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4x100m Relay is an athletic track event that has featured in a number of games in the Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games franchise.

A direct simulation of the real Olympic event, the relay consists of teams of four athletes each taking up 100m of the 400m track. The starting athletes will have a baton that they need to run and pass over to the next athlete as fast as possible and continue the cycle; the fourth athlete sprints to the finish line with the baton. 

In terms of gameplay, the event can be played by multiple players together on the same team, or they can compete in their own teams against each other. 

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games[]

20Wii

Featuring in the first edition of the Olympic Games, this event borrows the core gameplay from its simpler 100m and 400m counterparts. The aim of this team race is for the starting athlete, holding the baton, to run as fast as possible in their section and hand it over to the next athletes and so on. 

Just as with the other racing events, hold B during the countdown to charge up power, and swing the Wii Remote down upon "Go!". Swing the remote and Nunchuk alternately (or you can just shake the remote on its own) as fast as possible; upon approaching the next athlete, "speed lock" will appear on the screen and the player can stop swinging. 

During speed lock, the player must approach the next runner and when close, press the B button for the latter to begin running. Once you're in touching range, swing down the remote to hand the baton over to the next athlete. The timing of the baton handover is crucial; if timed well, a speed boost will be granted but if you do it too early or late there will be costly slowdown.

Once the next athlete receives the baton, start running and repeat the process again. When the last athletes receive the baton for the final section of the track, whoever crosses the finish line wins the race for their team. 

Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games[]

20Wii

The 4x100m Relay makes a return in the London edition of the Olympics, with very similar gaming mechanics to the predecessor. As with the other running events, only the remote itself is required.

As usual, at the countdown hold B to charge up power and swing the remote down within an instant of "Go!". Shake the remote up and down as fast as possible to run; this time, each of the four characters are equipped with a special dash that can be unleashed once in their section. Press A to use this special dash.

During the baton handover process, in this edition of the Olympic Games a shrinking blue circle appears over the runner as a visual signal to the player. When the circle fully shrinks on itself, instantly swing the remote down to hand over the baton. When controlling the last runner, the player can press B just before the finish line to lunge over. 

In London Party mode, E-123 Omega serves as the boss of this event; however whilst the player competes with four characters, the robot competes alone. 

23Nintendo 3DS

The event is also featured in the 3DS renedition of the London 2012 Olympic Games; the game uses a more simplified gameplay mechanic compared to the mainstream console version.

For the first part, slide the lower screen quickly witht the stylus to make the character run. By running as fast as possible, the time length of the speed lock phase is extended and the player can spare more time to hand over the baton. Once the runner approaches the next athlete, a meter shows up on the upper screen. 

The meter comprises of the holder's hand with the baton on the left side, and the receiving athlete's hand on the other end. The baton hand scrolls to the receiver's hand on the meter; once it touches the receiver at just the right moment, hit the lower screen with the stylus instantly.

The timing is crucially important here as it affects the intensity of the receiver's speed boost. If the baton goes beyond the receiver's hand on the meter, it'll move backwards which would reduce the speed boost. 

This event can only be played by the Heroes group, which consists of MarioSonicLuigi and Tails.

Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games[]

Wii U platform icon

The event is again featured in the Rio edition of the Mario & Sonic series, for the first time on the Wii U version. The event's new gameplay ditches the motion controls of the preceding console, instead favouring button mashing on the GamePad.

During the countdown, hold B to charge up power and once the character takes off, repeatedly mash the A button quickly to run fast. Each of the four athletes is equipped with a special dash, which can be unleashed by pressing B.

Once you start approaching the next runner, the game will throw up input commands of any of the buttons on the GamePad with a meter; you must press the commanded buttons just before the meter runs out. If pulled off successfully, the runner will pick up extra power upon receiving the baton, which's done by pressing A at just the right moment. 

The game can alternatively be played with the Wii Remote, with the A and B buttons swapped for 2 and 1, respectively. 

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