Gaming IndustryHollywood billionaires Mario and Sonic now too good for the Olympic GamesWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Gaming IndustryHollywood billionaires Mario and Sonic now too good for the Olympic GamesWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Sega)
When France lights the Olympic flame on Friday to signal the start of the 2024 Paris Olympics, Team Videogames will be shamefully unrepresented in the prestigious ceremony. The shame tomorrow belongs not to the Olympic committee, which has in fact agreed tobring esports into the fold in 2025. No, the shame lies with two competitors who seemingly couldn’t be bothered to show up.
Mario the plumber and Sonic the Hedgehog have failed not only the Games, but themselves.
Just a few short years ago they wereso dedicatedto the Games they even showed up in the Japanese capital early—in November 2019!—a full 20 months before the event actually took place. What happened to that extraordinary sportsmanship?
They seemed unstoppable. Yet that slimy, seductive wormtongue called fame has now lured Mario and Sonic away from the noble pursuit of sport and into the dark heart of Hollywood.
After 2023’s The Super Mario Bros Movie grossed more than $1.3 billion worldwide, Mario is newly crowned Hollywood royalty, focusing on a sequel and slate of spin-offs to line his pockets with more corrupting green. He’s already dragged hismost taciturn friendinto his new debaucherous lifestyle. Sonic, meanwhile, has betrayed his kind even more completely, forsaking his former Olympic teammates for the company of humans instead. No one anticipated the cocksure star’s first outing to be such a success, but with two pictures in two years grossing some $700 millionpre-merch, it’s safe to say his third film, due out this year, will put him in the billionaire’s club right alongside Mario.
Mario & Sonic have given no indication that they plan to return for this or any future Olympic Games. And we should not expect them to—clearly they’ve lost the competitive spirit, and are now too busy partying with coastal elites to put their Segod-given gifts to use.
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Before the next Winter Games in 2026, it is on us—all of us—to nominate new rising stars who will happily compete in the Olympics. Mario & Sonic no longer deserve the rights to official tie-in game status. But without them,this year’s official companionis a sad shadow of the glory days of Mario & Sonic.
Though they may not be as iconic a duo, I believe I have just the pairing from this year’s stellar lineup of PC games: the foot fromAnger Footand the station wagon fromPacific Drive. They may struggle at the aquatic events, but otherwise I think they’ll make a hell of a team.
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