So, I've spent a lot of time (too much probably) playing through the various Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games games. There's a kind of stupid enjoyment that can usually be squeezed out of them, jank and all. And yeah, the early entries were pretty bad, with some pretty bad waggle controls on the Wii and especially janky mechanics in the DS versions.
But, after playing them all, while they've improved a lot in the more recent entries with the move toward universal button controls and some better polish, the one that actually sticks out to me as really underrated is London 2012 on the 3DS. I'm here to briefly spread this important gospel.
I actually go way out of my way to play multiplayer 3DS games, and so the caveat I have to give is that Mario & Sonic "diehards" often poo-poo this specific game as being too shallow, and the worst sacrilege of all, restricts what characters you can use in certain events. The story mode is also kind of boring and whatever. But this isn't important, and actually my point here is that shallow isn't inherently bad - actually, because of the simplicity, this game offers some of the most interesting and diverse control schemes and importantly, accessible, easy to understand gameplay for everyone.
So, case in point, this game has 57 events, easily the most of any Mario & Sonic game as far as I can recall:
And as sample, some of the most interesting mechanics:
Hammer Throw, a game that uses the 3DS gyroscope, but in an actual unique, novel way that isn't just janky aiming controls - as you can see, you rotate the 3DS like you're "rolling a marble on it" - and if you actually match your rotating to the character's animation instead of just waggling your 3DS as fast as you can go, it's actually really cool how it feels. Rotate, and then let go at the right time - it's intuitive and easy. Something you've never done before, and everyone has a good time giving it a try, vs. like, Tokyo 2020 that came out, and has you doing some weird imprecise guessing game with the control stick. Lame.
Another favourite of mine, that's probably been enjoyed exclusively by me with a multiplayer crowd: Rowing - Quadruple Sculls, where everyone pulls their 3DS forward and back to "row", which again, feels surprisingly intuitive, but what really is fascinating is how in multiplayer, only one player can see the rhythm you need to hit, and has to yell out "Row!" to the group and get everyone to line up. It works impressively well, and it's hilarious to see a gaming crowd be spurred into rowing at increasing pace, someone frantically barking out "ROW! ROW! ROW!". This is some real party gaming, people.
You've got Race Walking in this game - the gameplay mechanics are pretty plain but still all part of using the 3DS's strengths all out - I just find it incredibly amusing that Race Walking is something that people can play in a video game, with Mario & Sonic characters. This game is a novelty, and it's a novelty done well.
It's really all about how impressive the simplicity is. Like javelin throw is some weird thing in every other Mario & Sonic game, involving timing button presses, meters moving on their own, etc. It's kind of a pain, to be honest, to play these games with casual folk, and have to explain some weirdly complex controls and timing just to play this kind of throwaway games. The depth, sure, is nice, but in a way depth works against itself in this context. Anyone can draw a line, and you know, there's just some fun in being able to draw a line more accurately than someone else. It's Mario Party incarnate. This is the Mario & Sonic most like Mario Party, and you know, that's great. I gladly take it.
And you know, you have your button controls here, they're just used smartly. Boiling events down to their basic components. Time your shots. If you don't like one thing, there's another that might be more your speed. On your own, it's whatever, but all together, it's a nice polished package of little competitions.
Even something like Water Polo, which in some current Mario & Sonic game, would be some overly complex nightmare of a control scheme, is just "tap left/right to swim to the ball, and then swipe a direction to take a shot or defend". Easy. I just described it in one sentence. You can enjoy it with everyone. It's just cool this exists really, vs. ten other Mario & Sonic games kind of riffing on the same sort of thing.
And you know, you can play all the games in a kind of competition medley mode, unlike the newest entry in 2020. So there's that.
So, that's all the events I kind of thought to highlight, but yeah, there's like 57 of these things in the game. It's a real grab-bag, because of that simplicity and accessibility, and that's pretty rad. Just a few games might be duds to you, but you're done in a heartbeat, can chuckle at the novelty, and move onto the next one. It uses the 3DS to its potential with all kinds of controls, like a WarioWare game, and lets everyone take part, like a Mario Party. It even looks great to boot, colourful with nice UI. But you won't hear it from anyone else. It's all about if you can play as Silver the Hedgehog in the Javelin event, or if it uses 10 buttons in the control scheme to give it real mechanical depth. That's life I guess.
But yeah. Give it a try if you like novelty control schemes and play games with friends. This one is a standout. And there's always Rio 2016 on the same system if you want another decent, more "traditional", Mario & Sonic game.
But, after playing them all, while they've improved a lot in the more recent entries with the move toward universal button controls and some better polish, the one that actually sticks out to me as really underrated is London 2012 on the 3DS. I'm here to briefly spread this important gospel.
I actually go way out of my way to play multiplayer 3DS games, and so the caveat I have to give is that Mario & Sonic "diehards" often poo-poo this specific game as being too shallow, and the worst sacrilege of all, restricts what characters you can use in certain events. The story mode is also kind of boring and whatever. But this isn't important, and actually my point here is that shallow isn't inherently bad - actually, because of the simplicity, this game offers some of the most interesting and diverse control schemes and importantly, accessible, easy to understand gameplay for everyone.
So, case in point, this game has 57 events, easily the most of any Mario & Sonic game as far as I can recall:
And as sample, some of the most interesting mechanics:
Hammer Throw, a game that uses the 3DS gyroscope, but in an actual unique, novel way that isn't just janky aiming controls - as you can see, you rotate the 3DS like you're "rolling a marble on it" - and if you actually match your rotating to the character's animation instead of just waggling your 3DS as fast as you can go, it's actually really cool how it feels. Rotate, and then let go at the right time - it's intuitive and easy. Something you've never done before, and everyone has a good time giving it a try, vs. like, Tokyo 2020 that came out, and has you doing some weird imprecise guessing game with the control stick. Lame.
Another favourite of mine, that's probably been enjoyed exclusively by me with a multiplayer crowd: Rowing - Quadruple Sculls, where everyone pulls their 3DS forward and back to "row", which again, feels surprisingly intuitive, but what really is fascinating is how in multiplayer, only one player can see the rhythm you need to hit, and has to yell out "Row!" to the group and get everyone to line up. It works impressively well, and it's hilarious to see a gaming crowd be spurred into rowing at increasing pace, someone frantically barking out "ROW! ROW! ROW!". This is some real party gaming, people.
You've got Race Walking in this game - the gameplay mechanics are pretty plain but still all part of using the 3DS's strengths all out - I just find it incredibly amusing that Race Walking is something that people can play in a video game, with Mario & Sonic characters. This game is a novelty, and it's a novelty done well.
It's really all about how impressive the simplicity is. Like javelin throw is some weird thing in every other Mario & Sonic game, involving timing button presses, meters moving on their own, etc. It's kind of a pain, to be honest, to play these games with casual folk, and have to explain some weirdly complex controls and timing just to play this kind of throwaway games. The depth, sure, is nice, but in a way depth works against itself in this context. Anyone can draw a line, and you know, there's just some fun in being able to draw a line more accurately than someone else. It's Mario Party incarnate. This is the Mario & Sonic most like Mario Party, and you know, that's great. I gladly take it.
And you know, you have your button controls here, they're just used smartly. Boiling events down to their basic components. Time your shots. If you don't like one thing, there's another that might be more your speed. On your own, it's whatever, but all together, it's a nice polished package of little competitions.
Even something like Water Polo, which in some current Mario & Sonic game, would be some overly complex nightmare of a control scheme, is just "tap left/right to swim to the ball, and then swipe a direction to take a shot or defend". Easy. I just described it in one sentence. You can enjoy it with everyone. It's just cool this exists really, vs. ten other Mario & Sonic games kind of riffing on the same sort of thing.
And you know, you can play all the games in a kind of competition medley mode, unlike the newest entry in 2020. So there's that.
So, that's all the events I kind of thought to highlight, but yeah, there's like 57 of these things in the game. It's a real grab-bag, because of that simplicity and accessibility, and that's pretty rad. Just a few games might be duds to you, but you're done in a heartbeat, can chuckle at the novelty, and move onto the next one. It uses the 3DS to its potential with all kinds of controls, like a WarioWare game, and lets everyone take part, like a Mario Party. It even looks great to boot, colourful with nice UI. But you won't hear it from anyone else. It's all about if you can play as Silver the Hedgehog in the Javelin event, or if it uses 10 buttons in the control scheme to give it real mechanical depth. That's life I guess.
But yeah. Give it a try if you like novelty control schemes and play games with friends. This one is a standout. And there's always Rio 2016 on the same system if you want another decent, more "traditional", Mario & Sonic game.
