Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (3DS)

MARIO AND SONIC AT THE LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES

Today, let's cover the first game in the series for the Nintendo 3DS and, by far, probably the most unique from its console counterpart. The game brings back all of the twenty main characters standard for this series, but has a slightly different set of events, most of which are the same but we do see a few unique ones, like the steeplechase, marathon, race walk, shot put, backstroke, breaststroke, marathon swim, platform diving, water polo, tennis, handball, taekwondo, horizontal bar, balance beam, floor, sprint, omnium, keirin, show jumping, sailing, double trap, rapid fire pistol, weightlifting, and a modern pentathlon. All of these were likely included to make good use of the touch screen.

The game, much like other handhelds, features a story mode, which, in my personal opinion is the best story mode in the Mario and Sonic series. It features a fairly compelling mystery, some solid character moments, and gives most of the characters involved, even the rivals and secondary characters, importance outside of the event they were challengers for. As a fan of both franchises and their characters, I appreciate that level of care from the writing team. The story covers a mysterious fog covering London the night before the Olympics, spawning phantom clones of the heroes intent on preventing them from competing in the games. Boo, King Boo, Dry Bones, Dry Bowser, Eggman Nega, Jet, Rouge, and E-123 Omega appear as rivals, while Big the Cat, Charmy Bee, Cream the Rabbit and her Chao Cheese, Orbot and Cubot, Espio, Lakitu, Kamek, Omochao, Shy Guy, and Toad all play a significant role in the plot.

Here's what we've got so far:

Characters:

Mario: power-ups, pipes

Luigi

Princess Peach

Princess Daisy

Yoshi

Donkey Kong

Wario

Waluigi

Bowser

Bowser Jr.

Sonic: spin dash, home attack

Tails

Knuckles

Amy Rose

Shadow

Silver

Blaze

Vector

Doctor Eggman

Metal Sonic

Toad

King Boo

Kamek

Dry Bowser

Boo

Shy Guy

Dry Bones

Lakitu

Rouge

Jet

Eggman Nega

Espio

Charmy

Cream and Cheese

Big

E-123 Omega

Omochao

Orbot and Cubot

Snow Spirits: snow

Phantasmal Clones

Stages:

Same Events from Before

steeplechase

marathon

race walk

shot put

backstroke

breaststroke

marathon swim

platform diving

water polo

tennis

handball

taekwondo

horizontal bar

balance beam

floor

sprint

omnium

keirin

show jumping

sailing

double trap

rapid fire pistol

weightlifting

modern pentathlon

Thanks for reading! Next up, we'll cover the handheld version of the Rio Games! (Sorry, nothing for Sochi)