Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 is almost here and as we prepare to celebrate the Summer Olympics taking place in Tokyo here in a matter of months, we went hands-on with the game ahead of its launch.
Let me be honest: I don’t play Olympic games-themed titles at all. I skipped out on all of them across the board. The same can be said with any title with X-Games in the name. I’m not a fan of them, which has put me in an interesting place in recent days. Over the past week, I’ve been spending a few hours each day in a precarious position of my own.
You see, recently, I decided to put my dislike for athletic games aside, picked up my Nintendo Switch and give the upcoming SEGA title Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 a hefty amount of time – 3 to 4 hours a day – every day. Powering it on, my expectations were low; I was expecting a cookie-cutter Olympics title I’d experienced over the years.
However, what I got was something entirely different. I got a cool little meta-narrative that would bring two of gaming’s most beloved franchises together once again. This time, to the Olympic Games in Tokyo, which are – in reality – are set to take place in 2020 in Tokyo as the game suggests.
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 is actually quite impressive
Since this is merely a preview, I won’t go into too much depth about the game, we’ve gotta save that bit for the review when it comes out on Nov. 5th, 2019, so for today, we’re going to touch on some lighter things for the time being.
Ever since I first saw Sonic and Mario share a joint adventure in Super Smash Bros. Melee, it has just seemed all is right in the world regarding these two mainstay characters, both having served as software and hardware exclusive rivals for a rather long time.
But now, their team-ups remain simply adequate and that doesn’t change at all with Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. While this surely isn’t a fighting game by any means, it doesn’t mean that their villainous counterparts aren’t going to be a terrible team-up.
To keep things short and simple, it’s best just to say that Bowser and Dr. Robotnik are once again up to no good and now, it’s once again up to Sonic, Mario, and pals to say the day through the power of the Olympic games. To keep things simple: We’re going to talk about minor things, no story, nothing of the sort, but rather, about what my starting experience has been like so far.
To keep things simple: Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 is actually quite impressive from the very start and it’s an homage to everything classic.
Fencing and Dream Karate are easy enough and they are rather fun events
When you are first introduced, things unfold as you would expect with a bit of story, a few tutorials, and then off you go. Among the few modes, comes fencing and martial arts, both highly recognized sports in recent times. In Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, you will find each event type plays entirely different from one another.
For example, Fencing is its own type of game, it requires patience, awareness, and watching to see what kind of timing your enemy has. For me, I enjoyed my ability to choose almost any character from every franchise and would often opt for characters such as Silver Sonic, Luigi or even Princess Peach.
Fencing requires patience, reading what your opponent is up to and timing your parries just right while your own attempts to score will need to well-timed in order to score the points you need in order to win your duel. On the opposite end is Dream Karate, which as it sounds, is crazier than it actually is.
Dream Karate is frantic, seeing that multiple players, four to be exact, compete to fill up as many squares as they can by knocking enemies around the grid, filling it up as much as they can before the match ends or they reach match point. The person with the most squares marked wins the match, which as easy as it sounds, will keep you busy, but it’s an amazing party mode and it’s one my five-year-old nephew and I haven’t been able to get enough of when we play together.
If you are wondering, we were able to do the modes with a single Joy-Con each, making the game easily accessible and quite fun to experience. I do recommend checking out modes such as Skateboarding, which takes full use of the Joy-Con and even sees you use it to your advantage and with exact precision to stay ahead of the competition. Fencing and Dream Karate are easy enough and they are rather fun events that you’ll find yourself playing several times over.
One of the niftiest things that we want to talk about, you’ll have to wait for our review, which is set to go live on Nov. 5th, 2019.
While there is a lot to talk about, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 is one of those amazingly powerful experiences, one that has changed all my perceptions of what Olympic-themed games are like. For now, however, it’s an astonishing game, one that we’ll be talking about more in-depth in the upcoming weeks.
Until then, our lips are sealed and we can’t even discuss one of the niftiest things that we want to talk about, you’ll have to wait for our review, which is set to go live on Nov. 5th, 2019, when Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 launches on the exact same day exclusively for Nintendo Switch.
About the Writer(s):
Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the borders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter or Facebook.