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According to Mario & Sonic series producer Lee Cocker, Sega and Nintendo originally envisioned Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 as a full-blown “Video Game All-Stars” crossover, bringing together characters from other IPs—including Mega Man.
In a recent exchange on Twitter, Cocker revealed that the original concept for the game was to include a wide range of iconic characters—not just from the worlds of Mario and Sonic, but from across the gaming industry. That lineup included Mega Man, Pokémon, Street Fighter, Metal Gear Solid, and even select Sony and Microsoft properties. The idea was that certain characters would appear only in specific Olympic events, creating a crossover experience tailored to each character’s unique traits.
Unfortunately, the plan never came to fruition. “Lots of the deals/agreements couldn’t be agreed, which was a shame,” Cocker explained, “so it went back to just being Mario and Sonic.”
Still, it’s exciting to know that Mega Man was considered for a leading role in what could have been one of gaming’s most ambitious crossovers to date.
Source: The Sonic Stadium
This actually makes more sense than it seems on paper. SEGA (and Japan in general) was very excited about the Olympic Games coming back to Tokyo with prolific output (they made a just Sonic Olympics for phone AND a normal Olympics for console), and this Mario & Sonic had a chunk of minigames done with pixel art, set in the 1964 Olympics. 100% they wanted to juxtapose more old sprites together, like Mario Crossover or Super Clash Bros.
ReplyDeleteReally curious how they’d do the Sony and Microsoft characters, who seldom ever had sprites. Stick to Conker and Crash, characters that managed Gameboy appearances? I doubt they’d make fully new sprites, considering the final game. Maybe Master Chief just shows up in a 3D minigame with the CE model.
An all star crossover game?! That would've been cool!
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