MARIO AND SONIC AT THE RIO 2016
OLYMPIC GAMES
S
24
omething
about
Mario and Sonic
never sat right with me.
Maybe it’s traditionalism speaking, but as
someone who caught
the tail end of the 90s
console war, it's bizarre seeing these two
once-rivals
burying
the hatchet, and SEGA
going from doing what
Nintendon’t to asking
them to promote their
games.
Times have changed,
but what hasn’t is the
quadrennial tradition
of the Olympic Games,
occuring again this
summer in Rio, once
more giving us a great
excuse to sit in front of
the TV for hours on end
and purchase tacky
pound shop merchandise in the name of patriotism.
Mario and Sonic at
the Rio 2016 Olympic
Games is the fifth entry
in the crossover franchise, which curiously
arrives on 3DS two
months before the Wii
U, and five months before the Games actually begin. At first glance,
it’s similar to previous
outings: Mario, Sonic
and various dull secondary characters par-
ticipating in a variety of
Olympic events, which
play out in the form
of Mario Party-style
minigames (Sega take
note: not Sonic Shuffle
style minigames), and
occasionally indulge
in pseudo-RPG elements and asides like
a hub world. While
this basic structure has
largely made it intact,
SEGA have added just
enough new gimmicks
to keep things fresh;
though, sadly, there’s
a pervasive sense of
familiarity to it all.
Two main options
present
themselves
on startup: Quick
Play and Road to Rio.
Quick Play sees you
dive directly into any
unlocked event, and
thankfully a generous
amount of these, sans
a few extra modes, are
available from the off.
If you don’t care about
the story you can theoretically never touch
it. You’d be ill-advised
though, because the
Road to Rio is surprisingly its trump card.
You play as your Mii
and are cast into a miniature rendition of the
marvellous city, where
you’re accosted by
two fellows dressed as
Mario and Sonic who
demand you choose
which mascot’s gym to
train at. The choice appears superfluous