Casualties of the catastrophic Sega vs Nintendo wars of the late-eighties and early nineties will be staggered by the latest twist in the relationship between Mario and Sonic. Once sworn enemies, destabilising the global gaming community with their angrily contrasting platform titles, the two have not only signed a truce, they're actively dating. Earlier this year, Sega and Nintendo jointly announced Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, an enigmatically titled project which some reporters immediately speculated would be a sports simulation starring Mario and Sonic.
Now it's been announced that Sonic will guest star in the forthcoming party beat-'em-up, Super Smash Bros. Brawl set for release on Wii early next year. The game, which also features such luminaries at Solid Snake, Link and Samus from the Metroid series, will be the first to offer online multiplayer fight action.
I don't know about you, but I never thought I'd live in a world where Sonic, Snake and Wario do battle in the same game. There must be something in the Book of Revelations about this.
On the subject of Mario and Sonic at the Olympics (such a snappy name), Nintendo and Sega have also revealed some new details about the game...
For a start there will be four special 'Dream Events'. According to the press release, these are, 'based in colourful game-like universes that include objects and power-ups that will either improve a players game, or bring their opponent down'. Sounds like the psychological consequences of taking too many performance-enhancing drugs, but this is probably not the case in the game.
Events include: Dream Race, Dream Platform (diving), Dream Fencing and Dream Table Tennis - each featuring power-ups, tricks and tripped out visuals.
You'll also be able to enter your Mii avatar into the game as a playable character, competing against Sonic and Mario - as yourself. It's not only bitter videogame rivalries that are crashing down here, the fourth wall is crumbling too.
Which unlikely videogame pairing would you like to see and in what sort of game?
