Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (Wii)

The Olympic Games came to London in the summer of 2012, and Mario and Sonic got there first. Announced jointly by SEGA and Nintendo on 21 April 2011, this third Mario & Sonic game arrived on Wii eight months before the opening ceremony; as Satoru Iwata put it to the developers, a winter of play would build excitement for the summer. It is a licensed Olympic game, made under a deal with International Sports Multimedia, the IOC’s video game licensee, and the Olympic side supervised how its stadiums and designs looked.

What you get is a big box of sports. Twenty-one real Olympic events, spread across 13 sports, are played mostly with the Wii Remote alone, with the Nunchuk joining in for some. Football, Show Jumping and Canoe Sprint are new to the series, and returning favourites such as the 100m, the swimming and table tennis were reworked. Beside them sit ten Dream Events – Nintendo and SEGA fantasy sports set in places like Battlerock Galaxy, Moo Moo Meadows and Grand Metropolis – plus London Party, a four-player romp around a toy-sized London where the aim is to fill a sticker book first.

The roster is the one Wii owners met in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games: ten from the Mushroom Kingdom, ten from Sonic’s world, each graded for Speed, Power, Skill and Stamina, with a Mii as the twenty-first competitor. A crowd of guests fills the edges, from rivals such as Dry Bowser, King Boo, Rouge and Eggman Nega to referees like Lakitu, Toad, Cream and Espio.

Critics were lukewarm (66 on Metacritic) but buyers were not: SEGA said 2.4 million copies had sold in the United States and Europe by the end of 2011, and that the Wii and 3DS versions together reached 3.28 million by the end of March 2012. If you want a story mode, that is on the handheld: see the Nintendo 3DS version, which has a different set of events and its own plot about a fog machine.

“It’s like an Olympic Games version of Mario Party.”

Satoru Iwata, Iwata Asks: Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, part 4

Iwata was summing up what Japanese players liked about the game; Ohashi added that players in Europe mostly wanted more real Olympic events.

The questions people ask most about the Wii version of Mario & Sonic at London 2012, answered quickly.

There is no plot on Wii: you pick an event, choose a venue-ready athlete and go for gold. The Olympic events are set in the London 2012 venues – the Olympic Stadium, the Aquatics Centre, the Velodrome, Eton Dorney, Greenwich Park, Horse Guards Parade, ExCeL and the Royal Artillery Barracks – with football at the Millennium Stadium. The Olympic side supervised the stadiums and designs, so Ohashi wanted the game to feel like part of the celebration.

Every event holds up to four players at once. Twenty-one events follow real Olympic rules (stretched for fun), ten Dream Events throw the rulebook away in Mario and Sonic locations, and London Party ties them together with minigames on the streets of the city.

Athletics at the Olympic Stadium

Seven events fill the stadium. The 100m, 110m Hurdles and 4x100m Relay are races against the clock (in the relay, teams of four); Long Jump is a run-up and a leap; and the Hammer, Discus and Javelin are about getting distance from a good release. Nintendo’s Watanabe set an 8.5-second 100m during development and challenged players to beat it.

Gymnastics and Aquatics

Uneven Bars and Trampoline are judged at the North Greenwich Arena and Rhythmic Ribbon at the London Sports Arena: each is scored on the routine, not the clock. Yamane, Nintendo’s project manager, recalled that when he first proposed ribbon work, it was thought too difficult to turn into a video game. In the Aquatics Centre, the 100m Freestyle is a straight race and Synchronised Swimming is the famous team routine.

Swimming caused the longest arguments of the whole project. Sonic is not supposed to be able to swim, and his supervisor at SEGA at first ruled swimming out altogether; Ohashi dropped his own idea of a kickboard because it would not look cool, and the compromise was a life jacket, so Sonic paddles along with his head held high. This time the female athletes – Peach and Daisy, Amy and Blaze – also got proper swimwear, designed by Nintendo’s supervisors.

New arrivals: Football, Show Jumping and Canoe Sprint

Football is five-a-side with one goalkeeper per team. Show Jumping, in Greenwich Park, is an obstacle course on horseback against the clock, and Canoe Sprint 1000m at Eton Dorney puts two paddlers in each boat. Horses suited the European audience: in Iwata Asks the team noted how much European players love equestrian events, and Watanabe’s request for faster horses was refused because show jumping rewards accuracy, not speed. Heavyweights caused problems here too, so Bowser’s and Donkey Kong’s horses were given thicker legs and necks.

Badminton Doubles, at the London Sports Arena, is pairs against pairs and one of the few events where the team decided big swings felt right.

Volleyball, table tennis, shooting, fencing and cycling

Beach Volleyball is pairs on the sand at Horse Guards Parade. Table Tennis Singles and Fencing (Épée) share ExCeL London: one is a rally for points, the other a race to land a set number of hits before time runs out. The Pistol event at the Royal Artillery Barracks is six rounds at targets 25 metres away. In the Velodrome, Team Pursuit sends teams of four after the other team’s time; short-legged athletes struggled to reach the pedals, so the designers built special bicycles for them.

Dream Events, part one: clouds, rapids and rings

The Dream Events were the hardest part to invent. Nintendo kept sending SEGA’s ideas back as too close to normal sport, so Ohashi’s team brainstormed on the bullet train between Tokyo and Kyoto. Dream Long Jump bounces you across clouds in Yoshi’s Picture Book from Yoshi’s Story, with Dry Bowser as the rival. Dream Rafting puts a team of four on a raft down Cheep Cheep River from New Super Mario Bros. Wii, completing missions, with Gooper Blooper as the final obstacle. Dream Discus has you riding the discus through Windy Valley (Sonic Adventure) collecting rings, and Dream Uneven Bars swings you from bar to bar over Grand Metropolis (Sonic Heroes).

Dream Events, part two: wagons, air balls and outer space

Ohashi’s team thought up Dream Hurdles on the Shinkansen about a quarter of an hour before Kyoto: four runners race around a spinning disc in Battlerock Galaxy, jumping hurdles and each other. Watanabe championed Dream Equestrian, in which four athletes steer horses pulling a cart of Yoshi eggs across Moo Moo Meadows; tip it and the eggs break, reach the goal and Yoshi hatches. Dream Sprint rolls everyone inside air balls along Bingo Highway, an idea Kasahara traced to SEGA’s Super Monkey Ball. Dream Trampoline pairs off jumpers above Crazy Gadget from Sonic Adventure 2.

Dream Spacewalk grew out of the synchronised swimming: four players fly through a Super Mario Galaxy 2 planetoid (Sky Station Galaxy, renamed Synchro Battle Galaxy), charge their gauges at four rings and then slam into Dino Piranha before the rival team does. It was finished just two or three weeks before the master disc. Finally, Dream Fencing is a last-one-standing scrap for four on a stage at Ocean Palace from Sonic Heroes.

London Party: the city as a board

Kasahara designed London Party specially for this game: a family mode set on the streets of the host city, with quizzes, tag and coin collecting between the sport. The sticker sheets celebrate the city too, with stickers for Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, the Tate Modern, the British Museum, Hyde Park and the Elizabeth Tower, and the 15 minigames range from Follow the Flighty Lakitu and Collect Shy Guy’s Coins to a pipe-based 2-on-2 game of tag and four rapid-fire quizzes about heroes, heroines, athletes and supporting characters.

The rivals live here. Beat Rouge in the 110m Hurdles, Dry Bowser in Dream Long Jump, Jet in Dream Discus, King Boo in Dream Sprint, and Omega, Birdo, Dry Bones and Eggman Nega in their events (with rematches later on) and you earn their oversized stickers.

Every event in Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (Wii)

All 31 events with their venue as named in the game; London Party rivals are noted against their events.

1. 
   100mAthletics · Olympic Stadium · rival: OmegaPure speed down the straight, and this time special moves are allowed.
2. 
   110m HurdlesAthletics · Olympic Stadium · rival: RougeA sprint over hurdles against the clock.
3. 
   4x100m RelayAthletics · Olympic Stadium · Omega rematchTeams of four and the all-important baton change.
4. 
   Long JumpAthletics · Olympic StadiumA run-up and a leap; the longest jump wins.
5. 
   Hammer ThrowAthletics · Olympic StadiumThrow the hammer as far as you can.
6. 
   Discus ThrowAthletics · Olympic StadiumStay inside the circle and launch the discus as far as you can.
7. 
   Javelin ThrowAthletics · Olympic StadiumA running start, then a throw for distance.
8. 
   Uneven BarsGymnastics · North Greenwich ArenaA judged routine between the high and low bars.
9. 
   TrampolineGymnastics · North Greenwich ArenaMid-air tricks scored by the judges.
10. 
    Rhythmic RibbonGymnastics · London Sports ArenaPoints for a flowing routine with the ribbon.
11. 
    100m FreestyleAquatics · Aquatics Centre · rival: BirdoTwo lengths of the pool, flat out; Sonic swims in a life jacket.
12. 
    Synchronised SwimmingAquatics · Aquatics CentreTeams of four copy the routine together in front of the TV.
13. 
    Canoe Sprint 1000mCanoeing · Eton Dorney · new to the seriesTwo to a boat, racing for the fastest time.
14. 
    Show JumpingEquestrian · Greenwich Park · new to the seriesA timed round of fences on horseback.
15. 
    Badminton DoublesBadminton · London Sports Arena · Birdo and Blue Birdo rematchPairs rallies, and an event where swinging the remote makes sense.
16. 
    Beach VolleyballBeach volleyball · Horse Guards ParadeTwo against two on the sand at Horse Guards Parade.
17. 
    Table Tennis SinglesTable tennis · ExCeL London · rival: Dry BonesQuick-fire rallies across the table.
18. 
    FootballFootball · Millennium Stadium · new to the seriesFive-a-side, one of them in goal; most goals wins.
19. 
    Shooting – PistolShooting · Royal Artillery BarracksSix rounds at targets 25 metres away; best total wins.
20. 
    Fencing – ÉpéeFencing · ExCeL London · rival: Eggman NegaLand the set number of hits before time runs out.
21. 
    Track Cycling – Team PursuitTrack cycling · VelodromeTeams of four chase the biggest margin over their opponents.
22. 
    Dream Long JumpDream Event · Yoshi’s Picture Book (Yoshi’s Story) · rival: Dry BowserBounce from cloud to cloud; the furthest traveller wins.
23. 
    Dream RaftingDream Event · Cheep Cheep River (New Super Mario Bros. Wii)Teams of four complete missions on the way downriver.
24. 
    Dream DiscusDream Event · Windy Valley (Sonic Adventure) · rival: JetRide the discus and collect rings for points.
25. 
    Dream Uneven BarsDream Event · Grand Metropolis (Sonic Heroes)Swing and leap between bars for points.
26. 
    Dream HurdlesDream Event · Battlerock Galaxy (Super Mario Galaxy) · Dry Bones rematchA spinning disc of a track where you can jump on rivals.
27. 
    Dream EquestrianDream Event · Moo Moo Meadows (Mario Kart Wii)Teams drive a wagon of Yoshi eggs to the finish without breaking them.
28. 
    Dream SprintDream Event · Bingo Highway (Sonic Heroes) · rival: King BooRoll an air ball to the line in the fastest time.
29. 
    Dream TrampolineDream Event · Crazy Gadget (Sonic Adventure 2)Two jumpers share each round, scoring for aerial routines.
30. 
    Dream SpacewalkDream Event · Synchro Battle Galaxy (Super Mario Galaxy 2)Four players team up to beat Dino Piranha faster than the rival team.
31. 
    Dream FencingDream Event · Ocean Palace (Sonic Heroes) · Eggman Nega rematchFour fencers on one stage until only one is left.

The 3DS version swaps in its own set of more than 50 events, including Judo, BMX, Weightlifting and the 20km Race Walk. See Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (Nintendo 3DS).

Every event is a short burst for up to four players on one screen. Nintendo insisted on that during development – no split screen, which Nintendo felt would weaken the sense of everyone playing together – and on rules that stretch, rather than throw away, the real Olympic ones. Pick an athlete or your Mii, pick an event and go.

Wii Remote, Nunchuk and why the controls keep changing

Most events need only the Wii Remote; a handful add the Nunchuk, and the game is compatible with the Wii Remote Plus without requiring it. It does not use the Wii Balance Board.

The team set out to make the controls differ as much as possible from one event to the next. Players of the first game had complained that running meant swinging their arms until they ached, so swinging motions were kept for events that genuinely need them, such as Badminton, and other events were given other inputs. Synchronised Swimming changed most: instead of timing swings to on-screen markers, up to four players copy the routine together in front of the television, arms in the air. In the sprints, characters can now use special moves; for example, Mario’s Special Dash is his Super Mario Galaxy spin and Peach’s is her floating jump.

Character types and the four stats

Each athlete belongs to one of four types – All-Around, Speed, Power or Skill – and is scored out of 100 for Speed, Power, Skill and Stamina, the same four ratings the series has used since the first game. Sonic tops the Speed chart on 100, Donkey Kong the Power chart, and Waluigi, of all people, is the only perfect 100 for Skill. Wario’s Stamina is also a full 100.

The ten-and-ten split is deliberate. Director Eigo Kasahara, a self-confessed Mario fan, said the team never budged from a fifty-fifty rule: five Mario characters in any group meant five from Sonic’s side, however obscure the SEGA picks might be to Nintendo players.

Single matches, records and the World Rankings

Outside London Party, events are played one at a time (the game’s Single Match and Single Event options), alone against the computer or with friends, and your best scores are kept in the Records menu. A challenge mode lets you replay challenges you have completed in individual events. While Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection was running, your best times and scores could go on online World Rankings against players around the globe; the service closed on 20 May 2014.

Nintendo Life’s reviewer missed the older structure: the Circuit and Festival modes of the earlier games, which strung events into competitions, gave way to single matches here.

Scratch Cards, Blank Cards and Mii suits

Doing well everywhere earns cards. A Scratch Card wins you a random goodie; Blank Cards are a currency, and ten of them buy most costumes outright. The prizes are 53 Mii suits – 26 from the Mario series, 26 from Sonic’s and one of Wenlock, the real London 2012 mascot – and 36 music tracks, 18 Mario and 18 Sonic, that you can play in the bonus menus. Some suits are only earned by long-term effort, such as finishing first 50 times in Single Match for Super Sonic.

London Party rules

London Party is the Wii game’s centrepiece. Four players roam a miniature London, and the clock is always running: whenever Big Ben strikes six, morning or evening, the day moves on and an event kicks off. Stickers come from winning Olympic and Dream events that characters challenge you to, from missions and minigames handed out by people on the streets, from beating rivals and from bonus balloons. You choose the length before you start – first to 16 stickers (about 30 minutes), 32 (about an hour) or 48 (about 90 minutes).

Items you find on the streets can stun other players, speed you up or shield you, and some can swap sticker books or tamper with stickers. Rival stickers are bigger than the rest and fill four spaces at once.

London Party ? Effects

Some squares on the London Party sticker sheet carry a question mark. Cover one and a random effect plays out; the marks change colour from blue through green and yellow to red as the game goes on, and the later colours bring bigger rewards and harsher punishments. These are the seven effects.

• 
  Bonus Stickers!A free Chao sticker, and later in the game sometimes two.
• ? Change!A Dark Chao adds a question-mark square to the sheet or takes one away.
• Sticker Copied!Orbot and Cubot copy one of your stickers into a random space of their choosing.
• Sticker Lost! (Chain Chomp)A Chain Chomp bites a sticker off a random opponent; later on it takes four.
• Sticker Lost! (Kamek)Kamek strips one or two whole rows from your own sheet.
• 
  Page Trade!A Boo swaps your page with a random opponent’s.
• 
  Sticker Gift!Omochao hands one of your opponents a sticker.

Where London 2012 on Wii reached beyond the disc: the blue Wii bundle, the official mascot, its sister game and the later games that borrowed from it.

The blue Wii bundleEurope · 18 November 2011Nintendo of Europe launched the game alongside a blue Wii Family Edition: a blue console, a matching Wii Remote Plus and Nunchuk, the game and a sheet of character stickers. Nintendo noted that the new Wii model could not play GameCube software.

Wenlock in a Mii suitOfficial mascot · unlockable costumeWenlock, one of the two official mascots of London 2012, is the only Mii suit from outside the Mario and Sonic worlds. It costs ten Blank Cards.

The Nintendo 3DS versionFebruary 2012Announced in the same press release, the handheld game has over 50 events, a story mode and different controls. It is a separate game, not a port.

Iwata AsksNintendo · five-part interviewSatoru Iwata interviewed SEGA’s Osamu Ohashi and Eigo Kasahara and Nintendo’s Yamane and Watanabe about the game: the main source for how it was made.

Callbacks to Mario gamesIn the Dream EventsDream Long Jump echoes Shy Guy’s Ship from Yoshi’s Story and plays Yoshi’s Song; Dream Rafting borrows World 4 of New Super Mario Bros. Wii; Dream Spacewalk mixes planets from Super Mario Galaxy and its sequel; and Dream Fencing resembles Smash Skate from Mario Sports Mix.

Echoes in later games2019–2025The victory jingle returns in the demo of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, Peach’s Special Dash in Mario Golf: Super Rush borrows Rhythmic Ribbon moves, and Mario Kart World’s Coast Theme arrangement ends the same way as this game’s.

Twenty athletes, ten from each side, plus your Mii. The line-up is exactly the one from the Wii version of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games; no new athletes were added. Stats are out of 100. Artwork shows each athlete in an event from this game.

Character	Who they are	In this game	Abilities & notes
MarioTeam Mario · All-Around	Nintendo’s hero, here as captain of the Mushroom Kingdom squad.	The benchmark: 70 across the board. His Special Dash in the sprints is the spin from Super Mario Galaxy, and his artwork has him with javelin and medals.	Speed 70 Power 70 Skill 70 Stamina 70
LuigiTeam Mario · All-Around	Mario’s younger brother.	A shade quicker and more skilful than Mario, a shade weaker. His artwork is for the 4x100m Relay, and he stars in the Show Jumping screenshots.	Speed 75 Power 65 Skill 72 Stamina 70
PeachTeam Mario · Skill	Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom.	One of the four athletes in new swimwear, and the face of Rhythmic Ribbon. Her Special Dash is the floating jump from Super Mario Bros. 2.	Speed 63 Power 40 Skill 95 Stamina 78
DaisyTeam Mario · Speed	Princess of Sarasaland.	The fastest Mario athlete. Her artwork is for Beach Volleyball, and she joins Peach, Amy and Blaze in the synchronised swimming team.	Speed 85 Power 55 Skill 60 Stamina 65
YoshiTeam Mario · Speed	Mario’s dinosaur friend.	A Speed type shown clearing the 110m Hurdles. Like Bowser, he was judged unsuitable for swimming trunks during development.	Speed 80 Power 62 Skill 50 Stamina 58
WarioTeam Mario · Power	Mario’s greedy rival.	Power type with the only perfect Stamina score in the game. His artwork is for the 100m Freestyle.	Speed 62 Power 85 Skill 55 Stamina 100
WaluigiTeam Mario · Skill	Wario’s lanky partner.	A perfect 100 for Skill. He takes aim in the Shooting artwork, and in the sprints he swims through the air, a move from Mario Tennis: Power Tour.	Speed 55 Power 55 Skill 100 Stamina 70
BowserTeam Mario · Power	King of the Koopas.	Second only to Donkey Kong for Power. This is the first Mario & Sonic game with Kenny James as his voice. His horse in Show Jumping was beefed up to carry him.	Speed 70 Power 95 Skill 45 Stamina 90
Bowser Jr.Team Mario · All-Around	Bowser’s son.	An All-Around type with a strong 80 for Power. His artwork is for Trampoline.	Speed 72 Power 80 Skill 60 Stamina 65
Donkey KongTeam Mario · Power	The king of Kongo Bongo’s jungle.	The strongest athlete in the game (Power 100) and the least skilful (37). Shown in the Hammer Throw; his Show Jumping horse got thicker legs too.	Speed 75 Power 100 Skill 37 Stamina 85
SonicTeam Sonic · Speed	SEGA’s blue hedgehog.	The only perfect 100 for Speed. He cannot swim, so in the pool he wears a life jacket. His artwork has him with a football and medals.	Speed 100 Power 60 Skill 50 Stamina 50
TailsTeam Sonic · Skill	Sonic’s two-tailed fox sidekick.	A Skill type pictured at Table Tennis, and the bronze medallist on the Uneven Bars in the opening movie.	Speed 65 Power 40 Skill 95 Stamina 70
KnucklesTeam Sonic · Power	Guardian of the Master Emerald.	A Power type, shown at Football.	Speed 68 Power 88 Skill 45 Stamina 85
AmyTeam Sonic · All-Around	Sonic’s self-appointed sweetheart.	All-Around, and one of the four athletes in swimwear. Her artwork shows her on horseback for Show Jumping.	Speed 75 Power 60 Skill 75 Stamina 65
BlazeTeam Sonic · All-Around	A princess from another dimension.	An All-Around type and the fourth member of the synchronised swimming team.	Speed 78 Power 50 Skill 70 Stamina 70
ShadowTeam Sonic · Speed	The Ultimate Life Form.	Joint second for Speed with Metal Sonic, behind only Sonic; his artwork is for the 100m.	Speed 95 Power 50 Skill 55 Stamina 50
SilverTeam Sonic · Skill	A psychic hedgehog from the future.	A Skill type, pictured on the Uneven Bars.	Speed 60 Power 55 Skill 85 Stamina 75
VectorTeam Sonic · Power	Leader of the Chaotix detective agency.	Team Sonic’s heavy hitter (Power 90), shown paddling in the Canoe Sprint.	Speed 75 Power 90 Skill 45 Stamina 90
Dr. EggmanTeam Sonic · Skill	Sonic’s arch-enemy.	A Skill type rated 99, competing for Sonic’s side. His artwork is for the Long Jump.	Speed 60 Power 60 Skill 99 Stamina 62
Metal SonicTeam Sonic · Speed	Eggman’s robot double of Sonic.	A Speed type, level with Shadow on 95. His artwork is for the Discus Throw.	Speed 95 Power 50 Skill 40 Stamina 70
MiiYour own athlete	Any Mii from the console’s Mii Channel.	The twenty-first competitor. Miis can wear any of the 53 unlockable suits, from Mario to Wenlock.	No type or stats are listed for Miis.

Rivals, referees and guests

Nobody here is playable. The rivals appear in London Party, each tied to particular events, and award an oversized sticker when beaten; the referees and helpers run events and minigames.

• 
  RougeRival · 110m HurdlesThe jewel-thief bat from the Sonic series.
• 
  Dry BowserRival · Dream Long JumpBowser’s skeletal form, waiting in the clouds.
• 
  JetRival · Dream DiscusThe Babylon Rogues’ hawk, at home in the air.
• 
  King BooRival · Dream SprintThe Boo monarch, racing an air ball on Bingo Highway.
• 
  OmegaRival · 100m; rematch in the 4x100m RelayE-123 Omega, Eggman’s hulking battle robot gone rogue.
• 
  BirdoRival · 100m Freestyle; rematch in Badminton DoublesTeams up with Blue Birdo for the badminton rematch.
• Blue BirdoRival · Badminton Doubles rematchBirdo’s partner for the doubles rematch.
• 
  Dry BonesRival · Table Tennis Singles; rematch in Dream HurdlesA skeletal Koopa with a decent backhand.
• 
  Eggman NegaRival · Fencing; rematch in Dream FencingEggman’s descendant from the future, blade in hand.
• 
  Dino PiranhaDream SpacewalkThe Super Mario Galaxy boss that four players team up to topple.
• Gooper BlooperDream RaftingThe Super Mario Sunshine squid waiting at the end of the river.
• 
  ToadRefereeOne of the officials running events.
• 
  CreamRefereeThe polite rabbit from the Sonic series, with Cheese the Chao.
• 
  LakituReferee · London PartyAlso the target of Follow the Flighty Lakitu, and the diamond thief in Protect the Diamonds.
• 
  Shy GuyReferee · London PartyOfficiates, and hands out coins in Collect Shy Guy’s Coins.
• 
  CharmyRefereeThe Chaotix’s hyperactive bee.
• 
  EspioRefereeThe Chaotix’s ninja chameleon.
• 
  OmochaoGuideThe chatty Chao robot; it explains quiz answers and gives stickers away as a ? Effect.
• Orbot & CubotLondon Party ? EffectEggman’s robot assistants, who copy stickers.
• Kamek, Chain Chomp, Boo and Dark ChaoLondon Party ? EffectsMischief-makers who remove, swap or shuffle stickers.

Key staff

From the game’s credits and the Iwata Asks interview.

The best record of how London 2012 was made is Nintendo’s five-part Iwata Asks, in which Satoru Iwata talks to SEGA’s chief producer Osamu Ohashi and director Eigo Kasahara and Nintendo’s Yamane and Watanabe. Everything below is drawn from it unless another source is named.

London calling

SEGA and Nintendo announced the game together on 21 April 2011, for Wii and, for the first time in the series, Nintendo 3DS. The press release put the series’ sales at over 19 million and named the arrangement: SEGA in Japan was developing, SEGA would publish in Europe and North America and Nintendo in Japan, under a licence from International Sports Multimedia, the IOC’s exclusive interactive licensee. Football and equestrian were trailed as the big new sports from day one.

Iwata recalled that SEGA and Nintendo had long talked about putting Mario and Sonic together without finding a setting that suited both; the Olympic Games gave the two worlds common ground. Ohashi added that if anyone argued about how a character should run or move, the answer could be “it’s the Olympic Games”.

SEGA’s biggest Mario & Sonic

This was the largest Mario & Sonic production SEGA had attempted. The team began at about 100 people and grew to 130, then 150 and beyond at its peak, with character supervision at both companies, the Olympic licence and overseas negotiations among the reasons it kept growing. With 20 athletes each needing as many moves as an action-game hero, the animators made tens of thousands of motions. Ohashi was conscious that SEGA already held the licence and simply could not fail.

The credits show the wider effort: the outside studio Racjin had its own design, programming and art leads on the Wii version, MARZA Animation Planet produced CG, and Nintendo supplied graphic, illustration and sound supervisors including Koji Kondo.

Fifty-fifty, and the swimwear question

Kasahara admitted he personally prefers Mario, but the team kept to a strict half-and-half rule for the cast. The awkward part was clothes. For the first game SEGA had designed swimsuits for Peach and Daisy, Nintendo had turned them down, and after release players asked why everyone swam in sportswear. This time the female athletes got swimwear, designed by Nintendo’s supervisors – and, Watanabe noted, almost identical to SEGA’s rejected designs from four years before. Animal characters like Bowser and Yoshi were ruled out of swimming trunks, and Sonic’s side objected that he cannot take off his shoes.

Sonic himself was the hardest problem: he is not meant to swim at all. After Ohashi argued it out with Sonic’s supervisor, a life jacket was the compromise.

Making 31 events

Repeating the first game would have looked like a rut, Ohashi said, so the count went up: 21 Olympic events across 13 sports and ten Dream Events, against 20 Olympic events in eight sports and four Dream Events last time. Nintendo set firm rules – every event for four players on one screen, mostly competitive, rules that extend the real ones – and kept rejecting Dream Event pitches that felt too ordinary. The answer came on the Shinkansen: Ohashi’s team brainstormed on the two-hour-twenty journey from Tokyo to Kyoto and sorted the ideas in a Kyoto coffee shop.

Small details took real work. Bowser’s and Donkey Kong’s horses were drawn with thicker legs and necks (but perform the same), short-legged athletes got special bicycles for Team Pursuit, and the synchronised swimming was rebuilt around players moving together in the living room, an idea from Watanabe’s group that went down well when Kasahara demonstrated it to the people working on the project overseas. Dream Spacewalk was completed only two or three weeks before the master disc.

Japan wants a party, Europe wants the Olympics

Nintendo presented the game to its sales teams in Japan and SEGA did the same abroad, and the reactions differed. Japanese players liked the co-operative events and the party feel – Iwata called it an Olympic version of Mario Party – while players in the West saw a sports game, and Europe in particular asked for more real Olympic events and loved the horses. Iwata recalled that after nintendogs Japanese fans asked for cats and European fans for horses. London 2012 tries to please both: more Olympic events for the West, more Dream Events and London Party for everyone.

Release

The game reached North America on 15 November 2011, Australia on the 17th and Europe on the 18th, where Nintendo also launched the blue Wii bundle. Nintendo published it in Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan on 8 December 2011; South Africa followed in March 2012 and South Korea in June. Outside Japan and South Korea it came in a yellow case rather than the usual white. The 3DS game followed in February 2012.

What London 2012 on Wii brought to the Mario & Sonic series.

There are no cheat codes. What you unlock is costumes and music, and a few of the Mii suits demand serious dedication.

Scratch Cards and Blank Cards

34 of the 53 Mii suits – the main casts of both series plus Birdo, Dry Bowser, Dry Bones, Fire, Bee, Propeller and Penguin Mario, Rouge, Omega, Jet, Wave, Storm, Emerl and an Egg Pawn – can be won from a Scratch Card or bought for ten Blank Cards. Wenlock is bought with ten Blank Cards.

Play with a friend

Single Match against a friend unlocks Toad (5 matches), Ludwig (10) and Diddy Kong (20).

Keep playing

Single Match play counts unlock Wendy (10 plays), Iggy (50) and Morton (100); total Single Match play time unlocks Charmy (1 hour), Big (3 hours) and Chip (5 hours).

Keep winning

First place in Single Match earns Espio (10 wins) and Super Sonic (50 wins); 25 first places in Single Event mode earn Sonic the Werehog.

London Party extras

Correct answers in the London Party quizzes unlock Larry (10), Roy (50) and Lemmy (100); first places in London Party bonus games unlock Cream (10), Marine (50) and Tikal (100).

Music

36 tracks can be collected: 10 returning and 8 new Mario arrangements (including themes from Super Mario Bros. 3, Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and Super Mario Galaxy 2) and 9 returning and 9 new Sonic tracks, from Sonic & Knuckles to Sonic Colours.

Beat the developer

Nintendo’s Watanabe ran the 100m in 8.5 seconds during development and challenged players to beat it.

Short or long London Party

Choose 16 stickers for a game of about half an hour, 32 for an hour or 48 for an hour and a half. Rival stickers fill four spaces, so beating rivals is the fastest way to a full sheet.

SEGA Europe’s launch trailer, and a fan recording of every Wii event.

• Sonic cannot swim, so in the pool events he wears a life jacket and keeps his head above water. Ohashi thought of a kickboard but decided it would not look cool.

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  The female athletes’ swimwear was designed by Nintendo’s supervisors and, Watanabe said, came out almost the same as the designs SEGA had proposed four years earlier for the first game.
• An early idea gave every athlete swimwear, but the plan fell through partly because Sonic cannot take his shoes off.
• Bowser and Donkey Kong ride horses with thicker legs and necks than everyone else’s; the horses still perform identically.
• Short-legged characters could not reach the pedals in Team Pursuit, so they were given specially built bicycles.
• Dream Hurdles was dreamt up by Ohashi’s team on a bullet train, about 15 minutes before it reached Kyoto.
• Dream Sprint’s air balls started as Kasahara’s wish to put Mario in a capsule, inspired by SEGA’s Super Monkey Ball.
• Dream Spacewalk was finished just two or three weeks before the master disc was made.
• Wenlock, London 2012’s official mascot, is the only Mii suit from outside the two companies’ worlds.
• All seven Koopalings are Mii suits, in their New Super Mario Bros. Wii designs, and unlocked through quizzes and Single Match milestones.
• Peach’s Special Dash is her floating jump from Super Mario Bros. 2, and the pose resembles her float in Super Smash Bros. Melee.
• A London Party Heroine Quiz asks whether Peach has ever rescued Mario; Omochao explains that she did, with a magic parasol (Super Princess Peach).
• Dream Long Jump’s backdrop resembles Shy Guy’s Ship from Yoshi’s Story and its music is an arrangement of Yoshi’s Song.
• Dream Rafting ends with Gooper Blooper from Super Mario Sunshine, to an arrangement of that game’s boss music.
• Dream Fencing resembles Smash Skate from Mario Sports Mix.
• Iwata recalled that after nintendogs, Japanese fans asked for cats and European fans for horses, a sign of how much European players love equestrian events.

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  In the European bundle the Wii, the Wii Remote Plus and the Nunchuk were all blue, and the box added a sheet of character stickers.

The Wii game kept the same group artwork worldwide, with the logo translated for each market. Outside Japan and South Korea it shipped in a yellow case.

More from the Wii version, mostly from its opening movie.

Official artwork, logos, in-game models, Mii suits and stickers from the Wii version.

London 2012 on Wii was never re-released, but its events, roster and ideas carried straight into the next two games.

Release history

• Announcement 21 April 2011SEGA and Nintendo confirm the game for Wii and Nintendo 3DS.
• Wii (North America) 15 November 2011Published by SEGA.
• Wii (Australia) 17 November 2011Published by SEGA.
• Wii (Europe) 18 November 2011Published by SEGA; Nintendo’s blue Wii bundle launches the same day.
• Wii (Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan) 8 December 2011Published by Nintendo.
• Nintendo 3DS version February 2012Europe and Australia on 10 February, North America on 14 February, Japan on 1 March.
• Wii (South Africa) 15 March 2012A later release in South Africa.
• Wii (South Korea) 21 June 2012Published by Nintendo.
• Online closes 20 May 2014Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection shuts down, ending the World Rankings.

What came next

The series moved to Wii U for Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, released in Europe on 8 November 2013 and the first in the series published by Nintendo outside Japan and South Korea. It is usually described as the only game in the series without a handheld version and the first with online multiplayer.

Some of London 2012 lived on in later games: its victory theme is heard again in the demo of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, which also finally gave some of the male athletes swimwear.

Sales

SEGA’s own results tell the story. In its report for the nine months to 31 December 2011, as covered by Game Developer on 3 February 2012, SEGA Sammy said the Wii game had sold 2.4 million units in the United States and Europe in the six weeks between launch and the end of the year. By the end of the financial year in March 2012, with the 3DS version also out, SEGA put the two versions together at 3.28 million in the United States and Europe (reported by GameSpot and Engadget on 11 May 2012), making it the company’s best-selling game of the year.

For context, the April 2011 announcement put the whole series at over 19 million sold, and a footnote to Iwata Asks gave more than 10 million for the Wii and DS versions of the first game in Europe and North America, and more than 8 million for the Wii and DS versions of the Winter Games, also in Europe and North America, as of October 2011. No separate lifetime figure for the Wii version has been published by SEGA or Nintendo.

• 2.4mWii, US and Europe, to 31 Dec 2011
• 3.28mWii and 3DS together, to March 2012
• 19m+series total at the April 2011 announcement
• 66Metacritic (Wii)

Reviews

Critics found plenty to do and too little of it memorable. Scores from the outlets named; Metacritic and GameRankings averages as listed by Wikipedia.

The praise went to the variety and to the multiplayer moments. Nintendo Life singled out Dream Hurdles as gloriously chaotic with four players and rated Shooting as one of the more skilful events.

The complaints were about depth. Nintendo Life called London Party “a pseudo-Mario Party with none of that game’s order or planning” and found the team sports slow; Official Nintendo Magazine saw the game as a sideways step for the series rather than a leap; Eurogamer thought several modes undercooked but expected younger children to love it over Christmas; and GameSpot felt it played safe and leaned on its mascots.

Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (Wii) has yet to receive a community review on Super Luigi Bros.

If you’ve played Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (Wii) and would like to submit a review, please get in touch.

Every fact on this page was checked against the 21 sources listed here.