Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games
Developer	TOSE, SEGA
Publisher	Nintendo, SEGA
System	Wii, Nintendo DS
Release Date	Wii US November 6, 2007 JP November 22, 2007 AU November 22, 2007 EU November 23, 2007 Nintendo DS JP January 17, 2008 US January 22, 2008 AU February 7, 2008 EU February 8, 2008
Genre	Sports
Gallery	GH Gallery
Rating	ESRB: E

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games is a sports game and an official game tying into the 2008 Summer Olympics. It is also a crossover event featuring Mario and Sonic as well as other characters from both of their series, marking the first time that the two have appeared together in the same game.

Development

The concept for the game originated after Sega acquired the license to create official tie-in games for the Olympics. They intended to feature Sonic the Hedgehog characters in the game from the beginning. Because of the Olympics featuring competitive sportsmanship and Sega's friendly relationship with their formal rivals at Nintendo, Sega and Nintendo ultimately agreed to feature Super Mario characters as well, allowing Mario and Sonic to finally appear together in the same game.

Gameplay

The player competes in many different Olympic events. Among the events are track, gymnastics, pole vaulting, the high jump, the shot put, fencing, swimming, table tennis, and archery. The controls of the Wii version utilize the motion sensor controls, while the DS version moreso relies on the touchscreen.

Both versions are divided into Circuit, Single Match and Mission modes, while each version has slight alterations on multiplayer play. Both versions also have special Dream Events, and some events are exclusive to each version.

Playable Characters

The Wii version also features Miis as playable characters.

Team Mario

• Mario
• Luigi
• Princess Peach
• Princess Daisy
• Yoshi
• Wario
• Waluigi
• Bowser

Team Sonic

• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Miles "Tails" Prower
• Knuckles the Echidna
• Amy Rose
• Blaze the Cat
• Shadow the Hedgehog
• Vector the Crocodile
• Dr. Eggman

Legacy

This spawned the Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games subseries. A new installment would be made for nearly every occurrence of the Olympic Games going forward, with the only exception thus far being the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics. The series has also been notable for being the only crossover between the Super Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog series, although the two would also appear together in multiple games of the Super Smash Bros. series.

Sega also made Sonic at the Olympic Games, a 2008 mobile game that featured only Sonic the Hedgehog characters.

Sequels

• It was followed by Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, which was made to tie in with the 2010 Olympic games.