Amongst the younger generation, there's no doubt they're on the same level. To the older gamer--and the older non-gamer, not quite yet. Everyone knows Mario and Luigi. Not quite the case with Kratos or Sackboy. Of course, this will change as time goes on.

They are extremely different for a game that shares the chore mechanics and the main characters, anyone who has played them knows it, so say what you want but there is more changes on Mario shunshine - Mario Galaxy or Twilight princess - Wind Waker than Uncharted, Crash Bandicoot, Jak and daxter, Ratchet and clank or GoW did or will ever have. Nintendo games evolve, they are not trends that die in one or two generation, they find new ways to keep itself fresh and out of time.

How is that relevant? The question is: Is PlayStation as iconic as Nintendo? And that is asking about the PS brand, not about specific games behind it, for many people especially in Europe PlayStation is simply synonymous with gaming, they all associate it with different games (be it Tekken, RE, Crash, GT, Spyro, Tomb Raider etc.) but at the core still stands one brand: PlayStation.

I didn't deny that, but classifying the changes made between different Mario or Zelda titles as taking a real risk is laughable at best.

Sony will never reach the height of iconic recognition that Nintendo has had since the end of the eighties. Nintendo created something that reached far beyond the gaming industry and made the likes of Mario, Zelda and donkey Kong into household names. Playstation might very well be a larger brand than Nintendo in the future but it will still be way behind the impact Nintendo had during the last 20-25 years.

In hardware and innovations, yes. In terms of software that spans generations, not yet and not to the same extent.

Imho Sony's consoles are more remarkable than Nintendo's (proabably because most of the nowdays gamers don't even know what an NES is) and at the same time Nintendo Games are more remarkable than Sony ones

But making huge changes on widely iconic franchises with milions of fans is always a huge risk because you risk yourself to lose all those fans doing something they don´t want, is a different kind of risk than to make a new IP, sure, but is also a risk. Just look the backlash that Wind Waker had because the artstyle was completely new and different even if today is considered one the most beautiful games Nintendo has ever made.

Hence my point. Games are what makes a videoconsole "iconic", not the videoconsole itself; thus the reason why you'd call Playstation iconic in the first place is because of the Sony franchises and healthy third-party support you can play on it. Same goes for Nintendo, or are you implying Nintendo would have been iconic relying only on Love Hotels?

Remove the games from the console and the brand itself might manage to carry on towards a new generation, but it'd die along with its iconic status on the next one.

Jak had a standalone which was different and do tell me how the Metroid prime Mario Bros and Pikmin games where different from another now let's see the Sony list. PSP PS2, PS3, PSV and PS4 and big games only +1 million 

Patapon

Knack

Tearaway

Jack and Daxter 

Ratchet and Clank

God of war 

The order 

Bloodborne 

Demon souls

Uncharted 

The last of us

Motorstorm

Driveclub

Heavenly Sword

Ico 

Shadow of the collosus 

Heavy Rain 

Infamous 

Knack

Beyond two souls 

Out of the top of my head and not or at least the games I remember that is, since I don't play JRPG  or Yakuza type of games. Many Sony IP's have changed Infamous Killzone one and second son are playing very differently as does Killzone 2 and 3 compared to either one or shadow fall which is more of a stealth strategic game. Besides except for GT and R and C Sony tends to not hold on for IP's for too long. Sony New IP's on the horizon I care about.

Mechs

Until Dawn

Horizon new dawn 

On PSN I could count 

Yourney 

Flower 

Flow

Super stardust a few other Housemarque games but since I can't remember the name they where not iconic to me.