A lot of familiar songs played during today’s 2020 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony, including a rendition of John Lennon’s “Imagine” sung by John Legend, Keith Urban, and other performers from around the world. The procession of countries was also accompanied by symphonic interpretations of music from famous Japanese games, which pleased video game lovers.
The medley began with “Roto’s Theme” from the Dragon Quest series, according to The Associated Press. Sonic The Hedgehog, Final Fantasy, Tales, Monster Hunter, Kingdom Hearts, Chrono Trigger, Ace Combat, Phantasy Star, Gradius, NieR, Saga, Soul Caliber, and eFootball were among the other franchises covered (formerly but more commonly known as Winning Eleven and Pro Evolution Soccer).
Sonic’s link to the Olympics is well-known among video game fans, since he and Nintendo icon Mario have appeared in a number of Olympic video games together throughout the years. Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Games was released in 2007, and the most recent installment is Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, which was released in 2019.
Despite the fact that Mario played a key role in Japan’s presentation at the 2016 Olympics Closing Ceremony, no songs from his games were included in the medley.
