To me they were both pretty 2-D characters (no pun intended  ;D), but, of course being on the Nintendo side of the fence (for those too young/old to remember, there was a huge Nintendo vs Sega war throughout much of the late 80s and 90s)...a bit like today's PC/Windows vs. Apple war, but anyway.

I'd pick neither...BOWSER is the real king. I thought it a pity you couldn't play as him in the original Mario games. He was much better than that Dr. Egg man or whatever his name was. But for heroes, none could beat Diddy Kong. He was a monkey wearing a cap...how cool was THAT??

^lol yeah I remember that the great "console war" between the Super Nintendo and Sega Genisis. I think after fighting so hard to win for like 5 years neither of them really won because the sales were so close at the end ;D. Anyway, I'd have to give it to Sonic as a character because of his speed(and the fact that he can turn into Super Sonic 8)). But in games I'd have to give it to Mario because he's been in more quality games over the years.

Well, both certainly had their merits.  While I liked Sonic better when I was younger, I now think Mario is the better of the two.  Mario has had more consistent game quality than Sonic has had over the past ten years.  Now if only they'd start making actual Mario games more and not spinoffs like Mario Tennis and Mario Party (which was cool until you realized that it's been seven or so installments and it's exactly the same). 

I do miss the days of Sega making video game consoles though.  The Genesis and Dreamcast were awesome consoles with many great games, and even the Saturn had some merits, even if it was inferior to the Playstation and Nintendo 64.  The game industry just doesn't feel right today without a Sega system.

My vote is for Mario.

Neither the Saturn or Dreamcast were very successful in comparison to the Sony/Nintendo consoles. I guess, in that way, Nintendo eventually 'won' the war. Now Sega are making SONIC games for NINTENDO! Never thought I'd see the day...

other:  Bonk

He was to the Turbo Grafx-16 what Mario and Sonic were to Nintendo and Sega

Shame the Turbo Grafx didn't last all that long.  It really was a great system :)

http://www.estarland.com/images/products/18/16418/18385.jpg

Mario.... hands down but Sonic is cute too.. Havent played those games in yrs

Sonic!!

As a child of the 90s I most definitely remember the console wars between Sega and Nintendo.

I owned both a SNES and a Genesis, but I got the Genesis first, and Sonic was one of the first games I got.  I was definitely more partial to Sonic as a kid than Mario.  Although now, I do own a Gamecube, and I have this game for it that is a collection of all the Sonic games off the Genesis.  It's awesome. 8)

Yea I remember the Sega/Nintendo wars as well. I started out with a Super NES in '92, and got a Genesis in '94. So what i was first into was SNES, but later I got into my Sega. I had 3 games for the SNES, Super Mario World, Mario Paint, and some game with airplanes. The Genesis, I had the Sonic CD because it came with that, I also has Desert Strike, and some 3 in one cartrage that had 3 games on it. I still have the Genesis today and those games, just don't feel like digging it out now. Those were the days, lol.

Actually for me "the days" for gaming were when I had my PSone in the late 90s(Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid, Tomb Raider etc.). 8)

Actually for me "the days" for gaming were when I had my PSone in the late 90s(Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid, Tomb Raider etc.). 8)


I liked my PS1 too, and my Saturn. I had the whole arcade control setup for that Saturn, must have cost my parents $500. The next year in '96 I got Playstation. I had Virtual Boy too, lol.

It's weird even though I got a PS2 in 2002 and had it through 2005(it broke!),  I look back on PSone most fondly overall.  I guess because I was still a kid.  Things always seemed more special then..

I did love my PS1 in the late '90s, I had 15 games. Then dummy me traded it all in for Dreamcast in 1999, which turned out to be a flop, though in 1999 the graphics looked incredible.

I did love my PS1 in the late '90s, I had 15 games. Then dummy me traded it all in for Dreamcast in 1999, which turned out to be a flop, though in 1999 the graphics looked incredible.


:o

The Dreamcast was a great system though.  Shame it didn't take off  :\'(

[quote author=whis

I never owned one,  but I always heard Dreamcast got the shaft.  I think it had to do with the time it was released too. 1999 was kind of an off-year for releasing a new console.  Also I think the buzz for it was kind of lacking.  I remember not hearing about it until it was practically already out.

I never owned one,  but I always heard Dreamcast got the shaft.  I think it had to do with the time it was released too. 1999 was kind of an off-year for releasing a new console.  Also I think the buzz for it was kind of lacking.  I remember not hearing about it until it was practically already out.


It was hurt because the PS2 hype was already in full swing by that time. The PS1 was also still very big and some people weren't quite ready to give it up. Many people decided to just wait for the PS2 for backward compatibility, DVD player, and better graphics, which was so hard to get for a number of months after its release anyway. I remember when I got it the day it came out, September 9, they still had some left even late in the day.

I'm actually surprised Sega went ahead with the Dreamcast originally.  Their previous system The Sega Saturn started off good, but then got crushed by the PS1 and N64

I have to wonder if Dreamcast was overshadowed by the coming of Sony's PlayStation 2 and possibly by the buzz about Microsoft's XBox? I think all the XBox hype started back in 1999...I own the original XBox and as far as consoles go, IMO it's the best I've ever had.

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NINTENDON'T!!!!!! ;D

I always preffered the Sega's richer color. Sonic seemed more fun, I mean all Mario did was walk, run, or jump. I also liked the Sonic & Knuckles stack-on system.

Nintendo always had better portable game systems than Sega's Game Gear, but that's just my opinion.

Nintendo always had better portable game systems than Sega's Game Gear, but that's just my opinion.



Yeah, the Game Gear was cool but just didn't have a wealth of games like the Game Boy did. Not to mention the Game Gear was darn expensive.

The Game Gear was far too expensive. I mean, it used up 4 AA batteries in 2 hours!! So if you didn't have rechargeable batteries, you'd be paying the price of 4 batteries to play 2 hours. I remember playing a gamegear way back around 1995 or so...amazing how tiny the screen was, but back then I thought it was the bees knees. Definitely overambitious...colour screens are cool, but Sega didn't realise in marketing many and cheap is the way to go. But then I guess Sega were never really competition - in most places the Megadrive played second fiddle to the superior and immensely popular SNES. The Dreamcast was the death-knell for Sega's hardware making days, though the N64 wasn't exactly that good for Nintendo. Then the two giants were taken over by Sony and to a lesser extent Microsoft. Hopefully the new Nintendo Revolution will start the resurgence.