Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games

The third installment in the Mario & Sonic series, it is the official video game of the 2012 Summer Olympics and is licensed by the International Olympic Committee through exclusive licensee International Sports Multimedia. The game is the only Wii title to come in a yellow keep case. The game on the Wii and 3DS comprises a collection of numerous events based on the Olympic Games. Players assume the role of a Mario or Sonic character while competing against the others in Olympic events. Mario & Sonic received mostly mixed reviews from critics upon release, with many criticising its gameplay as underwhelming. It proved to be commercially successful and was followed by a fourth game in the series, Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, which was based on the 2014 Winter Olympics and released in November 2013 for the Wii U.

Publication is recorded by Nintendo. The recorded date of publication is 2011. It belongs to the series Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. It is associated with Japan. Recorded genres are sports video game and crossover fiction. The recorded subject matter is 2012 Summer Olympics.

• Title — Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games • Developer — Sega • Director — * Eigo Kasahara (Wii) • Koji Shindo (3DS) • Producer — * Osamu Ohashi • Nobuya Ohashi • Hiroshi Sato • Programmer — * Mitsuru Takahashi (Wii) • Kouichi Nomura (3DS) • Artist — * Hiroshi Kanazawa (Wii) • Hitoshi Furukubo (3DS) • Series — Mario & Sonic • Platforms — * Wii • Nintendo 3DS • Released — Wii Nintendo 3DS • Genre — Sports, party • Modes — Single-player, multiplayer

• Illustration — Luigi performing equestrian jumping. From left to right clockwise, the game's interface displays the current player-character, number of hurdles, and stopwatch. Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games comprises a collection of numerous events based on the modern Olympic Games. The game brings together the two titular characters and 18 more from both franchises to participate in environments based on the official venues of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Each character has unique attributes that can serve as an advantage or disadvantage depending on the event. As with the game's predecessor, all player-characters are divided into four categories: all-around, speed, power, and skill. The Wii version features a total of 30 Olympic events, including football, badminton, horse riding, canoeing, and volleyball. Re-imagined versions of previously existing events, such as athletics, aquatics, and table tennis also appear. The game introduces new cooperative mechanics including "Dream Events", alternate versions of Olympic events that take place in locations from previous games of the Mario and Sonic series, and a challenge mode, which enables players to repeat complete challenges in various events. "London Party" mode takes place on a board game-like depiction of London in which four players may compete in various sporting events and minigames. The ultimate objective is to collect enough stickers to fill up a "tourist book" – the player who completes the book first wins. Upon the completion of any event, players earn scratch cards which can be redeemed in the game's "Bonus Mode" for rewards such as Mii costumes and additional music. Unlike Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, the Wii version of Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games does not support the Balance Board. The 3DS version has over 50 Olympic-based events in single-player and multiplayer, which are split into events using one, two, or four characters. Among these events which are not included in the Wii version include BMX racing and weight-lifting, with the latter involving the use of the 3DS's microphone. In this version of the game, not all characters can access every event, as they are split into five groups of four, and the events they can take part in depends on the group of characters, with some requiring the entire team or choosing two of the characters. Like the Nintendo DS counterpart of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, it also contains an exclusive "Story Mode" which entails the characters from Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog's worlds working against their respective antagonists, Bowser and Doctor Eggman, who are trying to use fog machines to prevent the games from being held.

The first game in the series, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, was the first official crossover title to feature characters from both the Super Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog franchises. The Olympic Games were chosen as a setting since Sega and Nintendo felt its competitive sportsmanship was ideal for the once-rival mascots Sonic the Hedgehog and Mario. Sonic the Hedgehog is the protagonist of the video game series released by Sega in order to provide the company with a mascot to rival Nintendo's flagship character, Mario, in the early 1990s. The game proved to be a commercial success and encouraged Sega and Nintendo to develop a sequel, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games. Shortly after its release, the vice president of marketing at Sega of America, Sean Ratcliffe, commented that the company would likely commission a sequel for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London if the franchise continued to capture interest among consumers. Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games was officially announced with a joint press release by Sega and Nintendo on April 21, 2011, after its predecessors sold over 19 million units combined. As with its predecessor, Sega's Osamu Ohashi and Nintendo's Hiroshi Sato served as producers, Eigo Kasahara as director, and Teruhiko Nakagawa as lead composer. Mario & Sonic is the only official video game of the 2012 Summer Olympics and is licensed by the International Olympic Committee through exclusive licensee International Sports Multimedia. A peripheral was considered to launch alongside the game early in its development, although its nature remains unknown. Both the Wii and 3DS versions were developed by Sega's CS2 division and published by Nintendo for Japan and Korea and Sega for North America and Europe. Over 100 people developed the game, with some outsourced from Racjin and Marvelous AQL for the Wii and Nintendo 3DS versions. The Wii version carries the distinction of being the only title to come in a yellow keep case. Nintendo re-released the 3DS version of the game as a downloadable title via Nintendo eShop on November 1, 2012 in Japan, on May 30, 2013 in the PAL regions, and on June 20, 2013 in North America. The Wii version sold 2.4 million copies in North America and Europe in its first two months of release. Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games was followed by a sequel, Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, which was released worldwide for the Wii U in November 2013.