There are two kinds of people in this world: those that think that Superman would beat The Flash in a road race, simply because he’s Superman, and those of us who rightly know that The Flash, being the living embodiment of speed itself, would take Supes to the cleaners. Applying the same argument to Mario and Sonic used to be cut and dry, with Sonic the victor…until Sega’s Mario and Sonic at the Olympics for the DS came along and proved that speed matters for nothing. In this game it’s scribbling that counts.

Following the exact same pattern of its older sibling on the Wii, the game compiles a collection of characters from various Sonic and Mario games and pits them against each other on the Olympic stage across 24 events. You’ll sprint, hurdle, throw hammers, toss basketballs, fence, swim and dive, among other things in your quest for the gold, and the hopes to prove once and for all that no one bests Dr. Eggman in the sport of kings: trampolining.

To perform these feats of athletic prowess, you’ll employ virtually every input that the DS accepts, to mixed results. Some events, such as the 100 and 400 meter dash, require nothing more than furious horizontal scribbling to win the gold, with slightly less scribbling for the longer event lest you run out of stamina too early and get lapped by Bowser. Other events, such as the triple jump require you to clap into the microphone to pump up the crowd, then scribble to run, then trace your jumping lines three times, all in a split second before you foul out. Cycling requires alternating between the left and right shoulder buttons to pedal, along with using the d-pad to steer on the track. Add nebulous directions to the need for spot on stylus and/or button work and the game will have you alternating between fits of victory fueled euphoria and crimson soaked rage.

For the most part, the touch controls work well, once you know what you’re doing and when you’re supposed to do it, and the number of throwaway, flat out busted events is kept to a minimum (looking at you, fencing) however, unlike in the Wii version, where competing in an event would leave you a sweaty, broken mess, the DS version doesn’t carry the same level of exhaustion. Granted, this is a good thing if you’re playing the game on the bus, but somehow the act of competition is lessened when all you have to do is write real hard.

Thankfully the game looks very good with well done character models and animations. All of the game’s characters are instantly recognizable, some with makeovers as the developers rightly decided that Princess Peach would look ridiculous trying to do the vault in a pink dress. The various events are all modeled well, with lots of bright colors and celebratory shine. Unfortunately, the replay at the end of each event doesn’t do much to give you an extra view of the event. Some events such as archery will show a slightly different view of the action, but other events just have a carbon copy of what just transpired. Luckily you can skip the replay and get right to the medal ceremony. On the audio side, each character has their own celebratory utterance, but they’re fairly annoying, as is the music. Thankfully, you can turn the volume all the way down and not have the experience lessened.

There’s certainly a lot do in the game as each of the 24 events can be played individually, or you can pick a character to compete in circuits, combinations of events against three other computer controlled characters. The circuits provide a nice challenge as the events run the gamut from pure speed events to pure power events, making character choices more difficult, however as long as you know what you’re doing, it’s pretty easy to win every event. This somewhat lessens the impact of having the various characters in the game, as what’s the point of having Sonic race against Bowser, if his speed is no match for your mad stylus skillz? The circuits also employ the ability to use a special token during a match which doubles the number of points you receive. It’s a nice idea, and will help you improve your placing as the events wear on, however the AI is hit or miss as to when they use it, and often times don’t choose to employ it in an event tailored for the particular character. Placing in a circuit unlocks additional events, giving the player more incentive than just the burning desire to place a butt whupping on Yoshi.

In addition to the single event and circuit mode, there’s a mission mode for each character which consists of five events all with some whacky parameters such as finish a race second, or increase your hammer throw distance with each throw. Completing the missions nets you some emblems and a symbol of your achievements which is then used for nothing more than showing your friends how much you truly love Knuckles. Finally, there are some mini-games used to unlock various songs from the Mario and Sonic games as well as Olympic trivia. Oddly enough, the mini-games are in no way Olympic related, but they do provide a nice diversion as the swelling in your drawing hand goes down.

Once you’ve bested the AI in the various events, you can bring your game to your pals, provided they’re all in the same room as you as alas, multiplayer is limited to multi and single card play. The Wi-Fi connection is used to upload your various event results and download the results of your fellow competitors, however the interface is fairly clunky and the results for each event have to be downloaded separately, so it’s doubtful you’ll do this more than once, unless you really want to know how your 100 meter dash times hold up against the world.

With all there is to do in the game, it’s a shame that it isn’t more interesting. For the most part, the touch controls work well and there’s plenty of variety to the events, but for some reason, Mario and Sonic at the Olympics doesn’t really hold your interest once you’ve played each event once. Competing in the circuits can be fun, if only to unlock more events, but once you’ve done that, the gameplay isn’t compelling enough to warrant additional play time. Olympic freaks or those who really, really hate Luigi and want to humiliate him in every sporting event known to man will probably get more interest out of this game than most, but if you’re looking for a deep, Olympic experience, look elsewhere.