Mario, Sonic and Final Fantasy at the Milano-Cortina 2026 Olympic Games

Mario, Sonic and Final Fantasy at the Milano-Cortina 2026 Olympic Games is the next installment of the Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games series, for the Nintendo Switch, dedicated to the Milano-Cortina Olympic Winter Games of 2026... But with a twist: Square Enix now collaborates with Sega and Nintendo, as a result Final Fantasy VII characters (plus Geno) join the games!
This game marks the return of Geno and Mallow (the latter as an NPC). Also, like Mario Hoops 3-on-3 and Mario Sports Mix, this game contains Final Fantasy characters, however, instead of the Ninja, White Mage and Black Mage, it contains FFVII characters such as Cloud, Barret, Aerith and Tifa, plus various iconic mooks.
== Gameplay ==
Like most of its predecessors, the game is based on the events of the Olympic Winter Games, plus Dream Events which take place in a location from Mario or Sonic games and are more whimsical and fantasy-based.
== Character roster ==
Unlike its predecessors, this game has unlockable characters.
There are four Team Mario, four Team Sonic, four Team FF for each specialization type, and four Team Japan, which are four unlockable characters from Nintendo or Sega franchises that are set in the real world but aren't Mario or Sonic (Ryo Hazuki from Shenmue, Travis Touchdown from No More Heroes, Ryu Hayabusa from Ninja Gaiden and Kazuma Kiryu from Yakuza). Team Mario's icon is a red M, team Sonic's icon is a blue Sonic face, team FF logo is a black meteor, while Team Japan uses the Japanese flag as their icon. DLC guest characters have the logos of their games (The Legend of Zelda, Super Monkey Ball, Earthbound and House of the Dead). 
Two Team FF characters, and at least one Team Mario and one Team Sonic characters per type, and all of Team Japan, are unlockable. 
Unlockable characters cannot be used in the Jenova Game, even if they're unlocked there. 
=== All-Around ===
* Mario
* Luigi
* Bowser Jr.
* Geno (unlockable)
* Amy Rose
* Blaze the Cat
* Espio the Chameleon (unlockable)
* E-102 Gamma (unlockable)
* Tifa Lockhart
* Vincent Valentine
* Sephiroth (unlockable)
* Tonberry (unlockable)
* Ryo Hazuki (unlockable) (from Shenmue)
=== Speed ===
* Yoshi
* Daisy
* Diddy Kong (unlockable)
* Toadette (unlockable)
* Sonic the Hedgehog
* Shadow the Hedgehog
* Metal Sonic
* Jet the Hawk (unlockable)
* Yuffie Kisaragi
* Chocobo 
* Red XIII (unlockable) 
* Cactuar (unlockable)
* Ryu Hayabusa (unlockable (from Ninja Gaiden)
=== Power ===
* Bowser 
* Wario
* Donkey Kong
* Petey Piranha (unlockable)
* Knuckles the Echidna
* Vector the Crocodile
* E-123 Omega (unlockable)
* Big the Cat (unlockable)
* Cloud Strife
* Barret Wallace
* Zack Fair (unlockable)
* Behemoth (unlockable)
* Kazuma Kiryu (unlockable) (from Yakuza)
=== Skill ===
* Peach Toadstool
* Waluigi
* King Boo (unlockable)
* Rosalina (unlockable)
* Miles "Tails" Prower
* Dr. Eggman Robotnik
* Silver the Hedgehog
* Rouge the Bat (unlockable)
* Aerith Gainsborough
* Cid Highwind
* Cait Sith (unlockable)
* Moogle (unlockable)
* Travis Touchdown (unlockable) (from No More Heroes)
==== Unlocking Criteria ====
* Jet: beat him as a miniboss in the Jenova Game
* Petey Piranha: beat him as a miniboss in the Jenova Game
* Omega: Beat him as a miniboss in the Jenova Game
* King Boo: Beat him as a miniboss in the Jenova Game
* Tonberry: Beat Tonberry in an event in Jenova Game's post-game
* Cactuar: Beat Cactuar in an event in Jenova Game's post-game
* Behemoth: Beat Behemoth in an event in Jenova Game's post-game
* Moogle: Beat Moogle in an event in Jenova Game's post-game
* Espio: Find him in all six main locations and solve his quizzes, then beat him in an event, in Jenova Game.
* Geno: Find his body and then give it back to him, then beat him in an event, in Jenova Game 
* Rouge: Find all the Whitestones in Jenova Game and trade them with her to obtain Memorabilia.
* Zack: Find all the fragments of Zack's story that are scattered throughout the world in Jenova Game. 
* Sephiroth: Complete Jenova Game 100%
* Cait Sith: Beat all Olympic Records
* Diddy Kong: Win all Olympic Events
* Rosalina: Win all Dream Events
* Big: Find Froggy in an out of the way shortcut in a Dream Ski Cross event (you just have to pass by Froggy, not necessarily touching him) and then win the event. 
* Toadette: 
* Gamma:
* Red XIII: 
* Ryu Hayabusa: Win all his Ninja Scroll Challenges (harder missions) in the Jenova Game, then he'll challenge you to a Speed Skating match. Win it and you'll unlock Ryu Hayabusa..
* Travis Touchdown:
* Ryo Hazuki: 
* Kazuma Kiryu: Beat all World Records
=== DLC characters from "The Aurora Ruins": ===
Characters from the DLC campaign "The Aurora Ruins" are, per each specialization type: two Team Mario, two Team Sonic, one Team FF (a protagonist from an FF different from the VII), and one guest.
==== All-Around ====
* Dry Bones
* Birdo
* Shade the Echidna
* Mighty the Armadillo
* Squall Leonhart
* Link (from the Legend of Zelda)
==== Speed ====
* Nack the Weasel
* Kooper
* Dixie Kong
* Mephiles the Dark
* Tidus
* Aiai (from Super Monkey Ball)
==== Power ====
* King Goomba
* Funky Kong
* Sonic the Werehog
* Black Doom
* Clive Rosfield 
* Zobio (from House of The Dead)
==== Skill ====
* Chaos 0
* Vivian
* Mallow
* Charmy Bee
* Zidane Tribal
* Ness (from Earthbound)
=== Special DLC pack "New Guests" ===
==== All-Around ====
* Count Bleck
* Erazor Djinn
* Ashelia "Ashe" B'Nargin Dalmasca
==== Speed ====
* Goombario
* Silver Sonic
* Dion Lesage
==== Power ====
* Admiral Bobbery
* Dark Oak
* Auron
==== Skill ====
* Dimentio
* Cosmo the Seedrian
* Vivi Orunitia 
== Story Mode - The Jenova Game ==
=== Intro ===
The story mode opens with Bowser and Eggman receiving from Kamek information about the Snow Spirits' return. Kamek explains that every four years, when the Snow Spirits come out, the Mushroom Kingdom and Sonic's World merge with the six towns of the Snow Spirits. where the Spirits' Events (Olympic Games) are going to take place. 
However, this time the blue snow spirit Frosty appears mutated, and a certain silver-haired pretty boy manifests, telling Bowser and Eggman that he has the power of Jenova, which can travel through worlds, and with that power he infected all six Snow Spirits turning them into Jenova Spirit. Bowser Jr. mocks him telling him that "he looks like a princess". The white-haired man then asks Frosty to show him his true form, and Frosty suddenly transforms into the dragon Bahamut. Impressed, Eggman and Bowser decide to ally with the man, wanting to crash the Spirit Games again and maybe use the power of Jenova to turn the world of the snow spirits into their empire. The man introduces himself as Sephiroth, and claims, to the utter horror of Bowser and Eggman, that people from world were also called by the Snow Spirits and that "a part of him, a boy so beautiful and yet so unsettling, so strong and manly and yet so frail and destabilized, just like snow" is going to compete in the Spirit Events, and that they may have "the guy in the red hat" and "the blue hedgehog", but that boy is "his and only his". 
As Bowser, Eggman and Sephiroth are teleported to the towns of the Snow Spirits due to the Spirit Events, Sephiroth appears among a terrified crowd in Frostown/Bahamutown, followed by Bowser, Eggman, Bowser Jr and Metal Sonic, and threatens a Toad announcer with his Bahamut, proclaiming that "the Spirit Events have been canceled". Bowser, Eggman, Bowser Jr. and Metal Sonic cheer for Sephiroth. 
"I hereby announce the start of the Jenova Game. As I now control the six Snow Spirits, I can send natural disasters to the entire world. Mario, Sonic, Cloud, I want to challenge you all. You have to beat all the Jenova Guardians scattered throughout the six Spirit Towns, and free the Snow Spirits from Jenova's power. If you manage to break all Snow Spirits free in seven days, then the Spirit Events will be safe. But, if you fail, then I'll turn this world into absolute chaos." 
Mario, Sonic and Cloud awaken in Sparkleton, now renamed Ifriton, and turned into a mess with erupting volcanoes and magma, alongside Toad. Toad gets acquainted with Cloud, who tells him that Sephiroth is his enemy and he has a score to settle with him. Toad tells Mario, Sonic and Cloud about Bowser, Eggman and Sephiroth's attack on Frostown, and soon, the group decides to start competing in the game. 
=== Locations (Spirit Towns) ===
Each location, aside from the final one, has two events bosses (a miniboss that you unlock as a playable character by defeating it, a boss that is not a playable character
* Ifriton (Sparkleton): The Spirit Town ruled by the Sparkling Spirit Sparky, AKA Ifrit. It's plagued by erupting volcanoes and magma. Its bosses are Jet, Dry Bones and the special boss Ifrit.
* Leviastraits (Polastraits): The Spirit Town ruled by the Waving Spirit Pola, AKA Leviathan. It's plagued by tsunami and whirlpools. Its bosses are Petey Piranha, Chaos and the special boss Leviathan.
* Ramyrinth (Cubyrinth): The Spirit Town ruled by the Thundering Spirit Cuby, AKA Ramuh. It's plagued by thunderstorms and earthquakes. Its bosses are Omega, King Goomba and the special boss Ramuh.
* Shivapeak (Icepeak): The Spirit Town ruled by the Freezing Spirit Icy, AKA Shiva. It's plagued by blizzards and avalanches. Its bosses are King Boo, Nack the Weasel and the special boss Shiva.
* Odinland (Blizland): The Spirit Town ruled by the Heroic Spirit Blizza, AKA Odin. It's plagued by darkness, fog and ghosts. Its bosses are Orbot and Kamek and the special boss Odin.
* Bahamutown (Frostown): The Spirit Town ruled by the Leader Spirit Frosty, AKA Bahamut. It's been turned into a futuristic amusement park in perpetual night, which contains Bowser Jr's arcade/casino Koopa Kasino and Metal Sonic's nightclub/disco Metal Madness. Its bosses are Bowser Jr and Metal Sonic, who you have to seek out in their lairs and beat (before challenging them in an event, you have to beat Bowser Jr. in a minigame of poker and Metal Sonic in a dancing minigame) in order to get their keys and access the center of the town, where you challenge special boss Bahamut. After finishing the game, the "Kamurocho-style" bar called New Serena appears where Bahamut was fought: there you can meet "four travelers from a faraway kingdom known as Japan" (Ryu Hayabusa, Kazuma Kiryu, Travis Touchdown and Ryo Hazuki), who reveal you that they are the Japanese national team who won the 2026 Olympics, and you can talk to to play the "Gauntlets".
*The Heart of Jenova: A castle that has appeared in Bahamutown, comprised of a fusion between Bowser's Castle, Eggman's Factory and Sephiroth's Northern Cave and acting as the trio's hideout. The final bosses are Bowser and Dr. Eggman (as a tag team), then Sephiroth as the final event boss, and then the final boss, the special boss Jenova BOWMAN (a fusion between Bowser, Eggman, Sephiroth and Frosty/Bahamut). 
*The Aurora Ruins/Wanda Dimension (DLC: The Aurora Ruins): An ancient Spirit Town which used to be ruled by the Snow Spirit Aurora, who was corrupted and became Culex. It's now a barren wasteland covered in mist. Its bosses are Squall, Zidane, Tidus and Clive, which, like Bowser Jr and Metal Sonic, can be beaten in any order. Tidus, Squall, Zidane and Clive are the four crystals of Culex, which took the personalities and looks of people from other worlds after absorbing them. Beating all of them allows you to go fight the special boss Culex. You need to have finished the story to access it.
=== Gameplay of the Jenova Game ===
The game plays in a similar way to the Adventure Tour of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games for the DS, which this game is a sequel to. It involves Mario, Sonic and Cloud, alongside a non-playable Toad, traveling through the Spirit Towns, interacting with characters and doing special missions related to both Olympic and Dream Events. Doing missions nets you crystals that are used to break walls of Jenova constructs that keep you from progressing. 
You can switch between Mario, Sonic and Cloud at any time: Mario's field ability is going into pipes and use power ups, Sonic can use his spin dash and homing attack to create pathways and knock down bridges, and Cloud can use his Buster Sword to break crates and cut chains. Some character events can only be played as Mario or as Sonic or as Cloud, for instance Luigi only wants to compete with Mario, Tails only with Sonic, and Tifa only with Cloud. 
Some missions allow you to beat certain characters in events, causing them to join your party and become playable in missions (aside from missions which are locked to specific characters). Each character has a special challenge minigame, most of which are based on Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games for the DS.
Bosses are of two types: some are played out like normal events (with special conditions) where you have to beat the boss, while some others, called Special Bosses (such as the transformed forms of the Snow Spirits and the final boss Jenova BOWMAN) are fought like platformer/action battles involving you switching between Mario (using his ground pound and fireballs), Sonic (using his spindash and homing attacks) and Cloud (using the buster sword). Bosses can be refought, including special bosses. Most minibosses, AKA event bosses that don't conclude a world, are unlocked in most modes by beating them during the story (though they're never playable in the story itself), while main bosses and special bosses are never playable. 
In order to 100% the Jenova Game (and as such unlock Sephiroth) you have to: 
-Finish the story 
-Complete all missions on bulletin boards 
-Complete all minigames (there are one per character) 
-Complete all Gauntlets, AKA tournaments comprised of four events each where you are against Ryo Hazuki, Travis and Kazuma. You can play Gauntlets by talking to Kazuma in Bahamutown after finishing the main story. 
-Find all Memorabilia, which you obtain by trading Whitestones to Rouge (which will unlock Rouge) 
-Find and solve all of Espio's riddles (which will unlock Espio) 
-Find all the fragments of Zack's story (which will unlock Zack) 
-Recruit all characters that can be recruited in the story mode (all of the non-unlockable roster) 
-Unlock Tonberry, Moogle, Behemoth and Cactuar by beating them in their challenges 
-Beat all of the Ninja Scroll Challenge Boards, AKA harder missions that Ryu Hayabusa scatters throughout the world in the post-game (similar to Bowser Jr. and Metal Sonic's challenges in Olympic Winter Games DS). 
-It's NOT necessary to play the DLC, so DLC characters don't have to be unlocked. 
== Trivia ==
* Unlike Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games' Adventure Tours, in the Jenova Game Sonic and Cloud are both shown talking in cutscenes. The only characters that do not speak are Mario (who spends the cutscenes saying unintelligible words as in Mario and Luigi RPGs), Metal Sonic (Cubot talks for him), Ryo Hazuki (Toad translates for him, he's a non-speaking protagonist in his home game), Zack Fair (who is dead and doesn't have a role in the game's story mode at all, instead being unlocked by collecting fragments of his story) and Ryu Hayabusa (who only leaves scrolls and joins without cutscenes once you beat all of his missions). 
**Even Luigi is shown talking, as he did in Super Paper Mario and as he does in games where he's not playable in. 
**The DLC character Clive Rosfield in the DLC is also silent in cutscenes, with his Moogle Nektar translating for him, despite Tidus, Squall and Zidane being shown talking. Sonic the Werehog only woofs and grunts, but Chip talks for him. Meanwhile Link, Zobio, Ness and Aiai all do not talk because all of them didn't talk in their home series and Toad translates for them.
**Clive Rosfield and Ryu Hayabusa don't talk in this game but do in their home games. Kazuma Kiryu talks like a normal character in this game's story mode, but only speaks through dialogue options in the Yakuza games. 
* Sephiroth has all of his stats maxed out, making him intentionally broken (which is balanced by how hard he is to unlock). This is because in FFVII canon he's a really skilled swordsman and mage, can slice through a heavy cannon, launch a fully grown man in the air and dodge automatic fire. 
** This is shown in-story as Bowser and Dr. Eggman are consistently scared of him and he completely overshadows them. While Bowser and Eggman's evil is played for comedy as usual, Sephiroth's evil is played completely straight, there's nothing comical or laughable about him. 
**However, some DLC characters can have stats higher than the maximum of 10, such as Sonic the Werehog having 11 power, or Mallow having 11 technique.
* This game sees the return of characters such as Geno and Mallow from Super Mario RPG, Nack the Weasel from Sonic Triple Trouble, Shade the Echidna from Sonic Chronicles, Mighty the Armadillo from Knuckles Chaotix, and Vivian, Kooper and Dimentio from the Paper Mario games, that have been forgotten. 
* This game includes characters from games totally not for kids (Yakuza, No More Heroes, Ninja Gaiden and Shenmue) crossing over with Mario and Sonic because Ryu, Kazuma, Ryo and Travis are meant to be gold medalists from the real-world Olympic Winter Games 2026 who have been Isekai'd in the Spirit Towns after the Spirits saw their M-rated backgrounds and decided to protect them from the real world finding out who they have been. Those backgrounds, however, are hinted in a heavily censored way. 
** When you talk to him, Kazuma Kiryu mentions he's a ruler from "an empire in the far east" and that he "spent his time fighting against really bad people" (which catches Peach and Blaze's attention, with Peach replying that Bowser would never kidnap a prince like him, and Blaze telling Kazuma that she too is a princess, and from another dimension to boot).
** Meanwhile, Travis says he was a champion of "an extreme sport that makes you a monster when you compete in it" and "where it's better not to play at all than to win a gold medal" (which catches Waluigi and Knuckles' attention, with him telling Travis that he loves playing an extreme variant of tennis and inviting him for a game, and Knuckles telling Travis that he's fond of treasure hunting in the most remote places in the world).
** Ryo Hazuki mentions that he "spent an entire life traveling long distances to defeat an evil lord" (which catches Silver and Yoshi's attention, with Silver telling her he traveled in time, and Yoshi saying that he came from a faraway island). 
*** All of those things are technically correct. The kind of empire Kazuma rules, the extreme sport Travis is a champion of, and the long distances Ryo Hazuki spent his life traveling, however, are things that are too horrifying for kids (the criminal underworld of Japan, an assassination game, and traveling from Japan to China to look for his father's killer).
***Kazuma, Ryo, Travis and Ryu Hayabusa, however, cannot compete in the actual Olympics in any of their games.
* Cubot and Orbot are separate in the Jenova Game: Orbot is a boss, while Cubot speaks for Metal Sonic. 
* Cosmo the Seedrian and Dark Oak appear in DLCs, meaning they're the first time a character original to the Sonic X anime appears in the games. 
* Sonic the Werehog is explicitly stated to be a copy of Sonic (as all DLC characters that appear in the DLC story are shards of Culex' crystals that copy the personality and look of other people), this is why he can play against Sonic. Heck, only Sonic can challenge him in the DLC story. 
* Some characters were intentionally cut and will NEVER be playable:
** Beat from Jet Set Radio was meant to be playable. He was replaced with Ryu Hayabusa due to the games from which Team Japan comes have to be M-rated Nintendo and Sega franchises set in the real world.
** Slime from Dragon Quest was meant to be playable but replaced with Travis Touchdown due to Ryo Hazuki, Travis, Kazuya and Ryu Hayabusa all being humans from Earth. Likewise, Link became DLC because guest unlockables are Team Earth (and Link is not from Earth).
** Sticks the Badger was intentionally excluded as a way of burying the Sonic Boom canon. 
** Eggman Nega and Dry Bowser are non-playable "to avoid filling a roster with palette swaps". 
** The Koopalings were cut due to taking up too much space, as it's hard to only include one of the Koopalings without the others. Plus the creator hated the overexposition of the Koopalings in the modern Mario games. 
** Amigo, Nights and Billy Hatcher were cut due to Sega needing a non-Sonic power and speed character, to make up for Nintendo having Link as an all-around and Ness as a skill character, and Super Monkey Ball being more iconic than Billy Hatcher's single game (plus Billy Hatcher is getting a reboot as a violent edgy stylish action game involving a totalitarian cyberpunk civilization of chickens being portrayed as heroes while they massacre mammals, and the new 18+ image of Billy Hatcher would be unsuited for a kids' game). 
* In Italian, the cities are called Ifrilandia (Ifriton), Leviaria (Leviastraits), Ramirinto (Ramyrinth), Piccoshivoso (Shivapeak), Odinzia (Odinland) and Bahamutonia (Bahamutown). This is because their non-Esper form from Olympic Winter Games was called Brillandia (Sparkleton), Polaria (Polastraits), Cubirinto (Cubyrinth), Picconevoso (Icepeak), Tormenzia (Blizland) and Glacionia (Frostown). 
Category:Mario (series)
Category:Sonic (series)
Category:Final Fantasy (series)
Category:Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games
Category:Crossovers
Category:Games featuring Kazuma Kiryu
Category:Games featuring Travis Touchdown
Category:Yakuza (series)
Category:No More Heroes
Category:Jet Set Radio (series)
Category:Shenmue (series)
Category:Olympic Games
Category:Winter Sports Games
Category:Ninja Gaiden (series)