Interviews// Sonic & Mario At The Olympic Games

SPOnG: That’s the joy of Sega no longer being in the console business.

Mike Hayes: How we love it. We leave that to our good friends at Nintendo.

Laurent Fischer: What is important for us with this announcement is that it puts together a lot of things we are trying to achieve with the Wii and DS platforms. The first thing is putting together something that everyone enjoys. And with both Sonic and Mario, what could be a better definition of inclusiveness? And we’re using Sega’s skills in developing for both platforms, within the general nice mood of the Olympic Games. All those things put together are a gamer’s dreams come true. It’s a good pointer to where we would like to go.

SPOnG: Have you got any idea of how the Wiimote will be used in the game?

Mike Hayes: It’s too early. But the developers want to use the feature-sets of both the DS and Wii to the max. It’s ideal for the Olympics – we’ve all had fun with Wii Sports.

SPOnG: It has been said on the Web that getting Mario and Sonic together is in danger of being a marketing exercise, and that the game itself could take a back seat to the fact that it contains Mario and Sonic.

Mike Hayes: That’s not the case at all. There are a lot of emotional aspects to this. First of all, from a Sega point of view, we have the Olympic licence, so there are certain rigours and standards we have to live up to, because we’re representing the Olympics in a game that has never been allowed by the IOC before. So we certainly have a responsibility to deliver from that point of view.

The emotional part is that, if you’re working on this historic game from a Sega or Nintendo point of view, you’re going to want to make it a great game. It’s a matter of pride. Also, we’re in the business of trying to make the best games possible, and we wouldn’t want to take our two icons and make something that is distinctly mediocre, because we would let down the fans of those games. There’s no cynicism in this whatsoever.

SPOnG: Thank you both for your time today.