Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games

Genre: Compilation / Sports (Various) / Minigame Collection

Players: 1-4 Competitive / Team Competitive / Co-Op (Local)

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Review:

Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (from here on simply referred to as Rio 2016) is a Summer Olympics game released for the Wii U in 2016. Another different game bearing the same title was released on Nintendo 3DS that same year. As one might expect, this game contains cartoony, family-friendly versions of various Olympics-style Summer sports, and features characters and aesthetic touches from throughout both the Mario and Sonic franchises.

Where prior games in the series frequently tended to use various motion-control or touchscreen inputs, Rio 2016 on the Wii U opts for a simpler approach using more traditional gamepad controls, for better or worse.

The game includes 14 minigames, plus alternate “Duel” versions of three of those minigames. This is significantly fewer than Sochi 2014’s 18 minigames with alternate versions for each. If we were to treat each of these included minigames as its own separate game, here’s how I would rate each:

Game	Genre	# of Players	Grade
Football	Sports (Soccer)	1-4 Team Competitive (Local)	C-
tl;dr It looks good, but has multiple problems. Disorienting automatic character swapping, characters’ seeming inability to pass properly half the time… this game fluctuates between fun and frustrating.
Duel Football	Sports (Soccer)	1-4 Team Competitive (Local)	C+
tl;dr A more fast-paced and less-realistic version of the sport. It still has many of the same issues as the normal version, but the faster pace and less realistic style make it more fun.
Rugby Sevens	Sports (Rugby)	1-4 Team Competitive (Local)	C+
tl;dr A decent but simple version of the sport
Duel Rugby Sevens	Sports (Rugby)	1-4 Team Competitive (Local)	C+
tl;dr Add point bonuses and power-ups to rugby and you get… just a more chaotic version of the same thing. Not bad, but nothing great.
Beach Volleyball	Sports (Volleyball)	1-4 Team Competitive (Local)	C
tl;dr A decent but far too simple version of the sport.
Duel Beach Volleyball	Sports (Volleyball)	1-4 Team Competitive (Loca)	B-
tl;dr Adding power-ups to Volleyball makes for a much more interesting and surprisingly strategic version of the game. Definitely an improvement, though it could still do with some variety.
BMX	Racing (BMX)	1-4 Competitive (Local Split-Screen)	D+
tl;dr Controls aren’t very responsive, and there’s only one course, making any enjoyment this minigame can offer short-lived.
100m	Sports (Misc.)	1-4 Competitive (Local Split-Screen)	D
tl;dr Simple button-mashing with a few timed button presses. Ho-hum.
Triple Jump	Sports (Misc.)	1-4 Competitive (Local Alternating)	D
tl;dr More button-mashing. Not clever or fun.
Swimming	Sports (Misc.)	1-4 Competitive (Local Split-Screen)	D
tl;dr Button-mashing while watching a stamina gauge. Ugh.
Boxing	Sports (Boxing)	1-4 Competitive (Local)	C
tl;dr Stiff and more chaotic than strategic, but not terrible.
Equestrian	Sports (Misc.)	1-4 Competitive (Local Alternating)	C
tl;dr Simple but still fun. However, the lack of more than a single course highly limits this minigame.
Gymnastics	Music-Rhythm	1-4 Competitive (Local Alternating)	C
tl;dr Some excellent Music-Rhythm gameplay, but it’s rendered moot by the inclusion of only four songs, three of which require multiple play-throughs of previous songs to unlock.
4 x 100m Relay	Sports (Misc.)	1-4 Team Competitive (Local Split-Screen)	C
tl;dr A fun take on the otherwise-boring 100m minigame that mixes things up with Simon Says-style button prompts. An improvement, but still a very shallow minigame.
Javelin	Sports (Misc.)	1-4 Competitive (Local Alternating)	C
tl;dr A decent, but simple, representation of the event.
Archery	Shooting Gallery Game	1-4 Competitive (Local Alternating)	C
tl;dr The controls lack nuance, but having various moving targets is somewhat fun. Unfortunately, there’s just not much variety here.
Table Tennis	Sports (Table Tennis)	1-2 Competitive (Local)	C+
tl;dr A good but simple version of the sport.

So out of all of that, Duel Beach Volleyball is the clear highlight, but Duel Football, the two versions of Rugby, and Table Tennis are all worth playing. Unfortunately, this is a pretty low ratio of winners to losers, and it’s hard not to feel that many of the other minigames here are just taking up space, and the time it took to create them would have been better-served by fleshing out the better minigames.

As for the controls, I know many players will be relieved to be rid of the motion-control “waggle” or prior games, but honestly I can’t help but feel like something was lost in ditching those elements. To be fair, it now takes far less time to learn the various minigames in this Collection, but what made those minigames feel unique and special elsewhere seems to have been lost.

This game also loses something in its Cam[aign mode, which got rid of the story elements of prior games and replaced them with… well, not much of anything, really. There are some light RPG elements here, but the progression is slow and tied to completion of in-game events, making it feel less like you’re guiding your character on a path to train for victory, and more like you’re just going through motions pre-determined for you.

At the very least, the presentation is still great here, with detailed 3D characters and environments, excellent animation, and some good lighting. Also, the water and deforming sand in this game looks particularly good. These visuals are backed by a bouncy soundtrack headed by an “inspirational” theme that can get a bit repetitive, as well as the usual array of voice clips for the characters. Nothing extraordinary, but not bad.

Unfortunately, Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games on Wii U feels like a step down from other games in the series. The lack of touchscreen controls or motion controls means that it doesn’t require a ridiculous amount of time to learn the controls for each of its sports like Sochi 2014 did, but those sports now feel a lot less unique and special, and the campaign mode that ties them together is flimsy. As a result, this feels like a game that’s mainly just for die-hard fans of Mario Sports titles and Olympics games, and even then those people will find multiple better options.

tl;dr – Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games includes 17 different Summer Sports-themed minigames. There are a few decent ones here, but mostly what’s here is pretty bland and lacking in content. In fact, this blandness is due in part to this game not making use of any motion controls or touchscreen controls, making the game’s more monotonous events blend together. Unless you absolutely must have every Mario Sports game or Olympics game, this one is not worth your time.

Grade: C-

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