Back in 2004 during the last Summer Olympic Games, I thought of an idea for a Mario game: Mario and other Mario characters playing Olympic events. I was going to even make a Drawing Board submission for it, before I came to the realization that it would be too ridiculous. Sure, I could see Mario and others running or swimming, but there were some events I could never see these characters doing. Mario shooting a gun? Luigi swinging a sword? Peach shooting a bow? No, these things would never be allowed in a Mario game. So I abandoned the idea, as I knew it would never happen.
And then it did. What’s more, is that it went beyond just Mario and company playing events I could never imagine. Sonic the Hedgehog was about to appear in a Mario game, and a Mario game would be made by Sega for the first time. If you really think about it, it’s quite unbelievable that this game exists. In fact, ten years ago, such an idea for a video game would be so ridiculous that you’d be laughed at for bringing it up. Yet here it is. The question is, was it all worth the effort? After all, Olympic video games have a history of being mediocre at best, terrible at worst.
This Review is based on a 0-4 star scale, with 4 of course being much better than 0. This is also based on the Wii version, not the DS version.
Graphics: **½
This game’s graphics are about on par for the Wii. They are about the same quality you’d get on the original Xbox, which means they’re good, but certainly nothing like the Xbox 360’s graphics. Everything looks crisp and clean, but nothing’s going to blow you away. Plus you have the ugly-looking octagonal barrels of the guns used in the shooting games, when of course they should be round. Still, I don’t think anyone’s going to complain much about the graphics.
Sound: ***½
The music in this game is excellent. All of it seems to fit right in with whatever’s going on, whether it’s a replay of an event or the ceremonies. Even the main menu music is great. (The only way it could have been better is if they could have got John Williams’s Olympic compositions.) The voices, meanwhile, are good for the most part. I’m still going to complain about Daisy’s voice, which is absolutely horrible. Bowser’s roars are not that great, either. Sound effects are fine. On the whole, you’ve got great sound for this game.
Characters: ***½
The game has 8 playable Mario characters and 8 playable Sonic characters, not to mention the minor characters from the games that you’ll see as officials or in the stands (Toads, Shy Guys, bees from Sonic games, etc). The fact that there are only 8 Mario characters is a good and bad thing. I of course would want more Mario characters, specifically Donkey Kong and Toad, and perhaps Koopa Troopa. But of course I know that the ever-hated Bowser Jr. would have been one of the characters, and the sight of that loser always infuriates me. As for Sonic characters, I don’t know some of them, but they seem to all have personalities, and they all fit in quite well. I noticed that Amy and Shadow’s personalities mirror those of Naruto characters Sakura and Sasuke, respectively (the two characters from that show I hate the most).
Oh, and by the way, the characters are all given different stats, which make them better at some events than others. Not only that, they also have different swimming styles, adding more to the variety of the game. That’s the way it should be, and that’s fortunately the way Sega decided it would be.
Difficulty: *
This game, unlike pretty much every other Olympic game I’ve ever played, is actually quite easy to master. In order to speed up running, you drum the Wii remote and Nunchuck up and down, which is quite easy to do and makes many of the track and field events cinches. Many of the world records are incredibly easy to break, especially in the track events. In fact, pretty much all the track events as well as the trampoline are events on which you should win gold every single time.
There are difficult events, none more so than the table tennis event, mainly due to its confusing controls. But the easy ones outweigh the hard ones, which is why I consider this to be an easy game.
Controls: ***½
Olympic games in the past have included the incredibly terrible button-mashing scheme, which only led to ruined controllers. This game, however, uses the Wii remote and nunchuck in ways that not only make the game enjoyable, but even make you feel like you are competing in the events. For example, the rowing event requires endurance, and you will really feel like you’ve rowed all that distance after going through that event. The archery event simulates the motion of firing an arrow, which I thought was a brilliant idea. And the running and swimming events definitely had me huffing and puffing after playing them. The controls are really great, both realistic and easy to use, for the most part. I say for the most part because of the annoying table tennis controls, as that game often will have your character swing the paddle the opposite way that you wanted to swing it. It can be extremely frustrating when your character doesn’t do what you want him or her to do… but this is only one isolated example, while the rest of the game includes great controls.
Gameplay: ****
It’s unbelievable how good the gameplay is in this game. In the past, Olympic video games have been criticized over and over for their boring gameplay, but thanks to the Wii’s controls, they’ve been made fun, enjoyable, and realistic. Some events are better than others, but the overall gameplay is just fantastic. I will grade each game below, but the lower scores are simply to rank the games differently from each other, as nearly all of them are excellent.
Athletics:
100-Meter Dash: ****
110-Meter Hurdles: ****
400-Meter Dash: ***
400-Meter Hurdles: ***
4 x 100 Meter Relay: ***½
Long Jump: ***
High Jump: **
Pole Vault: ***
Hammer Throw: **
Javelin Throw: ***½
Triple Jump: ***
Swimming:
100-Meter Freestyle: ***½
4 x 100-Meter Freestyle: ****
Archery: ****
Shooting: ****
Trampoline: **
Vault: *
Table Tennis: **
Rowing: ***
Fencing: ***½
Dream Events:
Dream Race: *½
Dream Platform: ***
Dream Fencing: ***½
Dream Table Tennis: ***½
Replayability: ***½
There is a lot of replayability to this one, mainly because there are so many characters to collect medals with. And of course there’s multiplayer play, and it is always even more fun to go head-to-head in some of the more grueling competitions, such as swimming or rowing. The only thing I take off for is the fact that it does get a little repetitive if you want to collect gold medals with all characters, as a lot of the events are the same no matter which character you use, although there are slight differences in the characters’ skill level.
Fun Factor!: ****
It’s a very fun game, especially because of the way you actually feel like you are playing the events. It’s nice getting a game that actually pushes you to use your arm muscles and exercise a little bit as you try to win. These things make the game a whole lot more fun than simple button-mashing, and the wide variety of events along with different controls for different events makes this one very enjoyable to play.
OVERALL: ****
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games really was the perfect storm for me: Mario, and a lot of Mario characters, added to the Olympics, and a lot of Olympic events. The game tried keeping most of the events as true to real life as possible, which I thought was great. Of course, I’m all for a Mario game that plays Olympic events Mario-style, but this one captured the Olympics perfectly. This one is certainly one of the best, if not the best, Mario sports games of all time. Any Mario fan should enjoy this one, and sports fans should definitely get this one. This is why the Wii was made, for games like this.
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