In the early nineties, a phenomenon which can only be described as ‘blast processing’ spliced together the genes of a hedgehog and a smurf. This experiment in genetic modification at Sega was spawned from the jealousy of their competitors best friend Mario, who already had his own clothing range brainwashing kids everywhere to take mushrooms and believe that unclogging hairballs from drainage pipes was a viable career aspect. Somehow a pair of Bill and Ted’s smelly old ’sneakers’ and some sort of early rave culture inspired pill with a bright yellow smiley face on the front got mixed up with the experiment, they were truly playing with power. The result of this horrific experiment spawned perhaps one of gamings biggest mascots of all time, so big in fact that two Japanese corporations managed to take over the world, and the minds of kids everywhere.

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games is truly a monument in video gaming history, a milestone if you will. Brought together in the same product for the very first time; Mario, Sonic and their friends compete for the ultimate prize in sporting braggery - an Olympic gold.

The game takes place in many of Beijing’s sporting stadiums covering a multitude of events from running, to cycling, and even clay shooting. I’m pretty sure you are already aware of the many different events that take place during the Olympic games so I’ll spare you the explanation. Mario and Sonic covers quite a few of these games but obviously not all of them. The DS itself deals well with converting these sports to a digital format and clearly does a better job than any previous console emulations by actually getting you to practice at specific stylus strokes and movements to improve your performance rather than tap buttons as fast as possible (although you’d be surprised how predictable the running game controls).

The majority of the events included reminded me of how uninvolved Wii Sports was, with barely any options or tweaks to change and enhance your play experience. Although to many a good thing as it adds instant ‘pick-up-and-play’ appeal, when it comes to replayability, Mario and Sonic is fun the first couple of tries but soon either gets boring or dragged out as you watch your competition consistently throw further, swim longer, own better cars and date hotter women than you as you smash your stylus through the touch screen in frustration. It just feels like every time you play the game, you get a little worse and can’t help but convince yourself that Tails and everyone else is talking about you behind your back. My personal best sport in the game was the trampoline event which has you stroking the stylus to bounce up and then draw different directions to perform somersaults and twists mid-air for massive scores. Although fun for a little while and really just an escapist buzz, it’s way too easy to get frustrated at the repetitiveness of the events after only an hour of play.

It truly feels like a geeky wet dream to see all of these characters from the Sonic and Mario universes mixed together in one game, and putting aside some odd blips (who the hell is Vector anyway?), the characters fit quite well and create quite a contrast to each other giving different players different strategies. I, as always, chose Mario, the anti-hero in any sort of competitive Mario game (I swear everyone always chooses that damn green dinosaur or the screechy mushroom) and still remain to see a difference in gameplay compared to the other stock characters included. Each character is given a category (skill, speed type etc) and some of them just feel a little lumped into the ‘average category’ for convenience on Segas part.

I can imagine the water cooler chitchat at the development offices for this game with spectacular debates about who truly should win the 100m dash between Sonic, the ultra fast hedgehog and Mario, the ultra fat plummer, and perhaps that is Mario and Sonics best point. In comparison to it’s real life counterpart, the game feels like quite a let down and scrubbing your stylus across the screen faster than your friends or a computer character doesn’t come close to the thrill of knowing you have done yourself proud in a competition or sport of your favour. However, the intrigue of the title lies in the fantasy ‘dolls house’ situation which fans of both mascots have dreamed of for over a decade, the arguments of who would win out of the two characters and their friends can now be put to rest and answer the prayers of many gamers. With Sega now producing games for all consoles and embracing the nostalgia of their back catalogue much like Nintendo have been doing ever since the late 90s, the time was right (financially and competitively) for a collaboration between the two companies and although not the best version of the game available (try the Wii version for pitting Sonic against your own Mii) and certainly not a substitute to the real thing, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games does do a fairly good job of fan service and appealing to Nintendo’s new casual gamer audience (it was pretty much impossible to obtain this game for months after release. Now if only I could unlock that rumoured Princess Peach and Amy the Hedgehog mud wrestling mode, then we’re talking!

Score: 6/10