Former Sega developer Ryoichi Hasegawa says that Nintendo was adamant that Mario should always be a step ahead of Sonic in promotional art for their Olympic team-up.
Frankly, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games doesn't make a lot of sense conceptually; when it comes to the footrace events, having the "fastest thing alive" take on a slightly overweight fella from New York who eats pasta and mushrooms exclusively seems like a weird choice. But then, when you look at trailers or artwork, Mario is always keeping the pace and even slightly ahead of Sonic, and it turns out that was apparently intentional.
Hasegawa – who was the localization producer of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games' original Beijing 2008 incarnation – has claimed in an interview with Arcade Attack that Nintendo "demanded" that Mario be a step ahead of Sonic on the artwork for the game. He explains that with the artwork that appeared on the box, manuals, and the disk, "there was one small error: Sonic's foot was in front of Mario's foot, and Nintendo demanded us to change the priority." And while it may seem silly, Hasegawa recalls thinking "Oh my god, we have to change it, or there will be no deal."
Of course, Nintendo was in a favorable position to make these demands, even if the game was developed by Sega. Sonic 06 and the GBA port of Sonic 1 didn't land the best reviews, and with Mario being fresh off a career-defining win with Super Mario Galaxy, there was no question who the big dog was.
I did do a quick glance at the other release, and it looks like Mario is just a bit ahead in the 2012 London Olympics, as well as the Vancouver and Sochi Olympic Winter Games cover arts, before the duo stood as equals on both the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 cover art. Maybe the Wii U's own misfortunes were enough of a hit to put Mario and Sonic back on, er, equal footing.
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