Charge: Touch and hold Touch Screen. Start: Slide upwards on Touch Screen. Accelerate: Slide left and right on Touch Screen. Jump: Touch Touch Screen. Move: Press let and right on the Control Pad or the A and Y Buttons. Use item: Touch item window or press the L or R Button.
Circuits
Comet Circuit Cosmos Circuit Big Bang Circuit
Dream Race is a Dream Event that appears in the Nintendo DS version of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. It is set on Blue Sky Highway. The objective of the event is to complete three laps of the course before the opponents. The event is unlocked by placing first in the Planet Circuit.
In this event, the player must complete three laps of the course in the fastest time to win. When "Ready?" appears on the screen at the start of the event, the player can touch and hold the Touch Screen to build up power, allowing them to perform a faster start an reach their top speed faster. When "Go!" appears, the player can slide upwards on the Touch Screen, allowing them to start the race. The player is then able to slide left and right on the Touch Screen to build up speed and cause their character to run faster, shown on a meter in the top left of the screen. The player is able to accelerate faster by sliding more quickly on the screen, but does not decelerate unless they are hit by another character's item or run into a wall or obstacle. The player can also gain a short speed boost by running over a Dash Panel. The player can move left and right by using either the respective directions on or to go right and to go left. The player can also touch the Touch Screen to jump over the obstacles on the track. The player can also run into the Item Boxes spread across the course to collect items, which can be used by either tapping on the item window in the top left hand corner of the Touch Screen or by pressing either or . Each item has a different effect:
Dash Mushroom: Gives the player a short boost of speed, similar to that given by a Dash Panel.
Green Shell: Can be thrown straight forward and will cause the player to lose a large amount of speed it hits them. They will bounce off walls and disappear automatically after a short while, and can be blocked by a Shield.
Red Shell: Similar to the Green Shell, but homes in on an opponent and does not bounce of walls.
Bomb: Can be dropped onto the course and will cause players to lose speed if they are caught in the explosion. The bomb explodes automatically after a short period of time and its effects can be blocked with a Shield.
Shield: Protects the user from one hit from an item or obstacle for a limited time.
Blocks: Drops blocks in front of all of the other opponents, blocking their path and causing them to lose speed if ran into. Can be run around with good timing and effect is blocked with a Shield.
If the player finishes before the other characters in the event, they will be shown the rest of the characters finishing the event rather than it ending instantly once they have finished like some of the other events in the game.