The Game Guru
Topic: The Rival Between Sonic and Mario
Gaming culture is more than joysticks and button mashing. In this column, our video game wiz will introduce you to the vast world of gaming. So plug in and check it out.
By Ben F. Badger Jr.
Gaming culture is more than joysticks and button mashing. In this column, our video game wiz will introduce you to the vast world of gaming. So plug in and check it out.
If you can recall the commercials of the early ’90s, then you may remember a series of anti-Nintendo ones produced by then-archrival SEGA for their latest console. One in particular had the tagline, “Genesis does what Nintendon’t.”
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These commercials ran for quite some time but Nintendo never retaliated with their own smear campaign. It kept with Nintendo’s more friendly image compared to the in-your-face attitude that made SEGA so popular.
The commercials started the rivalry, but when they were finally getting old the rivalry suddenly jumped to a new stage: who had the better mascot.
Nintendo had Super Mario, formerly known as Jump Man, the happy-go-lucky plumber who had been saving princesses since the ’80s. In response, SEGA created a blue, “way past cool” critter with an attitude problem, Sonic the Hedgehog.
These two mascots were as different as could be. Sonic used speed and agility to overcome an overweight mad scientist, while Mario used magic stars and flowers to bash in a mutant turtle’s shell.
Up until recently this rivalry was never officially addressed by either game company. Instead gamers just noticed how often the two mascots were actually doing the same thing.
Both characters, for example, starred in their own comic strips and TV shows during the early ’90s. In this aspect of the rivalry, Sonic is the clear winner given the fact his comic series is still in production and will be reaching its 200th issue in 2009. Mario’s comic series has been dead for longer than I can remember.
Sonic has also appeared in more TV episodes than Mario. “Sonic X” is the fourth distinct TV series airing in the US and Japan. Mario just never really compared to the Sonic series mostly due to Nintendo not putting enough effort into developing the Mario TV series.
Sonic vs. Mario in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Despite the success of Sonic’s TV self, Mario has always remained one of the most well known video game icons in history. Mario has appeared in more games than Sonic, which have all met with critical acclaim.
More importantly the house that Mario built is still producing consoles. SEGA, meanwhile, nearly went bankrupt in 2000 after their last system, the Dreamcast, fell to strict competition with Nintendo and Sony’s Playstation. SEGA stopped making consoles in 2001. When the ball dropped, many fans thought it would be the end of Sonic and his rivalry with Mario, but they were wrong. SEGA actually began to flourish when it devoted their resources to solely developing video game software.
What did this mean for the rivalry? Basically, Sonic invaded Nintendo’s consoles. For long-time fans, this was near blasphemy, but many gamers started clamoring for some kind of game that featured both mascots duking it out.
After nearly seven years and the somewhat disappointing Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, that wish is coming true with the March 9 release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
The Smash Bros. series has become one of the highest ranked fighting games of all time and has various Nintendo characters beating in each other’s brains. This time they included two non-Nintendo brawlers. One was Solid Snake from the Metal Gear series.
The other was Sonic.
From first hand experience, I can tell you that every gamer I have come across was in a tizzy for months about the revelation. Message boards were cluttered with rants and whatnots about who will win in a fight. Sonic being in Super Smash Bros. Brawl has rekindled the rivalry that has been fairly mundane for nearly a decade.
Finally, after 20 years, gamers will finally be able to have a legitimate way of having these two icons duke it out.
Still can’t get the lingo? E-mail Ben: gameguru@outloud.com..