{"id":1631,"date":"2019-03-27T09:39:44","date_gmt":"2019-03-27T09:39:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mariomayhem.com\/bowsers_blog\/?p=1631"},"modified":"2019-03-27T09:39:48","modified_gmt":"2019-03-27T09:39:48","slug":"mario-vs-sonic-comparing-their-debuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mariomayhem.com\/bowsers_blog\/index.php\/2019\/03\/27\/mario-vs-sonic-comparing-their-debuts\/","title":{"rendered":"Mario vs. Sonic: Comparing their Debuts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

[Source: Pixabay<\/a><\/em>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sonic and Mario. Mario and Sonic. Once upon a time,\nthese two icons of video gaming history were the fiercest of enemies. You were\neither a Sega person or a Nintendo person, and that was that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Today, of course, Sega has long since thrown in the\ntowel in the hardware race and have opted instead for Sonic games on virtually\nevery console released post-2000. Nintendo, meanwhile, has stuck to their\nformula. Build great consoles and then build great Mario games to take\nadvantage of them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s also fair to say that the rivalry has cooled somewhat. No longer the two biggest names in gaming, Nintendo and Sega have recast the couple as something approximating old friends, pitting them against each other in the Mario & Sonic at the Olympics series<\/a> and, of course, in multiple Super Smash Bros titles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the current state of both Mario and Sonic looking\nparticularly strong, we thought it the right time to compare and contrast their\nbig console debuts. No, we won\u2019t be tackling Mario\u2019s appearance in Donkey Kong,\nbut instead the 1985 NES release of Super Mario Bros. and 1991\u2019s Sonic the\nHedgehog. Let\u2019s go! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Level Design <\/h1>\n\n\n\n

SMB and STH are fundamentally different games with\ndifferent gameplay priorities, that\u2019s a simple fact. However, they are both\nplatform games from the era and the way that they structure their levels is a\nfascinating glimpse into how the same genre (platformers) can produce wildly\ndifferent games. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best example of this is found in the first levels of each game. Mario 1-1 has become legendary for the sneaky way it teaches you the rules of the game<\/a> without ever sitting you down and telling you. By the end of 1-1, you know virtually everything you need to know to complete the game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

STH, on the other hand, places great emphasis on its\ntwo traits \u2013 speed and verticality. You\u2019re Sonic and if you\u2019re not going fast,\nyou\u2019re not doing it right. Whilst Mario\u2019s opening level is a stealth tutorial,\nSonic\u2019s opening level is a glimpse into the pace and depth you can expect in\nthe game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Theming<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Mario platformers have a tried and true formula for\nlevel theming. Typically, you\u2019ll find Grass, Desert, Water, Fire and Castle\nlevels. Of course, over the years there\u2019s been a huge variation on those\nthemes, but with SMB on NES, with its limited memory cache, level theming and\nvariation wasn’t a strong point for the game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

STH, on the other hand, excels in its theming with the\nScrap Brain Zone, Marble Zone, Labyrinth Zone, Marble Zone and more all\nbringing distinct visual flair. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its sequel would ramp things up further with the iconic Casino Zone, which, thanks to the popularity of online casinos, is more current than ever \u2013 especially in a world where you can go from playing Sonic on your mobile device to a casino app with theme-rich games like Thunderstruck II\u00a0to play on your phone<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legacy<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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[Source: Pixabay<\/em><\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing that both Mario and Sonic can lay claim to\nis absolutely sterling legacies. For many game developers today, Mario or Sonic\nwas their first interaction with great game design and, as such, both have\nproven immensely influential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Sonic has only recently rediscovered its roots with the fan-led Sonic Mania games<\/a>, there can be no denying its importance in video game history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for Mario? Well, his games continue to be examples\nof remarkably inventive game design. From Super Mario Bros have sprung dozens\nof unforgettable, critically acclaimed titles. The kids of today, just like us,\nare learning what makes a game great \u2013 thanks to Mario. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Source: Pixabay] Sonic and Mario. Mario and Sonic. Once upon a time, these two icons of video gaming history were the fiercest of enemies. You were either a Sega person or a Nintendo person, and that was that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news_info"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mariomayhem.com\/bowsers_blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mariomayhem.com\/bowsers_blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mariomayhem.com\/bowsers_blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mariomayhem.com\/bowsers_blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mariomayhem.com\/bowsers_blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1631"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.mariomayhem.com\/bowsers_blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1631\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1633,"href":"https:\/\/www.mariomayhem.com\/bowsers_blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1631\/revisions\/1633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mariomayhem.com\/bowsers_blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mariomayhem.com\/bowsers_blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mariomayhem.com\/bowsers_blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}