gaming Settle the Score: Which of gaming's biggest mascots had the better run of the early 90s??

[Megas 27,629]

Pretty simple question, which of gaming's biggest mascots had the better run from the beginning, strictly speaking, the 8/16 bit era? Sonic's games? Mario's?

As for the games in question

Sonic The Hedgehofg
Sonic 2
Sonic 3
Sonic & Knuckles

vs

Super Mario Bros
Super Mario Bros 2
Super Mario Bros 3
Super Mario World

As for whether Super Mario 2 is either Lost Levels or the US version is your call, though personally I'd rather it not be Lost Levels because it's kinda shit

[Splashee 28,564]

Most people here aren't from the 90s, so you will not settle the score.

 

I am a Sega kid, so obviously Sonic changed my life, and that's the mascot that will win (for me).

Most Nintendo kids in my age ended up boring people when they grew up, and probably never touched computers until Facebook arrived. They would say that Mario was the mascot, and that Mario and Nintendo is nostalgic. They also think everything from their childhood is nostalgic.

 

It wasn't until mid 2000 when I realized the console wars were a waste of time. Both have their good things. I love playing and watching games like Super Mario Bros. 3, it is such a classic! But I dream about Sonic & Knuckles at night, and that is much greater to me, as it changed my life for the better!

[Will Guide 21,360]

Mario. Because Sonic wouldn't even exist without Mario existing first. The idea for Sonic's speed did somewhat came from the fact that one player would rush through World 1-1 of Super Mario Bros. Everytime before even getting to where he could skip a few entire worlds using the Warp Zone in World 1-2

[Cagey 4,248]

Sonic has the better run… get it?

I can’t say, but I think Mario had a bigger impact on most people. 

[The Kaeya Simp 13,988]

I wasn't around in the 90s (hell my mum was only about my age in the late 90s haha) but I'd say that Mario had the bigger impact (as it's still around and being upgraded, and helps nintendo even still exist)

[Pastel Heart 6,466]

As far as the 90s go I'd say Sonic had the better mainline stuff out there~ but Mario wins in the spinoff department!

Edited June 20, 2020 by Pastel Heart
clarification

[Stardust 641]

I mean I was only born in the late 90s and I didn't own any gaming consoles, or anything back then. The first thing I played on was cd roms on computers. And my first console was a ps2 lol before that I played a bit on a ps1 maybe and i think i played on a gamecube.

I liked the sonic merch and stuff back then though and I remember there were knock off pocket game things u could play just like sonic on lol Mario I was less familiar with.

The mascots in games I was familiar with back then are crash bandicoot, spyro, ty tasmanian tiger and ratchet and clank despite not owning any of them. I also liked frogger and the old games like pac man. 

[Esoteric 142]

Spyro the Dragon obviously

[joanro 247]

I think I am going to say the Sonic the Hedgehog series. I say this mostly because of Super Mario Bros. 2 as it is essentially a Mario reskin of another game. I think that one game drops the overall quality of the Mario games that are listed.

Edited June 20, 2020 by joanro

[Jesse Terrence 2,968]

4 hours ago, Splashee said:

Most people here aren't from the 90s, so you will not settle the score.

 

I am a Sega kid, so obviously Sonic changed my life, and that's the mascot that will win (for me).

Most Nintendo kids in my age ended up boring people when they grew up, and probably never touched computers until Facebook arrived. They would say that Mario was the mascot, and that Mario and Nintendo is nostalgic. They also think everything from their childhood is nostalgic.

 

It wasn't until mid 2000 when I realized the console wars were a waste of time. Both have their good things. I love playing and watching games like Super Mario Bros. 3, it is such a classic! But I dream about Sonic & Knuckles at night, and that is much greater to me, as it changed my life for the better!

Are you calling me BORING? D8

[BastementSparkle 20,326]

Gonna have to go with Sonic here. I grew up with the 2D Sonic games before I ever really touched much 2D Mario and Sonic's always just been far interesting to me. Sonic's higher speed, the momentum based gameplay, the much more natural level design all just makes it more fun to play than Mario. Not to mention Sonic wins hands down for me in terms of other things, like character design, aesthetics and music. Things like Sonic CD (Which you forgot by the way) and it's awesome anime cutscenes or 3&K with it's surprisingly interesting little story told entirely through silent cutscenes and some environmental design just push it up to being one of my favorite games ever.

 Heck, even when it comes to Nintendo platformers, Mario's pretty far from my favorite. I'm a much bigger fan of the Donkey Kong Country games, which I also grew up playing on my dad's old SNES, since he didn't have any Mario but he had that whole trilogy. After Sonic and DK, Mario's always just felt a little bland to me. There's no denying the impact Mario had on the gaming industry though, Sonic and DKC wouldn't exist without it, so I'll give the series huge props for that.

[Splashee 28,564]

1 hour ago, Jesse Terrence said:

Are you calling me BORING? D8

Only if you like Mario.

[Jesse Terrence 2,968]

1 hour ago, Splashee said:

Only if you like Mario.

As a character, he seems to be way too generic for my taste. Regarding games, I'm guilty. I like his games better over Sonic's.

The problem with that could probably have something to do with the fact that Sega had the worst marketing possible in Mexico. Or in most of latin america, for that matter.

It was really hard to get a master system back in the day, and they didn't spend a penny in marketing. There were several ads for nintendo but none for sega, but that had to do more with their sale strategy rather than any sort of blocking or dirty practice.

You see, for them, the latin american market was not rentable. They didn't see the region as a profit. So even for bussinesses like block buster it was hard to get the games for rental over here since it was very expensive to import from third parties, and since sega didn't care about the whole region, they just didn't put sale centers nor tried to sell their products to malls in latin america. So most of the sega games you could find were over priced because most had to be brought from USA.

Also, Nintendo was not only more accessible and affordable, but also smarter in its marketing. They saw the potential in the latin american market and not only did they lauch ad campaigns, but also supported early game periodism in this country. Up to that point, whatever anypony knew about video games in mexico was orally from other people. But then nintendo gave a slight sponsoring to Gus Rodriguez, the father of mexican video game periodism. They realized they could get a lot of sales here if they tackled the idea of a nintendo focused magazine like Nintendo Power, so they got in contact with Gus and allowed him to use footage and so and Club Nintendo magazine was born. Later on Nintendo's relationship with Gus grew and not only did they allow him to use footage, but also sent tape recordings of games in exclusive, and even the eventual beta footage for his magazine. Later on, Gus made a tv show named Nintendomania, and once again Nintendo cooperated and sent resources his way. Not only footage this time, but even some games so he could make his reviews. Nintendo grew powerful in this region because they were interested and did something for the industry over here. They even helped Gus Rodriguez reach the first E3 at L.A.

In mexico, at least, the bit war era was just something you would heard as gossip from the USA until the playstation was launched, since for us, Nintendo had won without too much effort over Sega.

I never played a sonic game until we had our first computer by the 2000. And while I was hyped, I couldn't play the whole game because it wasn't as appealing to me anymore. Up to that point I was already very into Nintendo games and their slower paced game styles. I grew used to a different kind of platformers too, mainly Castlevania, Mega Man, Ninja Gaiden, Super Mario Bros 3 and even the weird sidescrolling platformer Zelda II was. All of them were very picky on your timing while performing a jump and most required of good reflex due enemies being spawn mid air, and a game like Sonic was just not my thing.

So on this one, I say I prefer Mario. Another thing I'd like to praise about mario games is how their mechanics evolved a whole lot between games, and at times, the games felt far too different. For instance, the first SMB was the most simplistic of the whole set. The bounce mechanic worked way different from the rest as in SMB you're not going to win a lot of impulse from jumping on top of an enemy, which later on was changed for the rest of the games. SMB2 (the non-japanese release, aka the doki doki panic clone) features a completely differen gameplay in which not only you stop being a one hit wonder, but also you must smack enemies throwing stuff at them. SMB3 polished the platforming from SMB and picked up a few concepts from SMB2, and the game not only allowed you to pick up shells and kick them, but also added blocks you could pick up and a whole lot of new power ups along with the level selection map. Super Mario World downed on powerups, but added its own twist on the "flying mechanics" with the way you glide using the cape. It also introduced Yoshi and a new mechanic with the twister jumps, along with the colored blocks and the secret paths and extra ways to finish the levels. It also featured different mechanics for a good amount of the bosses which gave it its very own air.

As for the sonic games, honestly, I got to play only 3 of them, and while I can see a significant difference between gameplay with sonic and knuckles, most of the gameplay feels the same to me through the few areas I finished before changing to play other games.

Edited June 20, 2020 by Jesse Terrence

[baba_booey 4,302]

That's a hard one honestly. I grew up with both (had the remakes/ports of Mario 1-3, World and Yoshi's Island for the GBA and Sonic Classic Collection for the DS) and I'd probably say I enjoyed the Genesis Sonic games over the NES Mario games, but Super Mario World has always been one of my favorite games of all time and I'd probably say I like that game more than any of the Genesis Sonic games (albeit SMW and Sonic Generations and Mania are also pretty neck-and-neck to me)

I'll probably go with Sonic here since the series technically got it's start in the early 90's and Mario was already an established franchise at that point but this is a pretty tough question to give me a direct answer to.

[Cash In 22,313]

Bumping old topic because it's a very interesting discussion.

I'm torn. I like Sonic more, but Mario was more revolutionary overall and I also felt that the quality of those games generally matched the classic Sonic games despite all of them coming out before.

IMO Sonic 3&K > Sonic 2 > SMW > SMB3 > Sonic 1 > SMB2 USA > SMB1 > SMB2 JP

[Megas 27,629]

Mario has higher highs but Sonic is more mostly consistent, I'd rather play Sonic 1 than Lost Levels if nothing else.

I'd say Super Mario 3(Personal Mario favorite)>Super Mario World>Sonic 3&Knuckles>Sonic 2(Personal Sonic fav)>Super Mario 2(US)>Sonic 1>Lost Levels

[Cash In 22,313]

15 hours ago, Megas said:

Mario has higher highs but Sonic is more mostly consistent, I'd rather play Sonic 1 than Lost Levels if nothing else.

I'd say Super Mario 3(Personal Mario favorite)>Super Mario World>Sonic 3&Knuckles>Sonic 2(Personal Sonic fav)>Super Mario 2(US)>Sonic 1>Lost Levels

I never saw Lost Levels as an actual sequel, but more as a fan hack that was approved by Nintendo.