Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Hands-on

Wii owners have been competitively waggling their remotes and nunchuks in Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games for a couple of months now, but Nintendo DS owners will have to wait until after Santa flies overhead to play the game in a portable rendition. SEGA's Olympic Games design will be coming to the portable in just a few weeks, though, and the company let us stretch our legs with a near-final version of the dual-screen handheld edition this week.

We had already had hands-on with the game back at a Nintendo event earlier this year where we could play skeet shooting, table tennis and others, but that version was a Japanese-language edition. The version sent over by SEGA this week is a full-blown North American-ized version, but for this hands-on we were restricted to only a handful of events.

100 Meter Dash is the game's most basic challenge. Just like the Wii version of the game, on the Nintendo DS speed is everything: at the start of the race, you charge up your character by holding the stylus on the touch screen. At the fire of the starting pistol, start stroking the screen left and right as fast as possible. The faster the reaction time at the blast of the pistol, and the quicker and more accurate you are on the touch screen (you have to "trigger" two points on the screen…a lot like Track & Field's action buttons) the better you'll do in the race. And you'll have an even better advantage if you pick a "speed" focused character, like Sonic, Shadow, Yoshi or Daisy.
In the Long Jump, you use this same running skill up until the game locks your speed and gives you the ability to focus on your leap at the line. Stroking the screen upwards at the right time will send your character flying into the sandpit…the better the angle, the further you'll go. Skill type athletes, like Peach, Tails, Waluigi, and Dr. Eggman have the edge here. At the start of the event you can jazz up the crowd by clapping in rhythm so the microphone can pick it up.

Then there's the Hammer Throw, where strong characters Bowser, Wario, Knuckles, and Vector can shine. Place the stylus on the screen and spin as fast as you can. When you're ready to throw, lift off the screen and watch it fly. The better you spin, the further it'll fly…but you have to make sure your timing's right.

And Trampoline? It's a simple timing-based challenge where you'll stroke the stylus upwards in time to your character's bouncing. At the peak of the jump, you'll have to stroke specific symbols onto the screen as quick as you can. Keep the pattern going so you can score that perfect 10!

Then, there's the 400 meter freestyle event. Yep, swimming. Just imagine this game to be an extension of the running events…but this time you have to worry about breathing. Tapping the L or R button (depending on your handedness) will make your character come up for air. The better the timing, the faster and longer you can go. Each character also has their own way of stroking the screen…just like on the Wii where you have multiple ways to waggle the remote and nunchuk.

The game plays like a really good rendition of Konami's Track & Field, but instead of buttons, most every game uses stylus strokings. This game may be recognized as a touch-screen destroyer, so take care when you're rubbing that stylus as quick as you can.

The Nintendo DS game mimicks the Nintendo Wii version in another place: online support. Contrary to previous belief, the Nintendo DS version will not feature online play. Instead, it'll go online to pull down the leaderboards so you can see how well you compare with the rest of the world. There will be multiplayer support, but only for local area matches.

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games looks great and plays well, and should make for an impressive showing with plenty of time before the 2008 Summer Olympics. Our full review will hit when the game ships in January.
source: http://media.ds.ign.com/media/896/896693/imgs_1.html