Without Mario 64, we'd have no GTA III.

The one that lets you jump in 3D.

But how many modern games are 3D platformers???? Very few.

On a purely economic perspective - GTA3 wins hands down. It created a new genre, sold more, generated more money and influence in the modern era of gaming when the market is the largest it has ever been. It was simply more influential than Mario.

Mario 64.
It wasn't the first game with 3D free-roaming, but it made it mainstream.

GTA 3 had many 3D open world predecessors like Super Mario 64 itself, Ocarina of Time, Body Harvest, Midtown Madness, Driver, Shenmue or Midnight Club.

mario 64

gta won a lot thanks to being controversial

SM64, its what influenced the barrage of 3D platformers we had that gen and the next. GTA3 inspired what?? GTA:SA. We really didnt see the open world genre take off until the 7th gen and now 8th gen and that wasnt because of GTA3 but newer GTAs

Crash bandicoot. Mario transformed platformers into what they are today, but crash bandicoot perfected it.

True Crime and Saints Row :P

Yet it wasn't until GTA 3 and its unprecedented cultural success that pushed the open world era into what it is today. If we are talking about influence then GTA 3 wins (imo) for the fact that there seems to be much more demand for open world games than there are 3D platformers. Sandbox games will continue to get bigger and bigger thanks to the ambition Rockstar had with GTA 3. There have been MANY successes within the open world genre thanks to GTA 3.

Ever since GTA3, there have been loads and loads of successful open world games that don't have the name GTA in them. How many successful 3D Platformers have there been since Mario 64 without the name Mario?  I honestly don't see why people are voting for Mario 64. Influence suggests an industry following but its Nintendo consistently releasing the Mario name with Galaxy series and SM3DW kind of games.

I could be wrong and not see the bigger picture or the amount of quality 3D Platformers but I'mm quite sure they are far and few between.

I don't think there's really much of an argument to be made here.

One game helped establish a "new" genre of so-called "Sandbox" games.

The other literally showed everyone else how to do 3D gaming correctly.

You tell me which one had the bigger impact.