Like the previous installment, this game is a collaboration between Sega and Nintendo featuring characters from both the Mario franchise and the Sonic the Hedgehog series.
Although Sega was handling most of the development for both versions of this game, as it did for the original Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, they were also handling publishing/marketing duties for all territories outside of Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan while Nintendo has done publishing/marketing duties for Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan themselves.
The Wii version employs the Wii Remote controls, as well as the Wii Balance Board. The game features a Festival mode where the player starts from the opening to the closing ceremony. In the Festival mode, the player can choose to play an individual festival, where the player faces off against 7 other CPU characters, or a team festival, where the player can choose three other teammates to play.
New to the game is a marketplace that allows the player to purchase various items such as clothes and accessories for the player's Mii, tunes from both series, and customizable snowboards. Players can purchase these items using Star Tokens, which earn based on their performance. Also, the gallery for Olympic trivia has now been replaced with the Library.
Also, all authentic (real-life based events) are unlocked from the start. Dream Events are in this game and all of them (excluding 2) need to be unlocked.
The aforementioned Festival Mode, is a special adventure mode where the participants must compete with some boss characters from the Mario and Sonic series in various events.[1] Both the DS and the Wii versions take place in a place known as Christmas Village.
All the main participants on the Wii character selection screen, including the Mii.
All of the characters from the previous game, including Miis for the Wii version, return. There are also four new characters[2] who were not present in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, namely, Donkey Kong, Metal Sonic, Bowser Jr., and Silver. Retaining the first game's style, all playable characters are unlocked from the start (including new participants).
It is possible to customize the outfit of the Miis in the game. Aside from differently colored suits, the Miis can also wear outfits that resemble the ones of the regular playable characters and a few bosses. Playable character costumes are unlockable by getting 1st in five events as the character. The player can buy equipment through the store in the game and unlike Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, the Miis' stats gets altered depending on the equipment they wear.
Mii costumes
Mario series
There is a total of 16 different costumes for Miis based on characters from the Mario universe.
Mario
Luigi
Princess Peach
Princess Daisy
Yoshi
Wario
Waluigi
Bowser
Bowser Jr.
Donkey Kong
Bee Mario
Fire Mario
Birdo
Dry Bones
Dry Bowser
Diddy Kong
Sonic the Hedgehog series
Like the Mario universe, 16 characters from the Sonic the Hedgehog universe also appear as costumes for the Miis.
Sonic the Hedgehog
Miles "Tails" Prower
Knuckles the Echidna
Dr. Eggman
Amy Rose
Shadow the Hedgehog
Vector the Crocodile
Blaze the Cat
Silver the Hedgehog
Metal Sonic
Super Sonic
Big the Cat
Charmy Bee
Espio the Chameleon
Rouge the Bat
E-123 Omega
VIP members
These characters only appear as cameos and tells the player that they have been watching the player in certain events. Pausing the game and hitting the when they are spotted gives the player 100 Star Points. The VIP members are:
When the player spots Birdo and Big the Cat, they will also be given costumes.
When the game is played during the month of December, Santa Claus also appears as a VIP. Unlike other VIP characters, Santa gives 300 Star Points instead of 100.
"Sega has truly listened to the feedback about the first game and slimmed down the waggle controls, beefed up the lastability with a ton of extra content and managed to turn even the seemingly dull events of Curling and Figure Skating into engaging and varied games. With over twenty characters, twenty-five events and hundreds of unlockable items, you'll be playing this game well into the New Year, and the added subtlety of the controls makes playing it a far less tiring experience. It may not have the control genius of Wii Sports Resort but it's every bit as good in terms of content, presentation and pure, distilled fun."
"Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympics is, at the end of the day, a huge party playing host to two most loved franchises and that's what it was designed for. It may be incredibly simple to work through the single player mode, but entertaining friends or family is where the package really shines through. Whilst it may be as accessible as Nintendo's Wii Sports, it may not be for everyone. The simplistic controls and gameplay might be a tad off-putting for those having a resume of gaming skills, but for the masses Winter Olympics are a solid package that can heat up a living room with fierce competition."
"It's true to say that Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games is no Mario Kart. But it's a fun, polished party game with broad appeal, and a marked improvement over the previous one. Let's just hope the next installment has a bit more depth. And is called Mario & Sonic of War, obviously."
Although he is uncredited in the game's credits, Scott Burns voices Bowser in this game, which marks the second and last instance in the Mario & Sonic he voices him, as Kenneth W. James would voice him in later installments.
Super Mario Bros. - A remix of the overworld theme and castle theme of this game is available as one of selectable songs in this game. Arrangements of the Ground Theme and Castle Theme are used as the music for the first and second segments of Dream Figure Skating.
Super Mario Bros. 2 - Peach's floating ability returns as her special skill in this game.
Super Mario Bros. 3 - A remix of the athletic theme of this game appears as one of the selectable songs in this game.
Super Mario World - A remix of the athletic and the ending themes appear as one of the selectable songs in this game. An arrangement of the ending theme is also used for the third segment of Dream Figure Skating.
Mario Kart Wii - The Dream Ski Cross events take place in Mario Circuit from this game. The Coconut Mall theme appears as one of the selectable music tracks.
References in later games
Mario Sports Mix - The gameplay in Hockey in this game is similar to Ice Hockey from this game.
マリオ&ソニックATバンクーバーオリンピック Mario ando Sonikku atto Bankūbā Orinpikku
Mario & Sonic at the Vancouver Olympics
Dutch
Mario & Sonic op de Olympische Winterspelen
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
German
Mario & Sonic bei den Olympischen Winterspielen
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
Italian
Mario & Sonic ai Giochi Olimpici Invernali
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
Korean
마리오와 소닉 밴쿠버 동계올림픽 Mario-wa Sonik Baenkubeo Dong-gye-olimpik
Mario & Sonic at the Vancouver Winter Olympics
Portuguese
Mario e Sonic nos Jogos Olímpicos de Inverno
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
Spanish
Mario & Sonic En Los Juegos Olímpicos De Invierno
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
Trivia
An app based on this game was released for Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch, but only features Sonic characters and thus is named simply Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games. This game has since been removed from the App Store.
This is currently the only game in the series to be released on both consoles on the same day (except Japan and South Korea).