Mario & Sonic has a surprisingly nuanced fighting game in it
by Amr (@siegarettes)
- Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020
- Developer: SEGA
- Publisher: SEGA
- Switch
Most of the minigames in Mario & Sonic are simple, one off affairs, relying on the charm and absurdity of seeing your favorite characters compete in sporting events. Some events, however, are surprisingly involved, including my current favorite–Karate.
A full review will follow closer to release, but for now, I wanted to break down what is essentially a miniature fighting game tucked in Sonic and company’s Olympic adventures.
Karate is essentially a stripped down fighter focusing on whiff punishes and faking out your opponent. It operates on a points based system. First to 10, 1 point for regular hits, 2 for takedowns, 3 for counterhits and 5 for landing a super.
The controls are simple–you’ve got a dash, blocking, short but fast punches, slow but long kicks, a takedown that functions as a grab, a button for charging and unleashing supers, and up+down variants of each attack that hit farther and harder. OKAY, maybe it’s not THAT simple, especially compared to the other minigames, but it’s definitely less overwhelming compared to full fighters.
That’s not to say its lacks nuance–attacks can be canceled with blocks to fake out your opponent, grabs can be teched to escape them and perfectly timed blocks build meter. The limited ring size and points system rewards those who fake out and punish opponent’s whiffed attacks, while approaching with the threat of takedowns constantly in mind. As long as you’re playing above the Normal difficulty it can be surprisingly tense. There’s a real potential for mindgames and mixups, and I can only imagine it gets more tense with a rival who can get inside your head.
It’s major flaws are the low point count, which can end matches fast, and often in an anti climax. And it doesn’t seem too rewarding to go for bigger moves, while jabs and kicks are so much safer.
That aside, Karate has been by far the most fun of the minigames I’ve played. There’s much more depth that I expected, and it definitely has the potential to become a returning favorite at parties.