Atari has today released the first images of Asterix at the Olympics Games for both the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS. Scheduled for release in January next year, the stills show off the star of the show and his comic book character friends taking part in a number of Olympic events with a distinctive Roman twist.

The Nintendo Wii shots show off the long jump (complete with Roman numerals as a measurement of distance); chariot racing along the civilisation’s straight, straight roads; javelin throwing and more.

The Nintendo DS stills demonstrate how the console’s touch screen controls will be utilised, with a spinning motion required for the discus and hammer throw and presumably a whole lot of stylus scrubbing in curling.

There’s no doubting that Asterix is going to have a hard time competing with Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, but his popularity in Europe can’t be discounted. From the looks of the screens released today, we’re quite looking forward to seeing how it turns out.