Yo, what is up, people? David here to give you the goods, and with the Olympics coming this year, I figured now was a good time to look back on some fond memories of an underrated gem. The Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games series. While not as fond now as it was in its first inception, the series introduced a very interesting premise. Mario, Sonic and their friends competing in a series of Olympic events, and as an Olympic baby, this got me ecstatic, especially since I am a fan of both franchises. And I am still a big fan of the series to this day.
Today, I am going to talk about one mode that sticks out to me when playing these games. Festival Mode from the Vancouver Winter Games. I have been very fond of this mode, to the point where I tend to replay it… I kind of lost count, I think it was maybe 20 times? And it was when I was looking back on it that I noticed a glaring flaw. There is no difficulty setting, and the AI is way too freaking easy.
This was somewhat rectified in the Rio Games, where in the Wii U version, there are tournaments that have varying difficulty levels, despite have so few events in comparison to the other Summer Games. But it doesn't change the fact that Festival Mode is the definitive Olympic experience. So, I am going to do what I can to recreate Festival Mode, but in a way that is much more immersive. Keep in mind that this is a for-fun kind of thing. I'm not saying this is how the Paris Games are gonna implement it, if it will come out, that itself is a bit iffy. But this is kind of my take on how I would implement it in an upcoming Mario and Sonic Olympics game.
First off, let's get the first thing out of the way, the types of Festivals you can play in. In Vancouver, there were two options: Individual and Team. Individual Festivals tend to focus more on Solo events, while Team Festivals focused more on group-oriented events. And honestly, I think that was the perfect way to integrate them, as there were a TON of Dream Events in Vancouver's Wii version that played differently depending on whether played solos or in teams, and this was kind of a cool way to show that off. That leads me to an additional option: Duos. A Festival option that focuses on two-man team events. Certain sports like Badminton, Table Tennis, and Tennis all have variations in both Singles and Doubles, and having a Duos Festival would be a cool way to show that off. Same thing for Synchronized Swimming and Volleyball, which also play differently between two-man teams and group-centric formats.
And with these big sporting events, there is one thing that most sports stories can't do without: a rival. In past games, rivals were implemented as boss fights within certain events against characters that are unplayable. While this was an unexpected twist, as I said, they were way too easy. This was kind of played straight in the 3DS Version of the Rio Games where you did have an opponent to play certain events against throughout the story, but it kind of feel flat because of the system where every character that isn't Mario or Sonic are restricted to certain events, which I honestly think is dumb. It kind of makes sense for the guest characters, since a lot of them don't really have all that much precedence in the series they represent. But the main roster? That was a terrible idea! London 3DS did the same thing before, except worse, and I am so glad it wasn't that bad again.
I'm going to try and incorporate as many elements as I can in order to create what I consider to be the ultimate iteration of Festival Mode.
Going the Miitopia route, I would be giving players the option to pick two prominent characters: the main character, and the rival. The main character is obvious, it's who the player is going to play as for the entire run, even in team events. However, for this iteration, I am going to shake things up a bit. Of course, there will be the option to use your Miis, which was conspicuously absent in the Tokyo 2020 game. When you use a Mii as your main character, you are allowed to pick another Mii or a character in the main roster to be your character's rival. The rival will be noticeably stronger than the other competitors in events, and will consistently win medals in events as you progress. In tournament-style events, you will be more than likely to face the rival in the finals in at least one or two events. On rare occasions in team events, it may be possible for you and your rival to be on the same team, as when grouping competitors for team events, the pairings are more often than not randomized. This is a good time to mention how brackets will be handled in Festival Mode. In Individual events, all 8 participants will compete individually and you have to win 3 rounds to get the Gold Medal. In Doubles events, you'll be paired into teams of 2, and you will have to win 2 rounds. The same thing goes for Team events in the Team Festival where there are four teams. In all of these cases, the losers of the semifinal match will face off for the Bronze Medal. In situations during the Individual and Pair Festivals where competitors are grouped together into teams of 4 for Team events, there is only one match, just like how the Wii version of the Vancouver Games handled brackets in Festival Mode.
The first Festival type is the most straightforward, Individual Festival. In this Festival, you will be in a group of 8 competitors, one of them of course being the rival, in a series of Individual events over the course of 16 in-game days. There are a few pair and team events where you would have to cooperate with at least one of them, but they are few and far between. Your rival will most likely be on the opposing team when they happen. In Events like 4x100m Relay, where 4 teams of 4 are present, the other two teams will be filled out by characters from the main roster that are not part of you or your rival's teams. Boss Battles will return from past games, taking place every 2 in-game days after you played through all of the boss day's events, mostly challenging you to an event you have already competed in. But here is the twist, on the final boss day, with the event being Football, your rival joins you in facing the boss. That in my opinion, is the cherry on top of this sundae.
He secod Festival type is a new one, Pair Festival. This festival has you select one character to be your partner in a festival mostly focused on two-person team events, with your pair competing among 4 pairs. As I said before, some events play differently between Singles and Doubles, and this Festival would be a cool way to show that off. For this Festival, some players may be tempted to place the rival as their partner. No sweat, you can totally do that. There will be some differing interactions, but it makes for good replay value.
And finally, the Team Festival. This is the big one, consisting of four teams of four. So, naturally for this one, you will be picking three teammates. And for this one, it would be easy to just participate in the team events, but that's no fun. Especially since there are barely a few of them to speak of. So my idea for this… Is for there to be a mix of Individual and Pair events that you can assign your teammates to! For example, say that the three events in an event day are Doubles Tennis, Gymnastics, and Equestrian. That way, you can have two characters play the Tennis Doubles bracket, one other teammate does Gymnastics, and the last one takes on the Equestrian event. This concept is so ingenious, it practically writes itself, it's great! But because of how ambitious it is, very few sports games have been able to properly utilize it. Well, they certainly can here.
So, there you have it! My Dream Festival Mode! What do you guys think? Is this a great concept? If you have your own ideas on how to make it better, be sure to let me know in the comments below, and I will see you all in the next caper!