mZuzek said:
What I mean to say is that nowadays, although Mario is (probably) more well-known than Pokémon, I feel that as a whole people care more about Pokémon. The most obvious example is obviously Pokémon Go vs. Super Mario Run. Edit: also, Pokémon seems to be the only Nintendo exclusive franchise that non-Nintendo gamers care about too. It's like, everytime I see Nintendo haters, they're always talking crap about Zelda, Mario, Donkey Kong and such, but Pokémon never gets crap from them. If anything, I know plenty of people who aren't big on anything Nintendo but do love Pokémon and still play it to this day, even if only older titles. |
I honestly think both Mario and pikachu are highly well known. Their merchandise is everywhere, and almost everyone knows it.
They're kind of like the Naruto and Dragon Ball of gaming. Even if people don't know anything about it, their popularity and recognition makes them known on some sort of scale. I don't think your example for Mario run vs pokemon go would work since Mario Run was hidden behind a paywall.
They probably aren't criticized for the same reason why they're so popular- the games are great. Anyone can play the games and become great at it, with a hidden layer of difficulty added to not make it too easy (Kirby gets crap for it)
