Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games

For anyone who lived through the console wars, it still sounds like a wind-up, and when Sega and Nintendo announced it together in Tokyo on 28 March 2007, a few days before the first of April, some fans assumed it was one. It was real. The two companies billed it as the first time their stars had ever shared a game, and the meeting place was neutral ground: the Beijing 2008 Olympics, for which Sega held the official video game licence through International Sports Multimedia, the IOC’s exclusive partner for interactive entertainment.

Sega made the game and Nintendo watched over it. A team from Sega’s sports group built both versions, with Eigo Kasahara directing and Osamu Ohashi producing, while Nintendo provided supervisors from Shigeru Miyamoto down, signed off its milestones and published it in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Sega published it everywhere else.

On the Wii it is a motion-controlled party game. You swing the Remote down to burst off the blocks, pump the Remote and Nunchuk in turn to sprint, point at the screen to aim an arrow and swing for a table-tennis return. Twenty real events across eight sports sit beside four Dream Events that throw Mario Kart shells and Sonic power-ups into the mix. The DS version, released a couple of months later, is a separate game with its own selection, including diving, cycling and five Dream Events of its own, almost all played with the stylus.

It was a huge hit. Sega announced five million sales in just over three months, Nintendo later counted more than ten million in Europe and North America alone, and the pairing became a series that followed the Games from Vancouver to London, Sochi, Rio and Tokyo.

“Now that they have been given the perfect opportunity to meet at the Olympic Games, we may finally learn who is actually faster, Mario or Sonic?”

Shigeru Miyamoto, in Sega and Nintendo’s joint announcement, 28 March 2007

Miyamoto opened by calling the pair respectful rivals who had long talked about competing one day.

Quick answers about Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games.

There is no plot: the story is the Games themselves. Pick an athlete and an event, compete for medals and records, and work through the circuits to open up the Dream Events. The real events follow real rules, often simplified: three attempts in the field events, fifteen touches to win at fencing, eleven points a game at table tennis.

The Wii events take place in versions of the real Beijing 2008 venues: the National Stadium for athletics, the National Aquatics Center for swimming, the National Indoor Stadium for gymnastics, the Olympic Green Archery Field, the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park, the Beijing Shooting Range Clay Target Field, the Peking University Gymnasium for table tennis and the Fencing Hall. The Dream Events move to invented arenas with names like Duel Wharf Fencing Beach and Speed Rally Table Tennis Stadium.

The opening ceremony

The game opens with a fully animated film, made by a separate team led by director Takashi Nakashima, set to an orchestral opening theme from sound producer Teruhiko Nakagawa, scored and conducted by Masamicz Amano. The camera sweeps over the Olympic rings and a packed stadium, the ceremony begins, and the athletes warm up before a rapid tour of the events.

Many of the athletes get a moment: Bowser in the hammer circle, Dr. Eggman on the triple-jump runway, Amy at the high-jump bar, Peach in the pool, Knuckles with a javelin, and Luigi alongside Shadow, before Mario and Sonic go head to head on the track and the logo arrives.

Single Match and the records

Single Match is the quickest way in: any event, any athlete, up to four players. The timed and measured events come with world and Olympic records to chase: the 100m starts with a world record of 9.77 seconds and an Olympic record of 9.84, the 100m Freestyle with 47.84 seconds for both.

Playing Single Match also counts towards unlocking the circuits, so the casual route opens things up too.

Circuit mode

Circuit mode strings events together into a competition, and it is where the game hides its unlocks. There are three classes: Beginners, with five circuits of three events each; Advanced, with five circuits of four; and Masters, with six circuits of five, from Meteorite to the Big Bang Circuit. Winning a circuit earns its trophy and opens the next one, and the four opening Beginners circuits (Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn) lead to Moonlight, which is also unlocked after 20 Single Match events.

On DS, places earn 10, 8, 6 and 4 points, and once per circuit you can play a Circuit Chance to double the points from one event. Free Circuit lets you build your own running order from the events you have unlocked.

Mission mode

Mission mode is the single-player challenge list: each athlete has their own set of tasks in specific events, and finishing the lot earns that character’s emblem. On DS each athlete has five missions and then a final one. Some are about winning in style, others about hitting a precise number, which is harder than it sounds.

Mario must beat Sonic in the 100m and win a Dream Fencing bout with a special attack; Sonic has to hit 170 metres per second in Dream Platform; Shadow must beat Tails in the pool; Blaze has to win Dream Race without hitting anyone. On DS, Peach must land a long jump between 6 and 7 metres, Bowser has to throw the hammer at least 220 metres three times running, and Blaze must win after falling 200 points behind.

Dream Events on the Wii

Dream Race is four laps of the Sandhill Track Course, a running race turned kart race: Item Boxes hand out Green and Red Shells, Boos, Lightning and Chaos Emeralds, Dash Panels speed you up, and Egg Pawns get in the way. Dream Platform is a 10,000-metre dive into the Tropical Reef Diving Area, tilting the Remote to fall faster, dodging Brick Blocks and Egg Flappers and flying through rings to perform tricks for points.

Dream Fencing at Duel Wharf Fencing Beach replaces points with a health bar: hits fill a meter that stores up to three special attacks, and a special near the edge can knock your rival out of the ring. Dream Table Tennis at the Speed Rally Table Tennis Stadium counts the rally, so a long exchange is worth a lot of points, and every athlete has a special shot, from Mario’s flaming ball to Wario’s thunderous fart.

The DS version: Beijing on the touch screen

The DS game has 16 Olympic events, and most are open from the start; the 400m Hurdles and Triple Jump arrive once the four opening circuits are won, and the 10m Platform after the Comet Circuit. The two DS-only events show what the hardware does best: the dives are entered as button combinations, and the Pursuit is three laps of the track, pedalling with L and R and steering with the Control Pad.

The supporting cast is busier here too. Toad, Lakitu and Shy Guy judge and officiate for Team Mario, Espio, Charmy and Cream for Team Sonic, and the crowd fills up with Toads, Dry Bones, Nokis, Omochao, Flickies and other familiar faces.

Dream Events on DS

The DS has eight Dream Events, five of them its own. Dream Basketball at Blue Sky Field is a shooting gallery of moving baskets, where one ball through several hoops doubles the score each time; Dream Canoe on Splash Ocean is a coin hunt with shells and Spiny Shells flying; Dream Boxing in the Fighting Arena is a knockdown brawl in which three trips to the canvas lose the match.

Dream Shooting sends you round Dream Castle picking off Kiki, Flappers and Egg Pawns before a giant shielded Egg Pawn arrives, and Dream Long Jump, open from the start, lets you steer and use items in mid-air. Dream Race, Dream Fencing and Dream Table Tennis return in handheld form.

The Gallery: trivia, minigames and music

Both versions double as a little Olympic encyclopedia. On DS, the Gallery has five sections (Olympic Trivia, the Modern Olympic Games, Beijing 2008, the Ancient Olympic Games and About Athletes), each behind five doors in the colours of the Olympic rings, opened by playing minigames such as Shoot!, Airship and Conveyor Belt. The fifth door of each section unlocks two songs for the jukebox, one Mario and one Sonic.

The Wii’s music gallery works the same way, releasing a pair of classic tunes for each category of trivia completed: the Super Mario Bros. overworld theme and Green Hill Zone first, ending with Super Mario World’s overworld theme and the instrumental of Let the Speed Mend It from Sonic and the Secret Rings.

Every event in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games

All 48 events: 20 Olympic and 4 Dream Events on Wii, 16 Olympic and 8 Dream Events on DS. Wii venues are the in-game versions of the Beijing 2008 sites.

1. 
   100m FreestyleWii · Aquatics · National Aquatics CenterTwo lengths of the pool in a stroke that varies by athlete; tap B to breathe.
2. 
   4x100m FreestyleWii only · Aquatics · National Aquatics CenterA team relay: nobody dives in until the last swimmer touches the wall.
3. 
   ArcheryWii · Archery · Olympic Green Archery FieldFour ends of three arrows at a target 70 metres away, with the wind to allow for.
4. 
   100mWii · Athletics · National StadiumThe headline race: a perfect start and furious arm-pumping.
5. 
   400mWii · Athletics · National StadiumA full lap from staggered blocks.
6. 
   4x100m RelayWii only · Athletics · National StadiumFour legs and three baton changes.
7. 
   110m HurdlesWii only · Athletics · National StadiumSprint and leap from the blocks to the line.
8. 
   400m HurdlesWii · Athletics · National StadiumA full lap with hurdles in the way.
9. 
   Long JumpWii · Athletics · National StadiumTake off before the board; the best of three jumps counts.
10. 
    Triple JumpWii · Athletics · National StadiumHop, step and jump into the pit, best of three.
11. 
    High JumpWii only · Athletics · National StadiumPick a starting height; three failures in a row end your day.
12. 
    Pole VaultWii only · Athletics · National StadiumPlant the pole and clear the bar, with the same three-strikes rule.
13. 
    Hammer ThrowWii · Athletics · National StadiumSpin for momentum and let go before the countdown ends.
14. 
    Javelin ThrowWii · Athletics · National StadiumRun up and throw without crossing the foul line.
15. 
    Individual ÉpéeWii · Fencing · Fencing HallA touch anywhere on the body scores; first to 15 wins.
16. 
    TrampolineWii · Gymnastics · National Indoor StadiumBounce high and twist for the judges.
17. 
    VaultWii · Gymnastics · National Indoor StadiumSpringboard, horse, somersaults: up to ten points a vault, best of three.
18. 
    Single ScullsWii only · Rowing · Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing ParkBalance your strokes to keep the boat straight; Big the Cat officiates.
19. 
    SkeetWii · Shooting · Beijing Shooting Range Clay Target FieldEight stations, one shot at each clay.
20. 
    Table Tennis SinglesWii · Table Tennis · Peking University GymnasiumFirst to 11 points, two serves each in turn.
21. 
    Dream RaceWii · Dream · Sandhill Track CourseFour item-filled laps; unlocked by winning the four opening Beginners circuits.
22. 
    Dream PlatformWii only · Dream · Tropical Reef Diving AreaA 10,000-metre dive scored on speed, rings and tricks; unlocked by the Cosmos Circuit.
23. 
    Dream FencingWii · Dream · Duel Wharf Fencing BeachHealth bars, special attacks and ring-outs; unlocked by the Comet Circuit.
24. 
    Dream Table TennisWii · Dream · Speed Rally Table Tennis StadiumLong rallies pay big; unlocked by the Satellite Circuit.
25. 
    100mDS · Athletics · open from the startScrub the stylus left and right for all you are worth.
26. 
    400mDS · Athletics · open from the startMore stylus strokes, with stamina to manage.
27. 
    400m HurdlesDS · Athletics · four opening circuitsRun, jump the hurdles and keep something in reserve.
28. 
    Long JumpDS · Athletics · open from the startBuild speed, then slide at the right angle to take off.
29. 
    Triple JumpDS · Athletics · four opening circuitsThree angled slides for the three phases.
30. 
    Javelin ThrowDS · Athletics · open from the startSide-to-side strokes for the run-up, an angled flick to throw.
31. 
    Hammer ThrowDS · Athletics · open from the startDraw circles to spin and lift the stylus to release.
32. 
    100m FreestyleDS · Aquatics · open from the startTrace your athlete’s stroke shape again and again.
33. 
    10m PlatformDS only · Aquatics · Comet CircuitDive moves entered as button combinations.
34. 
    TrampolineDS · Gymnastics · open from the startDraw shapes to perform each move.
35. 
    VaultDS · Gymnastics · open from the startSlide to run up, then touch the points in order.
36. 
    ArcheryDS · Archery · open from the startTouch and hold to aim, release to shoot, past Chain Chomp and Chao balloons.
37. 
    SinglesDS · Table Tennis · open from the startPlayed on the Control Pad and the four face buttons.
38. 
    Individual ÉpéeDS · Fencing · open from the startMove with the Control Pad, attack by drawing shapes.
39. 
    SkeetDS · Shooting · open from the startAim on the touch screen, fire with L and R.
40. 
    PursuitDS only · Cycling · open from the startThree laps of pedalling with L and R, with stamina to watch.
41. 
    Dream RaceDS · Dream · Planet CircuitAn obstacle course with items, on stylus or buttons.
42. 
    Dream BasketballDS only · Dream · Blue Sky Field · Stardust CircuitCombo shots through moving baskets, with gold balls and power-up balls.
43. 
    Dream CanoeDS only · Dream · Splash Ocean · Sunlight CircuitGrab the most coins against the clock while dodging shells.
44. 
    Dream BoxingDS only · Dream · Fighting Arena · Meteorite CircuitTwo rounds at most; go down three times and you lose.
45. 
    Dream Table TennisDS · Dream · four opening circuitsButton commands for each shot type, plus a special on X.
46. 
    Dream FencingDS · Dream · Satellite CircuitDrain the health bar; slide down the screen for a special.
47. 
    Dream ShootingDS only · Dream · Dream Castle · Cosmos CircuitShoot Kiki, Flappers and Egg Pawns, then a giant shielded one.
48. 
    Dream Long JumpDS only · Dream · open from the startRun up with the stylus, then steer and use items in the air.

Every event is a short contest with its own controls and rules, played against the computer or up to three friends. Before each one you pick an athlete, and the choice matters: each of the sixteen is rated out of 100 for Speed, Power, Skill and Stamina and belongs to one of four types. All-Around athletes have no real weakness and no standout strength, Speed athletes excel where agility counts, Skill athletes have the technique and staying power but not the muscle or top speed, and Power athletes are built for the strength and endurance events.

Wii controls: swing, shake and point

On the Wii, almost everything starts the same way: hold B when “Ready” appears, then swing the Remote down and let go on “Go”. Time it perfectly and you get a rocket start; jump the gun and it is a false start. In the sprints you then shake the Remote and Nunchuk alternately as fast as your arms allow. In the pool, athletes swim different strokes, from crawl and butterfly to a doggy paddle and a crocodile paddle, and you mimic yours with the controllers while tapping B to take a breath when the heart meter runs low.

Other events ask for precision rather than effort. Archery has you hold A and B and pull the Remote back to draw the bow, then line up the Remote’s pointer with a second cursor steered by tilting the Nunchuk, with the wind pushing the arrow off line. In table tennis the game moves your athlete and you simply swing. Most events can also be played with the Remote alone, with simpler motions; archery needs the Nunchuk.

The waggle was the thing everyone noticed. In 2011 the developers recalled that players had found the first game’s running events tiring, which is why London 2012 cut down the arm-swinging events and varied the controls.

DS controls: strokes on the touch screen

The DS game swaps arm-pumping for stylus-scrubbing. In the 100m, 400m and hurdles you slide the stylus left and right across the touch screen to run; the jumps and the javelin add a slide at the right angle to take off or throw, the hammer is spun by drawing circles and released by lifting the stylus, and in the pool you trace your athlete’s stroke shape over and over. Trampoline and fencing moves are drawn as shapes, and the vault is a sequence of points to touch.

A few events go back to buttons: table tennis uses the Control Pad and the A, B, X and Y buttons, skeet and the cycling Pursuit use L and R, and the 10m Platform dives are button combinations. One of Dr. Eggman’s missions even asks you to shout into the microphone.

Two different games

The DS game is not a cut-down port. Of the Wii’s 20 Olympic events, 14 also appear on DS; the 4x100m Freestyle, 4x100m Relay, 110m Hurdles, High Jump, Pole Vault and Single Sculls stay on the Wii, while the DS adds 10m Platform diving and the cycling Pursuit. Only Dream Race, Dream Fencing and Dream Table Tennis are shared: Dream Platform is a Wii exclusive, and Dream Basketball, Dream Canoe, Dream Boxing, Dream Shooting and Dream Long Jump are DS-only.

The DS has its own trivia gallery and minigames too. Eurogamer and IGN both scored the DS game below the Wii one, and IGN’s DS review felt the handheld game followed the Wii version too closely, about three months later.

Multiplayer, Miis and online

Up to four players can share Single Match and Circuit mode on the Wii, and Miis from the Mii Channel can join the sixteen regular athletes. On DS, four players can compete wirelessly: with DS Download Play one Game Card is enough for single events, while players with their own copies can run a full circuit.

Both versions could upload results to worldwide rankings over Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. That service closed on 20 May 2014, so today every contest is local.

Medals, trophies, emblems and crowns

The Records menu keeps score of everything: medals for every event and athlete, 16 trophies (one for winning each circuit), 40 emblems for feats large and small, and 17 crowns, one for winning gold in every event with each athlete plus a Complete Crown for doing it with all of them. Emblems range from finishing a character’s Mission mode to committing a foul in the 100m.

Dream Event items

The real events are item-free, but the Dream Events are stuffed with gadgets from both series. These are the ones named for the Wii’s Dream Race and Dream Platform and the DS’s Dream Canoe, Dream Basketball and Dream Shooting.

• High SpeedDream Race: five seconds of extra speed, and it shakes off a Boo.
• StarmanDream Race and DS events: brief invincibility (in Dream Basketball it turns every ball gold).
• ExplosionDream Race: a trap left behind you. Dream Platform: blasts the blocks below you.
• BooDream Race: haunts the leader and slows them; several can stack up.
• Green ShellDream Race and Dream Canoe: fired straight ahead (in sets of five on the canoe course).
• Red ShellHomes in on a rival in Dream Race, Dream Platform and Dream Canoe.
• Spiny ShellDream Canoe: goes for whoever is in first place.
• LightningDream Race: zaps and slows everyone ahead of you.
• Chaos EmeraldDream Race: Lightning, High Speed and Starman in one. In Dream Basketball it either sends a Boo into a rival’s basket or makes their baskets move faster.
• Dash MushroomDream Platform: five seconds of faster falling.
• BarrierDream Platform: five seconds of protection from blocks, Flappers and Red Shells.
• BombDream Canoe (three at a time) and Dream Shooting.
• Super MushroomDream Basketball: makes the baskets bigger. Also an item in Dream Shooting.
• BalloonDream Basketball: lines the baskets up vertically. Also found in Dream Shooting.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games borrows from both back catalogues and set up plenty that came later.

Classic music, unlocked in pairsWii music galleryThe Wii’s gallery releases ten classic tracks in Mario-and-Sonic pairs: the overworld, underground and underwater themes of Super Mario Bros., the overworld themes of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World, and Green Hill Zone, Star Light Zone, the Sonic 2 Special Stage, Sonic Heroes and Let the Speed Mend It. Rather than looping, each fades out and starts again.

Handheld jukeboxDS GalleryThe DS jukebox includes Nintendo tracks from more recent games: Luigi Circuit from Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Coincentration and Bounce and Pounce from Super Mario 64 DS and two themes from Tetris DS.

Borrowed artworkTeam Mario promotional artSeveral Team Mario pieces in the game’s artwork set come from earlier games: Mario and Luigi from Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix, Yoshi and Waluigi from Mario Party 6, Wario from Mario Party 7 and Bowser from Super Mario 64 DS.

Super Smash Bros. BrawlWii, 2008Shortly after this game, Sonic turned up alongside Mario again, this time as a fighter in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

An earlier Mario OlympicsClub Nintendo comicMario had already competed in an “Intergalactical Olympics”, in the German Club Nintendo magazine’s comic Super Mario: Verloren in der Zeit.

Cartoon double packDVDTo coincide with the game, the DVD of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 was reissued in a double pack with Volume 1 of The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.

Sonic at the Olympic GamesMobile phones, June 2008A mobile spin-off without the Mario side: Sonic, Tails, Amy and Knuckles only.

The sequels2009 onwardsDonkey Kong and Silver, whose data sits unused in this game, became playable in the Olympic Winter Games, and Peach and Daisy finally got the swimwear Nintendo had refused them here in London 2012.

Sixteen athletes, eight from each series, all available from the start, plus your Mii on the Wii. Types and stats (Speed / Power / Skill / Stamina, out of 100) are the same on Wii and DS. Voices are as credited in the Wii version.

Character	Who they are	In this game	Abilities & notes
MarioAll-Around · Team Mario	Captain of Team Mario, voiced by Charles Martinet, who also voices Luigi, Wario and Waluigi here.	The balanced choice. His Dream Table Tennis special sets the ball on fire; on DS he boxes with a spinning flaming uppercut. His Wii missions include beating Sonic in the 100m.	Speed 60 · Power 50 · Skill 70 · Stamina 60
LuigiAll-Around · Team Mario	Mario’s brother, quicker but weaker.	His table-tennis special whips up a tornado that drops the ball from on high. Missions ask him to beat Waluigi at Dream Fencing and, on DS, to triple jump between 13 and 15 metres.	Speed 70 · Power 40 · Skill 70 · Stamina 60
Princess PeachSkill · Team Mario	Voiced by Jen Taylor, who also voices Toad.	Quick and precise but the weakest on Team Mario. Her special spins through hearts and hits a ball that turns invisible. Sega designed swimsuits for her and Daisy, but Nintendo turned them down.	Speed 80 · Power 30 · Skill 90 · Stamina 40
Princess DaisySpeed · Team Mario	Voiced by Deanna Mustard.	A speedster whose specials come with a trail of petals, in table tennis and in DS Dream Boxing alike.	Speed 80 · Power 40 · Skill 70 · Stamina 50
YoshiSpeed · Team Mario	Voiced by Kazumi Totaka.	The fastest of Team Mario. His specials use that tongue; on DS one mission has him scooping 20 coins in 60 seconds of Dream Canoe.	Speed 90 · Power 40 · Skill 70 · Stamina 40
WarioPower · Team Mario	Voiced by Charles Martinet.	The only athlete with maximum Stamina, and the lowest Skill on the roster. His specials are, inevitably, powered by flatulence.	Speed 40 · Power 80 · Skill 20 · Stamina 100
WaluigiSkill · Team Mario	Voiced by Charles Martinet.	The only athlete with a perfect 100 for Skill, but slow. In DS Dream Canoe he has to survive 30 seconds without being hit.	Speed 30 · Power 40 · Skill 100 · Stamina 70
BowserPower · Team Mario	Voiced by Scott Burns.	Top of the roster for Power and bottom for Speed. Missions: two ring-outs in Dream Fencing, and on DS three hammer throws in a row of at least 220 metres.	Speed 20 · Power 100 · Skill 30 · Stamina 90
SonicSpeed · Team Sonic	Captain of Team Sonic, voiced by Jason Griffith, who also voices Shadow.	Joint-fastest athlete. His missions include hitting 170 metres per second in Dream Platform, finishing second in Dream Race and, on DS, swaying nine punches in Dream Boxing.	Speed 100 · Power 50 · Skill 50 · Stamina 40
TailsSkill · Team Sonic	Sonic’s two-tailed friend, voiced by Amy Palant.	High Skill and Stamina, low Power. His table-tennis special flies him up to hit a ball that vanishes; a DS mission wants a ten-point arrow in a strong wind.	Speed 40 · Power 30 · Skill 90 · Stamina 80
KnucklesPower · Team Sonic	The echidna, voiced by Dan Green, who also voices Vector.	A quick power athlete. His missions include beating Dr. Eggman at Dream Fencing and Wario at DS Dream Boxing.	Speed 60 · Power 80 · Skill 30 · Stamina 70
AmyAll-Around · Team Sonic	Voiced by Lisa Ortiz.	Hearts and petals in every special. Her first Wii mission asks for a perfect dive and a win in the 100m Freestyle; on DS she must beat Peach in Dream Boxing.	Speed 60 · Power 40 · Skill 70 · Stamina 70
BlazeAll-Around · Team Sonic	Blaze the Cat, voiced by Bella Hudson.	Wraps herself in fire for her table-tennis special. Her missions include winning Dream Race without touching anyone.	Speed 70 · Power 50 · Skill 60 · Stamina 60
ShadowSpeed · Team Sonic	Voiced by Jason Griffith.	Matches Sonic’s top speed with the lowest Stamina of anyone. His missions pit him against Sonic in the 100m and Tails in the pool.	Speed 100 · Power 50 · Skill 60 · Stamina 30
VectorPower · Team Sonic	The crocodile detective, voiced by Dan Green.	Slow but strong. One mission wants a 100m Freestyle time between 48 and 51 seconds; on DS he must hit every rival with an item in Dream Canoe.	Speed 30 · Power 90 · Skill 30 · Stamina 90
Dr. EggmanSkill · Team Sonic	Sonic’s arch-enemy, voiced by Mike Pollock.	Surprisingly quick for his shape. He charges his bat with lightning for his special, and on DS one mission has him shouting into the microphone.	Speed 70 · Power 40 · Skill 90 · Stamina 40

Officials, crowds and obstacles

Nobody else is playable, but plenty of familiar faces turn up as referees, spectators, targets and hazards.

• 
  ToadReferee, Team MarioOfficiates jumps, throws, gymnastics, cycling and fencing on DS.
• 
  LakituReferee, Team MarioWatches the throws, the dives and the gymnastics from his cloud.
• 
  Shy GuyReferee, Team MarioJudges diving, trampoline and vault on DS, and is among the Wii 100m officials.
• 
  EspioReferee, Team SonicThe chameleon judges diving, trampoline and vault.
• 
  CharmyReferee, Team SonicThe bee officiates the throws, the diving and the gymnastics.
• 
  CreamReferee, Team SonicCovers the jumps, throws, gymnastics and fencing.
• Big the CatReferee, Wii rowingOfficiates the Single Sculls and pops up elsewhere as a cameo.
• 
  The crowdSpectatorsToads, Koopa Troopas, Piantas and Dry Bones on Wii; Nokis, Flickies, Omochao and more on DS.
• 
  BooObstacleGets in the way in the DS 100m, 400m and Dream Basketball, and haunts the leader in Dream Race.
• 
  Chain Chomp and Chao balloonsObstacles, DSHot-air balloons drifting across Archery and Dream Long Jump.
• 
  Egg PawnDream Race; Dream ShootingEggman’s robots block the Wii race and fill the DS shooting gallery, ending with a giant shielded one.
• 
  Egg FlapperDream Platform; Dream ShootingFlying robots that cost you points and speed on the Wii skydive.
• KikiDream ShootingA target worth three points a hit, and a Conveyor Belt regular.
• 
  Brick BlockDream PlatformHit one on the way down and lose 500 points.
• 
  GoombaDS minigamesA target in Shoot! and Conveyor Belt.
• 
  Bob-ombDS minigamesAnother Shoot! and Conveyor Belt regular.
• 
  Bullet BillAirship minigameFlies through the DS Airship minigame.

The people who made it

From the Wii credits, with roles in the DS version noted:

Old enemies, a borrowed Olympic flame and one working demo in Tokyo.

From console-war enemies to team-mates

For most of the 1990s, putting Mario and Sonic in the same game was unthinkable. Former Sega of America chief Tom Kalinske still struggled with the change years later, remembering Nintendo as the company Sega had fought tooth and nail. Things changed when the Dreamcast was discontinued in 2001 and Sega became a third-party publisher, putting Sonic on Nintendo consoles.

Sonic’s creator Yuji Naka was the first at Sega to float a crossover, and Takashi Iizuka says he opened the conversation with Nintendo. The sticking point was the genre. Miyamoto liked the idea of the two together, but not in a platformer: “if you put them in an action game, the feeling of speed is very different, so it wouldn’t have worked,” he told Game Informer. The answer was a setting that belonged to neither series.

The Olympic licence and the Tokyo demo

That setting arrived when Sega won the licence to make Olympic video games. The International Olympic Committee licensed the game through International Sports Multimedia (ISM), its exclusive partner for interactive entertainment, and ISM staff are credited for Olympic approvals. With the licence in hand, a team at Sega was told to bring Mario, Sonic and the Olympics together.

The producer, Osamu Ohashi, came from Sega’s sports games group rather than the Sonic department, and he told Satoru Iwata in 2011 that the project felt like a stretch. Sega wrote a proposal for Nintendo, but Miyamoto wanted to see Mario and Sonic actually competing before he decided, so the team went back to Tokyo, built a demo that ran, and won his approval. Ohashi recalled that, with the Olympic licence already secured, failure was not an option.

The announcement and the road to launch

Sega and Nintendo announced the game together in Tokyo on 28 March 2007 for release at Christmas, with Sega publishing in Europe and North America and Nintendo in Japan. Sega’s president Hisao Oguchi talked up two of the world’s greatest game characters meeting for the first time, and ISM’s Raymond Goldsmith spoke of the Olympic spirit. Early publicity named Mario, Sonic, Luigi, Knuckles, Yoshi and Tails, in events such as the 100m, swimming and table tennis.

A demo shown at that year’s Games Convention in Leipzig had a character select screen without Daisy, Blaze, Wario, Shadow, Waluigi or Vector, and the show’s awards named the game Best of Wii. The Wii version launched in North America on 6 November 2007, the DS version in Japan on 17 January 2008.

Who did what

Sega’s Japanese studio built the game (Nintendo’s UK site credits Sega Studios Japan), with Nintendo’s SPD Group No. 4 also credited on both versions and Racjin on the Wii version. Sega’s announcement of its sales described Nintendo’s role as creative input and approval of the major development milestones. Nintendo’s credits run from Miyamoto as senior producer and Iwata as executive producer to graphic and illustration supervisors and Koji Kondo and Taro Bando supervising the sound.

The voice cast mixes Nintendo regulars, with Charles Martinet as Mario, Luigi, Wario and Waluigi, with Sega’s English Sonic cast of the time, led by Jason Griffith as Sonic and Shadow and Mike Pollock as Eggman.

What did not make it

Not every idea survived. Sega designed swimsuits for Peach and Daisy for the aquatic events, and Nintendo rejected them, so the princesses swim in their athletics kit. The Wii version was reportedly planned with 34 events rather than the final 24; unused ones include the 800m, 400m Freestyle, Quadruple Sculls and Double Trap, along with Dream Football, Dream Hammer Throw and Dream Archery, while Dream Shooting, Dream Basketball and Dream Canoe (first called Dream Rowing) ended up on DS only.

The game data also holds character data that goes unused, among them Birdo (with an unfinished, inside-out nose), Donkey Kong, Silver, Jet, Rouge, Toad and Big. Whether they were ever meant to be playable is unknown, but Donkey Kong and Silver made the team for the Winter Games two years later.

What this game started:

There are no codes; everything opens up through play.

Unlocking the Wii Dream Events

Dream Race: win the Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn circuits. Dream Fencing: win the Comet Circuit. Dream Table Tennis: win the Satellite Circuit. Dream Platform: win the Cosmos Circuit.

Unlocking the circuits

Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn are open from the start. Moonlight opens when those four are won in one-player mode or after 20 Single Match events; Stardust, Planet and Comet also open after 30, 40 and 50 Single Match events if you have not won your way there. The Masters class opens once Sunlight is beaten.

Unlocking the DS events

Four opening circuits: 400m Hurdles, Triple Jump and Dream Table Tennis. Stardust: Dream Basketball. Planet: Dream Race. Comet: 10m Platform. Satellite: Dream Fencing. Sunlight: Dream Canoe. Meteorite: Dream Boxing. Cosmos: Dream Shooting. Dream Long Jump is open from the start.

Rocket starts

Hold B on “Ready” and swing the Remote down exactly on “Go” for a burst of speed. Too early is a false start and the event restarts.

Breathing in the pool

In the Wii 100m Freestyle, wait until the heart meter is nearly empty before pressing B: the refill is bigger and comes with a small speed boost. Let it run dry and your athlete treads water.

Emblems worth chasing

Score 120 in Archery, a perfect 10 on the Trampoline, win an épée bout 15–0 or a table-tennis game 11–0, set an Olympic record, play with friends, unlock every event, or simply start the same save file 50 times.

Crowns

Win gold in every event with one athlete for their crown; do it with all of them for the Complete Crown.

Unlock conditions are those of the Wii version unless marked DS.

Sega Europe’s trailer and a complete longplay.

• In Japan the game is called Mario & Sonic at Beijing Olympics, and the Korean title also names Beijing; the Western titles simply say the Olympic Games.

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  Former Sega localisation producer Ryoichi Hasegawa has said that Nintendo insisted Mario’s foot be placed a step ahead of Sonic’s on the cover art, and that Sega changed it.
• The Wii 100m is officiated by Toad, Shy Guy and Espio, yet it is Cream who referees the race in the opening film.
• The athletes do not all swim the same stroke in the 100m Freestyle: there is crawl, breaststroke and butterfly, but also a doggy paddle, underwater running and a crocodile paddle. Luigi is the only crawl swimmer who turns his head to the left to breathe.

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  Unused data includes Birdo, Donkey Kong, Silver, Jet and Rouge, as well as officials and enemies such as Toad, Lakitu and Big. When forced into play, some of these models work, some stand in a T-pose instead of getting ready for the 100m, and some modes freeze the game.

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  Silver is among those unused athletes; he and Donkey Kong became playable in the Winter Games.
• Dream Canoe, a DS exclusive, was first called Dream Rowing and was once planned for the Wii too.

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  Wario’s special attacks in both Dream Table Tennis and DS Dream Boxing involve breaking wind; in table tennis the whole stadium shakes.
• Dr. Eggman’s DS missions include one that asks you to yell into the microphone.
• Nintendo’s UK site describes the Skill type as “Technical”, with Peach and Tails as its examples.
• Mario and Sonic’s classic tunes in the music gallery fade out and restart instead of looping.

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  Mario and Luigi’s artwork in the game’s art set is borrowed from Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix, and Bowser’s from Super Mario 64 DS.
• The narration is credited to two voices: Christopher Pelligrini in-game and Virginia Sorrells on the menus.

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  Sega ran a separate print advert for the DS version in North America.
• The DS version’s fencing event had a different on-screen display in pre-release screenshots.
• Mario had already been to an Olympics of sorts: the “Intergalactical Olympics” in a German Club Nintendo comic.

Sega’s boxes for the West and Nintendo’s for Japan and Korea, Wii first. The German DS game was later reissued with a new cover.

More from the opening film and the DS Gallery.

Official artwork, logos, renders, emblems and adverts.

The first Mario & Sonic game, and the start of a run of Olympic crossovers.

Release history

• Announcement 28 March 2007Joint Sega and Nintendo announcement in Tokyo.
• Games Convention 2007Playable in Leipzig; named Best of Wii.
• Wii (N. America) 6 November 2007Published by Sega.
• Wii (Japan, Australia) 22 November 2007Nintendo publishes in Japan.
• Wii (Europe) 23 November 2007Published by Sega.
• DS (Japan, Taiwan) 17 January 2008The DS version arrives in Japan first.
• DS (N. America) 22 January 2008
• DS (Australia, Europe) 7 and 8 February 2008
• Five million sold 5 March 2008Sega’s worldwide announcement.
• Wii (South Korea) 29 May 2008Published by Nintendo.
• DS (South Korea) 26 June 2008
• Wii (Taiwan) 12 July 2008
• Sequel October 2009Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games.
• Ten million October 2011Nintendo puts Wii and DS sales in Europe and North America at more than ten million.
• Online closes 20 May 2014Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection ends, taking the leaderboards with it.

The series that followed

The pairing outlived the Beijing Games by years. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games went to Vancouver in 2009, adding Donkey Kong and Silver; London 2012 came to Wii in 2011 and 3DS in 2012, finally giving the princesses swimwear; and Sochi 2014 moved to Wii U. Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 followed, the series having settled into a new game every two years to match the real Olympics.

For Mario fans, its biggest legacy may be how ordinary it made the once-impossible. A few months after this game, Sonic was fighting alongside Mario in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Sales

Sega reported success quickly. On 5 March 2008 it announced that the game had sold five million copies worldwide in just over three months, adding that NPD had it among the ten best-selling games in the US in December 2007 and that it had been the best-selling game in England across all formats that January. Sega Sammy’s results for the year to 31 March 2008 named it as one of the titles behind its strong software sales that year, though without a unit figure.

The best figure from Nintendo itself is a footnote to its 2011 Iwata Asks interview on the London 2012 game: the Wii and DS versions together had sold more than ten million copies in Europe and North America, as of October 2011. In Japan, where Nintendo published it, Edge’s chart of the country’s top sellers (as cited on Wikipedia) put the Wii version at 594,157 copies by 28 December 2008.

• 5mworldwide, Wii and DS, in just over three months (Sega, 5 March 2008)
• 10m+Europe and N. America, Wii and DS (Nintendo, as of October 2011)
• 594kWii in Japan by 28 Dec 2008 (Edge, via Wikipedia)

Reviews and scores

Mixed to positive. Metacritic gives the Wii version 67 from 36 reviews and the DS version 70 from 33. British magazines were the keenest.

The Wii game found its fans among those who played it with friends. Eurogamer’s Ellie Gibson thought it a genuinely funny and varied party game with real depth in places, held back by an unlock system that demands hours of solo play before everything opens up. GameSpy’s Sterling McGarvey rated it among the better Olympic games and liked being able to play without the Nunchuk, while noting that some events were rougher than Wii Sports.

The doubters focused on the controls. GameSpot’s Aaron Thomas found the motion controls dull and occasionally frustrating, and too many events too alike. The DS game split opinion further: IGN’s Craig Harris called it a strong competitive game, better with friends than alone, but felt it copied the Wii version and handled its online features badly, while Eurogamer found it polished but forgettable and always a step behind its Wii sibling.

Honours

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games has yet to receive a community review on Super Luigi Bros.

If you’ve played Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games and would like to submit a review, please get in touch.

Every fact on this page was checked against the 36 sources listed here.