Mario and Sonic head for Olympic showdown
By Ruben Francia
Nintendo and Sega jointly made a historical announcement that their mascots, Mario and Sonic will appear in the upcoming sports game collection “Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games.” This agreement marks the first time these two renowned mascots have appeared together in a game.
The game was conceived by Sega after it won the licence to make the official 2008 Olympic video game. It asked Nintendo about uniting the two characters. Sega developed the game in Japan, collaborating with Shigeru Miyamoto, the original creator of Mario for Nintendo. It will licensed through a worldwide partnership with International Sports Multimedia.
“We are thrilled to partner with Nintendo and ISM on this groundbreaking title,” said Hisao Oguchi, President and Chief Operating Officer of Sega. “For the first time, two of the world’s greatest games’ characters come together to compete in the world’s greatest sporting event and we couldn’t be more excited.”
“Mario and Sonic have been respectful rivals since the early days of video games,” says Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo. “In fact, for a long time they have been discussing the possibility of one day competing against each other. Now that they have been given the perfect opportunity to meet at the Olympic Games, we may finally learn who is actually faster, Mario or Sonic?”
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games will allow players to compete in events that take place in environments based on the official venues of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
Gamers will be able to compete as or against a range of cast of characters, including Nintendo’s Luigi and Yoshi, and Sega’s Knuckles and Miles “Tails” Prower.
The Wii and DS versions are said to utilize the innovative control methods of the respective platforms in games including the 100m track, table tennis, and swimming heat.
According to Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pacther, the game is taking two mass-market characters with global appeal and putting them into a game focused on a global event.
“It’s just a great formula,” said Pachter. He also said that similar video game partnerships have resulted in popular games such as Disney Interactive and Lego Star Wars and Kingdom Hearts from Square Enix.
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games is set to ship this holiday season. It will be released by Sega in North America and Europe, and by Nintendo in Japan.
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