Name: Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games
Platform: Wii U
Style: Multiplayer Sport/Party
Publisher(s): Nintendo
Developer(s): Sega Sports R&D
Release Date: June 24, 2016
Date of Completion: January 9, 2018
So, let me start off by saying that the WiiU wasn’t the best console that Nintendo has produced. Out of the 746 games that were created for the console, I only fifteen of them and PLAYED 14 of them to completion leaving out Xenoblade Chronicle X because I wasn’t that interested in it. And, funny enough, I only played one sport on that list: Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (my goodness, that’s a mouthful).
Playing off the publicity of the actual 2016 Rio Olympic, this game has characters from two of the most popular franchises to date: Mario and Sonic. Each character has fixed stats (power, speed and technique variation) that dictates how they will perform in a particular sport. But, wait, it gets better. The list consists of practically same sporting events that were showcased at the ceremony, with the exception of a few due to the complexity of the sport. This gave a certain level of realism to the game that I quickly grew to appreciate.
Another little tidbit that Nintendo added to the game that I thought I was cute was the “fun fact” feature. The approach was very simple: when you beat someone from a country, they will appear on the beach (HUB) and deliver a fun fact about their home country. For example, after beating someone in Belgium in a Cycling event, I got a learn that their country house a fabulous comic strip museum. I found that to be super cute in their approach to get kids urge to know more about another country thus making them want to complete more events.
Adding to the super cuteness of the game, players are able to compete with their Mii and customize their stats based on what you’re wearing at the time. This, of course, meant that you would have to continue playing to acquire more outfits to swap out in order to make your Mii excel at a particular skill (for me, it was speed).
The only “downside” to this marvelous game is, well, its charm can wear out after a while. Don’t get me wrong, the game is wonderful, and I loved playing it but I stopped after a while because I lost interest in it rather quickly. Why? Because there’s nothing else to do outside of playing events both locally and online. Like, literally nothing else. It could be that I’m not into sports as it is but, still, it was pretty damn fast. Still, I’m not going to hold that over its head because if I put it in front of a kid, they will be entertained for hours.
Now, some people didn’t like it because they think it was just cashing in on the Olympics. However, if you read the news, it was licensed by the International Olympic Committee so…yeah. Haha. That being said, I give it a 7 out of 10 because off the list of events you can play, the customization of the Mii and the fun fact feature as well as the lack of any other features outside of it.
