MARIO AND SONIC RACING PLUS
MARIO AND SONIC RACING SERIES

The latter generally stick to the kind of button-mashing template we’ve known and loved since Track and Field – although there’s usually only the one button to mash along, with a few to prod sharply when indicated. The former group play like simplified, dumbed-down versions of an arcade sports sim although they’re enjoyable and accessible, they’re hampered by some ropey team AI. The events fall broadly into two types, with the team sports – Soccer, Rugby Sevens and Beach Volleyball – divided off from the athletics, swimming, gymnastics and archery disciplines. Fail, and you can just pick another discipline to tackle next, safe in the knowledge that you’ll be able to have another go later – not in four years’ time. Take home medals and you’ll win rings and coins, new hats and clothing, or the opportunity to challenge and unlock new Sega and Nintendo stars. Although you’re not actually playing live against other players, the game uses their Miis, complete with any customisations, to convince you that you are. Instead, the real meat of Rio 2016 lies in taking your Mii through several levels of Olympic disciplines, going for gold in each one. You see, while you can take the usual favourites from Mario and Sonic’s crew through single events, either solo or with up to four players, there’s none of the usual taking your team through the Olympics stuff. It’s a genial place, where you can meet Miis of various nationalities, discover fun facts about their countries and collect their national flags – a fitting side-objective for a game that, whatever the title, puts Nintendo’s avatars centre stage.

MARIO AND SONIC RACING PLUS

There are echoes of Splatoon in the way it’s put together, with a hub based around a Rio beach from which you can access single events, Olympic competitions, Mii-Verse and Customisation features – plus a whole lot more.

MARIO AND SONIC RACING SERIES

Yet, strangely enough, it’s the strongest and most innovative game the series has ever produced – and that includes the two Winter efforts.

Now Mario & Sonic at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games arrives with the motion controls dumped and any Wii U-specific features sidelined. Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games spiced things up with some weird event choices, and the even stranger Mario and Sonic-themed dream events, but it arrived just as the Wii was falling out of favour and motion controls were growing passé. This resulted in a game so bewildering and physically exhausting, that by the time you’d pumped your arms furiously through the 100 metres, you barely had the energy to work out which sequence of motions might actually launch a javelin. Back then we were just coming into the Wii’s golden era, where motion controls were still shiny and new. How things have changed since Mario & Sonic’s first Olympics outing in 2008.

Mario and sonic racing