Pokemon was always better.






Oh, you're talking about sales and relevence aren't you. :L
I'd say no and yes then, but not by much, they're pretty equal. Mainline Pokemon sells a lot better than mainline Mario, but Mario destroys Pokemon in the spin-off department. Pokemon is way more relevant right now though and you're right that Mario doesn't fit mobile aswell as Pokemon does, but I doubt there are many people playing Go who don't also know who Mario is, and it remains to be seen how long the Go hype will last. Plus, being popular due to a crappy game isn't really something to be proud of.

Mario is still Nintendo's #1 most recognizable and important franchise. Though I'd say Pokemon has long surpassed Mario in terms of being a worldwide phenomenon.

True, while mainline Pokemon has consistanly sold more than mainline Mario, there has never been a Pokemon Kart or a Pokemon Party (that I know off), or a Super Pokemon Galaxy type platformer, Mario is one of those characters that you can do just about anything with. But that's not to say Pokemon isn't capable of that, the Mystery Dungeon series and especially Pokemon GO is shining proof that you can, but I don't think Game Freak or the Pokemon Company have really wanted to. 

Mario is the face of the nintendo. Won't disappear any time soon

Damn it! Another Toad!!!

Perhaps it's all that success with the Pokemon brand why Nintendo is venturing off into movies and amusement parks!
Now I want my Luigi's Mansion animated horror movie!

In terms of video games alone, Mario is still king, but Pokemon is stronger as a multimedia brand.

If you only count platforming, than, yes.

However, if we take in account all the material that has been derived, kart, Luigi's mansion, Yoshi, hell, donkey-kong could be included, then Mario still remains the largest franchise on dedicated gaming consoles.

That's a good way to put it. Pokemon also has a show, movies, comics, a card game, etc. while Mario (to my knowledge) only has games.

They actually go back and forth in terms of mainline titles.

During Pokemania in the late 90s/early 00s, Pokemon sold much better than Mario but in the DS/Wii era the return of 2D Mario saw it surpass Pokemon and now on 3DS Pokemon is ahead of Mario but not by a huge amount.