Another holiday period in sight, another Just Dance on the way. Getting our yearly release is almost as certain as death and taxes at this point, and who can blame Ubisoft when it’s consistently one of the best-selling titles on Nintendo Switch and probably doesn’t do half bad on other platforms as well.
While the review is titled Just Dance 2026, it’s important to mention that ever since the 2023 version, the game you’ll install is simply called “Just Dance” and buying the yearly release, either physical or digital, just gives you access to the new songlist that comes with that version.
The majority of this review will be based on the Nintendo Switch version, but other than supporting the Joy-Cons that come delivered with the console, it’s pretty much the same experience as on all other platforms. My daughter FĂ© is also chiming in with her opinion throughout this review, as she’s my main dance partner who plays the game alongside me.
ℹ️ Reviewed on Xbox Series X and Nintendo Switch | Review code provided by Ubisoft.
| Developer | Ubisoft |
| Publisher | Ubisoft |
Things I liked!
- Better song sorting | I used to have trouble finding the songs that were included with the version of Just Dance I had installed, with too many subscription-required titles mixed into the lists. In Just Dance 2026, they are listed first and the Just Dance + titles are listed below in an orderly fashion, just the way I like it.
- Bluey | I can’t overstate how important the inclusion of this one single song was to our enjoyment of Just Dance 2026. As soon as the kids spotted it in the line-up, it was all they wanted to play. And we’re all big Bluey fans in this house! PS: check our Bluey: the videogame review!
FĂ©: I’m soooooooo happy Bluey is in this!!
- No ads | The subscription advertisement no longer runs every 2-3 songs and that is a welcome relief. It was one of my biggest complaints every year that the game made you sit through a small commercial for its paid subscription model. You still have some menu space dedicated to it, but it no longer slaps you around the ears with it every chance it gets.
- Some songs support Camera tracking | If you’re playing this on Xbox, it’ll be a godsent as the phone tracking wasn’t always accurate: you can now place your phone camera near the TV and aimed at you and relive the glory days of the Xbox Kinect. require no controller, the camera will simply track your movements and it’s the most accurate option available. Sadly it only works for solo-play and you do need a bit of distance from your camera to make it work, so it won’t be fit for every living room.
FĂ©: I really like playing this way because I don’t have to hold a phone or controller, but it’s too bad I can’t use it when dancing with my brother or my dad.
- The clips & choreographies look amazing | Just dance doesn’t skimp on the production values, and that’s kind of wild for a dancing game. The animations often look fantastic and they have professional dancers in costume as your coaches. It looks insanely polished. My favourite one, from the new line-up (outside of Bluey) is Born To Be Alive, which has stop-motion animations that just look amazing.
FĂ©: I really like Thrift Shop and pointing at the items.
Mixed & disliked!
- The Song list | There are 40 new songs that come with Just Dance 2026 but the list left me untouched for the most part, and that’s not really a good position to be in for a game that revolves around it. I’ve listed all new songs below and put the ones I enjoyed in blue and the ones my daughter liked in bold. This is HIGHLY personal so will vary per person, but outside of seeing Bluey in the line-up, I can’t say there was one that really excited me.
Here is the full Song list in Just Dance 2026:
| Title | Artist |
| Abracadabra | Lady Gaga |
| All-Star | Smash Mouth |
| Anxiety | Doechii |
| APT | Rosé & Bruno Mars |
| Azizam | Ed Sheeran |
| Big Bad Frog | Austin & Colin |
| Bluey Medley | Bluey |
| Born To Be Alive | Patrick Hernandez |
| Chichika | MariaDennis feat. METAMAMI |
| Counting Stars | OneRepublic |
| Cry Baby | Melanie Martinez |
| Don Raja | Su Real and DISTORT |
| Don’t Go Breaking My Heart | Lulu & Levon |
| DRIP | BABYMONSTER |
| Feather | Sabrina Carpenter |
| Girls Just Want To Have Fun | Cyndi Lauper |
| Good Girls | Zanillya & Humphrey Dennis |
| Good Luck, Babe! | Chappell Roan |
| Houdini | Dua Lipa |
| Hung Up | Madonna |
| I Had Some Help | Post Malone, Morgan Wallen |
| It’s ok I’m ok | Tate McRae |
| Kitipo | Dixson Waz, La Tukiti, and Amenazandel |
| La Bamba | The Sunlight Shakers |
| Louder | Don Elektron and Derek |
| Love Again | Dua Lipa |
| Messy | Lola Young |
| Moonlight | Aileen-O |
| Pop Muzik | M, Robin Scott |
| Prehistorock | Ricky Stone |
| Rockin’ around the Christmas Tree | Mrs. Claus and the Elves |
| Say Cheese | Paul Russel |
| Show Me What You Got | Boomborg |
| Sokusu | Wano Ni Mero Mero |
| Spin Your Love | Kevin J Simon |
| Strangers | Sigrid |
| Thrift Shop | Macklemore & Ryan Lewis with Wan |
| Viva La Vida | Coldplay |
| We Just Begun | Stush and WOST |
| Zombieboy | Lady Gaga |
That’s it, out of 40 new songs, only a handful of them really managed to excite us.
FĂ©: I was really hoping there would be one for K-Pop Demon Hunters, that would have been AWESOME!!! Or Lilo & Stitch!
- Navigating the menus | Getting around in the interface is a chore! It shouldn’t be this hard to see the song you want to play and navigate to it on the screen, but it is. With even the analog inputs sometimes not registering like I wanted them to. I wanted to change my own avatar, but could only find how to do so for the main account logged in. For a game with not a ton of features, it still manages to feel like a maze in how clumsy it is to move around.
FĂ©: Yeah, I always have to give the controller to daddy, because I can’t find how to select the one I want.
- No Story | I miss the days where every new Just Dance had a story mode that kind of forced you to play each of the new songs. It was motivation enough to at least play every song once and I’m missing that kind of incentive here.
FĂ©: I don’t mind. I’d rather play the songs I want.
- Phone motion sensors aren’t accurate | I really recommend playing Just Dance on the Nintendo Switch because the JoyCons are way better at tracking your movement than the gyros in a mobile phone.
- Still no return of the “world dancefloor” mode which has been missing since Just Dance 2023 and it was by far our favourite thing to do…
FĂ©: yeah, I miss this too!
How long did I play the review before publishing? 10h
How long to beat the story? there is none
You’ll love this game if you like these | the past 2 decades of Just Dance
CONCLUSION
Score: 74/100
With the base Just Dance now a free app and the focus shifting to paying for Just Dance +, I’m judging this one mostly on the included song-list and it just didn’t manage to excite us this year, outside of the collaboration with Bluey.
My recommendation remains the same as previous Just Dance releases: you’re probably better off getting the cheapest physical version of a previous year you can find and pay for Just Dance +, over paying for what is essentially expensive DLC.
FĂ©: I’m just happy we’re dancing again. We usually only play Just Dance right after the new one comes out.
Robby lives and breathes video games. When he’s not playing them, he’s talking about them on social media or convincing other people to pick up a controller themselves. He’s online so often, he could practically list the internet as his legal domicile. Belgian games-industry know-it-all.
