Just Dance 2026 (Switch) Review

Just Dance 2026 Edition is yet another visit to the lounge room based dance floor. While the Just Dance series itself may have stagnated over the years due to predictable soundtracks and serviceable choreographies, there definitely feels like something special with the selection contained within the 2026 edition.

As usual, Just Dance continues with the formula of maintaining accessible dance-based gameplay, having players mimic what’s happening on the screen to earn points and try and achieve over 5-Stars for a Megastar rating. For the Nintendo Switch series, the Joy-Con’s motion sensors read the movements of the player’s right hand and how well it mimics the left hand of the choreographer (since it’s mirrored).

As an alternative, you can use your smartphone as a Kinect-style camera controller to judge you by your whole body. I have found this during my experience to not be as accurate, however my loungeroom isn’t exactly the best place for a camera to be tracking my movements.

For many, like myself, this usually has me mimicking mostly the upper arm movements until I can get them down pat before trying to follow along with the lower body movements. As such, it’s simple enough to dance as well as you’re able, and still able to achieve a decent score.

This year’s setlist of songs is easily one of the best in many years. There’s a balanced mix of new and old school to bring in a variety of people from different decades. Some of my favourite tracks to dance to include ROSÉ & Bruno Mars’ hit APT, as well as Lady Gaga’s Abracadabra. APT provides a simple to learn routine you could essentially repeat outside of the game, while Abracadabra is an incredible arm workout with amazing visuals throughout the choreography. Kids also get a look-in with a heartwarming, simple routine based on a medley of music from the Bluey TV show.

I do have to set aside an entire paragraph for the “Reborn” routine made for Patrick Hernandez’s Born to be Alive. Promising to be a hit among players, the routine perfectly captures the disco vibes of the song, and combines it with stop-motion animation. Starting with a young girl from the Frankenstein family seeing that her local community is without sweets for Halloween, and begins a dance routine going from house to house, visiting ghosts, vampires and werewolves. I’m not sure if there was any particular attachment to the song from the development team, but even as someone who has barely ever listened to the song, this is now my favourite Just Dance routine of all time.

A lot of this love feels like it’s been made across all the songs in the game. Just Dance shines vibrantly, many of the dancers can be seen singing along to the songs, backgrounds change dynamically and visual elements throughout each song keeps things visually engaging for anyone following along. Even as an original Switch title, the resolution remains crisp so as to keep up with versions on rival platforms.

While it isn’t a dealbreaker, I have to make mention of the navigation as a whole. The Switch game comes with a code in a box, which grants you access to the 2026 setlist from within the main Just Dance app on your Switch console. While the menu has improved over time, and many Just Dance veterans will be used to this, newcomers or people coming back from an older title might find trying to find the Just Dance 2026 songs to be difficult at first. There is a small selection of songs on the main menu, which has about 6 songs across it. To find the rest of the songs, you need to go to a specific song page, and filter it to downloaded songs. Even then, all your new songs are mixed in with any previous songs you may have owned or downloaded from previous games. It would just be nice to be able to click on a button that filters out only the Just Dance 2026 music, and to not be able to do that is annoying.

Still at the core of Just Dance is the subscription based model Just Dance+. Each game comes with a 1-month subscription, unless you purchase the ultimate edition that comes with an additional 12 months. The game never lets you forget that Just Dance+ exists, as songs from the service will be at the forefront of your experience at every corner of the Just Dance app. There’s a 35 dollar difference between the regular and ultimate editions, so for 35 bucks you can get access to a tonne of extra music from previous games in the series. It’s up to you if you think it’s worth it, but be prepared to be told about it a lot!

Where the game has always shined is multiplayer, and this remains true for the 2026 edition. Many routines contain more than one dance coach, and being able to nail the dances when there’s interactions between the coaches is still a joy.

Socially, Just Dance 2026 pushes you into more worldwide engagement. There is a World Dance Floor that contains its own seasonal events and leaderboards to encourage long-term playing. You’re able to see other people scoring alongside you during your own gameplay. You can also share clips and your own scores to maintain a sense of connectivity across the world. It’s neat that it’s there, but I don’t think many people will be using this as their main mode of play.

Ultimately, Just Dance 2026 is more of what you’d expect from a Just Dance game, but bigger, bolder and better than usual. It doesn’t reinvent anything that Just Dance has provided in the past, but it does come with one of the series’ best playlists in history. While some might be looking for Just Dance to offer something new, I honestly think just aiming to be a better version than previous games is probably good enough for Just Dance at this point. For anyone wanting a fun workout, or to party with friends, or to dance like nobody’s watching, Just Dance 2026 comes highly recommended.

Rating: 4/5