What franchise do you like more: Mario or Sonic?

I like Sonic more than Mario as he's faster, I can take more than 203 hits, the stories are better, and I like the music a lot more.

Not sure if these kind of threads are allowed, although the same question could be asked in either the Mario or Sonic thread, which would probably get you some pretty expected results lol.

I like Sonic more mainly because while his overall quality is shakier for sure, his games take a bit more risks and are more fun to play plus the characters have more personality and is just a more interesting world overall.

I'll be honest, the whole "mario and cast are like actors hur hur" ruined Mario for me a little, since every game no longer feels like an actual adventure of any meaning and the characters' relationships are kind of made more shallow by it.

If anything I want Sonic's developers to make its world more consistent/cohesive and develop much of the cast more but they're so afraid of ticking off the conservative players they end up playing it safe.

Does this warrant a thread

You're about 25 years too late for the Mario vs. Sonic rivalry, dude.

Ahhhh, smells like the early '90s. The air is fresh with angst, skateboarding, and Teen Spirit.

edited 26th Apr '14 11:24:37 PM by Odd1

I feel like we already had this thread

I feel like both franchises have stagnated a bit, a least story-wise. Originally I did like Sonic more, and I still like the characters better, though these days I think Mario has better games. Sonic Generations was a step in the right direction, buuut I only really liked the Genesis levels.

I think it was a mistake for Sega to conform to the Japanese canon for Sonic, when he had more fans in America anyway. But I think Mario's storyline got ruined by having the Mario Bros. in the Mushroom Kingdom since they were babies rather than having them be from our world.

edited 27th Apr '14 12:42:17 AM by Surenity

They didn't have a choice story-wise...the writing was always done by the Japanese staff...(Also you say Mario story, like the long term actually mattered???)

Mario & Sonic...Not Mario OR Sonic for me. They are my main Go to game series. I can't choose one over the other entirely, its just which one I'd prefer to play at the current times.

edited 27th Apr '14 12:54:45 AM by Randomness4

Ah, this old fight. Takes me back. I gotta go with Mario here, even accounting for Sonic's dip in quality that I hope he's starting to recover from.

A lot of people have mentioned characters, but I think I have to give that to Mario. Sure, not a fan of Peach, but Luigi's awesome (in spite of beginning life as "colour-swapped Mario", and the rest of the supporting cast is nice enough. Anyone remember Dimentio or Fawful? Admittedly, both of those are from the RPGs, but I'll take Mario's supporting cast over Big, Cream, and some of the other new introductions. I'll grant Sonic's core cast might be more fleshed out, however (Sonic isn't anywhere near a blank slate as Mario).

edited 27th Apr '14 4:50:38 AM by MangaManiac

I liked Sonic more when I first got into games back in the Nineties. But tbh, neither him nor Mario have got what I look for in games now so the last time I played either of them was the early Noughties.

I used to be strictly Mario. Now I'm strictly ANTI-Mario. At least Sonic TRIES to release different games instead of packaging slightly-rearranged bricks and claiming it's new.

I will say that I do like both.

Why can't Ninty not recycle 3's level themes?

Mario games taking less risks depends on your perspective. Compare how the moderately successful formula for Sonic Adventure was stretched out compared to how the ultra successful Super Mario 64 was altered for Sunshine and Galaxy.

So, 64 was not SO successful by Mario standards but you get my point. The New Super Mario Bros series might not have changed too much, compared to the change up between Super Mario Bros 3, the two land games or Super Mario World but it was the Wii game was the first "big" sidescroller to get a home console release in quite some time and that lead to Sonic following suit.

For which I like better? Uh, Kirby.

Seriously, though, I prefer Mario's games and have for as long as I can remember though, I did not always to the extent that I do now because Sonic's games where more readily available to me growing up. I started buying Mario games as soon as I had my own paycheck. Sonic's environment often feels too accommodating. A tad too many springs, treadmills and shuttle loops. Shuttle loops, remember when those used to be obstacles? Mario makes his own way through the world more by his own ability to manipulate thins rather than the other way around. The galaxy games did have launch stars whose placement felt contrived but just as often they were put there by lumas he saved, had to be repaired, or acted like switches on a railroad and could only be operated in the first place because of his alien companion. The interfaces all worked things he could not do otherwise rather than being forced extensions of actions you freely performed.

Even the springs in older titles could often be picked up to solve puzzles or just play around with. In that sense Mario's games were usually more interactive and had more longevity simply because of various things you could do differently even in most linear of them, and a lot are not overwhelmingly linear anyway, especially not since land 2 introduced the idea of doing pretty much everything except the first and last level in which ever order you wanted.

Sonic's difficulty with inclines tended to bug me too. On one hand you could argue it is more realistic compared to Mario's weight and momentum controls but Sonic is supposed to be the fastest thing alive, you'd think he'd be faster getting up to speed. Yeah, spin dash but that's still a charge move and can be hazardous at times I'd rather walk faster. It also made the constant drops in inclines and treadmills all the more noticeable.

Even though these are not gameplay things, Mario's character design has become more pleasant over the years. He's still stubby and I can never get used to how most characters in the Paper Mario series do not have legs but it is much less distracting than the pointy, angular, anorexic thing Sonic&Friends have become. The introduction of somewhat realistically proportioned humans Adventure forward just made it worse. I can remember Mario was in Punchout and some NBA game and it did not look nearly as jarring and was intended to be comedic anyway.

Mario's always been absurd and I've felt Sonic has always tried way too hard to be cool but then Sonic started taking itself seriously. Bowser's hostile takeovers are never given the kind of drama Eggman and Robotnik's (who as of Adventure 2 Battle, are apparently different people-it just reeks [[Running the Asylum of fan takeover]) demonstrations have and its better for it, in more ways than one. Mario's voice acting is usually kept to sound bites so even when it's bad it is only so for a second. Not only does the mood often feel too heavy for its own good but the spoken dialog is often painful to hear.

If there is one thing I will give Sonic over the plumber it is that as far as I know, the Hedgehog's games are less likely to reuse tunes, as in they will give a different one to every location (and I have a soft spot for Pumpkin Hill). I will also acknowledge that the Sonic games do have some interesting gameplay mechanics and story bits. There are some instances where grinding seems arbitrary or even against the way weight and momentum otherwise control but I usually do not mind it. I think there was some promise in the emerald hunting sections, not in the timed scavenger hunts themselves so much as how they controlled and I liked the touch of little animals controlling Roboinik's robots.

But I don't buy Sonic games anymore because the negative contrasts to Mario are just the start. They're often just too glitched of bug filled for my tastes. Spin dashing for another shuttle loop was already old, clipping through the shuttle loop to my death? That's when I was done. Besides, Mario has more in the way of game mechanics whose potential was really ran with (Swimming, The Ice Powerups, Tanooki Suit, Yoshi) and a wider variety of well implemented play styles (The classic 2D side scrollers, Donkey Kong '94 and Mario vs. Donkey Kong, Super Mario 64, The Galaxy Titles, Sunshine, 3D land and World ect).

I think they are equals. If I had to choose, I guess I'd say Sonic, since I grew up with those games.

Sonic, I used to play Mario a lot before I was introduced to the first 3 Sonic games made in the franchise, a few of the Spin-offs alongside the Adventure series, then the Gems Collection. After that it was a mix, the only games I have not played are Sonic 06 (Thank god for that), Secret Rings, and the Black Knight.

I still like Mario though, I just got burned out on that same old formula they still use nowadays a long time ago as my brother is a HUUUGE Mario fanatic and he would make me play those games OVER AND OVER. The only spin-offs or 3d games I have liked are Luigi's Mansion, 64, and Galaxy (I can't stand turn based RPG's so those Mario games were usually played and forgotten by me despite the interesting stories they had)

I never quite figured out why I never felt burnt out with Sonic, although I imagine if it were to happen it would be Sonic 06 that would do if I EVER were to play it.

I also care more about the Sonic Characters more then the Mario ones. The only character I really liked from Mario was Luigi.

To the people who say Mario reuses the same formula.

Are you really trying to say Mario Galaxy, New Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario 3D World are alike in anyway?

I've never really managed to get into a Mario game. But I do like Sonic.

Grew up with both of them, and I was a real big fan of both when I was little.

We're including the Donkey Kong Country games, Yoshi's Island, etc. right? I like those even more the Mario main series...

Still really like Mario and Co., but Sonic I kind of drifted away from.

Sonic doesn't have nearly as many games, or types of games. And while I can say most Mario games are fantastic, I think only a few Sonic games are really great.

In terms of characters...Hmm. The Mario/DK/Yoshi/Wario meta-series has an enormous and very varied cast.

Cranky Kong, for example, has an awesome personality. Or Professor E. Gadd, he's got a great sense of humour.

Bowser and Luigi have plenty of personality too.

x3 They're generalizing the series as a whole, when they'd only be talking about the New Super Mario games.

Its annoying yeah, but whatever.

To be fair, level design and extra characters aside, 3-D World uses a pretty similar formula to the Galaxy duology. If I remember correctly, I think even the former's precursor (3-D Land) was built on a modified version of the Galaxy engine.

Yeah, the only Mario games that reuse the same formula all the time is the 2d games, the so called New Super Mario Bros. Series.

The 3D Mario games often are a lot more innovating, so it really is an annoying and false generalization.

There might be similarities but 3D Land & World gameplay style are completely different to the Galaxy games.

edited 30th Apr '14 7:56:22 PM by AfroWarrior27

I did mention that I was just burn out on the old formula and that very few of the 3d or RPG games interested me

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was the first videogame I ever played so I tend to be a little biased towards the Blue Hedgehog.

The "3D" games share Galaxy's world(level)progression...meaning that no world(galaxy) is similar to the last.

Except in the "3D" games you're in a themed world map environment where the levels don't share the theme and not travelling from galaxy to galaxy where you'd expect such a difference.

I question the... okayness of a thread like this.

I like the Super Mario Bros series a lot more due to better consistency in quality, but Sonic The Hedgehog's soundtracks are nothing to sneeze at, so I'll pop in a session or two of the Genesis trilogy from time to time.