If you grew up playing NES and SNES, the idea of gaming mascots Mario and Sonic pairing up would almost be considered blasphemy. Times have certainly changed, and not only will the famous Italian plumber join the hedgehog when Mario and Sonic: Olympic Games launches later this year on the popular Wii and DS, but Sega expects it to be a blockbuster success.

According to Bloomberg.com, Sega corporate director Masanao Maeda said at the Tokyo Game Show that parent company Sega Sammy Holdings has forecast the Olympics title to sell four million units "after it goes on sale this year." It's not entirely clear if Sega believes it will reach that total this year or simply in the long run.

Nevertheless, sales of four million units would be equivalent to almost 20 percent of the games Sega Sammy sold in the year ended March 31. The original Sonic the Hedgehog on Sega Genesis sold four million units after making its debut back in 1991.

One certainly wouldn't expect an Olympics-based title to be a blockbuster, as the sales for Olympics video games have historically been low, but this is no ordinary Olympics title and Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto seems to turn anything he touches into gold.

Sega of America President Simon Jeffery told GameDaily BIZ when the game was first announced, "[Miyamoto's] involvement is way more than a lot of normal Nintendo games. And his blessing is really quite a landmark for a game like this that's being built outside of Nintendo itself."