When it was announced that the 2010 Winter Olympics would be hosted in my home country, I was ecstatic, and the excitement only doubled when it was announced that there would be another Mario and Sonic entry. The first Mario and Sonic game was my first exposure to the Sonic series, and I had fun playing through that game. However, as much as I enjoyed it, I was more excited for this entry, mainly because of how much new content was going to be added, from new events to the four new characters (Donkey Kong, Silver, Bowser Jr., and Metal Sonic). By the time of release, I made sure to buy both the Wii and DS versions, as I wanted the full experience as I had with the first game.
Starting with the DS version, the biggest draw for me was its Adventure mode. I personally like how the maps are set up to explore and hunt for treasure. In addition, the character exclusive puzzles and challenges were a joy to play, more-so with the feature of replayability for each one. Each of the six worlds had their own special features that made them all feel fresh and unique when exploring them, and the story beats within made them even more engaging. Speaking of story beats, I was impressed how the post-game was handled to incorporate more of the story after the ending and make it more interesting than just another challenge list. The entirety of Adventure Mode made playing through each Olympic Event feel special with each event.
Now for the main focus of this: the Wii version! Since the Winter 2010 Olympics were being held in Vancouver, it always felt fun and exciting having the image of some of my favourite characters from the Mario and Sonic series visit a part of Canada. Thankfully, that’s not the only draw of this game. There is so much to gush about with this game, from the environments to the music, but the biggest and best feature is definitely the Festival mode. Either with one character or a team of four of your choosing, you can go through the entire Olympic duration with each day offering a set of events. Personally, I enjoy the Team Festival a bit more since it’s the fastest way to unlock all of the new Dream Events, and I can use my personal favourite team setup in each event.
(Depending on the four characters chosen, a team name will be automatically generated. The default team name for this setup was “Team Star”.)
The Festival is fun each time I play it. Each time playing it gives the feeling of a special story being presented based on the chosen characters. Why is that? It’s not just the events that are presented on each in-game day, but certain days feel like story beats. There are days dedicated to exploring the village, where you can visit the various shops to purchase in-game music, accessories, or Olympic Trivia, as well as watch some of the characters interact with each other. Some of the interactions can be inspiring, adorable, or downright hilarious. I can only imagine how wacky any interaction between Wario or Dr. Eggman and anyone else could be, or how surprisingly (or unsurprisingly) cute it is to see almost any Sonic character hit it off with Yoshi. I’m not sure why, but one interaction in particular caught my attention: Mario and Blaze. There was something about the sight of those two chatting that seemed to be quite a fitting start to a friendship between them, which is now in my personal headcanon.
Speaking of story beats, certain days, after clearing the respective events, also feature rival battles. There are eight in 
total, and they offer the greatest challenge in the game (greatest as in most engaging, not necessarily the hardest). Whether it’s shredding snow against Jet in Snowboard Cross, racing a Bullet Bill in Bobsleigh, taking on Dry Bowser and his cronies in a Hockey match, or ice dancing to top Rouge’s performance in Figure Skating, each rival battle adds a layer of depth to the Festival, making it feel like a sports-adventure hybrid, not unlike a few Mario sports titles.
New to the series is the remastering of Dream Events. In Beijing, Dream Events were four events with items and special moves incorporated in them. Here in Vancouver, and as a staple from then onwards (excluding Rio 2016), Dream Events take on the venues of the Mario and Sonic franchises, adding even more elements from their games within each event, and they’re some of the best minigames in the series thanks to this design choice. Turning the Ski Cross into a game of Mario Kart on Mario Circuit, snowboarding through Radical Highway, relay racing on ice throughout the Egg Factory, ski jumping through space in Good Egg Galaxy, and so much more is all available within the new Dream Events. Any hardcore fan of Mario or Sonic would easily pick up all the references within each event.
Of all the games in the series, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games is the one I can go back to the most often while finding all new ways to enjoy a fresh new experience. It’s really heartwarming to have the title set within my home country have this much quality content to its name. This game is still to this day one of my favourite party games of all time and one I can wholeheartedly recommend at any time to anyone interested in this series.
~Lightning Star 
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