Ryoichi Hasegawa, the localisation producer for Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, has claimed that Nintendo demanded that Mario is always just ahead of Sonic in the game's promotional art.
Mario and Sonic teaming up doesn't seem weird at all nowadays, but back when Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games debuted in 2007, it was absolutely mind-blowing. Seeing two former rivals team up to compete in one of the world's biggest events (in game form, at least) was truly a standout moment in gaming history, even if it makes zero sense when you stop to think about it.
While Mario is plenty fast and strong in his own right, he stands no chance in a real match against the fastest thing alive, something that we all just kind of ignore for the fun of it. That makes it even more baffling to hear that Nintendo once demanded that Sega subtly change the cover art for the first game so that Mario is poised to win.
As pointed out by ResetEra user Dooble, Arcade Attack recently had the chance to talk with Ryoichi Hasegawa, a producer at Sega of Japan who specifically worked as a localisation producer on the first...
