Just Dance, the game that, for better or worse, reminds me to lose a bit of fat once a year, is finally back with its Just Dance 2026 edition. And as simple as the name implies, it doesn’t need any introduction. I’ve seen it, you’ve seen it, and for anyone who has been in arcades before, chances are, they’ve seen it too. It’s that one game that is just as easy to pick up and dance as it is to say. Yeah, just dance! Now with Just Dance 2026, the only question in my mind right now is what’s new? Or is there anything left to be called new? But without further ado, let’s get this over with.
Just Dance 2026, for those that have not been keeping up with their aerobic exercises lately, has made some drastic changes to say the least for the past couple of years. Going from taking up all your space in your console’s hard drive to only taking up a fraction of what it has today. Unlike its previous titles that required you to download each and every title separately, now we have a more compressed version where you have the one app to rule them all, and all you have to do is collect all of the infinity stones that will complete your Just Dance gauntlet.
It’s a nice upgrade, especially for us Nintendo Switch owners, so you can save a lot of space while keeping every song from multiple titles playable from the cloud, or download a couple of them in case your wi-fi speed becomes a bit dodgy.
What’s New?
So, what’s new in this version? New songs would be the first obvious thing here, and thankfully, there are quite a few that have really caught my attention. APT. by Rose and Bruno Mars is predictably a fan-favourite, and honestly, it’s mine too. The silly and cute nature of the map looks weird at first, but once you’ve actually tried it, it’s easy to copy while still being enjoyable.
Now, if you want something a bit more extreme, Lady Gaga’s Abracadabra (extreme version) puts you into a literal trance, and while it doesn’t have the more eye-catching backgrounds, it makes up for the more difficult but satisfying moves if you can pull it off. Meanwhile, for the much younger audience, I have to ask, are you ready, Bingo? Because Bluey Medley with its dancing puppies looks so adorable that kids who don’t even know how to play can surely enjoy them.
But aside from the 40 new songs, including recent hits, classics and weird tracks, nothing much has changed the game. Not that it’s a bad thing, but as the years go by, it becomes a much harder undertaking to review the series with very few changes from version to version, edition to edition.
Now, for what it’s worth, Just Dance 2026 has always had some near-flawless execution. The song choices are incredible as usual, some stuff I have no idea even existed, while others are things I just pick up from trending dance craze videos off TikTok and other platforms. But what really makes the series a much better game despite its simplicity is its innovation and community-driven improvements.
On the Nintendo Switch, you can simply have your Joy-Cons do all the work, but on the other hand, you can use a mobile phone as a camera controller for a much better experience and hands-free approach, unlike before, where you’d have to cough up for extra peripherals, as I did on my first review when I got a PlayStation Camera. Now, I don’t have to fear for my phone flying across the room at 100 mph like my nephew is practising baseball rather than a dancing game.
Party Mode
Meanwhile, a new addition to Just Dance 2026 is Party Mode, which tries to do a mix-up of the original formula. Rather than playing as normal, Just Dance 2026 puts you into weird tasks such as forcing you to shake, clap or even stop dancing altogether. It provides a fun little change that was kind of enjoyable, especially now that there isn’t any World Dance Floor where you can actively dance against other people online.
Now, if you’re like me, who rarely know what I want to do or dance to, custom playlists are still here, and you can also challenge leaderboards or even just do a collect-a-thon of badges, icons, avatars and everything else.
And while to me, another Just Dance title is another review to struggle on, for the family, especially near the holiday season, it’s a reminder for celebration, a week of fun times and a week of back and hip pains. At this point, it has already become a tradition that every year, mainly on Christmas and New Year’s Eve, we get to have a dance off, and as an over-30-year-old guy, I can’t say that it’s going to end well for me. But at the end of the day, Just Dance unknowingly became a staple for being a game that anyone can just enjoy for the heck of it.
Conclusion
Just Dance 2026, despite not having any major changes, is still undeniably a good game. It does what it does best, and it provides what it needs to provide. A fun and accessible environment for every age group to dance and just have fun, solo or with friends and family. It has a huge variety of tracks from the weird to the trendy, so it’s not hard to find something you can absolutely dance to. And while it might not be the perfect game, it’s also okay that it isn’t.
Just Dance 2026 Trailer
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The game was provided to us for the express purpose of reviewing.
