Mario & Sonic At The Olympics

Last year I attended a vision therapy class, and the Dr. giving the class convinced me that hand held video games are not the best for children's vision and eye health.

Since that time, I have been limiting the amount of time that my eight daycare children can spend with my Game Boy games. The Dr. also told us that the Nintendo Wii games were the best choice for children wanting to play video games. Pair that with the fact that I live in Alaska, and weather often prohibits the kids from being able to play outside, and we decided to bite the bullet and purchase the Wii and Wii Fit.

My daycare kids are ages 5-10, and they love the Wii, and have been teasing me to purchase new games for them. At $50 a pop, I wanted to scrutinize each game a bit, so before buying any more, I received some input from other parents who also have the Wii. One game kept being recommended to me was Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Games.

The back of the game reads "Mario and Sonic face off for the first time in the world's greatest sports competition - the Olympic Games!"

This has 16 favorite characters to choose from, and four kids can play against each other, if you have four of the game controllers. Each game lets you choose how many characters you want to play, (up to 4), and a single person can choose just one and play against the other characters in the video game. These characters try to win the gold, silver or bronze medals in the Bejing 2008 Olympics.

There are 20 separate Olympic events to choose from, and there are three modes of play with each one. As you play and master the games, even more games are unlocked. The kids love to unlock "new" games, and this gives them something new to look forward to, as they sometimes get tired of the same ones over and over.

Popular characters include Luigi, Sonic, Peach, Bowser, Yoshi, Amy, Knuckles, and Dr. Eggman. If there are no characters to your liking, you can make yourself a Mii - which is a cartoon version of yourself.

Sonic and Mario captain the two teams, and each have their own set of characters from which to choose. Most of my kids like the Sonic characters, and the girls always choose Peach.

The Track and Field games include events such as the 110m hurdles, 100m race, javelin toss, high jump, pole vault, long jump, triple jump, and the hammer throw.

In order to make your character run, you need to follow the simple instructions on the screen - press the "B" button to power up, then move arms up and down with the controller and the Nunchuk, and your character will race down the track.

Unlike the Wii Fit and Wii Sports, you don't actually move your feet, you use your arms instead. A small round screen pops up showing you how to use the controls for each event. When rowing you have to push both arms forward then pull them back, just like you were rowing a boat.

The Table Tennis game is very similar to the Tennis in Wii Sports, and it's fun to have two players standing side by side, and competing against each other on the screen. You hold the controller in your hand and make movements just like you were holding a ping pong paddle.

When you play the Trampoline event, you not only make your charcter jump but you can have them do back flips and twists by turning the controller in your hand, this one takes some practice.

One of my boys favorite events is the Fencing. Two players face off against each other, and the top of the screen keeps track of the strikes, while a clock keep time for you.

Other games are Vault, Shooting, Archery, Swimming, Fencing, Diving, and Pole Vault. I wish there were more gymnastics games from which to choose, but the kids seem happy with what is available.

When the event is finished, a screen pops up with the winners, and then the Awards Ceremony presents medals to the top three winners, just like a real Olympics. The graphics are clear and very realistic!

The scenes in each of the events are realistic, with the Birds Nest, Water Cube, and complete with the fans in their seats. There is a learning curve to winning, as the older kids have learned. Certain characters are speedier, some are all around athletes, and some are strong. Figuring out which characters will win the different events can be challenging, especially for the younger children, who usually choose a character by their like-ability.

Some of the games are a good workout, while others not so much. There are a few that really require good coordination, and one of my daycare kids hasn't yet mastered any of them. He tends to get wild when playing, swinging his arms around - so be sure and give the player/s plenty of space! A good sized room is my best recommendation.

Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Games has something for everyone, and all of my kids, even the youngest five year old, can play them without much assistance or guidance. There are so many games to choose from that they now choose this game over the Wii Fit games, which they used to love.

If you are looking for a good healthy way to allow your children to enjoy video games, I highly recommend this game. It gets the kids off the couch and gets them moving, and four can play at the same time, so waiting turns in between games is cut down drastically. As a child care provider, I highly recommend this game.