A producer who worked on the crossover titleMario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020has revealed a slew of other crossovers that were planned before the series came to an end.Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020was released in 2019 as a crossover sports game developed and published by Sega, and was initially released on the original Nintendo Switch. Based on the 2020 Summer Olympics event, the title starred Sonic the Hedgehog and friends fromSega’s flagship IP alongside Mario and other characters from Nintendo’sSuper Mariofranchise, and the game also saw a release in arcades in the same year.
TheMario & Sonicseries has released a catalog of games, including favoritesMario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (Vancouver 2010),Mario and Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, andMario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Beginning in 2007 with the self-titled debut, the crossover series delivered further sequels catering to the Summer Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games, concluding with theTokyo 2020entry, which served as the sixth and final game in the series.
Posting on Twitter, producer Lee Cocker answered a question asking why the Olympic series only featuredMario & Sonic. Cocker confirmed, “Lots of the deals / agreements couldn’t be agreed, which was a shame, so it went back to just being Mario and Sonic,” but the producer went on to reveal which characters could have been added. A slew of IPs that were once considered to be the nextMario & Soniccrossover includedPokemon,Dragon Ball,Metal Gear Solid,Mega Man,Zelda, andStreet Fighter. “It was a very big idea that didn’t happen. Certain characters could only be used for certain events,” Cocker concluded. TheMario & Sonicseries was confirmed to be dead back in 2024, when Cocker updated the community on the status of the crossover.
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 Nearly Featured Dragon Ball, Pokemon, Metal Gear Solid, and More Crossovers
Despite the plumber and hedgehog’s successful working relationship within the crossover, aSoniclead recently threw shade atMario Kart, dipping back into Nintendo and Sega’s old beef. However, fans of the crossover believed adding other IPs would have been very interesting, noting the addition of aDragon Ballcrossover would have presented aSmash Bros.-styled Olympics.
Even though it’s been six years since theOlympic Games Tokyo 2020title, theSonicandSuper Mariofranchises could meet in the middle once again, thanks to the Nintendo Switch 2 launch title.Mario Kart Worldinadvertently proposed another crossover withSonic Racing: CrossWorlds, which could hypothetically see characters from both IPs meet for the ultimate racing union. Considering Nintendo and Sega’s competitive history in the industry, a future crossover between racers would be a chance to delight both fandoms.
