M&S at the London 2012 Olympic games General and big horse (Oss) appreciation thread

[Your Vest Friend]

Final Episode; The Grand Showdown

-The Heroes come across the fog-amplifying system, and Tails is amazed.

-Tails says that the spoil-sports must be stopped, but Mr.Turtle calls out "Look who's calling the kettle black!" I was calling it silver but whatever.

-Eggman and Bowser show themselves in their glowing thundery new forms and laugh about their impending victory.

-Just before the villains can show their practical power, Toad walkie-talkies the heroes. Toad tells what's going on everywhere;

-Omega, Espio and Charmy cleared up the Main Stadium fog.

-"You must dig deep. Unlock your true potential"~Almost as cheesy as his Generations dialogue.

-The fog lifted in Hyde Park, where the girls are. Some funny exchanges there.

-Wario and Waluigi are done.

-So are Yoshi, Silver, Shadow and Jet at Tower Bridge.

-So are Knuckles, vector and Donkey Kong.

-Vector asks him if he's even considered going into the detective business. DK declines.

-Vector starts stamping his foot impatiently after this.

-How did all of tha communicate to that one walkie talkie, anyway?

-Usual pre-showdowny stuff commences.

-There's four more challenegs to beat, and you don't have a choice this time!

-After ALL THAAAAAT, the place finally begins to blow, and Tails tells them that they're still not done. The villains try to recover, but Luigi and Tails block them. Mario and Sonic finally put a stopper in the plan and depower Bowser and Eggman.

-Big ben rings once the deed is done and the jar is shown sealed.

-Bowser and Eggman moan about how they'll never be able to join the games now, and Tails goes through the process to recall that they DID get invites, something just happened to them. They're allowed to compete as long as they bring their ID, but they don't have them...so the heroes decide to vouch for them and bring them over to the main stadium...as culprits.

-So basically, it has the same ending as Mario Party DS.

-The opening ceremony goes off without a hitch, and Sonic and Mario brofist again, as the game pans up to fireworks.

-Cue credits.

-And then there are challenge bonuses, but I won't bother with them because that's not the main story.

I'll give my personal thoughts on it a bit later.

[Doctor MK]

Righto then... I got the game this morning and I just beat Story mode, so I shall give my verdict of the game so far.

In short - it's one step forward, two steps back.

First, the good. The story is actually pretty decent with some well presented cutscenes, a lot of interaction between all the different characters from the Mario and Sonic universes, and a number of references to British culture along the way. Although the premise is pretty damn stupid - it essentially boils down to Bowser and Eggman throwing a hissy fit because they weren't invited to the Olympics - it actually feels like Mario and Sonic are setting out on a proper adventure, and the setting is actually made a part of the story rather than just being a convenient backdrop. It's very much how a Mario & Sonic tale set at the London 2012 Olympics should be.

However, despite it having way better production values than Winter Olympics DS (did I mention that this game looks absolutely stunning, by the way?), it doesn't feel like it ever really surpasses Adventure Tours in the gameplay department. There's no way to traverse London yourself, it's always cutscene leading into events leading into more cutscenes. Which works, don't get me wrong, but it would've been nice to explore the city a bit, especially as they make use of so many famous landmarks.

Regarding the actual events... they're a mixed bag. They're all bite-size chunks of actual Olympic events so don't expect anything too fleshed out, making it feel more like WarioWare than a proper sports sim. Some of the events are really fun (currently I am addicted to the Football one) whereas others are just downright stupid (grabbing a water bottle is hardly how I would have thought to represent a marathon). Luckily in the Story mode you get a choice of events to play most of the time, but even so, it does feel like SEGA have missed the mark a bit in places.

All in all, Mario & Sonic on 3DS is a decent package. It's by no means amazing but it's probably a bit better than its Wii counterpart if only for the Story mode, and I imagine anyone craving for some Mario and Sonic interaction will love that part of the game (as I have). There's a lot of missed potential here, especially considering this is the third instalment in the franchise, but if you're in need of a pick-up-and-play game that doesn't require a lot of thought, this is worth a look at least.

Edited February 10, 2012 by Doctor MK

[Your Vest Friend]

I...actually felt that the interaction skimped a bit this time. The interaction was very confined to the groups laid out unless you were a hero, and some characters got more chance to shine than others (compare Espio, who remained his stoic, mostly uninvolved self, to Omega, who far and away stole the second half of the story).

How far have you got in the challenge bonuses, if you've gone through some yet?

[Doctor MK]

I...actually felt that the interaction skimped a bit this time. The interaction was very confined to the groups laid out unless you were a hero, and some characters got more chance to shine than others (compare Espio, who remained his stoic, mostly uninvolved self, to Omega, who far and away stole the second half of the story).

How far have you got in the challenge bonuses, if you've gone through some yet?

[Someguy]

I get the feeling the large number of minigames is the reason character selection is so limited, so they didn't have to do as many animations on every single character. I have to wonder if it was a design choice by the 3DS team to focus on a large amount at the cost of other things, something from the SEGA higher ups or if there was something from the official Olympics people demanding that all these certain games get represented, tossing a lot of them into the 3DS version.

Not that it matters for me, I'll rent it or watch the story mode online and just wait for the next Winter Olympics for the 3DS, which would hopefully improve upon the story mode again and feature more entertaining games like snowboarding and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzZKNtAp4Cs.

[Your Vest Friend]

I c wat u posted thar, Dabbido.

Theres a lot of comedy this time around.

I would actually be inclined to disagree there. While it did have it's share of funny moments, expecially near the start, it took itself far more seriously than the Winter Olympic story mode ever did. I'd say the girls' episodes and the scene where Toad's suffering due to lack of air are great examples of this, it can get intense at times. Winter Olympics, while more enjoyable to me personally, never had a scene like that throughout the game, it was all played for comedy.

[dabbido]

Id love them to stop the Olympics but yeah its inevitable. Although to be honest I prefer the summer Olympics. Winter is nice but all has the same feel, not that I dislike snow, but so many events are similar and they are all in pretty much the same setting. While the Summer Olympic games have you running, swimming, playing field events, then playing table tennis and then dancing and and...you get the point theres much more variety. Oh well if it does bring more characters, longer events, dream events and the awesome story mode cutscenes plus the usual exploring then its a must buy. I think they should add more stuff like the shopping and include miis (dont know if this one includes them)

EDIT:

@VEDJ-F: Well...while the Winter Olympics had that overall non serious charm I never found it TOO funny it was more like "Hey Sonic! nice to meet you! oh look! theres Bowser jr!!! I think he wants to challenge you! You did it Sawnik! I knew you could! now we can melt the ice barrier" and so on. I mean it had its moments but...maybe Im amnesiac could you tell me some of the good moments? I think Ill have to play it again (yes thats a good excuse to play it again) but still none of those made me laugh too much. While Tails saying "Noo" when Sonic instinctively smashes the fog machine and he wanted to take a look at it or Dry Bowsers "Youre gonna get served!" or "Come on Bony Old Bone were outta here" or King Boos comment on Boo being noob And lets not forget: Toad: "Wait! if youre going to Hyde Park Im going too!" Mario : "*Shakes head*" So mean and so hilarious at the same time and in the end he goes with them even if he said no xD I was cracking up the whole time.

Edited February 11, 2012 by dabbido

[Doctor MK]

Ooh, one thing that needs to be said - this game has an awesome soundtrack, in particular the music during the cutscenes for Story mode. Really epic stuff at times, helps to drag you into the adventure and makes it seem all the more intense.

That's right, I just called a story based on Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games intense

Word, yo'.

[-Mark-]

Just got the game this morning, and I must confessed, I squeed when Jet turned up. :'D

One question though, in the free play event mode, can you ever pick who you want to play as? The few I checked only gave you a choice of four characters to use for each event. =/ Can/ how do you unlock more characters? And is Jet an unlockable/ playable character at all?

I will say that the cutscenes in this put Sonic Generations 3DS ones to absolute shame. Way to get your priorities straight, SEGA. D:

Edited February 11, 2012 by -Mark-

[Doctor MK]

Just got the game this morning, and I must confessed, I squeed when Jet turned up. :'D

One question though, in the free play event mode, can you ever pick who you want to play as? The few I checked only gave you a choice of four characters to use for each event. =/ Can/ how do you unlock more characters? And is Jet an unlockable/ playable character at all?

I will say that the cutscenes in this put Sonic Generations 3DS ones to absolute shame. Way to get your priorities straight, SEGA. D:

[Chocolate Cookie]

I am playing it now and I am enjoying it, Really liking the music and loving the dialogue, oh man gonna keep on playing and see how the other events plays like.

[Your Vest Friend]

Personally, given what I said about Challengers Episode 3;

Challenger Episode 3; Enter Bowser?! [NB: Hey, Bowser Jr's a Challenger!]

-It turns out, after the heroes turn around, that Bowser Jr does a killer impression of his daddy. It also turns out that he can do that thanks to the power of the evil fog. Gid, what CAN'T this fog do?!

-He asks if they found the laugh chilling, but they just shake their heads and explain that it isn't scary coming from a kid [Yoshi], that he's still a long way to go if he's still hiding in his pop's shadow [silver] and just generally act assholish towards Jr. MEANIES. :<

-Shadow asks if the Fog Machine was one of his tricks, and Bowser Jr claims not to be behind it. He blames his papa.

-Shadow is not surprised at this.

-Silver ups the assholish by asking how a little kid could make a machine like that (TAILS IS STANDING LESS THAN A METRE AWAY YOU FUCKING IDIOT).

-Tails asks everyone to be nice and leave him alone since he's just a little kid, ignoring the fact that Tails is probably the same age.

-Bowser Jr takes it as well as you might expect, and says that he'll tell his papa that they were teasing him. Silver and Yoshi resume their bullying AGAIN. Jr, just skip the frivolties and KICK THEIR ASSES ALREADY.

-They even laugh when he challenges them! I'm sorry, Tails is there, I cannot take this seriously. Nonetheless, Jr promises to tell them where Bowser is if they win.

-Tails is gleeful about the fact Sonic will be able to sit back and wat--NO I'M LOSING ON PURPOSE DICKHEADS.

-So in this technically 3vs1 bout, you only have to do one character's set, but each character has a series of events to compete in. Shadow focuses on running, Yoshi on jumping/floating and Silver on special events. They sounded interesting, so I went with that.

-Trampoline involves moving your character to as close to the centre as possible and pressing A at the right time. Silver's last jump special is pretty neat.

-Basketball is really hard. That's all.

-Floor is easy, just tap, slide and swish to the beat.

-Once that's done, Silver and Yoshi berate Jr more. Shadow asks where Bowser is, but Tails says that the machine should be stopped before anything else. Shadow bashes it to pieces.

-Bowser Jr accidentally lets slip that he knows that he's working with Eggman, but not as to why (because the reason is just too embarassing to tell your kid).

-The heroes decide that it's worth making Jr talk more and get angry. Jr then summons a Bullet Bill and ha ha fuck you all.

-Yoshi goes off to deal with him, while the S/T (Jet decided to depart, and Silver and Shadow decide to check elsewhere) head to the British Museum.

Edited February 11, 2012 by VEDJ-F

[dabbido]

Haha awesome! I also felt they were just too mean with Bowser Jr. I love that they let you get revenge for him. By the way VEDJ-F cam you upload a youtube video of that little bit? where Bowser Jr gets his revenge? or the main version? I dont care if its crappy quality as long as I can see the text and catch a glimpse of whats happening xD

[Your Vest Friend]

I dunno if any equipment of mine is up to it, to be honest. My laptop may be the only one powerful enough to handle it, but it'd be tricky.

[-Mark-]

Played a bit more of the events earlier. I've gotta say, I'm not loving the amount of motion control some events use. As someone who quite often plays his 3DS lying down, it's a bit annoying to have to move into various positions just for certain games. And even disregarding blatant laziness, half the time I feel like I'm going to damage the hinge/ top screen on my 3DS by moving it around so much. It's all good and well having motion controls, but Nintendo really haven't made the hinge sturdy enough for them to feel like you can use them properly without fear or damaging the system.

Oh, and does anyone else find the breathing/ blowing minigame in swimming outright uncomfortable?

[Chocolate Cookie]

Where I am up to I learned a few more things.

Bowser was acting down/angry because of his toothache.

Eggman got the Urn from Wario who lost to Metal Sonic.

And I am going to guess that one of the girls lost Eggman's & Bowser's invitation.

[Your Vest Friend]

That's where I am as well.

Doesn't the urn thing contradict the main story, though? If I recall correctly, Omega said that he had to bring the urn to Big Ben because living creatures couldn't handle it. Of course, I was really tired when watching that cutscene so I could be very wrong.

Edit:

Ooh, one thing that needs to be said - this game has an awesome soundtrack, in particular the music during the cutscenes for Story mode. Really epic stuff at times, helps to drag you into the adventure and makes it seem all the more intense.

Yesssss. If someone who has the game can rip soundtracks, can you please do it for this one ASAP? I want my epic music fill, now.

Edited February 11, 2012 by VEDJ-F

[Chocolate Cookie]

I don't know if Bowser and Eggman or dumb or not but they really should of checked those letters instead of assuming they were love letters.

[Doctor MK]

I don't know if Bowser and Eggman or dumb or not but they really should of checked those letters instead of assuming they were love letters.

I do love how the entire reason their evil plot was set in motion boils down to Amy's obsession with Sonic (and to a lesser extent, Peach's with Mario). What a plot twist!

@VEDJ-F: Now that you mention it, it does contradict what Omega said. He was sent to Stonehenge to get the urn, under Eggman's instructions, yet Wario was the one who had his grubby mitts on it... and Eggman got the urn from him. So either it's a plot-hole or there's something we haven't been told. Let the speculation BEGIN!

[-Mark-]

Posted this in the status updates as well, but it's too funny to let it slip off the front page within a couple of minutes. Good god, some of the tutorial pictures for the Mario & Sonic 3DS Judo event look hilariously wrong. XD

[Doctor MK]

It's the unintentional innuendo in "Press faster for bigger moves!" under that pic that gets me most

In fact, that kinda sums up the entire game for me. Unintentionally hilarious. In places it's just so bad, it's genius.

[Your Vest Friend]

So now I have a critique for the story, that isn't just me pointing out a plothole.

Am I the only one who feels that the phantasmal fog was severely underutilised? For all it got bigged up, it wasn't used that well. It can create a huge amount of phantasmal clones, but we only saw a tiny number of athletes cloned (the Heroes, Blaze, Peach, Shadow and Silver). It can alter voices which can be used for trickery, but we only saw that one as a punchline (for Bowser Jr). It can brainwash people but it only ever got used on Rouge. That's probably the biggest one; why not force the judges to inhale it so you can have a defacto win no matter what? Or the other athletes? Or everyone? At least Eggman managed to use it effectively the one time he did use it, unlike in Colours, but still.

Also, the constant jokes about London being the city of fog makes me realise something; London's used to it. Out of anyone, they can probably be most counted on to find a quick workaround to heavy fog! The opening ceremony didn't need postponing!

Edited February 11, 2012 by VEDJ-F

[SchemingMinor]

You mentioned bonus stories. Do the Tricksters have a bonus story like the Wild Ones?

[Your Vest Friend]

All of them bar the Heroes have a bonus story. Overall, all groups get 6 episodes in total bar the Wild Ones who get just 5.

[SchemingMinor]

All of them bar the Heroes have a bonus story. Overall, all groups get 6 episodes in total bar the Wild Ones who get just 5.