Early Mario or Early Sonic?

They're all brilliant, but pick! Which do you prefer: early (pre-64) Mario or early (pre-Adventure) Sonic?

Find Mario to be ugly, plodding and uncharismatic? Find Mario to be well-crafted, imaginative and the apex of 2D platforming? Have your say.

Find Sonic to be basic, imprecise and near unplayable? Find Sonic to be vivid, confident and the the shining example of the genre? Have your say.


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I'm a Sonic guy.

I'm a Mario man myself, I do quite like Sonic 2,3 and Knuckles but I hate Sonic 1 and CD.
On the other hand I love all of the early Mario games (though world not as much as the others)

Never got to play the old Sonic in the old days so I guess Mario

No Sonic game I've played can compete with Supes Mazza World.

Super Mario Brothers 3 and Super Mario World are the pinnacle of 2D platforming to me, there's no question as to what my choice is.

Another Mario vote over here. Sonic games are fun but I grew up with Mario.

Mario, the only Sonic game I truely enjoyed was rush on the DS & even then I didn't own it.

As someone who never played early Sonic, I don't feel able to vote. However, I didn't really enjoy early Mario games. SMB was too old when I got around to it, SMB2 wasn't proper Mario, and I never got past the sun on SMB3. SMW, on the other hand... whaddagame.

Quote :

SMB2 wasn't proper Mario

It bugs me a little when folk say that, we didn't know better back at the original release & my opinion it's way better than lost levels which is more of the same just harder.

Let me rephrase, then: it doesn't feel like other Mario games. I'd argue that it feels inferior. The sand-digging sections in particular annoy me no end. And I played it for the first time on the GBA, so I did know better. No nostalgia here!

I've never played LL, though, so you may be right on that.

Mario.

As a Ninty fanboy kid I was taught to believe Sonic was the enemy. He was essentially Poochie before Poochie, but then Sega added even more Poochies.

However, as the original console war ended, and I grew up, I thought I'd give Sonic a go. It did kind of look fun with its chunky shiny graphics.

Nope. Turns out he always sucked.

I love both equally, so I couldn't possibly choose. I was (am?) extremely fortunate to have both a Mega Drive and a Super Nintendo (the MD being a present and the SNES being painstakingly saved up for). If you were asking which I loved first, though, it would be Sonic.

Sonic, as I've banged on about many times before, is the mascot/franchise that got me into vidyagaems.

The_Jaster wrote:

Quote :

 SMB2 wasn't proper Mario

It bugs me a little when folk say that, we didn't know better back at the original release & my opinion it's way better than lost levels which is more of the same just harder.

Can't believe I never posted on here, but above is what i feel about Super MARIO World 2: Yoshi Island at the time we didn't know it would spin-off a whole new franchises for Nintendo. At the time it would of just been a new mechanic they wanted to try like FLUDD in sunshine.

Also I did vote for Sonic, me & Stu must be the only sane ones here and Andy the most loopy (pun) not liking Sonic CD which is arguably the best 2D Sonic Game (anything is better then 3D really), it's not the NGPC game is but not sure if could count that as old Sonic. Even though it doesn't hold a place in my heart like 2 as that like Stu got me into gaming.

I will leave with this

& we all know super Monaco GP went on to outdo super Mario Kart (on another note how could ye be mad at that free advertising )

I've only ever played Sonic CD at a friend's house back in the day. I remember the change of viewpoint when entering one of the franchise's trademark loops and the animated cut-scenes blowing me away.

I can't find sales figures Super Monaco GP but Mario Kart only sold 1.2m in Europe. And mega drive was rather popular in Europe where F1 also is. So I wouldn't be shocked if the numbers were closer then you think.

I had the first PC version of Sonic CD, when PC games came in massive boxes and this? All this, here? Fields.

I think I leant it to someone and never got it back.

masofdas wrote:

I can't find sales figures Super Monaco GP but Mario Kart only sold 1.2m in Europe. And mega drive was rather popular in Europe where F1 also is. So I wouldn't be shocked if the numbers were closer then you think.

Come the hell on though, you can't possibly say that Mario Kart isn't the better game.

Also, was Ecco the Dolphin really the best game to use in that ad? That game blows hard.

I always wished that Ecco the Dolphin was even half as fun to play as it was nice to look at. Probably some of the finest sprite art on the MD. Such a disappointment.  

Super Mario Kart is the far better game.

Stu_the_great wrote:

I always wished that Ecco the Dolphin was even half as fun to play as it was nice to look at. Probably some of the finest sprite art on the MD. Such a disappointment.  

It's a pretty game, yeah - If only the gameplay reflected its visuals.

In answer to the original question, i'd say that Sonic was at his best dangling from the mirror in Rad Mobile    Never understood the fascination in getting from A to B so fast that the levels became a blur. I prefer to take a more considered approach, so Mario all the way for me. Just suits my style of play better, i suppose.

JayMoyles wrote:

masofdas wrote:

I can't find sales figures Super Monaco GP but Mario Kart only sold 1.2m in Europe. And mega drive was rather popular in Europe where F1 also is. So I wouldn't be shocked if the numbers were closer then you think.

Come the hell on though, you can't possibly say that Mario Kart isn't the better game.

That's exactly what I was getting at as who gives a shit about sales? That MD ad is just all hype to sell the system, its like ps2 & the "emotion engine" I cant believe folk still buy into that nonsense.

You said outdo, when I see something like that I think sells.

Blast Processing though it gets me hyped to play the mega drive. I can't remember the PS2 ads, I remember the xbox's baby to adult ad.

I think advertising which relies on belittling the opposition is pretty crappy. Even acknowledging your competition is a pretty weak move in advertising, unless it's done right, like Sony's jab at Microsoft with the "how to share your games on PS4" ad. If they'd come out and said "Maaaaan, Xbox One TOTALLY SUCKS! PS4 is rad, BUY IT WOOO!" I wouldn't have been impressed.