Written by – Jin Chan Yum Wai

Earlier on in the year an announcement was made that would take everyone in the gaming community, especially those who were part of the Sonic community, by surprise. Mario and Sonic would be the in the same game together. Many thought that this all could have been one huge April fools joke but it turned out that was 100% real - and not only that, but would be the official game of the Beijing 2008 Olympics!

These Christmas holidays I just so happen to be spending time with my family in Beijing. The fact I am in Beijing makes playing my copy of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games just that little more special.

Up until now I have only played the game to unlock more events, but I thought it was time to play the game like I should and try to beat world records. Turns out, all the in-game world records were way too easy to beat so I tried the online world rankings. Boy, this was completely different ballgame! My favourite event is the 100 metre sprint purely because I am totally wiped out by the end of each race. So I looked up the world records for that. It turns out that BS from Jamaica has the world record with a (totally B.S) time of 9.266 seconds, blowing my highest score of 9.742 out of the water. So I got leather white glove out of my pocket, slapped BS in the face and said “I challenge you to a duel”!

My Sister Jade and I attempted the race probably about 100 times, we couldn’t get any faster than 9.65 seconds.

Feeling defeated, we decided to go out for a calming walk in the noisy, crowded streets of Beijing.

Jade and I noticed a bus stop that had a huge advertisement with two athletes and a running track, which led towards the Beijing Olympic Stadium that brought back memories of the intro video of Mario and Sonic.

Whilst staring at the poster an old crazy lady grabbed my arm and tried to harass me into buying fake Olympic merchandise, we politely declined her offer and asked for a photo with her instead. She was hesitant but eventually said yes.

Later down the street, we saw an official Olympic Merchandise store which had a big sign with the Olympic Mascots and the Olympic Motto “One World, One Dream”. Maybe this was a sign, a sign that we had to get back on the horse and attempt that record one more time. But we couldn’t rush into it. No, this was something we would have to prepare for…

We created a first class training program to help us get into top fighting form. First on the list, running 3km at 9km/h on the treadmill.

We then moved on to “Wiight lifting”.

Next up was some arm work, Jade hit the rowing machine and I worked my guns on the weights.

Now we were ready. Bring it on, BS!!

The gun was fired and we were off, shaking those remotes harder than we ever had before. This time we wanted it, as we neared the end I could taste the sweat running down my face my arms burning, this was it. I actually felt like I was Sonic the Hedgehog, we crossed the line in record time!! 9.435!!! It wasn’t BS’s time but it was the best I had ever achieved.

I had to see how well I went against the world, so I uploaded my score online only to find that I was ranked 1835 in the world. Initially depressed because I was still so far from BS but then I thought about it, I was ranked 1835th out of 28113. Meaning I was in the top 7 percent of the whole world. I might not have beaten BS, but I beat 93% of the world.

I have found the Olympic spirit and will not stop here.

I’ll be climbing the leader boards online and I will get closer to my goal everyday, your butt is mine, BS of Jamaica. I am coming for you!!