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 by Sega, 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's been released on the Nintendo Wii and the Nintendo DS on October 13, 2009, and is the first announced video game based around the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games enable players to assume the role of a Mario or Sonic character while competing against the others in Winter Olympic events. The EU release was on October 16th, 2009.

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

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.

Dream Gliding - Fly about attempting to knock down robots, as well as other opponents.

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

Sonic the Hedgehog series

Super Mario Series

Other


 * Mii (Wii Version Only)

Sonic Stages

 * Radical Highway
 * Egg 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| An example of a Dream Event on the DS Version. 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. File:Dry_Bowser.jpg|A screenshot of Dry Bowser. 

Official Artwork
Team Sonic  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

Team Mario File:Bowser winter games.png|Bowser File:BowserJrM&SArtwork.jpg|Bowser Jr File:Daisy winter games.png|Daisy File:Donkey Kong 45.jpg|Donkey Kong File:Luigi 62.jpg|Luigi File:Mario 148.jpg|Mario File:Peach 70.jpg|Princess Peach File:Waluigi 40.png| Waluigi File:Wario 90.png| Wario 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 was released in late 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 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 contradicts 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 were believed to have a chance to be playable characters.
 * 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.


 * 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 is Eggman Nega's home console debut as well his first appearance since Sonic Rivals 2.


 * This is Jet the Hawk`s handheld console debut. (Not counting Sonic Rivals & Sonic Rivals 2 since he was only a card)


 * This also is the first appearance of Chaos in his final form since Sonic Adventure or Chaos' own appearance since Sonic Battle.


 * This is also the first game where Shadow is seen competing against the rest of Team Dark.
 * Rouge's 2nd appearance on Nintendo Wii first being Sonic Riders Zero Gravity.
 * Omega's first true appearance on Nintendo Wii.


 * 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)


 * This game contains ALL characters from Sonic Heroes.