Says a random person on the Internet with no source to back it up.

Also, polls can be misleading.  Both of my parents know Mario, but only one of them would know pac-man.  

A LOT of the younger generation will not know pac-man, but almost all of them will know Mario.  

Pretty much any gamer would know both.  This puts Mario in the lead.  Seriously, you have Mario in many places where video games are not.  

Also, it's quite easy to see that googling Mario gives you many times more results than googling Pacman does.  

Your anecdotal evidence proves that Mario is more recognized?   Both my parents have no clue who Mario is,  My mother owns a Wii and bought me my original NES and she still doesnt know who he is.  But both my parents know who Pac-Man is.   Soo there you go my anecdotal evidence is much better proof because i say so.........     

Or I could use proof of what i say.  

http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/7000/most-recognizable-videogame-character

If it was so easy to google all that, how come it was so tough to google most recognized video game character?  

There is your proof.  a simple search found it with ease.   You probbaly did find it but you didnt want to post it to prove yourself wrong.    

I'm not completely sure who the most recognizable video game caracther is, but I do know that Pikachu and Mario are some of the most recognizable video game characters. Maybe Sonic as well.

Luigi? really? I think Pac Man is high up there, maybe not as much as Mario, but probably closer than even sonic to that level of fame.

1. Mario
2. Pac-Man
3. Luigi

It is uncertain to me whether or not it's Mario or Pac-Man. It is certain to me that if it isn't Mario now it will be soon, since Pac Man has no capital among the younger population.

I would go with Mario...

But I'm wondering how popular is Mario with younger generations?

There's also Pikachu...but again how popular is Pokemon nowadays?

One of those two probably.

Pacman?
Are you lot kidding or in denial or something?
Pacman sucks the shit out of Mario's ASS.

1. Mario. Supermario and Mario franchises together have sold 720 MILLION units. 800 million if you count Mario Kart.

2. Link (Legend of Zelda) Zelda has sold about 70 million units lifetime. Peter Pan has been replaced by Link.

3. Nothing remotely close to 1 or 2. The next closest series which both has a set protagonist and is unique to gaming is Halo at 50 million. A lot of franchises fall in the 40-50 million sales range.

Crash and Spyro? Not sure why they are there.
I'd say Mario and Pac-Man.