Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games

Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games is a Wii U game, and is the fourth installment in the Mario & Sonic series. It includes a variety of events from the winter games such as skiing, figure skating, and curling. As the title implies, the game is centered around the 2014 Olympic Winter Games, taking place in Sochi, Russia. Different events uses the Wii Remote Plus controller, Wii U GamePad, or both. As the other games in the series, it features realistic events with ones in Mario's and Sonic's worlds. As the game is a Wii U exclusive, Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games is the first in the series to not have a handheld version. It is also the first game in the series published by Nintendo outside of Japan and South Korea rather than SEGA, who published the first three games.

Modes
The game features five overall modes total.


 * Single Match
 * Medley Mania
 * Worldwide VS
 * Legends Showdown
 * Action & Answer Tour

Olympic events
The game features 16 Olympic events total.


 * Snowboard Cross
 * 4-man Bobsleigh
 * Biathlon
 * Snowboard Slopestyle
 * Speed Skating 500m
 * Alpine Skiing Downhill
 * Ski Jumping Large Hill
 * Freestyle Skiing Moguls
 * Freestyle Ski Cross
 * Snowboard Parallel Giant Slalom
 * Figure Skating Singles
 * Figure Skating Pairs
 * Curling
 * Ice Hockey
 * Skeleton
 * Short Track 1000m

Dream events
The game has eight total Dream Events.


 * Winter Sports Champion Race (Mini Russia Island)
 * Roller Coaster Bobsleigh (Speed Highway)
 * Groove Pipe Snowboard (Mushroom Bridge)
 * Snow Day Street Hockey (Delfino Plaza)
 * Hole-In-One Curling (Green Hill Zone)
 * Figure Skating Spectacular (Dream Skating Center)
 * Snowball Scrimmage (Snow Colosseum)
 * Bullet Bill Sledge Race (Sweet Mountain)

Playable characters
The game features a total of 21 playable characters. All playable characters in this game are identical to those featured in the Wii versions of the previous two installments.

All-Around Type

 * Mario
 * Luigi
 * Bowser Jr.

Speed Type

 * Daisy
 * Yoshi

Power Type

 * Bowser
 * Wario
 * Donkey Kong

Skill Type

 * Peach
 * Waluigi

All-Around Type

 * Amy Rose
 * Blaze the Cat

Speed Type

 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Shadow the Hedgehog
 * Metal Sonic

Power Type

 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Vector the Crocodile

Skill Type

 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Dr. Eggman
 * Silver the Hedgehog

Other

 * Mii

Non-playable characters

 * Toads
 * Lakitu
 * Espio the Chameleon
 * Shy Guy
 * Pianta
 * Chao
 * Omochao
 * Koopa Troopas
 * Wisps
 * Animal Friends
 * Orbot
 * Cubot

Legends Showdown Rivals

 * Team Birdo (Ice Hockey)
 * Birdo
 * Three other Birdo
 * Kamek (Bullet Bill Sledge Race)
 * Jet (Snowboard Parallel Giant Slalom)
 * King Boo (Short Track Speed Skating 1000m)
 * E-123 Omega (Roller Coaster Bobsleigh)
 * Team Eggman Nega (Winter Sports Champion Race)
 * Eggman Nega
 * Dry Bowser
 * Rouge

Figure Skating Spectacular Bosses

 * False Bowser
 * Rotatatron

Costumes
As with the previous games, there are a variety of collectable costumes for the player to use for their Mii character. All the costumes from Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games return (with the exception of the Wenlock Costume, being replaced by the mascots of the new Olympic games). The method for unlocking them is different also; instead of buying costumes from a shop using in-game points, they are obtained by completing specific challenges (the same applies for all unlockable music, which exclusively includes music from past Mario games and past Sonic games). Here is a list of costumes and their unlocking requirements.

Music
Most of the songs used are from past installments.

Returning Music

 * Main Theme from Super Mario Bros.
 * Athletic Theme from Super Mario Bros. 3
 * Main Theme from Super Mario World
 * Main Theme from Super Mario 64
 * Bowser's Domain from Super Mario 64
 * Athletic Theme from New Super Mario Bros.
 * Gusty Garden Galaxy from Super Mario Galaxy
 * Purple Comet from Super Mario Galaxy
 * Coconut Mall from Mario Kart Wii
 * Underwater Theme from Super Mario Bros.
 * Main Theme from Super Mario Bros. 3
 * Mario Circuit from Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
 * Coincentration from Super Mario 64 DS
 * Underwater Theme from New Super Mario Bros.
 * Wario's Gold Mine from Mario Kart Wii
 * Main Theme from New Super Mario Bros. Wii
 * Puzzle Plank from Super Mario Galaxy 2

New Music

 * Ending Theme from Super Mario World*
 * Credits Theme from Super Mario 64
 * Slider Theme from Super Mario 64
 * Mushroom Bridge from Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
 * Daisy Circuit from Mario Kart Wii
 * Rainbow Road from Mario Kart Wii
 * Good Egg Galaxy from Super Mario Galaxy*
 * Buoy Base Galaxy from Super Mario Galaxy
 * Bowser's Galaxy Generator from Super Mario Galaxy 2

Returning Music

 * Angel Island from Sonic the Hedgehog 3
 * Palm Tree Panic from Sonic CD
 * Emerald Coast from Sonic Adventure
 * Metal Harbor from Sonic Adventure 2
 * City Escape from Sonic Adventure 2
 * Sonic Heroes from Sonic Heroes
 * Seaside Hill from Sonic Heroes
 * Right There, Right On from Sonic Rush
 * Rooftop Run from ''Sonic Unleashed
 * Flying Battery Zone from Sonic & Knuckles
 * Windy and Ripply, for Emerald Coast from Sonic Adventure
 * His World from Sonic the Hedgehog
 * New Venture from Sonic Rush Adventure
 * Let the Speed Mend It from Sonic and the Secret Rings
 * Misty Lake from Sonic and the Black Knight
 * Reach for the Stars from Sonic Colors
 * Tropical Resort from Sonic Colors

New Music
A * notes that the song appeared in a previous title, but wasn't a customizable song.
 * Diamond Dust Zone from Sonic 3D Blast
 * Super Sonic Racing from Sonic R
 * Radical Highway from Sonic Adventure 2*
 * Neo Green Hill from Sonic Advance
 * Leaf Forest from Sonic Advance 2
 * Route 99 from Sonic Advance 3
 * Blizzard Peaks Act 1 from Sonic Rush Adventure
 * Cool Edge from Sonic Unleashed
 * White Park Zone Act 2 from Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II

Critical reception
Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games received mixed reviews from critics. IGN gave the game a 4.5 (a "Bad" rating). They praised its large quantities of unlockables, but criticized its lack of games to be played online. GameXplain gave the single player mode a 3/5 stars and its multiplayer a 3.5/5. Destructoid gave the game a 6.0. The game received a score of 49% by Official Nintendo Magazine - while they praised the game's "TV-show-style to menus and games", they criticized the controls (describing them as "almost universally abject") and the event gameplay.

Trivia

 * This is the first Mario & Sonic game to not be released on the Wii, nor have a handheld counterpart.
 * This is the first Mario & Sonic game to have online multiplayer.
 * This game features some special animations to some Paired Characters for whenever the player gets first place in a event (for example, Mario and Princess Peach have different animations together rather than Luigi and Princess Daisy who have no special animations together).
 * The game features special animations for some characters that are paired during the award ceremony.