Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (Nintendo 3DS)

Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games is a sports title for the Nintendo 3DS with a Wii version of the game released as well. Both games make up the third installment of the Mario & Sonic series. 50 new and original sports appear in the 3DS version. All twenty playable characters return from the previous installment. The game takes place in London, home of the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Characters
In the 3DS version of the game, there are a total of 20 playable characters (the character roster being identical to the one featured in the Nintendo DS version of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games). However, only certain characters can play certain events. These characters are identified in five different classes. The Bad Guys group can compete in other events in Story Mode.

Heroes group

 * Mario
 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Luigi
 * Miles "Tails" Prower

Girls group

 * Amy Rose
 * Princess Peach
 * Blaze the Cat
 * Princess Daisy

Wild Ones group

 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Bowser
 * Vector the Crocodile
 * Donkey Kong

Tricksters group

 * Wario
 * Waluigi
 * Dr. Eggman
 * Metal Sonic

Challengers group

 * Yoshi
 * Shadow the Hedgehog
 * Bowser Jr.
 * Silver the Hedgehog

Bad Guys group

 * Bowser
 * Dr. Eggman
 * Bowser Jr.
 * Metal Sonic

Rivals

 * Dry Bones - Sailing 470: Pair
 * Dry Bowser - Sailing 470: Pair
 * King Boo - Badminton-Doubles
 * Boo - Badminton-Doubles
 * Magikoopa - BMX
 * Eggman Nega - 4x100m Relay
 * E-123 Omega - Wrestling-Freestyle
 * Jet the Hawk - 3000m Steeplechase
 * Rouge the Bat - 100m Backstroke

Referees

 * Toad
 * Cream the Rabbit
 * Lakitu
 * Shy Guy
 * Charmy Bee
 * Espio the Chameleon

Other

 * Magikoopa
 * Koopa Troopa
 * Shy Guy
 * Goomba
 * Thwomp
 * Lakitu
 * Boo
 * Monty Moles
 * Birdos
 * Cheep Cheep
 * Bob-omb
 * Toads
 * Fly Guy
 * Cleaving Cloud
 * Spiny
 * Egg Pawn
 * Egg Flapper
 * Orbot
 * Cubot
 * Chao(s)

Opening
Bowser and Dr. Eggman watch over London from the inside of Elizabeth Tower, but the doctor tells Bowser they're already starting the 2012 Olympics and they haven't got their invitations yet. Bowser suggests that he could use his new machine. Dr. Eggman agrees and puts a mysterious pot in side of it and presses the start button. Then, colorful fog covers all over London, while Bowser and Dr. Eggman laugh in victory.

Heroes Story, Part 1
Mario and Luigi meet Toad at the Stadium and find out that the Fog is colored. They then meet with the Imposters, Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles "Tails" Prower. They challenge to a Event which Mario and Luigi win at. They later find Dry Bowser and Dry Bones at the Stadium who also challenge them to a Sailing 470: Pair event. They then defeat them and break Bowser and Eggman's machine. Dry Bowser and Dry Bones escape the Stadium while they go to find Princess Peach.

Meanwhile, Sonic and Tails find a colored fog and find the Imposters, Mario and Luigi. They challenge them to a Event which Sonic and Tails win at. They later find King Boo and Boo and they challenge them to a Badminton-Doubles event. They defeat them in the event and break the machine. King Boo and Boo escape from the destroyed machine. Sonic and Tails go to find Shadow and Silver.

Girls Story
At Hyde Park, Princess Daisy and Amy Rose are wandering around and find the Imposters Princess Peach and Blaze the Cat. They challenge to an event where they defeat them. More Imposters come and knockout Daisy and Amy.

Later on, Peach and Blaze defeat the Imposters that knocked Daisy and Amy out and save them. When a Toad comes up and tells them that a white bat is nearby, she reveals herself to be Rouge and challenges them to a 100m Backstroke Event where they defeat her. After being defeated, Rouge has no memory of what happened. Rouge promises to help the Girls out to defeat Bowser and Eggman while they destroy the Machine. Mario and Luigi come to check out if they are okay and then continue their adventure.

Challengers Story
At the Bridge of London, Sonic and Tails discover more fog and Yoshi is trying to get pass the Bridge. Sonic and Tails discover Yoshi and they try to help him out. The Imposters, Shadow the Hedgehog and Silver the Hedgehog appear surprising all of them. Yoshi challenges them to an event while Sonic attempts to help out but he is prevented from doing so by Tails. After Yoshi defeats them, they disappear and Yoshi crosses the Bridge. Yoshi then finds the real Shadow and Silver and they also find Jet the Hawk who challenges them to a 3,000m Steeplechase match. After defeating him, Jet promises to help out until they hear Bowser's voice. Bowser Jr. appears behind the Machine and tells them that he was the one doing Bowser's voice by taking a breath of the fog. He challenges the other Challengers to a event. He says he'll tell them where his dad is when they win, but when he loses he cries and runs away without telling them. Sonic and Tails leave to continue journeying.

Heroes Story, Part 2
At the British Museum, Mario, Luigi, Toad, Sonic, and Tails meet. The Heroes then begin to find imposters and challenge them to an event where they lose. They then search for sources about the Machines where they discover that it was stolen by the legendary pirate, William Kidd 300 years ago. They discover Dr. Eggman Nega and they challenge him and his Shy Guys to a 4x100m Relay where he is defeated. He then runs away before Mario and Sonic destroy the machine. They continue adventuring.

Wild Ones Story
At the Wrestling Stadium, Donkey Kong is practicing where Espio the Chameleon and Miles "Tails" Prower meet him. E-123 Omega slips into him causing the banana to drop. Donkey Kong gets mad and E-123 Omega challenges him to a Wrestling-Freestyle Match where DK wins. Tails discovers that Eggman and Metal Sonic put their batteries in him causing him to be evil. He takes it out and puts new batteries making him good again. E-123 Omega forgets everything and apologize to DK for causing his banana to fall. He promises to help out and they go.

Later on, Sonic arrives at the Volleyball court and is almost killed by Bowser as he surprise attacks. Knuckles the Echidna and Vector the Crocodile helps out and challenges him to an event and lets Sonic go. They defeat him and he runs away to escape before Sonic crushes his machine. The Wild Ones destroy the machine and Sonic and Tails move on.

Tricksters Story
At the Tennis Court, Waluigi is looking for a spot to spy on Luigi and learn his weaknesses until Metal Sonic breaks his telescope and Metal Sonic challenges him to a match where Waluigi defeats him. He runs away as Waluigi follows him.

Later on, Wario is planning to make an Un-Discount Snack Emporium, but Dr. Eggman's fog machine is in the way. He is then confronted by Dr. Eggman who challenges him to a match where Wario wins. Dr. Eggman who is upset that he lost tries to run away but sees that Wario is about to destroy his machine. Wario stomps but only realizes he made himself dizzy because the Machine was only a hologram. Waluigi and Metal Sonic arrive and go to their partners to confront each other. Mario and Luigi sneak up on them and see what they are doing and Toad tells them. Dr. Eggman and Metal Sonic challenge Wario and Waluigi to a match where Wario and Waluigi win. The other Tricksters run away as Wario and Waluigi destroy the real machine. Mario, Luigi, and Toad congratulate them as they move on.

Clear Skies Again
The heroes get together again at the main stadium, and tell each ther that the fog machines were destroyed, with help from Tricksters and Wild Ones. Everyone rejoices because the opening ceremony can continue.

Back at the wrestling stadium, Knuckles punches Bowser, only to reveal it is a fake. The same happens when Wario and Waluigi confront Dr. Eggman, who suddenly disappears as well.

In Big Ben, Dr. Eggman and Bowser are happy that they have everyone fooled. The doctor then goes to his machine and resolves to cover London in fog again, but with ten times the strength. Bowser agrees with this plan. After pressing the button, fog spreads very quickly throughout the room. The top of the machine breaks and more fog spews out rapidly. It surrounds Bowser and Dr. Eggman, who claims he feels power welling up within him. The two evil doers laugh manically as lots of rainbow fog spews from the Big Ben.

Heroes Story, Part 3
At Stonehenge, the Heroes meet again and they find more Imposters to defeat. After defeating them, E-123 Omega, Mario, Luigi, Sonic, Tails, and Toad hear Magikoopa's voice as he challenges them to a BMX match. They defeat him causing them to run away and they destroy another machine.

At the Factory, Mario, Luigi, Sonic, and Tails arrive to defeat Bowser and Eggman only to find out they are invincible with the Power of the Fog. Toad then uses the Radio to talk to Tails and tells him that everywhere else is cleared up and the Olympic Games are up to them. Mario and Sonic face the Invincible Bowser and Eggman and they defeat them. Mario and Sonic destroy the machine and cover the bottle. Bowser and Eggman complain that they will never be in the Olympics until Toad realizes that their names are on the competitor list and they did not get their invitations yet, but they can bring their ID. The two villains realize they do not have their ID's but Tails says Mario and Sonic can vouche for them.

At the Opening Ceremony, Bowser and Eggman are at the front watching Mario and Sonic present the Olympic Games.

Challengers Bonus
Bowser Jr. arrives in England to compete in the games. Unfortunately, he took a wrong turn and ended up in Stonehenge instead of London. He sees Yoshi training for the games and challenges him to an Olympic event. Jr. wins and calls on his Bullet Bill to bring him to London.

Later, Omochao and a regular Chao are being threatened by two of Dr. Eggman's robots for unknown reasons. Shadow and Silver arrive to defeat them, but Jr., flying overhead, accidentally falls off of his Bullet Bill and destroys both robots by landing on them.. The two Chao are greatful and even the two hedgehogs are impressed. Wanting to see how strong he really is, they challenge Jr. to a 2-on-1 Olympic event. Surprisingly, Jr. wins. Shadow and Silver are good sports and congratulate the young Koopa. A nearby Goomba convinces Jr. to look for more robots so that he'll be even stronger.

Arriving at the stadium, Jr. and the Goomba see Dr. Eggman measuring Metal Sonic's time running around the track. Jr. challenges Metal Sonic to an event. Thinking this would be perfect practice for the robot, Eggman agrees, on the condition that Jr. becomes his servant if he loses. Jr. accepts, telling Eggman that if he wins, he has to tell Bowser of his victory. With that, the reptile and robot set off. Jr. eventually wins. Eggman tries to examine Jr. to see what he needs to do to upgrade Metal Sonic, but Jr. angrily stops him, demanding a drink and snack in exchange for Eggman trying to trick him. The scientist reluctantly agrees.

Wild Ones Bonus
Bowser angrily stomps through London, followed by a Goomba, a Lakitu, and a Magikoopa. Bowser is angry because of a toothache, but he does not reveal this to his minions. His minions decide to cheer him up by secretly letting him win some Olympic events against various challengers. Their first target is Donkey Kong. The Magikoopa promises a pile of bananas in exchange for defeating Bowser in an event, but when the ape agrees, the wizard summons a Thwomp to fall on DK, making him dizzy and less likely to win. Bowser arrives and wins against DK. Behind his back, however, Magikoopa makes it up to DK by getting him the bananas that were promised.

Later, the Magikoopa, as well as the Lakitu and a Dry Bones, somehow convince Knuckles and Vector to rendevous. To convince them to fight, the Magikoopa uses his magic to make the Lakitu and Dry Bones to look like Charmy and Espio, respectively. The two real Chaotix members notice the two fake members acting funny, but agree to fight Bowser. The Magikoopa then summons giant versions of a Chain Chomp and Piranha Plant to bite Knuckles and Vector, respectively. Similar to DK, this makes the two animals dazed and less likely to win. After Bowser defeats them, the Goomba (who had led Bowser to the arena) quickly escorts him out before Knuckles and Vector ask too many questions.

For Bowser's last false victory, the minions plan to make Mario lose in a tennis game. Unfortunately, the Boo assigned for the job failed to trick Mario into coming to the court because Mario was too smart to be tricked and he saw through the plan. After the other minions come, Dry Bones distracts Bowser while the others think of a plan. The Magikoopa decides he'll have to transform one of the minions into Mario. Dry Bones can't do it because he is talking to Bowser and only speaks in "clacks"; and neither Boo nor Lakitu can do it because of their floating. The small mushroom is terrified to do so, but agrees when Bowser's patience wears thin. Bowser challenges "Mario" to a game of tennis and wins. After the match, Bowser Jr. arrives and is happy that his father won and says he wants to be just like him, while the minions celebrate over the success of their plan. Bowser notices that his minions are finally satisfied that he is back to his old self.

Tricksters Bonus
In his secret headquarters inside Elizabeth Tower, Eggman defeats Metal Sonic in a match of Taekwondo. However, he is unsure what to do to upgrade his creation. His other robot minions, Orbot and Cubot, see Waluigi on the monitors and suggest him for practice. The foursome confront the man in purple and convince him to battle, saying it would make good practice for defeating Luigi in the Olympics. Metal Sonic wins, and Eggman deduces that Metal Sonic possesses speed, but not strength.

Eggman and the robots come across Wario and ask him to challenge Metal Sonic so that the robot may go against Wario's strength. However, defeating Mario isn't good enough for Wario, so he and Eggman settle on a bet: If Wario wins, Orbot and Cubot come work for him. If Metal Sonic wins, Wario has to give Eggman something of his. Metal Sonic emerges victorious. Wario gives Eggman an old urn he got from an antique shop, claiming its magic. Eggman seems to recognize it and accepts it.

Back in his headquarters, Eggman places the urn inside a machine. The machine slightly unseals the lid on the urn and gray fog pours into the room. Some of this fog takes the shape of Sonic and Eggman challenges it to an event. Eggman appears victorious and the Sonic imposter vanishes into thin air. Eggman explains to his minions that this urn contains the legendary Phantasmal Fog, stolen 300 years ago by the legendary pirate William Kidd. The urn eventually ended up in the British Museum, where it was recently stolen. He says the fog shapes into whoever the person in it is thinking about, explaining the imposters in the main story. Eggman resolves to completely unseal the urn after he and Metal Sonic are done training for the Olympics.

Girls Bonus
At Hyde Park Peach, Amy, Blaze, and three Toads are setting up the invitations for all of the athletes, however Amy suggests she take Sonic's invitation to him personally but the others don't want Amy to go and insist that she stay and help the others work. However, after more begging, Blaze suggests that if Amy can beat her in a competition she will let her go. Then, after Amy beats her she acidentally scatters the invitations. Amy then decides to stay.

Later, Daisy shows up and talks about going shopping. Amy wants to go with her. Peach challenges Daisy and says if she wins, Daisy must stay and help. If Daisy wins Amy can go with her. After Peach wins they all go out for a break, but when they return the wind had knocked off all of the invitations to the ground. After they pick them all up they realize that they are missing Bowser's and Eggman's invitations, so they make new, detailed better ones.

Later, Peach and Amy meet Bowser and Eggman in the park and end up playing a round of Beach Volleyball, after they win they go fetch their invitations, but at the same moment the toads go to deliver them and they drop Eggman and Bowser's next to them. Bowser and Eggman look at how well it's written and think that their love letters to Sonic and Mario. Bowser and Eggman go off together looking around London before they do something evil. The girls assume that Bowser and Eggman took their invitations themselves, so they all decide to go out shopping together before the Olympic Games start. The last part states after sightseeing, Bowser and Eggman forget about the invites. The fourth wall is broken when it says that the player is the only one who fully understands the misunderstanding that led Bowser and Doctor Eggman to fog London.

Multiplayer
Local Play and Download Play are both offered for 2 to 4 players. In Local Play, the player can play a single unlocked "Highlight Match" with other players or a "Medley Match" with Standard or Quick options. Standard allows players to specify their preferred characters in each group before the events and offers instructions before events.

Within a Medley Match, the player can choose medleys from London Games, preset selections of events based on event type; Variety, preset selections of events based on theme; Party Mix, a mode with a set of possibly random events hosted by Omachao, with other random modifier events; and Custom, the player's own selection of events. A Recommended Medley is also offered.

Unlike previous Mario & Sonic games on DS, there are some limitations to Download Play. In Download Play, the player can play any event in a Highlight Match with character selection, or a limited version of Party Mix called "Party Mix Demo DL Medley" where everyone plays as colored Yoshi's.

Events

 * Athletics
 * 100m (Heroes)
 * 110m Hurdles (Challengers)
 * 1500m (Challengers)
 * 3000m Steeplechase (Challengers)
 * 4 x 100m Relay (Heroes)
 * Marathon (Heroes)
 * Long Jump (Tricksters)
 * Triple Jump (Challengers)
 * Hammer Throw (Wild Ones)
 * Shot Put (Challengers)
 * Javelin Throw (Wild Ones)
 * Pole Vault (Heroes)
 * 20km Race Walk (Heroes)


 * Aquatics
 * 100m Freestyle (Heroes)
 * 100m Backstroke (Girls)
 * 100m Breaststroke (Tricksters)
 * Water Polo (Challengers)
 * Platform Diving (Synchronized) (Tricksters)
 * Synchronized Swimming (Duet) (Heroes)
 * Synchronized Swimming (Team) (Girls)
 * 10km Marathon Swim (Challengers)


 * Court & Field Sports
 * Badminton (Singles)
 * Badminton (Doubles)
 * Table Tennis (Doubles)
 * Basketball
 * Beach Volleyball
 * Tennis (Singles)
 * Hockey
 * Handball
 * Football


 * Contact Sports
 * Judo
 * Boxing
 * Fencing - Epée
 * Taekwondo
 * Wrestling - Freestyle


 * Gymnastics
 * Rhythmic Ribbon (Team)
 * Balance Beam
 * Floor
 * Rings
 * Horizontal Bar
 * Trampoline


 * Cycling
 * Sprint
 * Keirin
 * Omnium
 * BMX


 * Equestrian
 * Show Jumping (Team)


 * Boat Games
 * 1000m Kayak (Singles)
 * Canoe Slalom (Pair)
 * Rowing - Quadruple Sculls
 * Sailing - 470 (Pair)


 * Shooting
 * Double Trap
 * Archery (Individual)
 * Archery (Team)
 * 25m Rapid Fire Pistol


 * Weightlifting
 * Weightlifting


 * Multi-Discipline
 * Triathlon
 * Modern Pentathlon


 * Story mode

Demo
On March 1, 2012, a demo of the 3DS version of the game was released on the Nintendo eShop. Five events are playable in the demo: 25m Rapid Fire Pistol, Football, Trampoline, 50m Backstroke and BMX. The player cannot choose his or her character or name, as that is always M&S. Each event is played using one of four characters, and each set of characters in an event belongs to a particular class. The 25m Rapid Fire Pistol uses the Tricksters class, the Football event uses the Wild Ones class, the Trampoline event uses the Challengers class, the 100m Backstroke event uses the Girls class, and the BMX event uses the Heroes class. The demo can be played a maximum of 30 (20 in Europe) times once downloaded.

References to other games

 * Paper Mario series - The HP replenish sound is used for a Skill character's special move in Badminton and Beach Volleyball.
 * Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games - All the Mario series and Sonic series songs return as well as the rival themes. In story mode on the 3DS version, Toad, Magikoopa, and Silver reference the story mode of this game.

Trivia

 * This is the first Mario & Sonic game to feature the new Sonic voice actors, with the exception of Dr. Eggman, who kept his voice actor.
 * This is also the first Mario & Sonic game to feature Bowser's current voice, Kenneth W. James.
 * At the beginning of the Story Mode, Bowser actually refers to himself by his last name, "Koopa."