Dance Central 2 is a 2011 rhythm game developed by Harmonix and published by Microsoft Studios for the Xbox 360 Kinect. It is the sequel to Dance Central (2010) and the second installment in the Dance Central series. It was released on October 21, 2011, in PAL regions and on October 25 in North America.
A sequel to the game, titled Dance Central 3, was released for the Xbox 360 Kinect in October 2012.
Gameplay
The core gameplay in Dance Central 2 is similar to its predecessor, where players mimic the characters' dances with on-screen Flashcards for guidance. The game has been largely revamped compared to its predecessors, including adding multiplayer, adding voice commands, and enhancing the Break It Down feature. The Freestyle section, while still available, can also be disabled within the game. If done, additional moves will appear in the game as a replacement, creating one uninterrupted routine depending on the mode used. A story campaign has been added via Crew Challenge, in which players can unlock new content.
There are five modes available in Dance Central 2:
Perform It: A standard mode where players can dance to routines in the game. This mode can be played with one or two players and allows one person to swap in and out while the other is playing if desired. Both players do not have to play the same difficulty, but the difficulty must be set prior to the routine starting. Dance Battle: A head-to-head mode between two players to see who is the best. Players go through a song, with two interloops mixed in. One of them focuses on one player doing the routine as the other player is temporarily disabled, and the other involves the players nailing moves from the routine to earn extra points. In that interloop, up to four moves can pop up at any time, and some are marked in gold, indicating more points. Like in Perform It, the players do not have to play on the same difficulty. Break It Down: A training mode that allows the player to learn the routines in the game. The mode has been enhanced from the previous game, allowing the player to pick certain moves to focus on and record themselves dancing to moves to compare themselves to the dancers on-screen. Crew Challenge: A campaign mode that gives a player a chance to reach for the top by impressing the game's dance crews. Successfully dancing to each crew's challenge song, once unlocking it, gives the player the opportunity to represent them, and the more reps earned, the higher the notability will be. Fitness: A workout mode that tracks calories, with an indicator of how many have been burned along with the amount of time spent in the mode towards the top when enabled. There are also pre-made playlists available, along with customizable ones that can be made outside the mode for use in Fitness.
The game features six venues for the player to dance in: High Tide, Set Adrift, Tee Off, Lowdown, Penthaüs, and The Airship. All of them are available from the start except for Penthaüs, which is unlocked by clearing The Glitterati's campaign in Crew Challenge, and The Airship, which is unlocked by completing Crew Challenge once. Venues can be changed before the player starts a routine.
Plot The player encounters several different dance crews throughout the game's story campaign, starting with Riptide Crew at High Tide, Flash4wrd at Tee Off, Lu$h Crew at Set Adrift, and Hi-Def at Lowdown. They are given a chance to join the crew after someone in the crew has heard of their potential, with more people talking about them the further along they are in the story. After the player impresses them with their dancing skills, they are welcomed into the crew and given a crew card. As they are collecting crew cards, members of the various crews warn them about The Glitterati, another dance crew that is seen unfavorably by the others. When the player encounters The Glitterati, their talent is doubted at first, but after they impress the crew with their dancing, they are given The Glitterati's crew card as well.
After meeting and joining all five previous crews, the player is taken to The Airship, where they meet Dr. Tan. He reveals that he has been monitoring their every move and introduces them to D-Cypher, a crew of robots he has created himself. The goal of their creation is to battle the player and defeat them so Dr. Tan can conquer the dancing world. Once D-Cypher is defeated, both members of the crew shut off and The Airship begins to fall apart. Enraged, Dr. Tan gives a lengthy monologue about how he will not give up before escaping with a hysterical laugh.
Characters Dance Central 2 features eighteen playable characters, each divided up into pairs as a crew, with six of them being returning playable characters from Dance Central. Upon release, ten characters were available from the start and six could be unlocked. After release, four more unlockable characters were added following a Facebook campaign.
Riptide Crew: Includes Emilia from Dance Central and Bodie. Flash4wrd: Includes Taye from Dance Central and Li'l T. Lu$h Crew: Includes Miss Aubrey and Angel, both from Dance Central. Hi-Def: Includes Mo from Dance Central and Glitch. Icon Crew: Includes Marcos and Frenchy. Added on March 2, 2012. Unlockable by logging into Xbox Live before starting the game. Ninja Crew: Includes Shinju from Dance Central and Kichi. Added on May 1, 2012. Unlockable by logging into Xbox Live before starting the game. The Glitterati: Includes Kerith and Jaryn. Unlockable by completing The Glitterati's campaign in Crew Challenge. D-Cypher: Includes CYPH-78 and CYPH-56. Unlockable by completing the Crew Challenge once. D-Cypher Elite: Includes Dr. Tan and CYPH-ELITE. Unlockable by completing the Crew Challenge on every difficulty. Most characters feature alternative outfits separate from their main outfits (known as their "Crew Look") to wear during gameplay. These alternative outfits are labeled as "Street Style", and are unlocked by earning 36 Stars collectively on songs associated with the character's crew. Additionally, all returning player characters from Dance Central have a third outfit labeled "DC Classic". These outfits are ones they wore in the previous game, and they are unlocked by entering cheat codes in the "Redeem Code" section (excluding Mo, whose DC Classic outfit is unlocked by importing songs from Dance Central).
Soundtrack
Songs There are 44 songs featured in Dance Central 2. A light blue background indicates that the song must be unlocked by completing the final challenge song of the associated crew in the Crew Challenge. Song Artist Year Default Dancer"Baby Got Back (Mix Mix)"Sir Mix-a-Lot1992Emilia"Bad Romance"Lady Gaga2009Kerith"Body to Body"Electric Valentine2011Jaryn"Born This Way"Lady Gaga2011Kerith"Bulletproof"La Roux2009Miss Aubrey"Club Can't Handle Me"Flo Rida ft. David Guetta2010Emilia"Conceited (There's Something About Remy)"Remy Ma2005Taye"DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love"Usher ft. Pitbull2010Emilia"Fire Burning"Sean Kingston2009Miss Aubrey"Get Ur Freak On"Missy Elliott2001Taye"Goodies"Ciara ft. Petey Pablo2004Taye"Grenade"Bruno Mars2010Angel"Hot Stuff"Donna Summer1979Li'l T."I Like It"Enrique Iglesias ft. Pitbull2010Emilia"I Wish for You"EXILE2011Mo"Impacto (Remix)"Daddy Yankee ft. Fergie2007Taye"Last Night"Diddy ft. Keyshia Cole2006Miss Aubrey"Like a G6"Far East Movement2010Jaryn"Mai Ai Hee (Dragostea Din Tei)"O-Zone2003Glitch"Massive Attack"Nicki Minaj ft. Sean Garrett2010Bodie"Meddle"Little Boots2008Kerith"My Prerogative"Bobby Brown1988Bodie"Nothin' on You"B.o.B ft. Bruno Mars2009Angel"Oops (Oh My)"Tweet ft. Missy Elliott2002Jaryn"Reach"Atlantic Connection and Armanni Reign2011Bodie"Real Love"Mary J. Blige1992Miss Aubrey"Right Thurr"Chingy2003Li'l T."Rude Boy"Rihanna2010Taye"Run (I'm a Natural Disaster)"Gnarls Barkley2008Mo"Sandstorm"Darude1999Kerith"Satellite"Lena2010Jaryn"Sexy Chick"David Guetta ft. Akon2009Mo"Somebody to Love"Justin Bieber2010Mo"Technologic"Daft Punk2005Mo"The Breaks"Kurtis Blow1980Angel"The Humpty Dance"Digital Underground1990Bodie"This Is How We Do It"Montell Jordan1995Glitch"Toxic"As Made Famous By Britney Spears2004Jaryn"Turn Me On"Kevin Lyttle2003Angel"Venus"Bananarama1986Miss Aubrey"What Is Love"Haddaway1993Emilia"Whip My Hair"Willow2010Li'l T."Yeah!"Usher ft. Lil' Jon & Ludacris2004Glitch"You're a Jerk"New Boyz2009Glitch
Importing
Songs from the first Dance Central, including its downloadable content (DLC), can be played in Dance Central 2. DLC will automatically be available in Dance Central 2 if it was previously purchased for Dance Central, but the on-disc songs must be imported via the Import Pack. This could be done by redeeming the code printed in the Dance Central manual in-game. The Import Pack costed US$5.00 (400 Microsoft Points prior to August 26, 2013) and required an Xbox Live gamertag to download. Players who purchased the Import Pack also received Mo's "DC Classic" outfit as a bonus.
As of October 25, 2016, imports from Dance Central have been discontinued. However, players who purchased the Import Pack prior to its discontinuation can still access its content.
Downloadable content
In addition to DLC from the first Dance Central game, Dance Central 2 also features additional DLC on the Xbox Live Marketplace. Most DLC songs were released individually for US$2.99 (240 Microsoft Points prior to the currency's discontinuation), but some songs were released exclusively in "Dance Packs" containing multiple songs for higher prices. These packs also sometimes contain songs that are purchasable individually, but at a lower price per song.
The Xbox 360 Store had been shut down on July 29, 2024, making DLC for Dance Central 2 no longer available for purchase afterwards.
Song title Artist Year Default Dancer Release date Dance Pack "Marry the Night" Lady Gaga 2011 Jaryn November 22, 2011 "The Edge of Glory" Lady Gaga 2011 Miss Aubrey November 22, 2011 "What's My Name" Rihanna ft. Drake 2010 Taye December 20, 2011 "S&M" Rihanna 2011 Jaryn December 20, 2011 "Only Girl (In the World)" Rihanna 2010 Li'l T. December 20, 2011 "Closer" Ne-Yo 2008 Mo January 10, 2012 11 "Don't Touch Me (Throw da Water on 'Em)" Busta Rhymes 2008 Bodie January 17, 2012 11 "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" C+C Music Factory 1990 Emilia January 24, 2012 8 "Forget You" Cee Lo Green 2010 Glitch January 31, 2012 9 "Say Hey (I Love You)" Michael Franti & Spearhead 2008 Bodie February 14, 2012 11 "Milkshake" Kelis 2003 Miss Aubrey February 21, 2012 8 "Party Rock Anthem" LMFAO 2011 Mo February 28, 2012 "Yeah 3x" Chris Brown 2010 Bodie March 13, 2012 "Escapade" Janet Jackson 1990 Emilia March 27, 2012 "Nasty" Janet Jackson 1986 Miss Aubrey March 27, 2012 "We No Speak Americano" Yolanda Be Cool & DCUP 2010 Glitch April 10, 2012 10 "Commander" Kelly Rowland & David Guetta 2011 Kerith April 17, 2012 11 "Give Me Everything" Pitbull ft. Ne-Yo 2011 Angel April 24, 2012 8 "Spice Up Your Life" Spice Girls 1997 Li'l T. May 8, 2012 10 "Hello Good Morning" Diddy & Dirty Money ft. T.I. 2010 Bodie May 15, 2012 9 "Scenario" A Tribe Called Quest 1992 Glitch May 22, 2012 8 "Low" Flo Rida & T-Pain 2007 Taye May 29, 2012 9 "Replay" Iyaz 2009 Angel June 12, 2012 9 "Hot In Herre" Nelly 2002 Mo June 19, 2012 11 "Whine Up" Kat DeLuna ft. Elephant Man 2007 Taye June 26, 2012 8 "Round & Round" Selena Gomez & the Scene 2010 Miss Aubrey July 10, 2012 10 "La La Land" Demi Lovato 2008 Li'l T. July 17, 2012 10 "Never Say Never" Justin Bieber ft. Jaden Smith 2010 Mo July 24, 2012 11 "Down On Me" Jeremih ft. 50 Cent 2010 Angel August 7, 2012 11 "O.P.P." Naughty by Nature 1991 Glitch August 14, 2012 9 "Let It Rock" Kevin Rudolf ft. Lil Wayne 2008 Bodie August 21, 2012 11 "Promiscuous" Nelly Furtado ft. Timbaland 2006 Angel August 28, 2012 11
No longer available for purchase.
Development