Sonic or Mario? Your choice. I go with sonic
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Sonic or Mario? Your choice. I go with sonic
I choose mario. A Game Of My Happy Childhood (im sad its gone ).
the genesis sonic games were way superior to the mario games up to mario64
ehh, where are the votes?
it's 50 50
I vote lets move this to General Gaming
They both suck :D
MARIO!!!!!!
Mario is 1337
Sonic is not that cool::D
I haven't seen any Sonic RPGs (small cameos don't count), so my votes to Mario.
hmmmmmmm 50 50
i voted for sonic, he spent more time raising me than my parents did...
sonic.. he got a new ability in every game almost.. the only innovations mario can brag about was rpg and 64.. sunshine sucked ass.. sonic gets my vote.. and the shit is still fifty-fifty..
*Shakes head* Yeah, Mario NEVER innovated. Not EVER. :rolleyes:Quote:
Originally posted by onetwo
sonic.. he got a new ability in every game almost.. the only innovations mario can brag about was rpg and 64.. sunshine sucked ass.. sonic gets my vote.. and the shit is still fifty-fifty..
Mario pretty much established the side-scrolling platformer as a genre. It was the first real side-scroller, and it offered the player the ability to upgrade thier character. And while you couldn't go backwards once you'd advanced, you were still encouraged to explore your surroundings to find hidden coins and one-ups, as well as hidden warp-zone pipes which allowed you to skip forward a number of levels.
The second Mario game released in the US was nothing like the first, and played TOTALLY different. You were given the ability to choose from four characters to play the game through, rather then just one. Thier abilties differed enough so that you were encouraged to use certain characters to get through certain levels.
Also, rather then running through a forward scrolling level busting blocks with your head, you ran through levels that scrolled in multiple directions and were free to explore your surroundings freely, and were able to pluck items from the ground to use against your enemies. Mario II was also the first Mario game with boss battles.
Mario 3 added the ability to collect and store items, many of which altered your characters appearance and abilities, such as the leaf that turned Mario into a Racoon and gave him the ability to fly.
It was also the first Mario game to put you on a world-map, giving you the option to tackle the game as you saw fit. Perfectionists could play through each and every level, whereas more casual players could pick and choose how they proceeded through the game, with the exception being a few levels that you were required to beat to move on.
Super Mario World didn't feature as many innovations as the first three did, but it still brought some new tricks to the table, chief amongst them was the inclusion of Yoshi to the Mario universe. Players were able to find and ride different colored Yoshi's, each featuring different abilities which could also be gained from having your Yoshi eat turtle shells of a particular color. Red=fire, yellow=ground pound, blue=the ability to fly with your Yoshi, and green had a negligable effect on your Yoshi, and could simply be spit out as a projectile.
The game also gave you a new item in the form of the feather, which allowed Mario to don a cape, build up speed and then take to the air. And while this doesn't seem much different then Mario 3's leaf, it did indeed differ in that it allowed you to fly as long as the player was able to keep him aloft.
It also added color-coded block palaces that when activated, would fill in blank blocks of similar color that were located in levels all over the world map. While you didn't have to use these to beat the game, it made getting through certain levels, mainly the super-difficult Star Road levels, a bit easier.
The Star Road levels were an innovation themeselves, in that once you'd beaten them, the world map changed, and with it some of the enemies to boot. It really didn't add much to the game in the scheme of things, but it did encourage replay considerably.
Mario RPG. Need I say anything further?
Of course this was Mario's first foray into the RPG territory of the Dragon Warrior's and the Final Fantasy's, and as such was totally unlike every Mario game to come before it, and with the exception of Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi, unlike any Mario game to follow.
The game was also pretty innovative in that it incorperated platforming elements into it's RPG sensibilites, and also gave you more control over your battles then merely hitting a button to choose an option and watching your character fight it out, while you sit there waiting to hit a button to choose an option all over again.
Yoshi's Island was the first Mario game in which you played solely as Yoshi, and served as a prequel to the events of the first four games.
As Yoshi, it was your task to reunite Baby Mario with his brother by venturing to Bowsers castle and rescuing him. The gameplay was totally unlike any Mario game before it, in that Yoshi was able to consume enemies and turn them into eggs, which he could in turn use as projectiles to battle opponents and uncover secrets. You were also devoid of any sort of energy meter, and instead of shrinking or dying outright once hit, you merely lost Baby Mario, who floats away in a bubble, and you had to get him back before your timer ran out. If you were unable to catch Baby Mario before the timer ran out, then you'd loose a life.
Yoshi's Island was also the first Mario game, as well as the first 16 bit game, to feature character morphing. Collection of certain icons served as the game's main power-ups, and gave Yoshi the ability to morph into different vehicles, which would aid in the collection of coins and lives as well as let you skip forward in certain levels.
The game lso featured a unique art style that made your surroundings look as if they were hand-drawn. And while that isn't a gameplay innovation, it certainly did look cool, and was unique to the series as well as games in general. It's a look that really hasn't been duplicated since.
Super Mario 64 was the first of the Mario series to be in 3-D, and as such brought a number of changes to the series, the obvious being that you control Mario in 3-D (duh...:P). As well as being the poineer for 3-D platformers as we know them today, the shift to 3-D gave players new moves for Mario, such as the triple jump, the punch/kick combo, the long-jump, the wall-jump and the slide.
Players could also find switches that would activate blocks that contained different hats Mario could wear that would affect his abilities, such as the green hat which turned Mario metal and allowed him to walk freely under water, or the red hat that allowed Mario to fly.
The game also set Mario into a central hub, ie. the castle, and within certain lax restrictions, gave players almost free-reign in choosing how they went about beating the game, as well as allowing them to explore the castle at thier leisure. As long as the player collected enough stars to open different sections of the castle, they were free to go about things at thier own pace, and enjoy the game as they saw fit.
The boss battles were even new, in that rather then jump on the boss or throw something at him to beat him, you were encouraged to use all your skill to catch him by the tail, whirl the analog stick to build up speed and then toss his ass onto a bomb. That may not sound like a grand innovation, but you didn't get to do that in the other Mario games, eh?
Mario Sunshine, while not really all that different then Mario 64, did strap a water cannon on Mario's back, adding a totally new mechanic to Mario 64's tried-and-true gameplay.
The game also brought Yoshi into 3-D as a playable character for the first time, and though admittadley he was mainly there to gain Mario access to certain levels, he did figure in as a key gameplay element in a couple. For instance, Yoshi's ability to turn enemies into platforms by spraying them with his juicy spit was the only way to gain access to a Shine on a certain stage.
I know I've skipped a few games here and there, such as the GB Mario games, as well as Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi, and I know that I missed outlining a few changes here and there, such as Super Mario World's ability to hold an item in reserve and drop it for use at your leisure, but I think I've made my point as best I need to. :)
Suffice to say that all the games since SMB feature little changes here and there that make them different from the Mario games that came before them, wether it be something as small as a new ability for Mario in the form of a bunny hat in Mario Land II for GB, or the total change in genre that the Mario Golf and Tennis games brought to the series.
Now, I'm not disputing your choice as the best mascot. That's your opinion and you're welcomed to it. However, I wouldn't go so far as to say that Mario games don't feature innovations or changes from game to game, or that Mario doesn't gain any new abilities, when they clearly do, and he clearly does. ;)
NOTE: While certain games outlined don't have you playing as Mario, such as Yoshi's Island, or are indeed in a different genre then the core Mario games, such as Mario RPG, they are still considered part of the Mario line, and go to illustrate the point that Mario games do feature innovations from game to game, and that Nintendo isn't afraid to do something new with the series from time to time.
Who would you rather be, a super fast hedgehog, or a fat plumber :P
Dunnno bout you but I rather be a super fast hedgehog :P
I choose Mario. He got all the cool stuff. Like the frog suit and the cape. Who need to be fast when you got all Mario's abilites? :P
I dunno. I don't spend alot of time thinking about who I'd rather be. I grew out of that when I turned 10. :PQuote:
Originally posted by DeAcH
Who would you rather be, a super fast hedgehog, or a fat plumber :P
Dunnno bout you but I rather be a super fast hedgehog :P
I like both characters equally. They both star in a series of awesome games, so they both get my vote. If there were an option to choose them both, I'd go with that. :)