Mario is gaming. Most people that know anything about gaming know Mario.

Either way, the two games represent some of the best gaming moments of my life. And still lays claim to the greatest game of all time..you know the one with that blue flute.

Mario made me a gamer. Link made me a gamer aficionada. I can't decide which franchise is better. Mario is great for quickies though, whereas Link demands long passionate bouts of my attention. Can we just agree that it depends on the person and their mood?

I agree with the OP, Mario has brought much more to gaming than the Zelda series. Zelda is an amazing series of course but I think Mario is superior.

No we can't, this is the Internet

Besides Metroid>>> Both

It is all an opinion. For me they are equal in awesomeness just like Metraid is as well. And so is Pikmin!

Thos four games are a must have games for me!

Metroid>Zelda>Mario

That's all

In all fairness, Mario had been around a good 7 years longer than Link and the rest of the Zelda crew. Mario is one of the very first game characters ever, along with Donkey Kong and Pac Man.

Now, that said, the IPs differ greatly. Mario is about fun and enjoyment for the kid and the kid-at-heart. The Zelda series was built as a more serious game, aimed at the core gamer market, luring in a chunk of the Dungeons & Dragons crowd that was large in the 80s, fantasy fiction fans (Lord of the Rings fans, etc), and that crowd. Mario has always kept it light-hearted, where the Zelda games always had more of a serious overtone (though some kid-friendly things are added in at times).

Basically Mario was always designed to be family-centric, allowing players to take turns working on beating the game. Over time, it became more cooperative (Mario 3, Super Mario World). Zelda is a one-player experience, like a novel turned into a videogame. So, yes, Mario gains more popularity because it covers a broader range of gamer, whereas the Zelda games focus on a very specific market of gamers. This explains the sales superiority.

Now, that being said, I haven't personally touched Mario Sunshine of Super Mario Galaxy. They're not high on the list, although I am aware they are fun. I spent my time on the GC playing Resident Evil Remake and Eternal Darkness and Wind Waker. I always make a point to play every Zelda game. Its just the type of game that interests me.

To date, I've yet to find a game that comes close to the epic level of Ocarina of Time.

Different people have different tastes. Mario is an icon for the masses but the Link/Zelda series has always been a gamers series.

Mike from Morgantown

By the way, I didn't see anyone from Sony saying this -- only a forum poster -- so the OP title was misleading. (I really don't care who declares themselves what. I came into this thread looking to see a comment from SCE or SCEA, not from Megaman2).

Mario became kind of a whore nowadays with all the spin-offs and the way Nintendo uses it to make money.