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Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games
Developer(s)	Sega Japan, Sega Sports
Publisher(s)	EU/NA: Sega
Designer(s)	Shigeru Miyamoto (supervisor)
Platform(s)	Wii, Nintendo DS
Release	Wii NA: November 6 2007 AUS/JP: November 22 2007 EU: November 23 2007 DS
Genre(s)	Sports party game
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (マリオ&ソニック AT 北京オリンピック, Mario ando Sonikku atto Pekin Orinpikku, lit. "Mario & Sonic at the Beijing Olympics") is a sports game developed and published by Sega for North America and Europe and published by Nintendo for Japan. The game is officially licensed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) through exclusive licensee International Sports Multimedia. Sega adopted the IOC's mission of promoting a sporting spirit and its desire to interest young people in the Olympics with their newly acquired license. Due to the atmosphere of competitive sportsmanship the Olympics had to offer, Sega received approval by Nintendo to include Mario in the game. It was released on the Nintendo Wii in November 2007 and the Nintendo DS handheld in early 2008, and is the first official video game of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. Additionally, the game is the first official crossover title to feature characters from both Mario and Sonic The Hedgehog's respective universes.

Mario & Sonic on the Wii and DS is a collection of twenty-four events based on the Olympic Games. Players can assume the role of a Nintendo or Sega character while competing against the others in these events. Players use the Wii Remote to mimic actions performed in real life sports, such as swinging a paddle. The DS version utilize the stylus and button controls. Both games closely follow the rules and regulations of the Olympics.

Overall, critics praised the multiplayer interaction of the Wii game and variety of events of both versions. However, reviewers criticized the Wii version for its lack of simplicity and its DS counterpart for not offering the same interaction between players seen in its home console equivalent. The Wii title was awarded the "Best Wii game of 2007" at the Games Convention in Leipzig. Both versions have sold approximately ten million units combined as of July 2008.

Gameplay

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games is a collection of twenty-four events based on the Olympic Games. The events often require a combination of speed, timing, and strategy. Similar events have varying gameplay aspects; for example, getting a starting boost in the 100 m dash is more important than in the longer relay race, since it will not determine the outcome as effectively. On the Wii, the events consist of using the motion sensor capabilities of the Wii Remote and Nunchuk attachment to control the actions of the on-screen character. The player moves the remote in a manner similar to the method the separate games are played in real life; for example, swinging the Wii Remote to replicate hammer throw or pulling back the remote and tilting the Nunchuk like a bow and arrow. While the Nunchuck is required for archery, it is optional for most of the events. There are also events that are more physically demanding, such as the five running events which require rapid drumming of the controller. Some aspects of the gameplay are computer controlled. For example, in table tennis the player movement is controlled by the Wii, while the swinging of the racket is controlled by the player. The DS game is the same in design, but its events are less physically demanded than those on the Wii. For example, instead of drumming the controller, players have to quickly stroke the touchscreen.

Mario & Sonic brings together the two titular characters and fourteen more from both franchises to participate in environments based on the official venues of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. These environments are stylized to fit the futuristic and cartoon-like art styles of the Sonic and Mario franchises respectively. Each playable character has their own statistics which can serve as an advantage or disadvantage depending on the event. They are divided into four categories: all-around, speed, power, and skill. The Wii version has additional in-game characters taken from the console's Mii Channel, which allows the user to create a Mii, a customized avatar, that can be imported into games that support the feature. Both games have non-playable characters who serve as referees for particular events.

Both versions of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games have three similar modes of gameplay. Circuit mode is where players compete for the highest overall score in a pre-determined series of events or design their own circuit. In the Single Match, players can choose to compete in each event individually. Mission mode is a single-player option where each of the competitors has six character-specific missions to complete, although the characters' statistics are not as balanced as in the main game, making missions more difficult. The Wii version's Circuit and Single Match can have an additional one to three players competing simultaneously while its DS counterpart has a extra option dedicated to multiplayer called Versus Play. Versus supports up to four people to use the wireless capabilities of the Nintendo DS to play events. DS Download Play is possible for those without a individual copy of the game, however the number of sports available is limited.

Both versions feature a gallery mode where brief facts about the Olympics can be found. There are five categories of Olympics-related trivia organized by history and athletes, with corresponding minigames that will unlock the answer to trivia questions once completed. Classic music from both series is available in the gallery once all levels in a category are cleared. The two versions also have leaderboards that uses the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection to display the best times and scores in each event.

Events

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games has authentic Olympic events divided into eight classifications in the single match and circuit modes. The Wii game has twenty events categorized by athletics, gymnastics, shooting, rowing, archery, aquatics, fencing, and table tennis. The 4 x 100 metres relay and 4 x 100 aquatics relay race allow players to have a team of any four characters. Mario & Sonic on the Nintendo DS has its sixteen Olympic sports divided into mostly the same categories as its Wii counterpart with the exception of cycling which replaced rowing. There is a alternative version of four Olympic events in the Wii game and eight in the DS game called "Dream Events". The Dream Events differ from the original Olympic events by applying more fictional video game attributes such as locations, abilities, objects, and support characters from the Mario and Sonic worlds.

Wii exclusive

DS exclusive

Development

about gathering everyone, from young to old, together. And in that spirit, we thought this the best time for Sonic and Mario to be in a game together.

— The marketing director of Nintendo Europe on why the Olympics were chosen as the first meeting ground for Mario and Sonic,

Sega's transition from hardware to third-party development in 2001 created the opportunity for a collaboration with Nintendo. Yuji Naka and Shigeru Miyamoto, creators of Sega and Nintendo's mascots respectively, held private discussions about a crossover title in 2005. The idea of an Olympic setting for the mascots originated after Sega was awarded the Beijing 2008 Olympic license approximately a year later. Sega adopted the IOC's mission of promoting a sporting spirit and its desire to interest young people in the Olympics with their newly acquired license. The corporation decided to use their characters that "young people love and are very iconic" as a concept instead of a more realistic simulation. Sega later requested and received approval from Nintendo to include Mario in the game, who then partnered with Sega in-house to ensure quality. Sega and Nintendo felt the competitive sportsmanship of the Olympic Games provided an ideal choice as a setting for the once-rival mascots.

The game was officially announced with a press release by Sega and Nintendo on March 28, 2007. Sega presented the first screenshots and a movie of both versions of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games at E3 2007. The creator of Mario, Shigeru Miyamoto, supervised the project that was being developed predominantly by Sega Sports. One of the two versions of Mario & Sonic may have been co-developed by TOSE, a developer known to not credit itself for the games it produces. The president of Sega Europe stated enough events to fully epitomize the Olympics was originally planned and mentioned judo as one such sport. However, judo was omitted from the final product. Sega announced in October 2007 that Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games' scheduled release date for the Wii has been advanced by two weeks and the game had gone gold.

Reception

Review scores

Publication	Score
1Up.com	C+ (Wii) C+ (DS)
Edge	6 of 10 (Wii)
Electronic Gaming Monthly	6, 7, 6/10 (Wii)
Eurogamer	7 of 10 (Wii) 5 of 10 (DS)
GamePro	3.50 of 5 (Wii) 3.25 of 5 (DS)
GameSpot	6.0 of 10 (Wii) 6.0 of 10 (DS)
IGN	7.9 of 10 (Wii) 7.8 of 10 (DS)
X-Play	(Wii)

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games received a mixed reaction from critics and was commercially successful. The game remained at the top of the United Kingdom all-formats chart for two weeks shortly after its release, before losing its position then regaining it numerous times afterward. The Wii game sold half a million units during the first seven weeks after release in the UK. By June 2008, both versions reached 1.2 million copies combined in UK sales, prompting Sega to create plans on re-marketing the game there. According to the NPD Group, the Wii game was one of the top-ten best-sellers for the month of December 2007 in the United States, selling 613,000 units. As of July 9, 2008, the Wii version has sold 561,003 units and the Nintendo DS version sold 325,647 copies in Japan, according to Famitsu. In the same month, Simon Jeffrey, president of Sega of America, showed interest in another game collaboration between the two mascots and announced that the game has sold approximately 10 million units worldwide combined.

Critical response

Mario and Sonic has undergone scrutiny for starring the mascots together for the first time in the Olympics instead of in a platform game, which GamePro criticized as being "a marketing tool to promote the upcoming 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing". The Wii version of the game was praised for being an entertaining multiplayer experience, but criticized for shallow gameplay and complex rules and instructions. GameTrailers gave the Wii game an 6.8/10, concluding that Mario & Sonic's lack of "polish and simplicity" leaves the improbable grouping of mascots as its main attraction to compete against the minigame collections on the platform.

GameSpot praised the Wii game for its number of events, but thought some of them were too similar to each other. The reviewer rated the motion controls used in the events as commonly "uninteresting and occasionally frustrating". X-Play agreed, calling the controls "non-intuitive" and commenting that minigames require players to "wave their Wiimotes franticly while press several buttons at the same time, which can be a tad bit frustrating". An Electronic Gaming Monthly editor mentioned the controls are complicated for a game that should be a "pure pick-up-and-play party game". GamePro said the events are "short and fairly shallow" and that they mostly require movement of the "Wii Remote and Nunchuks in specific ways--rapidly up and down for running events, for example". IGN called Mario & Sonic a success in regards to the slight degree of differences each competition had to offer as well as their entertainment value. However, the events within their own classifications felt similar to some critics; for example, IGN noted that there are "five or six that feel nearly identical" and lacked diversity. Both IGN and GameSpot favored the fantasy events in the game due to their more complex objectives, which share attributes with that of the Mario sport games and archery.

On the Nintendo DS, Mario & Sonic is regarded as virtually the same game in design as its Wii counterpart, however opinions of its control scheme varied greatly. Andrew Fitch of 1UP.com assured readers in his review that the less physically demanding gameplay of the DS version made the game accessible for extended periods of time. Fitch proceeded to state that in nearly "every case, events are far more enjoyable on the DS" due to the requirement of using the human body's finer motor skill abilities. Eurogamer noted the lack of physical demand will make players feel less immersed with the game. IGN agreed, stating that "Rapidly drumming the controllers is far more challenging than quickly stroking the touchscreen."

For both versions, critics preferred the remixed Nintendo and Sega music and IGN thought the general Olympic-related music "can be a bit generic". GameDaily called the background music "mostly forgettable", while GamePro thought "most of the music isn't too interesting". Most publications agreed that the Wii counterpart of Mario & Sonic had clean textures and well-done animations; N-Europe thought the renderization of each character was pleasing, and GameSpot added that the graphics are "crisp and colorful". Compared to the Wii version, the visuals in the DS game is the same style with graphics nearly on the same level. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games' use of the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection on the DS is regarded by IGN as a "missed opportunity" due to the inability to compete against other players online. Many publications, including Eurogamer and Pro-G stated that the ability to upload the best times and scores is a cumbersome process. The home console version also has online rankings, but lacks direct competition between players. IGN said that, while the aforementioned aspect is disappointing, the leaderboards "certainly make sense for a game like this".

References

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External links

• Official Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games website
• Official Nintendo website (JP)

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