Mascots

[Quartz]

That Guy said: Iono, it just doesn't seem as strong as it used to be. I think its because Nintendo used to bundle Mario with all its systems and Sega bundled Sega with all its systems. I think Lara Croft was a big mascot in the PS1 Generation, but not so much any more. I think you're right in that the sheer number of brands probably dilutes the power of any one brand. Also, a lot of brands are third party now-- Sonic is now on every system so the association with a sega system is somewhat lost. The same goes for franchises like DOA, VF, or Solid Snake. In this generation, I don't see any definitive Mascots for Xbox or PS3. Gears or War? Motorstorm? not as much association as Mario + SNES or whatever.

Well it could be down to the fact that there are more characters and different game types out there now, all in direct competition with each other, and some going multi platform. All in all what I'm getting at is the Sonic/Mario names are becoming diluted now as time goes on and new generations of systems/characters come by... Yes I'd still think Mario/NES and Sonic/Mega Drive.