Sega, Nintendo on the first Sonic-Mario game

Scott Steinberg and Perrin Kaplan tell GameSpot how the two game icons qualified for the Olympics.

Earlier this week, Nintendo and Sega announced their two respective icons, Mario and Sonic, would appear together in a game for the first time. However, the game itself raised some eyebrows, as it has the mustachioed plumber and hyperactive hedgehog facing off...in the Olympics?

Once bitter, now friendly, rivals.

For many, the 2008 Beijing Games doesn't immediately spring to mind as the setting for the first showdown between two of gaming's most recognizable characters. But for the team behind Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, which is due out this fall for the Wii and Nintendo DS, an event based on competition seemed the perfect choice.

To shed some light on this pairing of onetime bitter rivals, GameSpot caught up with Perrin Kaplan, Nintendo of America's vice president of marketing & corporate affairs, and Scott Steinberg, Sega of America's vice president of marketing.