I really don't see how the Awakening characters are as high as they are when you put Kid Icarus's entire represented cast right under them.
edited 17th Mar '15 10:00:53 PM by Demonfly
"Tell them to shut up and have some faith in me." - dead flashback guyYeah, the Pokemon are way too low...except for Greninja, who probably needs to be kicked down a tier.
Call me Willy Whistle 'cause I can't speak, baby. Something in TV Tropes really drove me crazy.I was more going for the franchise getting a new game. So that's why the Awakening characters are as high as they are as Fire Emblem itself is likely to get another game. Kid Icarus isn't that likely, but I could move them up a notch as Uprising is about as recent. Pikachu is known in the public conscience, so that automatically puts him in the top tier. I don't know if the general public can tell you who the other Pokemon are, though.
edited 18th Mar '15 6:22:20 AM by powerpuffbats
AAAAUUUUGGGHHHH!!!!How do I put this? Charizard and Mewtwo are bigger than everyone except Mario and Pikachu. Certainly bigger than jokes like Link and Yoshi. Greninja's debut games have probably outsold the entire Metroid and Fire Emblem series. Pokemon has the cross media exposure none of the other series have. Last gen Mario may have been king, but this gen Pokemon XY will probably be Nintendo's highest selling games. Pikachu is bigger than Mario right now, and a proper mobile Pokemon of some kind would make a bigger splash than mobile Mario. I could argue that Charizard is Nintendo's most popular character in the west right now. The series is on a completely different level from all the others. There's a reason there's an entire separate billion dollar corporation managing the franchise.
True, Greninja is to Gen VI what Blaziken was to Gen III, but I don't think it's quite there...at least, not yet. Soon enough it'll enter the fairly obscure/fairly well known tier.
The top tier of "well known" is basically what I think is in the conscience of the general mainstream public. The tier right below that is for general gaming public: The ones that don't only game on smartphones, but are casual fans of franchises. I'm not too sure if Charizard and Mewtwo are known amongst the mainstream public (the ones that think that geeks are like the ones shown in The Big Bang Theory or something like that).
AAAAUUUUGGGHHHH!!!!Revised list:
- pop culture icons (known amongst the general public): Mario, Luigi, Pikachu, Sonic, Pac Man, Peach, Bowser, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Link, Kirby
- well known (General GAMING public will know these characters):Wario, Samus, Bowser Jr, Rosalina and Luma, Diddy Kong, Zelda, Sheik, Ganondorf, Meta Knight, Dedede, Jigglypuff, Lucario, Greninja, Zero Suit Samus, Toon Link, Mega Man, Villager, Wii Fit Trainer, Charizard, Mewtwo
- Obscure (not well known, but likely to have another game/ have had a recent entry): Fox, Falco, Marth, Ike, Lucina, Robin, Olimar, Pit, Palutena, Dark Pit
- Really obscure (not likely to appear in anything outside of Smash): Captain Falcon, Ness, Mr. Game and Watch, R.O.B, Little Mac, Shulk (though this is by virtue of his franchise only having one game so far, so could upgrade to "Obscure"), Duck Hunt
I think Sonic and Pac Man are too big to not have on the highest tier. ESPECIALLY Pac Man given how insanely popular his debut game was. I can be open to debating Sonic, though. Keep in mind that the order I list the characters in their respective categories means nothing, only the tier itself does.
Are Charizard and Mewtwo known amongst people who don't play video games? That's what the top tier of "pop culture icons" means.
edited 18th Mar '15 2:33:16 PM by powerpuffbats
AAAAUUUUGGGHHHH!!!!Sterok, I think you're selling Pokemon a bit too highly. Yes, it's popular, but it's still second to Mario. A non gamer is more likely to recognize a goomba than a rattata. And why would DK be less well known than Mario? The first game was named after him.
Anywho, Cap and Mac could stand to move up a tier. Memes have kept the Cap alive, and Mac's last game is still fairly recent.
You're definitely exaggerating a little. The general public will recognize Mario and Pikachu. Charizard and Mewtwo are extremely popular among the people who grew up with Pokemon, which is a lot of people, but I can't imagine that anything but a small minority at most out of that group won't also recognize the likes of Link and Luigi. Mario and Pikachu are god-tier for being recognizable to anyone who's at all in contact with popular culture, at about the same level as Mickey Mouse. Anything below that, you're already getting into people who actually know the slightest bit about videogames.
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In all fairness, a lot of people do play IOS games. I think the majority of people can name Luigi, Link, Kirby, DK, Peach, Yoshi, and Bowser.
I think the issue when going into popularity of video games is because in America, stuff made by American studios generally sell more than most Japanese-made games, yet it's the complete opposite around Europe and Japan.
Plus, Video Games seem to be more popular in Japan given how Japan regularly gets live orchestral performances of video game tunes while we get orchestral performances of movie tracks. (or songs if you're not my old band teacher)
edited 18th Mar '15 2:38:00 PM by powerpuffbats
AAAAUUUUGGGHHHH!!!!Are you asking which is the bigger video game franchise or which is the bigger media franchise? Between Mario and Pokemon you'll get different answers depending on which you ask. Both are gigantic overall of course, but Mario is very dependent on how well Nintendo is doing whereas Pokemon is a more stable franchise overall. And again, Pokemon has a billion dollar corporation managing its various aspects (for multiple reasons, but still).
Donkey Kong and Yoshi have an odd issue. Both are pretty big on paper and sell pretty well. But they're both in Mario's shadow and can't really stand out compared to him even when they're games sell millions. Meanwhile, Kirby doesn't sell as well as DK, but between the series's greater independence and its anime he's arguably a bigger star than those two.
On that note, where are those videos/reports of people trying to name all the Smash characters? That would probably be a good starting metric on who's more recognizable. I'm curious as to whether Charizard or Bowser is more recognizable.
Completely random, but I almost got a job working for a guy who's last name was Bowser. He was trying to start up a plant to make crates, pallets and stuff out of some sort of recycled & recyclable plastic/sawdust type material, I think.
I got a laugh whenever I saw his name on anything from that company

I'd elevate everyone fromt he Kid Icarus franchise up a notch, since they did have a game recently that got quite a bit of buzz and a fandom.