MARIO AND SONIC AT THE OLYMPICS SERIES
Alright, let's go over all of the characters who appeared in all the console versions of the Mario & Sonic series and update them if at all possible. This one is a bit tough, as, just like with all of the previous sports series, almost nothing that any of the characters do is unique to them, but simply casts them in the role of competitor in the sports being played.
Across the six games, there are twenty characters fully playable in all events every single time, and outside of the second game, where four characters were added to the previous sixteen, this never changed. On the Mario side, this was Mario and Luigi, Princess Peach and Princess Daisy, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Wario and Waluigi, and Bowser and his kid Bowser Jr. On the Sonic side, this was Sonic, his best friends Tails and Knuckles, high queen stalker Amy Rose, his rivals Shadow and Silver, interdimensional princess Blaze the Cat, Chaotix Detective Agency leader Vector the Crocodile, and the mad scientist Dr. Eggman and his robotic clone Metal Sonic. These are all pretty standard faces I'd expect to see in a game like this, so I can't complain.
Honestly, the characters we can possible pull something from is the rivals, who appear as contenders in certain events and, in the last two games, can be played on those events only. On the Mario side, Birdo appears often, competing in team sports like badminton and hockey, likely due to her . . . possible status as a character as well as a species a la Yoshi and Toad. Rosalina is common as well, competing in rhythmic gymnastics and surfing, both likely due to her graceful nature. King Boo is also common, almost always in speed events like the sprint, skiing, and speed skating, which is kind of odd, as speed has never been the first trait I think of regarding the character. Diddy Kong frequently appears playing rugby specifically, while Dry Bowser has competed in several events like javelin throw, long jump, and hockey with a team of Dry Bones. Toad is almost always a support role, like referee, but he has competed in a relay race before, while Toadette has competed in hurdles. Ludwig, Larry, and Wendy (likely singled out from their siblings because, well, oldest, youngest, and . . .girl) competed in fencing, equestrian, and swimming respectively. Finally, we have seen Nabbit competing in a 100m race, Kamek competing in a sledge race, and a Banzai Bill of all this in a bobsleigh race.
Over on the Sonic side, Rouge the Bat, Shadow's friend and Knuckles' rival, appeared almost every single time but always in different events, including figure skating, hurdles, volleyball, and wall climbing, all of which I can't help but notice seem tailor-made to accentuate her notable . . . um, figure. I mean, I'm not saying that's necessarily what the developers were going for, but I can't really say it wasn't what they were going for. Outside of her, we frequently saw Dr. Eggman's alternate universe counterpart Eggman Nega competing in events like skiing, fencing, and karate, all of which lend to a more graceful, poised combatant. We also saw Jet the Hawk, Sonic's rival in the Riders games, competing in snowboarding, discus, and football, all heavily athletic events, as well as his teammate Wave the Swallow competing in a BMX tournament. Espio the Chameleon of Team Chaotix frequently acted as referee alongside Cream the Rabbit and his teammate Charmy Bee, but in the later games, he also competed in the triple jump event specifically. Sticks the Badger from Sonic Boom appeared in the Rio games, competing in archery, but did not return for the Tokyo games (most likely due to Boom's poor reception), while Zavok and Zazz, two Zeti from Sonic: Lost World, appear in boxing and table tennis events respectively.
As my standard has always been to save guest characters from other series until I actually cover those series, none of the Sonic characters' information really matters here, but I'll put a pin on it to revisit later. As for the Mario characters, most of it is stuff we have already included in their theoretical character designs, or traits like speed or grace that would probably be a part of their stats in the game as it is.
Thanks for reading! Next up, let's start going over the four handheld versions of the Mario & Sonic games, which, while being largely the same games, have a few differences worth noting.
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