I know I'm a day late with this, but I couldn't let such an epoch-shattering event pass without mentioning it and I was snowed under with work yesterday. In case you missed it, Sega and Nintendo announced that Mario and Sonic would be joining forces to star in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, a multi-event sports sim based around, yes, Beijing 2008.
Mario and Sonic! Mario and Sonic! Quite frankly, if someone had visited me from the future 15 years ago and told me this would happen, I would have had them consigned to a madhouse (quickly followed by myself for consorting with people from the future). What a bizarre world we live in. Frankly, Gerry Adams and Ian Paisley must be gutted that their potentially historic appearance together has now surely been superceded in the minds of many political pundits.
I was at Future Publishing when the news broke, and Official PlayStation Magazine's publisher rushed over to ask if this meeting of rival videogame icons had a precedent. The best I could come up with was SNK vs Capcom, but even a fawning Fatal Fury idiot like me couldn't compare Terry Bogard vs Ryu with the meeting of Nintendo and Sega's mascots.
Can you think of any similar meet-ups? Failing that, what unlikely couplings would you like to see in the future? Here are three suggestions...
Sam Fisher vs Solid Snake The two characters wouldn't actually meet, they'd sneak around each other for a few lonely hours before giving up.
Samus Aran vs Lara Croft You can tell how much of a teenage geek you are by timing how long you spend imagining this.
Tamagotchi vs Pokemon The ultimate showdown of cute yet painfully needy creatures. "Take that Tamagotchi, I've used my electricity attack!", "Take that Pikachu, I've done a small poo on the screen and become ill!"
