yellow-orange for motion controller guidance reasons), and brown shoes. When entering underground later in the routine, his overalls turn red and his shirt turns white, thus being his Fire Flower suit.
Remake
In the remake, the coach is more realistic and his color palette is more saturated. His skin is more yellowish, and he has a magenta outline. In the final part of the routine, his outline creates overlapping silhouettes.
Just Dance 3
Remake
Background
Just Dance Wii
The routine starts with a gameplay of Super Mario Bros., with Mario hitting a ? Block and getting a Mushroom, which triggers a pixelated transition from the cutscene to the start of the routine.
There are three backgrounds, all inspired from Mario levels: the first is a green plain with many Koopas and other Mario enemies, and a star that makes Mario accelerate; then an underground level where Mario becomes Fire Mario and he shoots fire balls, until an enemy hits him; and then the end of the level, with the famous tower with the flag.
When the song ends, the routine transitions back to the videogame cutscene, which ends with Mario completing the level and the line "THANK YOU FOR PLAYING!" written over the tower.
Just Dance 3
In Just Dance 3, the routine starts with a cathodic TV that turns on and plays the opening cutscene, which now has black fading on the corners of the screen.
Remake
The remake starts with an opening circle transition. The graphic layout is taken from New Super Mario Bros. 2. Mario is now in front of Princess Peach’s castle, which has a carved path and is surrounded by checkered grass, colorful hills that sometimes have luminous rays, and some rocks; behind the coach, there are some trees and five big blocks (two light blue ones, two yellow ones, and a red one), along with many animated flowers on striped grass. When the coach performs his Gold Move, the brick block, which is now in 3D rather than in 2D, descends from the sky instead of appearing from nowhere, and breaks into pieces with a much more realistic effect. When he gets the Super Star, colorful stripes shine fast on the sky.
The underground scenery is now based off New Super Mario Bros. U, and has some colored crystal rocks that swing from side to side; behind them, there is a cave wall with parts that sometimes light up. Mario dances on a crystal platform made of colored tiles; on his sides, there are two Piranha Plants that come out of pipes, and the enemies are replaced by 2D Goombas.
The final background features two pipes, one of which hosts a bigger Piranha Plant, the pole flag along with its related tower, which has shining sun rays behind, and many flowers and trees with rocks and hills behind. When the music speeds up, the background constantly changes colors, and the clouds and the flowers have faster animations.
When the song ends, Mario says "Yaa-hoooo!", and the background closes with a circle transition.
Gold Moves
There are 4 Gold Moves for this routine, all of which are the same: All Gold Moves: Jump while punching the air, as if you were hitting a Coin Block.
All Gold Moves
All Gold Moves (Remake)
All Gold Moves in-game
Trivia
General
Just Mario is the first song from a popular video game to be on Just Dance.
Just Mario is the first song from an Asian spin-off to return in a game of the main series.
It is also the only song from a Japanese game to debut in the main series.
Despite some things being said, such as "It's-a me, Mario", they are not displayed in the lyrics.
In all versions of the routine, Mario’s red hat appears on the pictograms.
Classic
In Just Dance Wii, Just Mario has to be unlocked by playing all the other songs. Once this is done, a 1-UP sound will play.
Before it is unlocked, the menu icon only displays a ? Block icon in the menu. When it happens, the ? Block icon gets replaced by a Super Mario icon, which is completely different from the Just Dance 3 menu icon.
At the end of the song, the flags on the castle have the abbreviation "JD" written on them but, at the end of the final cutscene, the flags return to their original state.
Before pressing the A button to start, typical Mario sounds (like his voice, the jump sound and the coin sound) can be heard, even though the initial screen displays only the "Main Menu" of the game.
On translated versions of Just Dance Wii, the song is simply called "Mario" and the artist is "Nintendo".[citation needed]
Just Mario was released on December 14, 2011 on Just Dance 3 for the Wii to celebrate Mario’s 25th anniversary.
The coach has an avatar, which was found in the files of Just Dance 2016, though it cannot be accessed. The avatar was found in some folders with Amiibo in the names of the said folders, suggesting that to unlock the avatar, the player would need to place an Amiibo on their Wii U Gamepad in order to unlock the avatar.
The avatar can also be found in the website archives in the official Just Dance website.[2]
The Just Dance 2018 version of the routine has a move that that was not previously seen in Just Dance Wii or Just Dance 3.[citation needed]
The code name of the remake ends with "NX", which is the code name of the Nintendo Switch.
A Beta version of the remake can be found in the Just Dance Unlimited files.[3] The following differences can be seen:
The routine initially takes place in Acorn Plains from New Super Mario Bros. U rather than in front of Peach’s castle.
This unused background can be also seen in the Beta menu assets.
The soundtrack is slightly different and lacks Mario’s voice snippets (except at the end).
The brick block is broken with a different animation, and the pieces fade away after a few moments.
The rainbow background animation used during the star part is different.
The blue pipe that leads the coach to the second background is not crooked towards the camera, resulting in the entrance not being visible.
The Fire Flower disappears with no animations.
The Piranha Plants are bigger and their pipes do not show their entrance, either.
The final background is much less detailed.
With the remake, by achieving 5 stars, only 4 of the stars will pulse when selecting the song from the menu.
Usually, all 5 stars are supposed to pulse, then pulse at twice the tempo before repeating.
In the album background, the scenery is more moved towards the left than in the menu icon.