Nintendo Okie

It’s hard to believe now, but back in 2007, the idea of a Mario and Sonic game was seen as a landmark moment in gaming. Just over 4 years on and the pairing of the two series for the Olympics is now a gaming staple, one that is expected to be released in the same way that we expect to see a new FIFA every year. Last year saw the somewhat early release of Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games on Wii, and this year it is the turn of the 3DS to take the baton of the series forward, and after a lacklustre display on Wii, the 3DS version has a lot of pressure on it.

The most obvious distinction between the two games should be apparent to anyone who has played one of the previous games on both platforms, with this year’s entries seeing the biggest gap in the target audience yet. While the Wii version stripped out most of the single player experience in favour of a more party orientated gameplay, the 3DS version plays to this system’s strength as a single player system, pulling most of the modes from the Winter Olympics DS game, including a full story mode and around 50 unique events.

What You Need To Know
The set-up of Mario & Sonic 2012 will be familiar to anyone who has played these games in the past. The game offers over 50 different Olympic themed events to compete in, combining characters from the Mushroom Kingdom and Mobius at the London Olympic Games. Read more…

Demos do a lot to make or break people’s opinions about a game. They’re designed to get people excited about a new release and give you just a taste of what to expect if you buy the full version of the game. Nintendo just began offering demos for retail 3DS games as downloads through the Nintendo eShop. The first did available did a lot to make me interested in picking up Resident Evil: Revelations. How does the demo for Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games do in making me want to buy that game?

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In 2007 the gaming world was in something of a trance. The release of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games saw the two series teaming up for the first time ever, formally ending the Nintendo/SEGA feud that had bubbled up in the 90s as the NES and SNES went head-to-head with the MegaDrive. The fact that the game appeared on a Nintendo system should tell you all you need to know about the end of that console war, but despite the war being over, the release of Mario & Sonic was still a landmark moment. 19 million sales can attest to that. The game swept into homes not necessarily because of its gameplay, but mostly due to its titular mascot pairing. Four years on, this is no longer the case.

Earlier today I posted up my review of Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, and to be blunt, it really isn’t that impressive. The game at its core is still fun, but its stripped down nature limits the game heavily, making what should be a great compilation of mini-games into a standard mini-game pack like the other hundred or so currently lining the bargain bins of stores worldwide. So why exactly is it that what is essentially the same game as its predecessor is no longer considered to be a great game? Read more…