Play Retro 8-bit Sports in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020

Go 2D in the 1964 Summer Olympics

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 will take players 56 years back in time to the 1964 Summer Olympics — which were also held in the Japanese capital — with 8- and 16-bit versions of Nintendo and Sega characters playable in 2D events, publisher Sega announced Tuesday.

A new trailer for the game showed off side-scrolling action in a variety of sports, featuring characters like NES-era Peach and Mario (straight out of 1985’s Super Mario Bros.) and Sonic from his 1991 debut in the original Sonic the Hedgehog on Sega Genesis. A total of 10 events will be available in 2D: the 100-meter dash, 10-meter platform (diving), 400-meter hurdles, vault (gymnastics), judo, K-1 1000-meter kayak single, long jump, marathon, trap shooting, and volleyball. The sprinting events, for instance, look like something out of Konami’s Track and Field.

That’s in addition to 21 events that will unfold in 3D, including four new additions — sport climbing, surfing, skateboarding, and kumite (karate) — all of which are making their Olympic debuts at the 2020 Summer Games.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 will be released exclusively on Nintendo Switch.

Samit Sarkar (2019, August 20)

Play retro 8-bit sports in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. Retrieved from https://www.polygon.com