Nintendo Unhappy at Sega Mascot’s Foot During Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Development

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Nintendo allegedly expressed dissatisfaction at Sega during the development of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, after seeing Sonic’s foot placed ahead of Mario’s.

The incident has come to light in an Arcade Attack Retro Gaming Network interview with Sega veteran Ryoichi Hasegawa, who worked on the Wii and Nintendo DS sports minigame classic ahead of its release back in 2007.

According to Hasegawa, Nintendo insisted that Sega change artwork set to be used for the game’s cover that depicted Mario’s foot placed behind that of Sonic’s.

“There was one funny story,” Hasegawa recalled of the game’s development. “There was artwork of Mario and Sonic, and you know, other characters standing on the field. And those artworks were used for the package, the instruction manual cover, and the cartridge label, and things like that…

“There was one small error and Sonic’s foot was in front of Mario’s foot, ” he continued, “and Nintendo demanded us to change the priority.”

Asked if Sega agreed to the change, Hasegawa said the game’s developers “of course” made the change for Nintendo. “We were like ‘oh my god’ we have to change it,” he concluded, “or there will be no deal.”

Nintendo has frequently been reported to be a stickler for its characters appearing exactly as it wants — another infamous example is the company sending notes to Disney to describe how Bowser should hold his teacup during a brief cameo in Wreck-It Ralph.

As it was, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games was a smash hit for Sega, selling 10 million copies and spawning a string of sequels. Alas, the franchise ended after its final game in 2020, when the International Olympic Committee chose not to renew its licensing deal with Sega and Nintendo, and instead pursue partnerships based around mobile gaming and NFTs.

“Basically the IOC wanted to bring [it] back to themselves internally and look at other partners so they would get more money,” producer Lee Cocker, who worked on the series while at marketing company ISM Ltd, previously confirmed.

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social