The first game that Mario and Sonic were both involved in is a decent collection of sporting mini games.
The game features a fairly large amount of motion controlled sporting mini games, however a lot play the same so the game is not as varied as it sounds. There are a total of 16 characters to chose from who are; Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Blaze, Shadow, Eggman, Mario, Luigi, Wario, Walugi, Yoshi, Bowser, Peach and Daisy. They are divided into four types. Speed, skill, power and all around. Each have different stats so obviously, some characters will be considerably better than others at certain events. The games are grouped into sports types - I'll go over the events in the way that they are grouped. Some of which have to be unlocked - but I'll be covering the unlockable events too, so potential spoilers warning for some users.
Track Athletics.
The one hundred metre sprint is a short track which requires you to alternate the wii-mote and nunchuck up and down as quickly as you can to try and cross the line first.
The 110 hurdles requires you to alternate the controllers up and down to, but a much slower rate is required for top speed to be achieved. To jump over hurdles , press B. Jumping at the correct moment will give you a burst of speed.
The Relay race requires you to pick 4 characters. You will used the (to save a bit of space I'll call it the running controls from now on) to run. Before switching character you speed will be locked, and then the batton will be passed to the next character. To maintain high speeds you have to push B and send the second character off with good timing. This one really hurts your arms
In the 400 meter race you have to pace yourself to maintain your stamina and sprint as fast as you can for the final 100 metres
The 400 meter hurdles are a cross between the 400 meter race and hurdle race. You have to pace yourself for the first 300 meters and sprint towards this end. Only this time you have hurdles in your path.
Field Athletics
The long jump requires you to run down the track and flick the wii-mote in the correct way to launch yourself and get the maximum jump distance. If you flick too hard you won't go very far. I never figured out how to do this properly, I just get lucky and get a perfect jump without realizing how.
The triple jump is very similar. You run, flick the wii-more to hop, nunchuck to step and finally the wii-mote again to jump.
The high jump goes on for a while. You set the height of the pole and run up to it and flick the wii-mote at the last second to get the maximum height. You will warm up as you perform jumps. When you are fully warmed up you can set the highest heights and go for gold!
Pole Vault works in the same way. Except you flick the wii-mote to stick your pole into the ground and ten have to use the running animation as you are lifting yourself up over the bar.
Hammer throw requires you to swing the wii-mote around in circles as fats as you can and release the hammer at the correct time when prompted to get as far a throw as you can
Javelin throw requies you to run and flick the wii-mote with the right force to try and get the javelin to travel as far as possible.
Swimming
There are only two events in swimming, the 100 meter freestyle and relay. Both are essentially the same only in the relay you get to pick four charactes and you have to swim accros the pool four times. There are a few different swimming styles for the characters and you will be prompted on how to move the Wii-mote to get them to swim. As you are swimming you have to push B to come up for air. Pushing it at the correct moment will maintain a high speed
Gymnastics
Trampolining requires you to flick the wii-mote to jump and hit the correct sequence of buttons when they pop up on screen. The amount of buttons in a sequence will depend on the skill stat of a character. Surprisingly, this is on of the most entertaining events in the game
The vault requires you to run and jump at the right time to vault into the air. Flicking the wii-mote and nunchuck will make your character perform tricks. You have to create your own combination.
Table Tennis Singles
In Table Tennis you will compete in two matches against two characters. Pretty self explanitory, you flick the wii-mote at the right time to return the ball. You don't need to worry about moving the character left or right - that's done automatically. You can perform power or spin shots but pushing B or A when hitting the ball. First player to score 11 points wins
Fencing - Individual Epee'
This one's pretty cool. You move back and forward with the control stick and thrust the wii-mote to attack and try and hit your oponent. You can also perform parry and feint strikes. First player to score 15 points wins.
Skeet
This one's hard. Before each round you have to stop the dot when it is at the centre of the target. Getting it close to the centre will give you bigger cross-heirs and stopping it away from the centre will give you smaller cross heirs. Then you will have to try and hit as many of the fired clay targets as you can.
Archery
This one is also hard. You have to have a steady hand and point the wii-mote at the target. But also you need to tilt the nunchuck until it's marker is ontop of the wii-mote marker. During later rounds you have to take into account the speed and direction of the wind when lining up your shots.
Rowing - Single Skulls
In the single skulls you are prompted to push a button combinations whilst thrusting the wii-mote and nunchuck backwards. The button combination is normally Z and B. But when it switches, you will easily make a mistake and push the wrong button of you aren't concentrating
Dream Events
These are unique non olympic events of which there are four. Dream Race, Dream Table Tennis, Dream Fencing and Dream Platform
The Dream Race requires you to make four laps around a desert using speed pads and power ups to help you take the league. Power ups are those found in the Mario Kart games such as the green shells and lightning bolts. You don't need to constantly alternate the wii-mote and nunchuck up and down here - they're just used for acceleration
Dream Table Tennis has the same controls as regular Table Tennis. The points awarded will be equal to the current number of rallies. In other words if you and your rival hit the ball 10 times between you, if your opponent them drops the ball, you will be awarded ten points. The rally count is then reset. When the bar fills up you can use your characters special attack to help you score points. First to 50 wins
Dream Fencing also plays similar to regular fencing. Only this time you have a life bar instead of points system. You can knock your opponent out of the ring to deal more damage and use special attacks to deal more damage
Dream Platform is cool! You get to sky dive from a large height and fly through hoops. When you fly through hoops a button sequence will appear which you will have to correctly input to score points. There are other ways to score points such as hitting the water at the bottom first. And you can loose points if you crash into blocks or are height by an opponents power up. Powerups include shells, sheilds and a speed boost.
Aside from the standard single match mode there are also cup modes where events are played back to back and you have to try and get the most points overall. There is also a mission mode where you complete missions for characters which normally consist of finishing an event within a certain time or throwing within a certain range.
Graphically the game is pretty nice and the characters have some cool animations. As for the music, while the music isn't exception and doesn't really excel anywhere, there are a few nice tunes present.
Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games is a pretty cool mini game collection. A lot of the games may be the same with a new coat of paint, but the game is fun to play either with friend or on your own. You get awarded emblems for certain requirements and this helps add to the lifespan of the game. Overall - pretty cool!
milesprower2K9 Original Reviews