Let me set the premise of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 for you, so you know just how ridiculous and awesome it truly is of a plot. Bowser and Dr. Robotnik have teamed up to take Mario and Sonic to the year 1964. From there, they plan on leaving the video game heroes behind at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium and then go back to our time to, you know, rule the world in evil. One super fun thing to note, the characters actually look like their ORIGINAL versions when they go back in time. Mario is 8bit and Sonic is 16bit. I thought that was a lovely touch. Things go wrong, of course, and everyone is stuck in 1964 because Bowser and Robotnik didn’t have a clear cut plan on how to get back to 2019. From there, you just explore the Olympics Stadium and compete in events. That’s the plot and I absolutely love it.
It goes to set the premise on the kind of game that you’re going to get yourself into. You will compete with characters from both the Mario and Sonic franchises as you traverse Tokyo from Olympic event to Olympic event. As a big fan of not only The Olympics themselves, but games from my youth such as Track and Field, Winter Games, California Games etc; I found myself having a blast. Oddly enough, I’ve actually NEVER played a previous Mario & Sonic Olympic game and this is making me want to go back and try them out. Yet, this review isn’t about those games, it’s about this one; so let’s get to it.
After getting yourself going in the game after the plots been established its time for you to explore Tokyo and start playing in the games. They range from skateboarding, surfing, sport climbing, and karate—and a variety of events including archery, gymnastics, judo, boxing, marathon, football, equestrian, track and field, and many more. Its truly boggling the amount of time you could spend in this game, playing all of the events and mastering them. Talk about replay value!
The controls vary on each game as they are all vastly different from each other but it’s great that you can have some variety. There’s multiple ways to play the games including motion and button controls, single and dual Joy-Cons, single-player and multiplayer, local and online! It truly is one of those games that you could play for hours on end and never get bored with it. The variety with the controls really makes playing the games a delight as you can mix up your play style and attack boxing differently than you would say, skateboarding. I often don’t use motion controls on the Switch but I found myself stepping outside of my comfort zone and trying to utilize them more.
Overall, I can’t say enough great things about this game. From the ridiculous plot, the fun games throughout, you actually learn the HISTORY behind the Tokyo Olympics even; the game has something for everyone. I can’t wait to explore more and dive back in with some of my favorite video game characters of all-time, playing through some of my favorite Olympic events!
*DFAT received a review code for this game