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Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games

by Michael Cole - June 3, 2009, 12:50 pm EDT
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Bring your Balance Board to the slopes with Mario and Sonic.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games supports the Wii Balance Board, and Sega had a kiosk showing off this control option with two of the game’s events: skiing and bobsleighing.

In the Downhill Slalom skiing mini-game, you must shift your weight from side to side to maneuver your character through gates. For each gate you miss you are penalized with 2 seconds added to your final time. While Balance Board support sounds like a good idea, as a skier, I found myself more disoriented than I had anticipated in this mode. There was noticeable lag between when I shifted my weight and when Luigi started turning—possibly due to lag introduced by the LCD televisions. But more disorienting, suddenly shifting a lot of my weight did not result in a sharp turn, but instead something gradual you might find in a kart racing game with D-pad controls. The end result was a mini-game that looked like skiing but didn’t feel it at all.

I found the bobsleigh mini-game to be far more enjoyable…possibly because I don’t bobsleigh in real life. In this game you are supposed to sit on the balance board and lean from side to side to steer your sleigh through the track. Staying on the ideal path, highlighted in yellow, will give you a speed boost. Since the board controls only work in single player, the multiplayer cooperative appeal of this mode is nonexistent, but I found what I played to be simple but fun.

Be sure to also check out Nick DiMola’s impressions of these modes with Remote and Nunchuk controls.

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Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games Box Art

Genre Sports
Developer Sega

Worldwide Releases

na: Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
Release Oct 13, 2009
PublisherSega
RatingEveryone
jpn: Mario & Sonic at Vancouver Olympics
Release Nov 05, 2009
PublisherNintendo
RatingAll Ages
eu: Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
Release Oct 16, 2009
PublisherSega
Rating3+
aus: Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
Release Oct 15, 2009
PublisherSega
RatingGeneral
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