Line #16 YMMV/MarioAndSonicAtTheOlympicGames


1	%%* {{Adorkable}}:
2	%%** Sonic has his moments as this in some games.
3	%%** Blaze, especially compared to the more energetic and social Amy, Peach, and Daisy.
4	* BaseBreakingCharacter: Zavok and Zazz. Their inclusion in ''Rio 2016'' is a very sour point for those who can't stand ''VideoGame/SonicLostWorld'' and/or the Deadly Six. Others aren't so bothered, as they're only 2 out of a roster of about 40 characters in the game, and both of them are exclusive to only one event each (table tennis and boxing respectively).
5	* BreatherLevel: In the later chapters of ''Tokyo 2020'''s Story Mode, the events can feel [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard very unfair]], but facing Jet in Football Kickoffs is surprisingly easy, as his goalie will often make no attempt to block your ball, and Jet himself will often kick the ball straight into you.
6	* BrokenBase:
7	** ''Rio 2016'' Wii U replacing the Dream Events set in the Mario & Sonic universe with Duel Events set in Locations around Rio has caused mixed reactions. Some are okay with it while others see them as a poor replacement for Dream Events, which were the part they mostly looked forward to.
8	** The entire concept is this. Some are massively disappointed that a crossover between two of the most iconic characters in gaming is wasted on what is essentially a glorified mini-game compilation, while others argue the idea makes sense since the Olympics plays well into their [[UsefulNotes/ConsoleWars famous rivalry]] and that a proper action-adventure/platformer game featuring them would be difficult to achieve given the differences between the two franchises.
9	* CriticProof: Reviews for all games were mixed, and the mainstream doesn't seem to care. It's mainly because fans wished that this crossover would be used for {{Platform Game}}s instead.
10	* CriticalDissonance: The London game had considerably worse reviews from professional critics when compared to Vancouver, but fans tend to regard it as being as good, if not better than its predecessor.
11	* EnjoyTheStorySkipTheGame: Those that find the gameplay average tend to greatly appreciate the character interactions, especially for the extended Sonic cast, who've been DemotedToExtra in most Sonic media after their introduction. It's also very appealing to fans of the extended Mario cast, especially for infamously overlooked characters like Princess Daisy and Waluigi, who get much greater screentime and development in these games than in their home series.
12	* EvenBetterSequel: The handheld renditions of Vancouver and London are well-regarded for their quality, as are their home console counterparts. Having a strong single player campaign, a unique story mode, and clever interactions between the characters certainly helps their case.
13	* GrowingTheBeard: While the first game (Beijing 2008) wasn't bad by any means, it was a quite underwhelming minigame-a-thon. [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness Only four Dream Events, and the famous characters seem to be there just to be there]]. In the sequels Vancouver 2010 and London 2012, everything was shifted into overdrive. Four new characters (Donkey Kong, Bowser Jr., Silver, and Metal Sonic) were introduced to expand the roster, Boss Characters were introduced, the handheld versions were given their own little story modes, Dream Events were expanded upon and actually took place in iconic locations from both franchises, and the games overall were given a lot more personality, making the games stand out from the other ''Mario'' spinoffs.
14	%% Do not add any COVID-19-related HarsherInHindsight example here as there was nothing harsh to begin with (FYI, there is a FailedFutureForecast example on the main page for this case)
15	* HilariousInHindsight:
16	** In the Rio 2016 closing ceremony, one of the characters used for the linking sequence for the handover between Rio and Japan was Mario, complete with a Warp Pipe set up by Manga/{{Doraemon}}.
17	** Then at the Tokyo 2020 Opening Ceremony, they played music from several video games. One of which was the music for the [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog1 Star Light Zone]], a remix of which appears in the Nintendo DS version of the first game. With the Mario-themed segment in Rio 2016's closing, and Star Light Zone appearing in Tokyo 2020, Mario and Sonic ''really'' are at the Olympic Games after all!
18	** The sight of Shadow figure-skating amused many fans, seeing it as something weird for him to bring his StockShonenRival arrogance to. Later, ''Anime/YuriOnIce'' became a hugely popular male figure skating anime where many of the athletes were similarly arrogant and SeriousBusiness. In addition, one of the songs, "Theme of King J.J.", contains his catchphrase from his [[VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog self-titled game:]] "This is WHO I AM!"
19	** Watching video game characters doing synchronized swimming in the summer events to real-world compositions might elicit a chuckle or two from players, but it gets much funnier after one remembers that the inverse happened at the 2004 Athens Olympics; the real-life Team USA [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUmnhU8KOk8 did their synchronized swimming routine to video game music]] - "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9IkmZLFkFw Liberi Fatali]]" and "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ff7P91YRP7U Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec]]" from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' - and even ended up winning bronze medals for it.
20	** The climax of ''Tokyo 2020'''s story mode has Eggman dramatically announce "It's... THE END!" when the game's about to die and the world fades around them. A few years later, ''VideoGame/SonicFrontiers'' had its villain literally named THE END that also had world-destroying properties.
21	* ItsTheSameNowItSucks: Fans have criticized the series for keeping the same roster since ''Vancouver'' for a decade, despite recycled assets. And the guest characters introduced in ''Rio'' fail to fulfill the need of an expansion, since each of them are only playable in one specific sport.
22	* MainstreamObscurity: The games are some of the best selling games of all time and eclipse even the main ''Sonic'' games. Despite this, you'll be hard pressed to find either ''Mario'' or ''Sonic'' fans mention the ''Olympic'' titles. They rarely get discussed by gamers.
23	* MemeticMutation: Shirtless Wario and Eggman[[labelnote:Explanation]]When the diving and swimming events were revealed for ''Tokyo 2020'' and that all the male human characters would be shirtless, Wario and Eggman got a lot attention for reasons such as lacking belly buttons and Wario's [[BarbieDollAnatomy barely-visible nipples]] among more [[{{Gonk}} obvious]] [[FanDisservice reasons]].[[/labelnote]]
24	** [[WebVideo/RealTimeFandub WHO POSTED MY NUDES ON TWITTER.COM!?]][[labelnote:Explanation]]The above meme also brought to light [=SnapCube's=] ''Real Time Fandub'' of ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'', specifically when [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Eggman's nude pics got leaked on Twitter]]. The jokes were inevitable.[[/labelnote]]
25	* {{Narm}}: Males can take part in female-centric events such as synchronized swimming or rhythmic ribbon gymnastics. Cue snickers as [[LGBTFanbase Bowser]], [[FatBastard Wario]], [[FountainOfMemes Waluigi]], [[GeniusBruiser Donkey Kong]], or [[StoutStrength Vector]] participate.
26	* NightmareFuel:
27	** The Hammer Throw event in ''London 2012'' has the characters letting out a [[ScreamingWarrior scream]] as they prepare to throw the hammer, which generally sounds as [[LargeHam over-the-top]] as you'd expect. When the character in question is Daisy, however, the [[https://youtu.be/vJv7TCIfRTA?t=20 scream]] sounds surprisingly realistic and blood-curdling.
28	** The ending of ''Tokyo 2020'''s story mode has [[spoiler:the video game Sonic, Mario, Eggman, Bowser, and Toad are trapped in's battery slowly run out. While Bowser thinks they'll be trapped in the game forever, the truth is even worse--everyone trapped will cease to exist. The battery dies just as an escape route is opened, causing the game world to fade into nothingness while everyone's speech fades in and out. While Eggman yells at everyone to hold on, no one can move, and they slowly dissolve into a single pixel as the screen flickers and goes dark, taking them with it... [[DisneyDeath they all get better, though.]]]]
29	* SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames: Licensed Olympic video games were generally unremarkable until this series popped up.
30	* OlderThanTheyThink:
31	** The [=YouTube=] trailer for Sonic at the Olympic Games - Tokyo 2020 has quite a few people surprised there’s a version without Mario. In actuality, the first two games had similar counterparts before they were pulled from the Apple Store.
32	** This series is not the first time Nintendo has had anything to do with an Olympics-themed game. They previously published an Olympic-themed game about ''{{Anime/Hamtaro}}'' called ''Hamtaro: The Ham Ham Games''. What’s more, the game was made by Creator/AlphaDream, whose last project before their bankruptcy was assisting with the development of ''Tokyo 2020''.
33	* ScrappyMechanic:
34	** In the 100m Freestyle minigame of the DS version of ''Beijing 2008'', most characters require you to either rub horizontally, rub vertically, spin in a circle, or trace a semicircle. Vector requires you to trace a ''figure-8''.
35	** Characters being limited to certain events in the handheld versions, a trend that began with London and is continues with Rio. Being the mascots, Mario and Sonic are exempt from this rule. This extends to the guest characters being restricted to certain events in ''Rio 2016'' and ''Tokyo 2020''.
36	** While the plot is good and the unique character animations are memorable, the loads of tedious, ''unskippable'' dialogue in ''Tokyo 2020'''s Story Mode is often the point of criticism.
37	* {{Sequelitis}}:
38	** The direct sequel to the [[GrowingTheBeard Beard-Growing]] ''Vancouver'' and ''London'' games, ''Sochi 2014'' had big shoes to fill and had the unfortunate timing of being the first M&S game to be released on the then-new Wii U, which made development and marketing awkward. Sochi had no handheld edition on the 3DS; the number of Dream Events was reduced to just ''eight''; and the single-player features were bare-bones compared to the two prequels.
39	** ''Rio 2016'', despite finally expanding the character roster and having a 3DS version again, had a very lukewarm reception due to the introduction of a few [[ScrappyMechanic Scrappy Mechanics]], namely the elimination of Dream Events and the odd decision to lock certain characters to specific events.
40	** ''Tokyo 2020'' was also lackluster to some, compared to even ''Sochi 2014'' and ''Rio 2016'', for how barebones the single player experience is (the Quick Match and Story mode is pretty all there is to it), the removal of Miis, custom music remixes, Tournament mode, and other features players loved in the previous games, the amount of Dream Events only being ''three'', and lack of bonus content after completing Story Mode. It did not help that players had waited a long time over the skipped Pyeongchang 2018 Olympics and expected Sega to craft up something very spectacular for an Olympics happening in their hometown.
41	* SpiritualSuccessor: The Dream Racing event in ''Tokyo 2020'' is believed to be one to the ''VideoGame/SonicRiders'' series, with {{hoverboard}} racing and a futuristic tone.
42	* ThatOneAchievement: Drift Monster in the DS version of ''Winter Games'' is quite hard to earn. You have to beat Extreme Snowboarding in less than 3 minutes. That's 90 seconds for each of the 2 laps. What makes it infuriatingly difficult is that your efforts to beat such time limit feel more like a LuckBasedMission, as it's really hard to avoid getting hit by enemy items when you're in the lead, and a single hit will significantly damage your chances of meeting the time limits. Same goes for trying to get the gold star in the last FinalBoss battle in the Adventure mode.
43	* ThatOneBoss: The match against [[DualBoss Bowser and Dr. Eggman]] in Fever Hockey in the DS version of ''Vancouver 2010'' has become quite infamous for being a huge DifficultySpike.
44	* ThatOneLevel:
45	** The Museum Sneak minigame in ''Tokyo 2020'''s Story Mode. While the first three floors are a cakewalk, the fourth and final floor [[DifficultySpike becomes difficult]]. The patterns of the moving Koopa Troops are aligned together dangerously close and require precise timing, not to mention the Hammer Bro who is able to move freely and catch you easily. Expect 75% of your time to spent on this floor as you constantly fall into a Koopa Troop's spotlight. If you decide to rely on MercyMode and skip the minigame, remember in order to lose, you have to spend all of your 20 minutes, so expect to wait an hour.
46	** ''Tokyo 2020'''s Marathon Story Mode level. It is absolutely brutal in terms of difficulty when it comes to properly pacing yourself and trying to clear it in general. Worst part? You don't just need to beat Bowser in the run. You have to come in first place, against ''67 other participants'', otherwise it counts as a mission failure.
47	* ThatOneSideQuest:
48	** The unlockable sixth and final mission for each character in the first game can be tougher than any of the regular missions. One repeat offender happens to be a final mission in the Wii version where you have to beat the 110m hurdles by perfectly clearing all 8 hurdles. There is only a brief window of time you have to clear each hurdle, and you'll have to resort to TrialAndErrorGameplay to figure out the best time to hit the jump button to clear each hurdle perfectly as requested.
49	** Good luck trying to earn gold stars for all the missions in the Adventure Mode of the DS version of the first ''Winter Games''.
50	** Several of the Carnival Challenges in the Wii U version of ''Rio 2016'' can become this since the price to enter them ''doubles'' with every failure, and unless you know all the tips (which are ''locked'' until you first hear them), you're likely to find a challenge that doesn't even make sense. How many people know what a Dump is in Beach Volleyball anyway?
51	* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: ''Sochi 2014'' removed the option for the Wii Balance Board in events like Snowboarding and Skiing that were available in ''Vancouver 2010''. Instead, they chose motion controls using the gamepad.
52	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: [[VideoGame/SonicRiders Jet the Hawk]]'s most obvious trait is his love for racing on boards. This would make him an obvious candidate for guest playable character in events such as Skateboarding, Surfing, and [[{{Hoverboard}} especially]] Dream Racing, but he is restricted to Football in ''Rio 2016'' and ''Tokyo 2020'', much to his fans' disappointment.
53	* ToughActToFollow: ''Vancouver 2010'' and ''London 2012''. These two games [[GrowingTheBeard grew the beard]] and introduced many beloved features and characters to give the ''Mario & Sonic'' games a ton of personality and charm, [[EvenBetterSequel especially]] the handheld versions, which received solid acclaim. The Wii U entries ''Sochi 2014'' and ''Rio 2016'' had a lot to live up to and [[{{Sequelitis}} ended up with a far worse reception]] both by professional critics and fans. The Switch entry ''Tokyo 2020'' managed to fare a tad better for having a more rounded story mode, but the continued lack of Dream Events and continuing to lock popular characters to specific events overall prevented it from reaching the reception of ''Vancouver'' and ''London''.
54	* UnexpectedCharacter: The inclusion of Sticks the Badger from ''WesternAnimation/SonicBoom'' in ''Rio 2016'' came as a major shock to fans, given how little Sega has historically acknowledged characters from continuities outside of the mainline one.
55	* WinBackTheCrowd: After the bare bones presentation of ''Sochi 2014'' and ''Rio 2016'' (least on the Wii U for the latter, the 3DS version was cited to be somewhat decent), ''Tokyo 2020'' finally put more effort into things by giving a pretty quirky Story Mode and the return of Dream Events. While reviews did cite that there were actually fewer characters in this one compared to ''Rio 2016'' and would've liked more Dream Events and character selection for the retro style, the game likewise is a vast improvement as well.

Context YMMV / MarioAndSonicAtTheOlympicGames