Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Winter Games

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Although the Wii version of Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Games was the one that gained the most attention due to its astronomical sales figures, the DS version was no slouch either. Since its release in January last year it has managed to shift over four million copies worldwide and is showing no signs of slowing down yet. This means the wintery sequel has just as much to live up to on the DS as it does on its motion-controlled brother.

Much like its predecessor, the DS version of Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Winter Games doesn't simply take the Wii version's events and try to adapt them to the DS. Instead, it takes a selection of the Wii events that still work in a handheld format, then ditches the rest and replaces them with different events. This means the DS version has the likes of cross-country skiing and the biathlon, which sees you skiing and shooting targets in succession.

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There's also a completely different selection of the fancy Dream Events from those in the Wii game, with 12 unique events that mix winter sports with characters and items from the Mario and Sonic universes. They're a fun way to keep things interesting amid the strictly traditional snow and ice-based events. After all, let's face it, all that white would look a bit dull after a while. It's just a shame that their use of the Mario and Sonic environments is slightly more generic than the Wii version's. Whereas you could easily point out levels from Mario Kart, Super Mario Galaxy, Sonic Heroes and Sonic Adventure in some of the Wii game's Dream Events, the DS events consist of more generic areas with Mario and Sonic elements (like power-ups and standard enemies) added to them.

The Dream Team
The DS version doesn't have the Wii game's Festival mode, so there's no option to play through every event. However, it has something more interesting: the Adventure Tours mode. This is essentially a full adventure mode with a proper plot and character interaction. Eggman and Bowser have melted all the snow and kidnapped the Snow Spirits, who are responsible for making more appear. So in order to get back the snow in time for the Winter Olympics, Mario and Sonic properly team up for the first time and set off on an adventure together.
This makes for some really interesting moments which will have both Sonic and Mario fans feeling both chuffed and weirded out at the same time. Watching Tails say "you must be Mario, nice to meet you" feels really odd, as if Peggy Mitchell was to suddenly turn up at the Rovers Return for a drink, or if Cartman from South Park was to move to Springfield and become Bart Simpson's classmate. This feeling persists throughout this mode. Sonic meeting Luigi, Toad, Shyguy and the like feels similarly unusual, but in a cosy, cockle-warming way.

There's more to the Adventure Tours mode than creepy crossover action, of course. It's actually an interesting way to give added single-player depth to the game. As you progress through each of the game's areas and encounter different characters, you're given challenges that require you to finish each event in a certain way. Beat speed skating in less than 50 seconds, do three ring dash moves in a Rocket Ski Jumping event, and so on.
As you complete these challenges, other characters in the game will join your team, each with their own abilities to help you proceed. Tails' ability to fix machines means he can mess around with control panels and open electric gates, for example.

It's not exactly Final Fantasy, and it's always fairly simple to work out where to go next, but it's an interesting and well-thought out way to add a bit of variety between the challenges. It's just a great little mode, and one that actually makes the DS version a more enjoyable single-player experience than the Wii one. It was good to see Sonic turn up in Smash Bros, and the first Olympics title was fun in an "oh look, Luigi's running next to Eggman" sort of way, but this is the first time that gaming's
two greatest heroes actually get to team up.

Believe it or not, if you have both a Wii and
a DS and you're not really bothered about multiplayer action, we'd recommend you pick up the DS version of this instead of the Wii one. It's not quite as retro-heavy as the Wii game but the Adventure Tours mode gives it more depth for anyone playing the game on their own.