Originally named Pinwheel, Nickelodeon is an American cable channel that has had a prominent presence on the airwaves since 1977, and it has brought us a wonderful round of television shows, branding it as the first true kids’ network. Today, not only does it continue to provide children with educational, amusing television shows, but now the name comes to your Nintendo Wii family gaming console in the form of Nickelodeon Dance Wii.
Wii Nickelodeon Dance offers children a brand new kind of playing experience, letting kids dance to familiar Nickelodeon beats with characters like Diego, Dora and the Fresh Beat Band for the first time ever. However, this game is admittedly not the better version of the two; the Wii version just does not have the same picture and motion abilities that the one designed for Kinect does, which is saddening.
Nonetheless, this game still offers a good variety of tunes with which your children will already be familiar, such as “Here We Go” “Al Rescate” “We Got the Beat” “Dancing in the Street” “Rhythm is Gonna Get You” and “We Did It.” Even though this version is somewhat feature-absent, parents will need not worry about having this game ensure some work out exercise and increasing the physical activity in their children, which promotes better healthy heart activity.
Though admittedly it is less difficult to decipher all of the moves performed, the Wii remote still does a fairly decent job as a sensor since you must hold it as you perform the dance routine. At the end of the song, your accuracy is graded, which doesn't actually impact anything — all of the songs are unlocked right from the get-go, and there is nothing else to unlock — but it still adds a neat feature to see how well you danced with your favorite stars.
Kids do not need to play by themselves, either; every single song in the game supports a second player to join in on the action and dance as well. This means kids do not need to fight over who gets to play the game, and it means that kids who bring a friend over after school can also have them participate at any time.
The major selling point for Nickelodeon Dance is the exercise that kids will provide, burning off excess energy and keeping them from running wild in the house; I think all parents can breathe a heavy sigh of relief with this game in the house, especially after those long hours at work. All in all, this is a very good game that may not be for regular gamers, but it is definitely something you will want to take home for your kids.