Handball

Handball is a Court & Field Sports Event that appears exclusively in the Nintendo 3DS version of Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games. The event focuses on scoring points by defending the goal, rather than scoring them as typically happens in handball.

Gameplay
In this event, the player's character stands in the goal and must block the shots thrown at them by the Egg Pawns. There are three different types of ball in this event which are worth different amount of points, white ones which are worth one point, blue ones which are worth two, and rainbow colored ones which are worth three. If the player successfully blocks a ball, they are awarded the amount of points that the ball is worth, but are awarded none if an Egg Pawn scores a goal. The balls always start as white, but the other types will randomly appear later in the event. The Egg Pawns will shoot their balls to one of the four corners of the goal, and the player must move the circle pad in the direction of the corner that the ball is headed for to defend it. There are a total of fifteen Egg Pawns that shoot balls.

Controls
1) Block: Move the Circle Pad toward one of the four diagonals.

Medley Match
In medleys, Handball features a slightly different scoring system, as the number of points the player earns in the events reflects the number they receive in the medley. Only ten Egg Pawns appear in total, and the number of multiple-point scoring balls varies depending on the player's current overall placement in the medley, with lower ranked players receiving more. Handball appears as the third event of the Court & Field Medley, the second event of the Unblinking Eye Medley, and the fourth event of the Cat-like Reflex Medley.

Story Mode
In the game's story mode, Handball appears as part of both challenges in Tricksters Episode 1, Waluigi's Ambition, both in which Waluigi must beat Metal Sonic, along with 1000m Kayak (Singles) and 100m Breaststroke in the first and Badminton (Singles) and Taekwondo in the second. It also appears as part of the challenge of Tricksters Episode 2, Wario's Scheme, in which Wario must beat Dr. Eggman in it along with Long Jump, 1000m Kayak (Singles), 25m Rapid Fire Pistol, and Taekwondo. It appears again as part of the challenge of Tricksters Bonus 2, An Old Urn, in which Metal Sonic must beat Wario in it as well as in 100m Breaststroke and Badminton (Singles).