Jeff: Super awesome. Every other game based on the Olympics has been awful, but this is going to be huge. It's the biggest crossover since Scooby Doo met the Globetrotters. Sonic is the Globetrotters.

Patrick: Although, epic crossovers are often underwhelming - Freddy vs. Jason, King Kong vs. Godzilla, etc.

Jeff: It's hard to explain just how big this is to someone who didn't grow up with video games. It's like if Salinger and Fitzgerald put aside their differences, traveled through time, and wrote a book where Holden fought Gatsby. Except this is going to be better because you don't have to read. I'm so much more excited about this than the actual Olympics. Will it actually be good?

Patrick: I must admit, I had low expectations for the Wii controller. Nintendo has really won me over though.

Jeff: The Wii's obviously a huge hit, but the last thing it needs is more minigames. It's too bad this isn't something more ambitious. If it goes well perhaps we'll see further collaborations like Sonic in a Smash Brothers, or  Luigi in whatever the hell Sonic is up to.

Patrick: More importantly, who is going to win?

Jeff: Mario's got the advantage in the jumping sports, while Sonic obviously retains the edge in speed. Mario's supporting characters dominate too. Once you get past Knuckles and Tails, Sonic has the worst friends. There's an alligator in sunglasses, and I think a bumblebee with an electric guitar or something.

Patrick: Will Donkey Kong appear on Team Mario? Have those two reached a peace accord yet?

Jeff: Mario and Donkey Kong can be in the same room, but I wouldn't sit them next to each other at a formal event. Donkey Kong is still mad that Mario fed his baby to alligators.

Patrick: I believe Donkey Kong wants Mario out of the West Bank of the Mushroom Kingdom.

Jeff: I read Hyrule is outright boycotting the games.

Pete: This is kind of an old school thing, but in the arcades they would try to convince you to keep playing or, essentially, they would hurt your favorite characters.

Jeff: The creative continue screen was a nice touch. It's the last thing most people see, why not make it count?

Pete: Final Fight had your character tied to a chair with a stick of dynamite burning as the counter went from 10 to 1. Your guy would  be freaking out, trying to blow it out, watching as death loomed closer and closer. As a kid, it made me kind of freak out.

Jeff: How poorly paid are Final Fight henchmen where they are like "We'll let you go... for twenty-five cents."

Pete: Well in their world, a quarter bought an entire honey-glazed ham which, of course, makes you feel like a million full-life bucks.

Jeff: Once I was out of quarters (or it was time for pizza) I would jam the buttons, just to make it countdown faster. I wanted to squeeze every last drop of interactivity out of the machine. Once those 10 seconds are up, all you can do is press start to make it go from the title screen to the demonstration.

Pete: In Ninja Gaiden they had a ninja tied to a saw mill, like a bad Bond movie. The screen just turned red if you didn't continue.

Jeff: I guess there's no need to show you something cool once the game has established you're out of money.

Pete: If you think about it, these continue screens might have inspired fatalities. I'm continuing, you're not, you die.

Jeff: Mortal Kombat 4 actually had a continue screen where your character was falling down what looked like an endless pit. When the counter hit zero, he hit some spikes. Otherwise, I dunno, he grew wings or something.

Pete: It's pretty tense to be searching through your impossibly tight jean pockets for another quarter.

Jeff: I like when a game would literally dare you to continue.

Pete: You never saw that at home. Nintendo was never like "Continue? Or let Bowser have his way with the princess?"