Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games

"Join the fun and go for gold!"

- Tagline

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games Sochi 2014 is Wii U game and is the fourth installment of the Mario and Sonic series. It was first announced by Satoru Iwata on Nintendo Direct on 17 May 2013, as the second out of the three titles of Sega and Nintendo's exclusive collaboration, the first being Sonic Lost World and the third being Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric/Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal. It is also the first game in the series published by Nintendo outside of Japan and South Korea rather than Sega, who published the first three games.

Gameplay
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games Sochi 2014 features sixteen events, including a wide variety of Olympic winter sports, including skiing, snowboarding, bobsledding, pairs figure skating and curling. Players have to use both the GamePad and the Wii Remote Plus, depending on the event in question. Curling, for example, requires players to draw lines on the GamePad's screen.

The game also includes special events set in the world of Mario and Sonic, in which characters have special abilities not possible in the real world. Mixed events that combine sports like skiing, snowboarding and bobsledding in one race, are available. Figure skating can now be performed with two characters on the same team, working simultaneously.

Team Mario

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

Other

 * Mii

Rivals

 * Birdo (Ice Hockey)
 * Kamek (Bullet Bill Sledge Race)
 * Jet the Hawk (Snowboard Parallel Giant Slalom)
 * King Boo (Short Track 1000m)
 * E-123 Omega (Roller Coaster Bobsleigh)
 * Dr. Eggman Nega (Winter Sports Champion Race)
 * Rouge the Bat (Winter Sports Champion Race)
 * Dry Bowser (Winter Sports Champion Race)

Referees

 * Toad
 * Chao
 * Lakitu
 * Omochao
 * Espio the Chameleon
 * Charmy Bee

In-Event Characters

 * Rotatatron (Dream Figure Skating -- Sonic Figure Skating)
 * Shy Guy (Dream Ice Hockey)
 * Wiggler Bus (Dream Snowboard Cross)

Legends Showdown
Legends Showdown is a story mode of the game. There are 5 areas and characters of the game have separated to 5 different teams: Sonic, Tails, Yoshi and Donkey Kong in blue team, Amy, Knuckles, Wario and Waluigi in red team, Vector, Shadow, Daisy and Luigi in Orange team, Silver, Blaze, Mario and Peach in yellow team and Metal Sonic, Dr. Eggman, Bowser and Bowser, Jr. in green team.

You will race against your chosen character's ghost form, which has similarities to fog ghosts seen in Mario and Sonic at the London Olympic games.

Each team completes an area, which has 4 events and one boss battle. In 2nd event you must face a mii and in a last stage of area you must beat the boss.

When the area is completed, you'll get the rank based on your score. Skill points determines the number of points got in a single event. If you get A+, you will be rewarded with Mii outfit.

Action and answer tour
Action and answer tour is an action quiz, which combines quiz and minigames. In Quick shot and answer, the answering happens by shooting the answer to the question.
 * Melody and answer (4-man bobsleigh): Players must ride along the path, where they hear an instrument. When players reaches the finish line, they must answer which instrument they heard.
 * Lucky chance: This is lucky based event. Choose answer and see how many points did you get between 2-10.
 * Scratch and answer (Freestyle ski cross): Player skis along the silver scratch sheet, which hides winning number. Player must scratch them and reveal the winning number, then go through the gate, which number is same as winning number. Correct number has rainbow sheet.
 * Mid-air scratch and answer (Ski jumping large hill): You will see a sign. Catch the balloons, which has same picture as sign. The winner is the one, who collects the most of the answer balloons.
 * Mid-air formation and answer (Ski jumping large hill): During your jump, paratroopas and byzz bombers will make formation. You must answer what kind of form they will do. If you stay longer in air, that easier is to answer.
 * Boo hunt and answer (Short trackspeed skating 1000M): The Boo is taking a video of you. Players must find him by using a gamepad, which shows the recording. The winner is the one, who bumps into Boo.
 * Spiny scramble and answer (Snowboard cross): Lakitu is throwing spinies around the course. Count how many during the event to win.
 * Giant balloon and answer (Alpine skiing downhill): After passing a gate, a giant balloon with snowflakes appears. When you know how many snowflakes it has, press A button.
 * Goal shoot and answer (Ice hockey): Players must shoot to goal, which has the sign of plauer, who were introduced first at tour.
 * Try your luck and answer (Snowboard slope style): Which barrel has the most rings? Break the barrels and collect as much of rings as you can. The winner is the one, who collects the most rings.

Reception
This game has received mixed reviews, with most praising the visuals, but criticizing the game for being too similar to previous games of the series. It currently holds a score of 56% at GameRankings and 57/100 at Metacritic. Nintendo Life gave the game 6 out of 10 and Digital Spy gave it 3 out of 5. IGN criticized it for unbalanced AI and unresponsive motion controls and gave it 4.5/10.

Videos
Wii U Trailer= Nintendo Direct Gameplay Trailer=

Trivia

 * This game is the fifth crossover between Mario and Sonic. The others being Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games and Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
 * This is the first Mario and Sonic game on the Wii U and the first one to not be on the Wii.
 * The game appears to have the longest Sonic the Hedgehog video game title in the entire Sonic franchise, as it has twenty syllables in its entire name (twenty-two syllables if one pronounced it "two thousand and fourteen" instead of "twenty fourteen").
 * It has exactly the same characters as Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games and Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games.
 * This is the first Mario & Sonic game without a handheld counterpart.
 * In addition, this is the first Sonic game to be released exclusively on the Wii U.
 * This is also a first game of the series that includes online multiplayer mode.
 * Coincidentally, both Green Hill Zone and Delfino Plaza appeared as stages in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
 * There is a stage from each era:
 * Green Hill from the Classic Era
 * Speed Highway from the Dreamcast Era
 * Sweet Mountain from the Modern Era
 * In addition, the first two of the above appeared in Sonic Generations. Also, the textures of both stages are taken from Generations, despite said game not being released on a Nintendo home console.
 * This game features special animations for some paired characters.
 * This is the last Sonic game where Kate Higgins voices Tails.
 * This is also the first Mario & Sonic game where voice overs exist not only for English and Japanese, but also for German, French, Italian, and Spanish.