Mario Vs. Sonic.

[Goemar]

I grew up with Sonic (Sonic 1 being the first game I ever really played). Then when we also got a SNES, I really liked Mario as well, but Sonic was still the cool favourite. But then: Sonic stopped. The Saturn not having a Sonic game was just really really dumb. Mario 64 was just so damn awesome and by the time Sonic Adventure came out, Sonic had lost the game. Adventure was fine for it's time. It looked cool, sounded cool and had some nice ideas but it wasn't in the same league as Mario any more. It didn't amaze me and Sonic's universe got saturated with crappy characters and a Shadow storyline so stupid it was embarrassing to like him after SA2.

But I always had this sense that Sonic could come back, have a cool looking 2D game to take advantage of a genre Mario had left behind (this was before NSMB). Sure his GBA efforts were fine but it just wasn't the same thing. And then Sonic Heroes happened. And that was that, Sonic was a has-been. He wasn't the star of games that were celebrated by critics and gamers alike. He was the cool dude for kids while those that knew him in his prime looked back in sadness. The Sonic Heroes intro (song and video) actually still make me angry. "Come get me Sonic Heroes!"

[Sunlight]

I'd say it's hard to compare the games with each other, but going with the actual characters, I'd say the big difference is that Mario never really was much of a character. He never (or atleast seldom) had any dialouge, and he served more as the players avatar to interact with the other characters that actually, well, had different personalities.
Sonic on the other hand started talking basically as soon as technology allowed him to and thus developed his own personality...
...
A personality that made me vote Mario.

[Kriven]

Why does talking equate to personality?

Even before voices, Sonic was stamping his feet whenever you put the controller down. Dude had an attitude.

[Sunlight]

Why does talking equate to personality?

Even before voices, Sonic was stamping his feet whenever you put the controller down. Dude had an attitude.

Yeah, I guess I didn't formulate my argument very well, what I meant was that a character who talks is able to show his personality much better than one who doesn't.
Not all characters who talk have a personality, and not all characters who don't talk lack personality.

[Gors]

In Mario's case, he was designed to be an all-purposes character (which is obvious seeing all the spin-offs, games and media he has appeared in). But in the start, the developers could bestow him any kind of role in the game: he could be the hero, like in Donkey Kong, or the villain, in Donkey Kong Jr.

But as people started liking him more, and the Mario franchise became a huge success, it limited Mario's roles (developers couldn't put antagonist roles on him anymore, because his personality and attitude solidified as a virtuous hero. This could also be why Wario has enjoyed success too, as he is a kind of 'Mario' that can play any roles, because of his behavior.

For Sonic, he already had the 'cool & edgy' attitude since the start to confront the kindness of Mario (after all, kids are generally interested in things that look cool). People knew he was a good guy, but wasn't a happy-go-lucky man either. Though in recent games, things got weird and all that (I didn't play any of the recent Sonic games enough to talk about it).

Just felt like saying stuff, I don't think it really adds to the discussion whoops

[Kriven]

I always viewed Donkey Kong Jr. as a game where you play as the antagonist. It's essentially about Jr. breaking his father out of prison, and Mario is the warden attempting to contain a dangerous criminal. From that perspective he's still technically doing the "good" thing.

[Omegajak]

Ah see it's whoever grew up with what.

No, not really.

My choice? Sonic.

[DioShiba]

well if I had to choose I would say Mario because I grew up with him far more than Sonic.

Although if I had to choose by other means there is always this:

[Helmo]

mario in every way

sonic has a handful of A+ material

mario has like 100+

[Omegajak]

Oh, right a reason.

I played Mario before I played Sonic. Then 1994 happened and I got the SEGA Genesis and Sonic 2 combo for Christmas. We had a Nintendo but...Mario had pace I wanted raw unprecedented skill and dexterity. I turned Speed Running into a art at the tender age of 4. Mario couldn't provide what Sonic provided he didn't have the same attitude, free spirit devil may care attitude. The seed had been planted.


Enter me wanting to learn how to read because I learned that Archie had picked up the license for a Sonic comics adaptation. I was 4 and I could not read. So guess who started paying way more attention in school?

Archie Comic Adventure Series. A spin on the noble idea of a hedgehog who never needed a reason to do the right thing, just that someone needed to do it. Why not him? Then his games started to get better. I never owned a SEGA Saturn all I needed was a Genesis anyway. (I played the CD installation games on PC later on in life anyway.)

Mario is consistent, but that's all. His sense of justice stems from love. Sonic's stems from the belief that being good isn't something that even requires thought of judgement. Just do good things because they are good. Dash in, save the day, dash out. Sonic's friends were added to add more life to the world they live in, and answer if there are more creatures who are special for some reason. Humans were added to give the world populace an identity to Sonic as a hero who always swoops in to save the day because until they were added it was just woodland creatures who appreciated him freeing them.

Also, Popo?

Brawl was designed by people, and it's pretty obvious that sonic was never intended to be strong because they designed him to be that way. I don't think I have to even emphasize what a true speedster would be capable of in a fight, not just a supposed one who has grass roots in previous entries like Falco and Fox.

[Gors]

I never liked sonic that much. My family was always Nintendo oriented when coming to video games, so since I was young, Mario was the main dude for me. I really love the concept, the music, the games themselves. It's fun.

I tried playing Sonic when I got computer access. Me never owning a SEGA Genesis, and hearing people talking good things about the game, I decided to try it. I beat Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic CD and S3&K, but I didn't have the same amount of fun tbh. The levels are layered and confusing, the speed is pointless with the amount of obstacles, and being generally constantly bad at the game. Invariably I ended the levels with one or none rings in hand. And all those game overs I got. Sonic CD also literally gave me nausea with those checkerboard patterns moving that fast. It was... Quite an experience. After this, I played Sonic Heroes, which kind of killed my desire to try out new Sonic games.

Despite this, I got Sonic Generations and I'm enjoying it, even if I still suck at it. At least, when I mess up, I can stop and retry at any time.

[Candel]

Sanek the Hejjhog

[Kriven]

I never liked sonic that much. My family was always Nintendo oriented when coming to video games, so since I was young, Mario was the main dude for me. I really love the concept, the music, the games themselves. It's fun.

I tried playing Sonic when I got computer access. Me never owning a SEGA Genesis, and hearing people talking good things about the game, I decided to try it. I beat Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic CD and S3&K, but I did have the same amount of fun tbh. The levels are layered and confusing, the speed is pointless with the amount of obstacles, and being generally constantly bad at the game. Invariably I ended the levels with one or none rings in hand. And all those game overs I got. Sonic CD also literally gave me nausea with those checkerboard patterns moving that fast. It was... Quite an experience. After this, I played Sonic Heroes, which kind of killed my desire to try out new Sonic games.

Despite this, I got Sonic Generations and I'm enjoying it, even if I still suck at it. At least, when I mess up, I can stop and retry at any time.

I encourage you to try out Sonic Adventure 2, which has a much higher emphasis on platforming and exploration than it does on speed, and has controls which are superior to most of the modern games that came after it.

[Helmo]

I never liked sonic that much. My family was always Nintendo oriented when coming to video games, so since I was young, Mario was the main dude for me. I really love the concept, the music, the games themselves. It's fun.

I tried playing Sonic when I got computer access. Me never owning a SEGA Genesis, and hearing people talking good things about the game, I decided to try it. I beat Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic CD and S3&K, but I did have the same amount of fun tbh. The levels are layered and confusing, the speed is pointless with the amount of obstacles, and being generally constantly bad at the game. Invariably I ended the levels with one or none rings in hand. And all those game overs I got. Sonic CD also literally gave me nausea with those checkerboard patterns moving that fast. It was... Quite an experience. After this, I played Sonic Heroes, which kind of killed my desire to try out new Sonic games.

Despite this, I got Sonic Generations and I'm enjoying it, even if I still suck at it. At least, when I mess up, I can stop and retry at any time.

I encourage you to try out Sonic Adventure 2, which has a much higher emphasis on platforming and exploration than it does on speed, and has controls which are superior to most of the modern games that came after it.

this game has some of the worst camera of any game ever

[Kriven]

this game has some of the worst camera of any game ever

This is a true.

Still a good game.