Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (Wii U)

This article is about the Wii U game. For the Nintendo 3DS game of the same title, see Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (Nintendo 3DS). For the arcade game of the same title, see Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Arcade Edition.

Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games
North American box art For alternate box art, see the related gallery.
Developer	Sega
Publisher	Nintendo
Platform	Wii U
Engine	Hedgehog Engine 2
Release dates	June 23, 2016 June 24, 2016 June 24, 2016[?] June 24, 2016 June 24, 2016
Languages	English (United States) English (United Kingdom) Japanese Dutch French (Canada) French (Europe) German Italian Spanish (Europe)
Genre	Sports
Ratings	ESRB: - Everyone 10+[?] CERO: - All ages[?] PEGI: - Seven years and older[?] USK: - All ages[?] ClassInd: - General audience[?] ACB: - General[?] FPB: - Parental guidance[?]
Modes	Single-player, multiplayer
Format	Wii U: Optical disc
Input	Wii U: Wii U GamePad Wii Remote
Serial code	WUP-ABJJ-JPN

Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games is a sports title for the Wii U, which is the fifth installment on the Mario & Sonic series, along with the Nintendo 3DS version. Like the other games, it takes place in the host city of the Olympics of the corresponding year, being Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil.

The game's online leaderboards and other statistics could be viewed over Nintendo Network; however, the service was terminated on April 8, 2024, making the game no longer playable online.

Copacabana Beach

In the game, the main menu, called Shortcut Menu, is unlocked after winning a medal in the first tournament, is optional and is activated with the button. The game always starts instead on Copacabana Beach, that is explorable and contains several characters the player can talk to, either characters from Team Sonic and Team Mario or Miis of other players. Outside of tournaments, the player always controls their own Mii on the beach. By talking to Miis of players from unknown countries or by talking the first time to characters from Team Sonic or Team Mario after entering the first tournament, countries' and characters' flags can be obtained respectively. Furthermore, after participating at least once in the Heroes Showdown mode, there is also one Mii that gives a tip card about the Heroes Showdown mode, if all said cards have not been already collected. When characters from Team Mario or Team Sonic are found at the beach, one Mii also gives additional information about one character, chosen randomly among at least two small pieces of information of this kind per character. In addition to this, there are important locations and characters that can be talked to in order to access the game's modes, to purchase items or to obtain additional rewards, these are:

Maracanã Stadium

The Maracanã Stadium is located in the center of Copacabana Beach and is where Single Matches modes can be chosen. Talking to Orbot will start Single Matches for single-player play, while talking to Cubot will start Single Matches for multiplayer.

Rio 2016 Tournament Gate

This sand statue is completed after the player comes in first place or wins five Single Matches and is located to the right of the Maracanã Stadium. Here the player can talk to Blue Toad to choose a tournament or continue a currently ongoing tournament, while talking to Green Toad changes the number of players participating in tournaments, between either one or two.

Miiverse Monitor

This monitor is activated after passing the first phase of the second tournament and is located to the far right of Copacabana Beach. Here, messages from other players that were sent to the game's group on Miiverse could be seen; furthermore, the player could talk to Red Toad to send a message to the game's group on Miiverse.

Versus Arena

This sand statue is completed after the players arrives in first place in all the Single Matches or wins a medal in seven tournaments and is located to the left of Maracanã Stadium. Here the Heroes Showdown modes can be chosen by talking to Charmy Bee or Birdo to play with one or two players respectively.

Ghost Match Entrance

This pedestal appears once the statue of the Versus Arena is completed and is located at the back left corner of Copacapana Beach. Here Shy Guy can be talked to in order to participate in match against the ghosts of other players in three events; the 100m, the 4x100m Relay, and the 100m Freestyle Swimming. The player can choose to challenge a ghost of a player with similar skills as them or the best ghost recorded for the event.

Pousada

The Pousada is located to the far left of Copacana Beach, where Big the Cat can be talked to in order to view the current collected items, change the player's Mii's outfits, change the background music of events, view the player's profile, change various settings or view the game's credits once all level 3 tournaments are cleared.

Item Stands

Item Stands are gradually unlocked as tournaments are cleared. There, the player can obtain items using coins or rings. 5 coins or rings allow an item to be obtained, while 50 coins or rings allow to obtain 11 items. The items obtained are chosen randomly, and the same item can be obtained more than once, with items not already owned marked as new when obtained. The color of the containers coming out of the machine reveal what kind of items are obtained: yellow ones contain hats, red ones contain outfits, green ones contain stamps, light blue ones contain music tracks. There are three item stands, hosted by the following characters:

• Omochao (Rio 2016 Item Stand, unlocked after winning a medal in three tournaments)
• Cream the Rabbit (Sonic Item Stand, unlocked after clearing 16 tournaments)
• Pianta (Mario Item Stand, unlocked after clearing 18 tournaments)

Reward Reception

Lakitu on his Cloud appears on the beach every five Gold Medals or 1st Place Medals earned. By talking to him the player receives 30 Coins and 30 Rings as a reward. If the player's Mii is wearing the full Lakitu costume, Lakitu will double the prize to 60 Coins and 60 Rings.

Rio Carnival

After winning all level 1 tournaments, Rio Carnival floats can arrive at Copacabana Beach once a tournament ends. After the first time, the carnival floats return after 3 tournaments not chosen using the "Past Tournaments" option. When this happens, the background music of Copacabana Beach is replaced with a vocal theme song, Canção do Rio, and five Miis at the beach give information about Brazil while the others talk about the ongoing carnival. There are four types of float, each one with a character (selected at random from a pool of specific characters for each float) that can be challenged to a Carnival Challenge in order to obtain a part of their costume. If the costume part has already been obtained, a wear that has not already been obtained will be given to the player, either a hat or outfit or a costume part that can be obtained at the item stand of the team the challenged character belongs to. When every wear has been obtained, the prize will be either 99 Coins or 99 Rings, depending on the team of the challenged character. The carnival challenge consists in winning in a match against the character while satisfying peculiar conditions. The image shown on the card illustrating the conditions indicate the kind of item obtained when winning. Only Miis can participate in Carnival Challenges. In order to participate in said challenge, the player must pay either Rings (for Sonic's and Dr. Eggman's floats) or Coins (for Mario's and Bowser's floats). If the player fails to win the challenge, the challenge can be retried by paying an increased number of Rings or Coins. After three unsuccessful tries, the character on the float becomes easier to beat. The Rio Carnival stays at Copacabana Beach until the player participates in a tournament. There are four floats: Mario's, Bowser's, Sonic's, and Dr. Eggman's.

Carnival floats

Float	Characters
Mario's Float
Bowser's Float
Sonic's Float
Dr. Eggman's Float

Tournaments

Three participants in a level 3 Equestrian tournament: Larry Koopa, who is controlled by the player, Sonic the Hedgehog and a Mii.

When the player is participating in a tournament, a few changes happen at the beach. The background music is changed, all the characters participating in said tournament can be found at the beach and the player's Mii is replaced by the Mii or character chosen in the character select screen shown when entering said tournament. Furthermore, there are also Miis that give suggestions about hidden controls or features of the tournament's event; among those, one Mii gives a tip in the form of a card that can be collected and is shown after each match in said event, if all said tip cards for that event have not been collected. Lastly, the player is not able to participate in ghost matches, single events or in the Heroes Showdown and is not able to change the number of players in the ongoing tournaments.

Statistics shared with other players through Nintendo Network

While the game does not offer real time online play functionality, several statistics and data about the player and their Mii are shared with other players through Nintendo Network. When talking to a Mii of an other player or when viewing the profile of a ghost, the following statistics of said player are shown. An asterisk indicates the information is shown while talking to the player's Mii.

Shared data of the player's Mii
Mii's Name*	Nationality*
Player Profile
Favorite Event	Total Coins Earned
Favorite Character	Total Rings Earned
Clear Counts	Collectibles
Special Prizes*	Flags
Ghost Match Victories*	Tips
Carnival Challenges*	Mii Wear
Guests Unlocked	Music Tracks
Tournaments Cleared*	Stamps
Gold/1st Place Medals

Furthermore, the results of the following events are ranked in an international ranking:

• Rhythmic Gymnastics
• BMX
• Equestrian
• 100m
• Archery
• Triple Jump
• 100m Freestyle Swimming
• Javelin Throw
• 4x100m Relay

Finally, the ghost of the player's performance is saved through Nintendo Network in the following events:

• 100m
• 4x100m Relay
• 100m Freestyle Swimming

Characters

Character select screen for the Football event

There are 35 characters playable in this game, including 17 from Team Mario, 17 from Team Sonic, and the Miis. The 21 characters that are playable in the Wii versions of the second installment and third installment, as well as the fourth installment, are playable in all events. All 14 newcomers to this installment (known as guests) are only playable in one event each (with the exceptions of Diddy Kong, Jet, and Rouge, who are also playable in the Duel versions of their respective events).

Like the 3DS version of the game, guests have to be unlocked first. To do so, the player must first beat the preliminary round of their event's tournament, then talk to the guest when they appear on Copacabana Beach. After winning a gold medal in the event, the guest will then challenge them to a match, which the player must win to unlock them. Diddy Kong, Rosalina, Jet, Rouge, Wave, Zavok, and Zazz are unlocked after winning the Level 1 tournament of their event, while Nabbit, Wendy, Larry, Toad, Dry Bowser, Espio, and Sticks are unlocked after winning the Level 2 tournament of their event.

This is the first Mario & Sonic game where the home console version has fewer characters than its handheld counterpart, as Roy, Ludwig, Birdo, Dry Bones, Eggman Nega, Cream, and Omega do not return from the 3DS version of the game. However, Toad appears as a guest exclusive to the Wii U version.

General stats information

Each character has three stats (Power, Speed and Technique) that are then translated in stats specific for each event. The points for each stat range from 0 to 10, with base stats for the characters in Team Mario and Team Sonic ranging from 3 to 9 and having a sum of the points of the three stats which is always 18. Miis without hats and outfits have 2 points in all stats. Unlike previous home console Mario & Sonic games, the character's type based on their stats is not listed in-game. However, they can be categorized into their appropriate type based on their stats: All-Around characters have an equal mix of power, speed, and technique; Power characters have high power, medium technique, and low speed; Speed characters have high speed, medium power, and low technique; Technique types have high technique, regular speed, and low power.

Event(s)	Power	Speed	Technique
Football	Shot Strength	Run Speed	Stealing
Duel Football	Plasma Attack	Slide Speed	Gauge Speed
Football & Duel Football (goalies)	Kick Strength	Speed	Catching
Rugby Sevens	Tackling	Run Speed	Tackle Evasion
Duel Rugby Sevens	SP-Attack Time	SP-Attack Speed	SP-Attack Turn
Beach Volleyball	Spiking	Speed	Receiving
Duel Beach Volleyball	Spiking	Speed	Receive Accuracy
BMX	Dashing	Speed	Handling
100m	Super Dash	Run Speed	Powering Up
Triple Jump	Super Jump	Run Speed	Jump Height
100m Freestyle Swimming	Super Swim	Swim Speed	Stamina
Boxing	Punch Strength	Countering	Powering Up
Equestrian	Dashing	Speed	Handling
Rhythmic Gymnastics	N.A.
4x100m Relay	Super Dash	Baton Passing	Powering Up
Javelin Throw	Charge Speed	Run Speed	Angle Slide
Archery	Arrow Speed	Sight Speed	Sight Wobble
Table Tennis	Smash	Speed	Spin

Team Mario

Name	Stats	Type	Description	Flag
Mario	Power   6 Speed   7 Technique   5	All-Around	This cheerful hero is known for his red cap and mustache. He's incredibly athletic, and excels at nearly any sport he tries. He and his brother Luigi are currently competing to see who can win the most Olympic medals.
Luigi	Power   5 Speed   6 Technique   7	All-Around	This green-capped Mario brother is easily scared, but a kind person at heart. Although he often finds himself overshadowed by his older brother, he's actually quite skillful himself. He's come to Rio with the goal of winning more Olympic medals than Mario, who always seems to hog all the attention.
Peach	Power   4 Speed