Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (マリオ&ソニック in 北京オリンピック, Mario & Sonikku in Pekin Orinpikku, lit. "Mario & Sonic in the Beijing Olympics" in Japan), is a sports game developed and published by Sega for North America and Europe and published by Nintendo for Japan. The game is officially licensed by the International Olympic Committee through exclusive licensee International Sports Multimedia. It is the first official video game of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games to be released, with a more realistic sports game released by Sega in 2008. The idea of an Olympic setting for Mario and Sonic has been around for a few years prior to 2007, while casual discussions of a game in general existed for some time beforehand. The two publishers were looking for a proper setting that would give the game "an exclamation mark". In combination with the atmosphere of competitive sportsmanship the Olympics had to offer and making the transition from hardware development to producing third-party software in 2001, Sega received approval by Nintendo to include Mario in the game. It was released on the Nintendo Wii in November of 2007 and the Nintendo DS handheld in early 2008.

The game is known for being the first official crossover title to feature both Mario and Sonic The Hedgehog, Nintendo and Sega's former rival mascots, along with other characters from their respective series. The player can assume the role as one of these characters while competing against the others in numerous Olympic events as well as fantasy events. The Wii version was awarded as the best game of 2007 on its platform at the Games Convention in Leipzig. Overall, critics had mixed perceptions of Mario & Sonic's gameplay with the variety of events singled out as a strong feature. The title has undergone scrutiny for having the mascots starring in a casual game based on the Beijing Olympics as their first official title together instead of a platform game. Both versions have sold a total of 5 million units combined as of March 31, 2008.

Mario Characters

 * Mario
 * Luigi
 * Yoshi
 * Princess Peach
 * Princess Daisy
 * Bowser
 * Wario
 * Waluigi

In addtion, Shy Guy, Goombas, Lakitu, Toad and Koopa Troopas will be acting as referees to the events.

Sonic Characters

 * Sonic
 * Tails
 * Knuckles
 * Amy
 * Eggman
 * Shadow
 * Blaze
 * Vector

In addtion, Cream & Espio act as referees in both the DS & Wii versions, Big on the Wii version, and Charmy on the DS.

Removed Characters
The following characters were going to be in the game and were found in a hacked version.


 * Birdo
 * Donkey Kong
 * Silver the Hedgehog
 * Jet the Hawk

Trivia

 * All female contestants wear clothing from sports games they've been in: Peach and Daisy from Mario Golf: Power Tour, and Amy and Blaze from Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity.
 * This is Vector's first time being on a handheld.