Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 Review - Win A Gold Medal With Your Favorite Gaming Character

Written by Brandon Hofer on November 21, 2019

Reviews: Compete with and against your favorites from both the Mario and Sonic franchise to see who can win the most gold medals.

The games in Tokyo won’t happen until next summer but you can win gold medals right now with Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. Mario and Sonic have once again returned to the Olympic Games with a number of different sports to compete in, along with a brand new story that features heroes and villains from both the Mario and Sonic universes respectively. You will compete in some real sports just like Olympic athletes along with some special sports that were created just for this game. As you progress through the story you will be introduced to the majority of the sports available in the game, as well as the many locations throughout Tokyo.

With this being a game based on the Olympics the majority of the sports that we will see in Summer 2020 are featured in this game. There are events like the 100-meter dash, 110-meter hurdles, discus throw, boxing, swimming, gymnastics and more. There are also sports that will be making their debut at the 2020 Games such as surfing, skateboarding, and sport climbing. In addition to that, there are some “dream” events. These are pretty neat events that I don’t want to spoil but it involves racing, shooting, and karate both with and against various characters from the Mario and Sonic franchises. You can play most of these sports at the 2020 Tokyo Games along with some other ones at the 1964 Tokyo Games (more on that in a minute). You can go through and play these sports solo or with up to three other friends to see who is the ultimate virtual Olympian.

Up above I mentioned being able to play both in 2020 Tokyo and in 1964 Tokyo. You do this by going through the story mode. The basic premise is that Dr. Eggman and Bowser concocted a scheme to try and trap Sonic and Mario in an Olympics game that was set in 1964 back when Tokyo was hosting those Olympic games. Shenanigans ensued and their plan backfired as Mario, Soni, Bowser, and Dr. Eggman all became trapped in the game. While it isn’t an exceedingly deep story I still don’t want to spoil anything so I won’t go into any more details. You should be able to guess what needs to be done though. You will be competing in both Olympics to try and set everything right with Luigi and Tails leading the charge in 2020 while Mario and Sonic battle it out with Bowser in Eggman in 1964 as they try to figure out how they can get back to the real world. It is a fun story to go through and is filled with historical facts about both the 1964 and 2020 Olympic Games that you might find interesting. There are real locations used in the game as well. There is the Olympic Stadium, Tokyo Tower, Shibuya Crossing, Musashino Forest Sport Plaza and a lot more. So not only is it fun competing and going through the different Olympic sports but the game can be a bit educational as well if you explore a bit.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 also features both local and online play. With local play, you can connect and compete with other Nintendo Switch consoles using the system’s wireless feature. With online play that should be pretty self-explanatory where you go on the internet and compete against others. Online play features both “ranked” and “free” matches so you if you just want to kick back and play you can do so, however, if you want to engage in some serious competition you can do that as well in the ranked category. Once you go online you can “select event and play” or “gather and play”. The difference between those two is one where you can select an event to play online and the other one allows you to gather in rooms and compete in various events. During my time with the online suite of events everything seemed to work well. I didn’t notice any lag while playing and everything flowed smoothly as I competed against other players to try and win the gold medal.

Mario and Sonic’s return to the Olympics game is a fun adventure. There is the fun of competing in real Olympic sports with some of your favorite gaming characters, in addition to the few sports they created to try and mix things up. I enjoyed my time going through the story mode and I can see the urge to play this game when the real Olympics are taking place in the Summer of 2020. I also enjoyed the quick play aspect where I could almost immediately jump into a sport and just enjoy competing. If you are a fan of the previous titles (or even if this is your first one) there should be something here for everyone to enjoy. It doesn’t take itself too seriously and is just here for you to have fun. Will you be able to win the gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic games?