Dream Curling

Dream Curling

Dream Curling is a Dream Event in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games; it is the Dream Event version of the regular Curling, and while Curling's main rules and controls are retained, the event also acts similar to bowling, making it a bowling/curling crossover. It takes place on Sherbet Land from Mario Kart 64.

Objective

The objective is to score as many points as possible in a number of frames by knocking down pins and Goombas, which yield bonus points. Knocking down all pins in a frame yield a Strike! if done on the first throw, or Spare! if done on the second throw. There are multiple terms for Strike! if the team can do this multiple times in succession; the third consecutive time will yield a Turkey!.

DS version

Curling Bowling

Dream Curling also appears in the DS version, referred to as Curling Bowling, though it does not take place on Sherbet Land. There are no Item Boxes in this game or a Goomba which gives extra points if hit, although Goombas do make an appearance in the event, as the pins. They are replaced by panels which have Mega Mushrooms and Mini Mushrooms which change the size of the stone and makes the stone easier or harder to curl, and gates which double or triple the score for that turn. If a character receives maximum points in a frame (all gates + Goombas, called a Super Strike), the points are doubled on their score in the next frame. By receiving three super strikes in a row, the turkey emblem is awarded.

Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games

Hole-in-One Curling

Dream Curling, now under the name Hole-in-One Curling appears in Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games as one of the 8 Dream Events in the game. This time around, the event takes place in Green Hill Zone and is more of a combination of golf and curling. In teams of 2, one player rides on a large curling stone all the way to the house (the blue and red circle) in the least amount of shots. The number of shots taken act as the points each team earns. At the end of the amount of holes chosen (2 by default, can be changed to 3 or 4), the team with the fewest points wins.

In-game description

One team member rides a large stone, while the other pushes it toward the goal. The team that gets there with the fewest pushes wins.

Gameplay

This event is played with the . In 2-player co-op, the is also used. In this case, the pusher uses the and the rider uses the . However, it is not possible to play 3 or 4 players with players split into 2 teams; only free-for-all mode is possible. Each player chooses 2 characters; if played in Medley Mania, the teammates are chosen at random.

There are 4 holes total. Each hole has a house that contains the goal, where the position of the goal changes each time the event is played. Although the player can choose to play 2, 3 or 4 holes, the order the holes are played in remain the same regardless of the setting, so holes 3 and 4 are only played if the player decides to play for more than 2 holes. When playing for more than 2 holes, extra gimmicks are added for holes 3 and 4 as follows:

• Hole 3 features small rocks that if collided against (and broken), slow the stone to a near-standstill.
• Hole 4 features light-orange rocks that fall down and (if not broken in time, by using the ) stop the stone in its tracks if collided against. However, they do not always trigger, even if a stone is going to pass it.

The shows the maximum distance the pusher can push the stone, and the distance to the goal. , , and are used to turn the stone. Pressing allows the player to view the full image of the hole.

The blue arrow shows the optimal path to the goal based off the direction the pusher will push it to (if the player drew a straight line up on the ). To throw the stone, the player uses the stylus and draws a line to the point where the player wants to throw the stone to.

After throwing the stone

If the stone falls into the water, Out of Bounds is displayed.

When the stone is in movement, the is used to tilt the stone, unless playing in co-op, where the player using the tilts the stone.

The stone will speed up, slow down, or turn left or right depending on the way the is tilted. In addition, the stone will also be affected by stage features if it encounters one. The stone will continue to move until it reaches a very low speed, where it will stop.

After the stone has stopped, the distance travelled and distance to the house is shown. If the stone goes off the course, it will sink into the water and Out of Bounds in purple is shown. Note that this Out of Bounds type behaves similarly to the Water Hazard in Mario Golf games, except that there is no 1-stroke penalty for doing Out of Bounds.

From the second throw onwards

If the player's team can push the stone into the goal in 1 throw, Hole in One! is displayed.

After all players have taken their first shot, the team furthest to the house starts their next turn. Once the team has guided the stone to the goal pin, "Goal!" is said, unless the player did it in one throw, where the announcer says "Hole in One!" instead, where the fanfare that is played becomes different than usual.

After directing the stone to the goal, the total distance travelled in this hole is also shown. The hole will continue until all 4 teams have directed their stones to the goal, and after this is done, the hole ends and the scorecard is shown.

At the end of a hole

The team with the fewest throw total after all holes wins the event.

Once all 4 teams have reached the goal, a scorecard is shown that shows all the teams' scores and who is in the lead, while the event result music plays. After each hole, the results of the previous hole determine who starts first in the next hole. In addition, characters change roles being the pusher and the rider. When all holes are finished, the announcer says "Finish!", and the team with the fewest throws wins.

Any ties for position are resolved by means of the lowest player number, but if two or more teams tie for 1st place at the end of all holes, provided that at least one human team is in the tie, a tiebreaker hole is engaged, known as the Extra Hole. Teams take turns throwing 1 stone each, and the team closest to the end without falling off, wins the tiebreaker and the 1st Place Medal. If a team's stone falls off, Out in purple will be displayed and they lose the tiebreaker hole.

If 3 or more teams enter the tiebreaker, final results are determined by that hole, based on where their stones are placed in the ground. If a team's stone falls off, they finish at the lower end of the tie; if multiple teams are affected, this is resolved by the lowest player number.

Ending

The tiebreaker hole, where the tiebreaker takes place. It is also used for the final result and award ceremony scenes, showing Amy placed in 1st

When the word Finish! is displayed on the screen, the human player team with the best ranking will be displayed on the screen, doing their winning/losing poses in the tiebreaker hole based on which position they ended up in.

After this, the Award Ceremony scene is shown, unless Legends Showdown is being played or the player's team finishes 4th in 1 player mode or in 2 player co-op.

Single Match

The 3 teams are on a podium that takes place at the tiebreaker hole, standing on the platform that matches their placing. The characters do their animations based on what position they finished in, except for CPU teams.

After all animations are done, the Retry menu appears. In 1 player mode or in 2 player co-op, if the player's team finishes 4th, the Retry menu appears immediately over the player team's characters that are doing their losing animations after proceeding past the result screen.

Medley Mania

This only occurs if this event was the final event of a medley. The 4 characters stand on a platform, positioned accordingly based on their final ranking. The players do their animations for their results based off their rank, and after all animations are done, the final results for the medley is displayed immediately with the ceremony action being frozen.

Trivia

• Despite taking place in Green Hill Zone, the music for Dream Curling in Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games is a remix of Splash Hill Zone's music from Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I.
  • However, the two Zones (Green Hill Zone and Splash Hill Zone) do share a resemblance in both design and name.