Mario.

The Sonic character has been destroyed by Sega. But even if you look at only the 2D Sonic games, his design was always that of a marketing gimmick. His good point is that his abilities made for grat gamplay mechanics though. At least the story of how Mario came to be is interesting and the randomness of it all makes him whimsical and entertaining.

Sonic games were damn fun, and Megadrive owners got five Sonic games while SNES owners only got one Super Mario World. That's why they are rivals, not because Sonic himself is an interesting character.

Depends what game u play.

I was all prepared to say Mario All-Stars alone wins this fight for me, but just based on characters I'd go with Sonic.

The more I play old Sonic, the more I feel like the games are flawed...Mario games have always been mechanically sound, while Sonic games did a lot of cool stuff, but had some issues.

Mario. The games and the character.

I like both, but as a kid I definitely drew Sonic more as preferred the character design. Mario games are amazing, but as a character he felt more iconic, yet plain, like Mickey Mouse.

Sonic. Even though his games have sucked lately, the vast amount of characters/stories are much better. Mario games play better, I'll give them that, but the character/stories are so stale I can't stand it. Give me the chaotix, E-Series, Gerald Robotnik, Babylon Rogues etc over the mushroom kingdom any day. Also, I am sick of generic orchestral music of Mario games. Sonic games hands down have better soundtracks. Fact.

In saying this, I much prefer Paper Mario to platformer Mario. They at least have a good story and have interesting characters.

Ya gonna have to go with Mario, just something about is special :)

Sonic.

Sonic games have bad stories filled with plotholes. Sonic 06, Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 all take themselves way too seriously. I rather have no story than a bad one. Sonic kissing a realistic looking human girl? For fuck's sake... Gameplay is by far the most important for these kind of games and Mario wins hands down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vxLzHSfnxk

This piece of music trumps most of the stuff heard in Sonic games. Live and Learn is about the only Sonic song I remember. Oh and Super Sonic Racing. Not for the right reasons though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcHQGiz6b8g

And this is the song I equal with Super Mario Galaxy.

If that is generic then Sonic is just generic rock music.

Also: these are good characters?

How many times did she get kidnapped again?

Can he tell the difference between left and right already?

Six of the most useless and one dimensional villians.

Who thought it was a good idea to add fishing to a platformer game?