Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020

This latest entry in the Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games series sports the best collection yet of minigames and events, but is hampered by a tedious story mode and overall poor execution.

A wealth of entertaining events, accessible control options, and a competent story mode make for the best-ever entry in this simple series.

This is the sort of thing that might keep smaller children occupied for a time, but buffet rules apply: The food doesn’t taste better just because there’s a lot of it. And that’s maybe the best thing I can say about Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020: There is certainly a lot of it.

I'm as surprised as you are that I had so much fun with this one. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020's retro suite is compact but it kicks everything up a notch, which is an easier sell for newcomers. Just make sure you have at least one friend to prolong the fun with once the story is over and done.

Its 34 events provide welcome variety and there are far more hits than misses in its line-up, but once you're finished with Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020's four-hour Story mode it becomes notably less enticing for solo players. With no real incentives or unlockables to aim for, this should be considered a strictly multiplayer affair if you want to still be playing it by the time the actual Tokyo 2020 Olympics roll around.

ega has done a great job as ambassadors for the city of Tokyo, and the 1964 retro 2D mini-games and events are nostalgia-filled romps that will leave players smiling from ear to ear.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 is not a good minigame collection. While the minigames here aren't absolutely atrocious, none of them are particularly good or outstanding. Disappointing motion controls and a boring minigame selection really hamstring this crossover, and when games like Super Mario Party are available, I just can't bring myself to recommend it at all.

Despite the addition of retro 2D events and a story mode, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 does little to improve the franchise thanks to middling minigame design and an empty, lackluster campaign.

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 has some interesting new ideas that are dragged down by painfully dull gameplay.

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 is a well-presented game that is full of the typical Nintendo and Sega charm, and is a fun game to bust out when you just fancy some simple, straightforward arcade-style fun for which you don’t have to think too hard. This isn’t a game you’re going to be playing for months at a time — but it is one you may just find yourself wanting to get down off the shelf now and again the next time you fancy seeing Daisy in a leotard.