Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games

I have a good "news" (for the series) and a bad news (for this game).

The good "news" is that, looking at the staff in the Wiki, I could confirm that Marza Animation Planet worked on the intro of all the first three home console Mario & Sonic games (which would also explain why Nintendo went to them to have 3D models for artwork and not someone else - they were collaborating with them since 2008 for this series and probably were impressed by their intros).
The bad news is that Marza is nowhere to be found in the credits of the Wii U version of this game...
 
What are you talking about? It's obviously pre-rendered. Why would they use the limitations of the Wii U hardware for creating pre-rendered cutscenes?
 

wow, they really nailed his character in this game
 
By the way,
when you win all level 3 tournaments you can use in all tournaments characters from Team Mario and Team Sonic, and they replace your Mii on Copacabana Beach until the Tournament ends becoming directly controllable, making this the first game where you can actually freely roam around on foot and talk to other characters with Larry and Wendy (I'm not sure if this is the first game for :bowjr: too, as I don't remember if he's freely controllable in some hub world of some obscure Mario game I don't know about). Yahoo! 8)
 

has this been done yet?

tumblr_obhs9lKCkw1tg1huqo1_1280.jpg
 
Oh my gosh im SOOOOO excited for this game. im going to purchase when i get enough money:
Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games
and
Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games
 
Meanwhile, while I was talking to everyone to the point that a special line of dialogue was triggered
htvcahm.jpg

(the Mii is saying "I will follow your example and make the first move! From now on, I will approach people and buttonhole them!")



I found the next chapter in the "Wario & Waluigi the not-siblings" series
Gjd4Tdh.jpg

(The Mii says ""Wario and Waluigi have many things in common, but are not siblings. They resemble each other and have the passion for devising diabolical plans." Just for the sake of completeness, the dialogue then goes on with this line:"Immagino che per far sempre comunella così, abbiano frequentato la stessa scuola di cattivi.." that pretty much translates to "I guess that to always form such a clique, they must have attended the same bad-guys school...")
 
Yes, the game was fully localized in Italian, which includes also the dubbing of the voices of characters from the Sonic universe and of the announcer.
 
In case you missed it, at the center of the real Maracana Stadium there was



a warp pipe.



Out of it the Japanese Prime Minister came out




with Mario outfits and a pseudo-Mario hat.




And the SMB end of level jingle was played at the end of the presentation of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.



At least the Mario part of the 2020 game is confirmed, right?

P.S.: here are the videos: https://twitter.com/lmfaofa/status/767529677955018753
https://twitter.com/beINSPORTS/status/767527257640361984
 
Mister Wu said:
a warp pipe.

Out of it the Japanese Prime Minister came out
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abe mario maker costume when????

Honestly, I kinda hope they end the series after M&S 2020 Olympics because there'll be no topping it after being in their home country tbh
 
Phi said:
Mister Wu said:
a warp pipe.

Out of it the Japanese Prime Minister came out
Click to expand...
abe mario maker costume when????

Honestly, I kinda hope they end the series after M&S 2020 Olympics because there'll be no topping it after being in their home country tbh
Click to expand...

I'd play the heck out of a Sonic and Mario Olympics based in the Middle East
 
Based on the recent closing ceremony, I would be down for an Olympic Games game featuring Doraemon, Pac-man, Hello Kitty and some popular Japanese guest stars when it's Tokyo's turn, because the opportunity to play as other characters is exciting! I am not certain this will ever happen, but I could dream.

Thanks for reading.
 
winstein said:
Based on the recent closing ceremony, I would be down for an Olympic Games game featuring Doraemon, Pac-man, Hello Kitty and some popular Japanese guest stars when it's Tokyo's turn, because the opportunity to play as other characters is exciting! I am not certain this will ever happen, but I could dream.

Thanks for reading.
Click to expand...
Actually, much depends on their role. If they are the mascots of the Olympic Games, they might all be featured in the future game like Vinicius is featured in this one, with Mii costumes as well.
I'm not fond of this recent tendency of crossoverness, you risk to lose focus and create a much more fragmented experience, it also doesn't help with the needed completion of the roster - both teams are missing a lot of characters!
Of course, having the mascots featured is a different story - they can go as far as making them playable because anyway they would be officially part of the Olympic Games.
 
So GP can finally post the Godzilla article on the mariowiki that he has in copy/paste since 2011??
 
The idea of there being a Godzilla article on the wiki makes me smile.

Make me Local Sysop for just that page. Like how we have Local Mods for certain boards here.
 
What's the difference between skill and technique? In the early installments of the Mario & Sonic series skill was one of the statistics before it got replaced by technique. Someone tells me skill and technique are two different things but they seem to function similarly.
One thing I noticed is that Waluigi's skill in the early Mario & Sonic was the highest of all characters rivaling Eggman's before they seemingly nerfed him and gave him lower technique than Peach's. So I'm not sure if it's just a different type or what...
 
superlumiella said:
What's the difference between skill and technique? In the early installments of the Mario & Sonic series skill was one of the statistics before it got replaced by technique. Someone tells me skill and technique are two different things but they seem to function similarly.
One thing I noticed is that Waluigi's skill in the early Mario & Sonic was the highest of all characters rivaling Eggman's before they seemingly nerfed him and gave him lower technique than Peach's. So I'm not sure if it's just a different type or what...
Click to expand...
You can see here what does Technique do. I don't know much about past games, but it seems to be skill+stamina in this game (although proper stamina is mainly relevant in the 100m Freestyle Swimming Event, other events don't seem to be much based on it). It tipically makes it easier to charge the initial boost (this is true also in the 100m Freesyle Swimming, even if officially it is not mentioned) and improves handling.
 
I rented the Wii U version this weekend (My public library had a copy available) and thought I'd let out some thoughts.

I'll start with what I actually liked about the game. First, Rugby Sevens is SOOOO fun. It's the closest so far to a Mario American Football game (Even if Rugby and American Football have clear differences. And I do like the Heroes Showdown mode. I think two friends who like both series or even a pair of friends that prefer one over the other would get a kick of the strategy of having a little rivalry between Mario and Sonic and the salt that could come out of suspending the other's favorite characters. And the way Mario and Sonic work is like a chess game where you can't lose the King or else you lose. Though at the same it seems if you manage to win with the captain you get to use all the bonuses so it's high-risk, high-reward.

Though the problems kinda start with the tournament modes where you're pretty much restricted to Miis unless you beat all event tournaments. But by the time you do all that you would of basically done everything the game has to offer. Aside from walking around the Beaches as the different characters. And not all the events in the game are fun especially when getting harder CPUs. You're forced to grind coins & rings to randomly get clothing and hope you get ones with good stat boosts. I don't mind Miis myself but if you expected to play tournaments in the game as the Mario and Sonic characters you're out of luck until you have your team of Miis beat every event at every difficulty level. And that can be frustrating if you're not particualry good at some of the events.

I was enjoying this game legitimately for about a day or two. But as with most games in this series it quickly becomes yet another example of why this game series isn't praised amongst the best of the Mario sports games. The Mario & Sonic games try, but for the most part fail to prove they're games worth $60. Rio 2016 is just another that's fun in short bursts either for playing Rugby Sevens or doing Rhythm Gymnastics as a silly character (Like Waluigi or Eggman) or an unfitting character (Like Shadow) for a quick laugh. The game doesn't rely on Motion controls (At least if you use the Gamepad, I don't know if some events switch to it since I didn't try the Wiimote) so its better then the first Mario & Sonic game but it ultimately lacks the content and thus London 2012 still makes for the best Mario & Sonic game. There's also the whole guest thing where characters come in for only one event. But I think people have said their thing on that already. Let's just hope they did that because they felt like they were on a deadline and they plan to have at least some of those playable in all events for M&S Pyongyang 2018 and/or Tokyo 2020
 
Actually, I think there would be something more to say, but let me finish this game completely and you'll see.
Beating all level 3 tournaments unlocks the level MAX tournaments, so you're far from beating the game as a whole. In many cases level MAX tournaments force you to understand how the events work in depth, either in terms of what the stats do or in terms of the many additional moves that can give that little advantage that might be needed, so they really are more interesting than they seem. Also, Carnival Challenges tend to be a better way to invest money at a certain point, as you first get the character costumes (which are the most powerful wear, once you get full costumes) and then all the wear you have yet to get at the item stands. It certainly starts much more gradually, and only at the end of the level 3 tournaments you start having some full costumes. Until then, you have to rely on the wear obtained after getting a medal in a tournament for the first time, and on the terrible item stands (the 3DS version has actual shops, why not the Wii U version?). I think this gradual approach, as interesting as it might be in presenting the various features and in aiding in the discovery of the events' mechanics, killed the game for all those who cannot play it for many days or weeks, including reviewers.
But really, I'll try to make a more detailed "description" of the game once I finish everything.

OK, now I finished almost everything, I wanted to do a description, but probably the main page of the game of the wiki makes more sense (but I still have to do the Heroes Showdown...). And indeed I suggest you to give a read for every term I'll use that you don't understand, as I won't have a way to describe a game so simple yet so complex in the structure. So here we go with the

(NON)REVIEW OF THE GAME

This is an odd game, you can immediately see that it has done on a low budget, from the opening video which is not made by Marza, to the credit rolls. Even the number of events (14 plus 3 duel events) tells a lot about how much the development team had to spare. And the idea that at the beginning you have to get item from item stands that give you random items and even give you items you already obtained and that are completely useless, is not very enticing.

But it's a game that very slowly becomes more fun as you play it. Why? Because many nice things are gradually unlocked, from the Carnival Challenges that often force you to discover the hidden mechanics of the events and that become the main source of wear as you progress through the game, to the possibility of using the characters from Team Mario and Team Sonic in the tournaments, which means medal ceremonies with them but also going around as them at the beach during a tournament!

I can see the point of the game, as you begin with your Mii against other Miis and, by talking to them, you discover more about the actual Olympic Games, the events and the countries, then you start seeing more and more the features that make this a Mario&Sonic game and not a "Miis at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games". Still, it's a very slow process, as you have to win a meda inl every level 1, level 2 and 3 tournament to use the characters from Team Sonic and Team Mario in the events. And by the time Carnival Chalenges start to give you full costumes, you'll likely have won most level 3 tournaments and, as a consequence, relied on the wear won at the tournaments and at the item stands to win, which is not exactly enticing...

Yet, for those brave enough to aim at winning even the MAX level tournaments, the game will reveal an interesting side: this time most of the events have quite a few advanced mechanics that have to be learned through hints cards and by talking to the participants in the tournaments. And in my opinion they mostly work (although the AI is too easy to beat in the Boxing event and in the 4 x 100m Relay). The most impressive is surely Table Tennis, that now works like a Mario Tennis game, complete with free movement, 4 different types of shots - sidespin are separated from backspins - charged shots, differentiation in the avaible angles and speed depending on wheter you're doing a forehand or backhand, and a smash mechanics that require so much time to be charged that you will need to make the oppnent fail a shot before you can use it - and you cannot move while charging. It's not perfect - nets only slow down the balls and your character always aims at the table, so at most you can hit the border of the table, but judging by the videos of the previous tabe tennis events, it's a huge improvement. If anything, this event made me interested in the Mario Tennis series. Now, not all events are that much improved, but I'd say that from a gameplay point of view we are likely in front of the best versions of each event, with a care of always introducing some advanced mechanics that force you to "learn" the events again to win the MAX level tournaments - that fortunately are pretty difficult. And some events, like Equestrian and Archery, don't work at all like the Olympic Events and instead offer many additional features - the first has tricks and trick boost mechanics activated by going in specific circles, the second has moving targets, targets that you can only hit in certain moments, target that are taken away by drones, targets that appear if you are doing well and give a you a lot of point, additional points if you keep hitting targets without missing...

Regarding the two new events, Rugby and Rhythmic Gymnastics, they work pretty nicely, especially the first, that has a nice selection of moves - including a very nice dodge with a jump - and require, at least in the standard version that I find more fun, also to be sure that you have soemone around you so that when the possession is contested you can get the ball. The second works like a rhythm game based on three buttons (right, B and A on the GamePad to be used to hit some circles as they approach a line or when the game tells you to press them) that gets insanely difficult at the highest difficulty levels. I suspect that most, including me, play this to see their favorite character performing quite good or odd looking routines, but still there is some challenge if soemone really wants it.

I'll not say much about heroes Showdown, as it adds even more layers of strategy in the mix to teh point that I won't be able to end if I start - I'll have to complete the page and then hopefully you'll understand. The idea still is the one of defeating the opponent team's captain, by carefully choosing which characters to use in each events in order to win and have the right cards that will give additional beneficial effects.

I must say that the more I play it, the more I see the how there is an underlying structure that somewhat makes sense - so for example, single matches are quick without medal ceremony because their aim is to train the player and to start a quick match with friends, if you want a more significant experience it's better to play Heroes Showdown or Tournaments, that indeed have winning ceremonies. There are rules in place that determines when the Carnival Challenges will appear or when characters from Team Mario and Team Sonic will participate in the toruanments, even the Team from which the characters will be chosen depends on the choices of the player.

So, you can see how this game is quite odd: on one hand the events are only 14 + 3, without dream events, Copacabana Beach is small and it's not a real story mode, and the new characters are restricted to one event. It becomes even worse if you look at the 3DS version, that has a bigger roster, more plus events, and an actual story mode. On the other hand I'd say that the idea behind Copacabana Beach and the Tournaments is not bad at all, even though it needs to be developed further in my opinion, and it's nice to meet and talk to the characters from Team Mario and Team Sonic, as well as discovering more information about them and about a lot of ther things. But, importantly, the events were still varied and actually surprising, as I expected them to be way more shallow and easy to beat than they revealed to be - I needed more than 100 hours to get everything I can get without amiibos in this game! The amiibo features is not well implemented of course, as it is essentially content behind a paywall (they unlock leagues that then let you win additional costumes and audio tracks)...

In the end, despite its many limitations, I don't regret having bought this game, I actually enjoyed Copacabana Beach and the many different lines of dialogue, the events and the tournaments more than I thought I would and I was surprised to see that I needed to practice on many events to win the level MAX tournanments - that's a good sign or a very bad sign for me :bowjr: .

P.S.: I didn't talk yet about those, but you can be sure that the graphics is really nice - the focus was clearly on the characters models that are really awesome and some animations reveal terrific poses, althoguh many annimations are rather functional to the gameplay. The music on the other hand continues to be good in my opinion - there are very nice new remixes, multichannel audio files in the events with the background music that changes depending on the situation, and when a point is scored now the soundtrack plays a special track, another addition that I like a lot. Custom tracks can still be used, with a good selection of tracks, even though the track played while scoring a point cannot be changed, thus making the custom tracks more suitable to certain events. And there is the first vocal song of the series, played during the Carnival, that follows the style of samba and is in Portuguese!
 
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