Every two years, the Summer and Winter Olympic games bring the world together under good sportsmanship. For over a decade, SEGA has provided the chance for gamers to experience the Olympics at home with games made under the official license, sharing it with Nintendo to bring Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog together in the event's unity. With the Olympics' Opening Ceremony featuring a song from Sonic's first outing, one fan decided to draw fan art of something they noticed.
The Mario & Sonic at the Olympics Games series began with the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Ever since the first game launched for the Wii and the Nintendo DS, matching titles were released for each iteration of the games. The series still sees releases with Mario & Sonic at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games for the Nintendo Switch. SEGA curiously released its own, separate titles for the Tokyo Olympics itself, too.
After Mario was seen promoting the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in Rio, the opening ceremony for Tokyo's games featured video game soundtracks as part of the Parade of Nations. Despite the plumber's appearance back in 2016, the Opening Ceremony didn't pay tribute to Nintendo's mascot whatsoever, whereas Sonic the Hedgehog's "Star Light Zone" was re-arranged and played as the athletes walked in. Twitter user @Jetoriii decided to joke on Mario's absence, drawing fan art implying that this was what Sonic wanted all along.
The fan art shows Sonic questioning why Mario wasn't there, only to flash viewers a sinister grin with glowing eyes as he comments that it's just him at the games now, with Nintendo's mascot nowhere in sight. What makes the artwork even funnier is the inclusion of the Sonic at the Olympic Games logo, which isn't faked for the artwork. The logo comes from SEGA's Apple Arcade game released with the Tokyo 2020 Olympics license, featuring only the Sonic cast despite plenty of Nintendo properties also being on iOS.
The artwork puts a new spin on the absence of Nintendo at the Olympics, turning a surprising omission into a great punchline. The joke is reminiscent of the days where Sonic was known as the "Mario Killer" and was the plumber's greatest rival back in the '90s. It also serves to get fans to look at the Apple Arcade release a little bit differently. What did Mario do to get kicked out of the games?
Some fans have speculated that Nintendo's lack of presence at the Tokyo games is due to the controversy of the games going on despite Japan's rising Coronavirus cases. In that, behind the scenes, it pulled any licenses to have any of its properties shown in any fashion, even if that came to just a Super Mario Bros. arrangement being made for the Parade of Nations. However, that's just speculation at this time. At the very least, Jetoo's artwork serves to bring some humor to the situation in a rather fitting manner.
Mario & Sonic at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games is available now for Nintendo Switch.