Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (マリオ&ソニック AT バンクーバーオリンピック) is a sports game currently in development by Sega, to be published by Nintendo in Japan and by Sega in North America and Europe. The game is officially licensed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) through exclusive licensee "International Sports Multimedia". The game is the third official crossover title to feature characters from both Mario and Sonic The Hedgehog's respective universes. It will be released on the Nintendo Wii and the Nintendo DS in October 2009, and is the first announced video game based around the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games will enable players to assume the role of a Mario or Sonic character while competing against the others in Winter Olympic events. It has been confirmed that EU release will be on October 16th 2009.

Gameplay
Some of the events in the Wii game will use the Balance Board accessory. The multiplayer mode offers "co-op and competitive gameplay" whereas the DS version will use its wireless capabilities.

Development
In January 2009, an article in the Spanish Nintendo magazine Nintendo Acción mentioned a sequel to Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, to be created for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Both IGN and Eurogamer received confirmation on the games' existence, with IGN stating that game would be officially announced within the following month. Dennis Kim, licensing and merchandising director for the event, stated in February that a Mario & Sonic title "[is] being discussed and planned for Vancouver". Kim also stated that Vancouver 2010 and the IOC will share royalties from this game.

The official announcement did arrive within the month as predicted, the game's title being given as Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games at a joint press release by Sega and Nintendo on February 12, 2009.

Events
It is a possibility that there are different events on the Wii version then the DS version. Confirmed events include:

DS Version
Skeleton Race - lie on your stomach on a sled.

Snowboard Cross - Combination of skateboarding, skiing, and surfing.

Figure Skating - Dance gracefully across the ice to score points.

Bobsleigh - Race down the course with a team, avoiding walls to maintain boost.

Wii Version
Alpine Skiing - slalom through gates at high speeds.

Bobsleigh - shows multi player features, four players can line up and work together to hop on the bobsleigh while speeding down the track.

Speedskating - lean forward while swinging your arms, you must keep an even pace to win.

Ice Hockey - play ice hockey in team of three

Figure Skating - dance greatly on ice by swinging the Wii remote.

Dream Snowboarding - Snowboard through various areas from both Sonic and Mario's worlds.

Dream Snowball Fighting - Throw snowballs at your opponent while avoiding Mario-themed threats.

Playable
The cast consists of the full roster from the previous game, as well as some new characters.

Sonic characters


 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Doctor Eggman
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Amy Rose
 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Shadow the Hedgehog
 * Blaze the Cat
 * Vector the Crocodile
 * Metal Sonic
 * Silver the Hedgehog

Mario characters


 * Mario
 * Luigi
 * Bowser
 * Bowser Jr
 * Princess Peach
 * Yoshi
 * Wario
 * Donkey Kong
 * Princess Daisy
 * Waluigi

Other


 * Mii (Wii Version Only)

Referee
Sonic characters


 * Charmy Bee
 * Espio the Chameleon

Bosses
Sonic characters


 * Rouge the Bat
 * Jet the Hawk
 * E-123 Omega
 * Eggman Nega
 * Chaos (Dream Figure Skating, appears as a mid frozen Perfect Chaos)

Mario characters


 * Dry Bowser
 * King Boo
 * Dry Bones
 * Bullet Bill

Audience
Sonic Characters


 * Flicky
 * Chirps
 * Tux
 * Porker
 * Chao
 * Omochao
 * Hero Chao
 * Dark Chao

Mario Characters
 * Koopa Troopa
 * Goomba
 * Dry Bones
 * Toad(multi colored)
 * Shy Guy(multi colored)

Sonic Stages

 * Radical Highway
 * Ice Factory
 * Sky Sanctuary Zone
 * Seaside Hill
 * Nocturne/Special Stage
 * Dream Figure Skating features 3 Sonic backgrounds: Green Hill Zone, Death Egg, and destroyed Station Square.

Mario Stages

 * Mario Circuit
 * Good Egg Galaxy
 * Bowser's Castle
 * Sherbet Land
 * Cool, Cool Mountain
 * Sherbet Land
 * Dream Figure Skating features 3 Mario backgrounds: World 1, Bowser's Castle, and Peach's Castle

Screenshots
 File:Charmy M&S Winter.JPG|A Screenshot taken from a video showing Ice Hockey and Charmy as a referee. File:M&S 2 Espio.JPG|A screenshot showing Espio as a referee(taken from a video). File:M&s omega small.png|E-123 Omega's appearance. File:Bowserjr snowboarding.png|Bowser Jr. Snowboarding(taken from the official website.) File:SilverDreamSki.png|Silver Skiing|(taken from the official website.) File:SkiDrem Bowser jr Silver2.JPG|Bowser Jr., Silver, and Sonic Skiing.(taken from the official website.) File:Metal ski.jpg|Metal Sonic winning a race. File:Sonic and Mario and toad.jpg|Screenshot of the DS version's adventure mode. File:Snow time.jpg File:Mario-sonic-at-the-olympic-winter-games-20090819091302298_640w.jpg|Peach, Blaze, and Mario in Radical Highway. File:DK awesome.jpg|Donkey Kong in Hockey event. File:Girl time.jpg|The four females from the Prequel File:Radical_Highway1.PNG|Donkey Kong in Radical Highway File:Radical_Highway2.PNG|Bowser and Dr. Eggman in Radical Highway File:Radical_Highway3.PNG|Mario and Amy in Radical Highway File:ScreenshotFestivalMode.jpg|A screenshot of festival mode. File:800px-Silver and Yoshi.png|a screenshot of Yoshi and Silver giving each other a high-five. 

Official Artwork
 File:MSWGAmy.jpg|Amy Rose File:M & S 2 Blaze.jpg|Blaze the Cat File:M & S 2 Blaze 2.jpg|Blaze the Cat File:M & S 2 Eggman.jpg|Doctor Eggman File:Knuckles 43.jpg|Knuckles the Echidna File:Metal Sonic 12.jpg|Metal Sonic File:M & S 2 Shadow.jpg|Shadow the Hedgehog File:SilverM&SArtwork.jpg|Silver the Hedgehog Image:Sonic pose 111.png|Sonic the Hedgehog File:MSWGSonic.jpg|Sonic the Hedgehog File:Tails 51.jpg|Tails File:M & S 2 Vector.jpg|Vector the Crocodile File:BowserJrM&SArtwork.jpg|Bowser Jr File:Donkey Kong 45.jpg|Donkey Kong File:Luigi 62.jpg|Luigi File:Mario 148.jpg|Mario File:Peach 70.jpg|Princess Peach File:Yoshi 54.jpg|Yoshi 

Boxart artwork
 File:Mario and Sonic at the Olympic games official cover.jpg|The Wii version boxart File:Mario_and_sonic_ds.jpg|The Nintendo DS version boxart 

Trivia

 * The first trailer of the game includes a Sonic Unleashed-styled theme playing throughout it.


 * Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games was released in 2007, and this game will be released late in 2009. This may be a reference to how the Winter Olympic Games always occur two years after the Summer Olympics.


 * This is the third game in which Mario and Sonic appear in a game together, the first 2 being Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games and Super Smash Bros. Brawl.


 * This is Metal Sonic's first playable appearance on the Nintendo Wii and his first playable appearence on the Nintendo DS.


 * This is also Silver's first playable appearance on the Nintendo DS as well his 4th playable appearance on Wii. Interesingly, Silver's official artwork is the first to show him smiling as well as being more friendly and carefree as depicted in his artwork and trailer to the point where he is seen giving Yoshi a high-five. This contracts his earlier appearances where he is shown to be serious and not social. He still retains his competitive attitude.


 * With Donkey Kong and Silver confirmed to appear, the other Hacked characters from the prequel could have a chance to come in.
 * Jet, another hack character, appears with Donkey Kong and Silver, but he takes an NPC role.


 * This is the second 2009 sequel of a 2007 game (Sonic and the Black Knight is the sequel of Sonic and the Secret Rings, and this is a sequel of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games).


 * Through the DS Adventure Mode, this may be the first canonical meeting between Sonic and Mario, but at this point Super Smash Bros. Brawl does not count due to the fact that Sonic didn't meet Mario face to face in the Subspace Emissary. In fact, Tails introduces himself to Mario for the first time even they were in the first game together.


 * Sonic Adventure Sonic Heroes stages Radical Highway, Seaside Hill Ocean Palace reappear as locations for Dream Snowboarding Dream Ski. Also, in dream ski, a robot from Sonic Heroes is seen.


 * Unlike its prequel, the boxart for this game differs between the Wii version and the DS version.


 * The Adventure Tours story mode is similar to Paper Mario's storyline. Both involve saving spirits as well as stopping the series antagonists. The Snow Spirits even looks like the Star Spirits from said game in name, appearance, and role in the story


 * This may be the first Mario and Sonic crossover game where the characters from both universes communicate with each other, for example; Tails introducing himself to Mario in the DS version in Adventure Tours Story Mode, and likewise with Toad introducing himself to Sonic.


 * This is Eggman Nega's home console debut.


 * This is also the first game where Shadow is seen competing against the rest of Team Dark.


 * The Wii version contains a sticker collecting feature. This idea is most likely borrowed from Super Smash Bros. Brawl.


 * Much of the in game character artwork in the Nintendo DS Version is recycled from Sonic Channel and a number of previous Sonic and Mario titles (including, but not limited to Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), Sonic Rivals 2, Sonic Riders Zero Gravity, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, Super Mario Galaxy, Mario Party 7, Mario Party 8 and Super Mario 64 DS)