Mario Or Link? Who's Miyamoto's True Golden Boy?

[ABMorales787]

Mario and Link are Nintendo's biggest draws. Both have revolutionized gaming and put it on the map. They have both left us with a huge number of hits. The question I make is: Which one is the one true big draw? Who is the one that has made the biggest impact?

I'm sure most will point to Mario imidietely, but you should stop to think about it first. Mario delivers. No doubt about it. But every time a Legend Of Zelda game is released, it raises the bar like no other. Super Mario Bros. made the NES an every day household appliance. Legend Of Zelda layed the foundation for every video game that folowed. One sells the merchandise while the other leaves the awe inspiring performance. Think of it as Hulk Hogan and Shawn Michaels in the same Wrestlemania. One will draw the masses as the hype machine he is while the other gives us the amazing everlasting performance. But you gotta ask. At the end of the day, who was the one who gave the most?
Who is Nintendo's true golden boy? The hype machine uber face, Mario? Or the awe inspiring phenom, Link?

 

[DirtyJosé]

In honor of the tournament, I'm giving this the same treatment, and hoping I can avoid the spam bullet.

Kayfabe: In the grand scheme of things, the Mario name and image (and everything related to it) has done far more to expand the Nintendo fan base, and has made far more money for the company than The Legend of Zelda series. The iconic imagery such as mushrooms, stars, and Mario himself are licensing powerhouses used on clothes, furniture, stationary, and countless other sources of revenue.

Performance: The Legend of Zelda games have proven themselves to be worthy of the acclaim they receive. The theory behind gameplay is open ended enough (and has been from the start) to allow continual development of the series over a variety of platforms which still deliver in terms of originality, innovation, and execution. The Mario franchise produces a much wider range of games, but many are either licensed Mario Universe imagery glued to the skeleton of another game, or in fact a port of an older game with a slight tech bump. While the Mario name sells systems, and sells the idea of Nintendo in general, the Zelda series is generally the best selling point for the software, and is usually the bench mark for stardom that other game releases in it's system lifetime are measured by.

Personal: The Legend of Zelda series is well developed and usually focused, something the Mario franchise isn't often times. However, Mario brought Miyamoto to the dance. Mario is why Miyamoto is even where he is now (well, besides his talents..you know what I meant). Mario is his success story, and will always be mentioned in the same breath as his name. Mario is Miyamoto's golden boy; Link is his vacation honey.

 

[klunderbunker]

It's Mario, but it shouldn't be.

Mario is the face of Nintendo and the biggest gaming icon ever. He was the first superstar in gaming and has had classic game after classic game. Miyamoto got on the map because of him.

However, he's nowhere near the best. Mario gets the praise, but it's Link and the Zelda games that do the heavy lifting. Think about it: how many Mario games are really that in depth? Not that many at all when you think about it. Up to a certain point, all you have is Mario going after a princess kidnapped by a giant lizard. Link on the other hand is the Hero of Time, destined to have all of his generations do battle against the king of evil, Ganon. The games are, in a word, EPIC. Other than maybe SMB 3, no Mario game (factor in that I more or less retired after the N64 so this knowledge ends there) has ever been as great as the two Zelda titans: Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time. When those two came out, they owned the world and they're still great today. Mario, at least the original, looks dated. It's still fun, but it's nothing special.

Link is better, but Mario is the golden boy for coming first and being FAR more marketable.

 

[Lee]

Mario without a shadow of a doubt.

Mario has appeared in over 200 games, ranging from RPGS to platformers to tennis games to racing games to even puzzle games. Mario is the face of Nintendo and the logic is simple. He's a fat man with a common job, that makes 100% sense to me, he's the same guy in every game.

Link changes who he is on most of the games (bar a few direct sequels) the character carries the name and style from game to game but not the same person.

Who should be? I think it should be Link, KB pretty much covered the reasons why in his last post so there's no point in me going into the details in depth other than to say, Mario games are basic, Zelda games are complex.

 

[ABMorales787]

However, he's nowhere near the best. Mario gets the praise, but it's Link and the Zelda games that do the heavy lifting. Think about it: how many Mario games are really that in depth? Not that many at all when you think about it. Up to a certain point, all you have is Mario going after a princess kidnapped by a giant lizard. Link on the other hand is the Hero of Time, destined to have all of his generations do battle against the king of evil, Ganon. The games are, in a word, EPIC. Other than maybe SMB 3, no Mario game (factor in that I more or less retired after the N64 so this knowledge ends there) has ever been as great as the two Zelda titans: Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time. When those two came out, they owned the world and they're still great today. Mario, at least the original, looks dated. It's still fun, but it's nothing special.

Link is better, but Mario is the golden boy for coming first and being FAR more marketable.

That's pretty much my point of view. Mario got Miyamoto out of a tough spot and after that it was instant fame. However how many games are there out there that would actuall make you get yourself an SNES or a N64? Really not many. Mario offers them, sure. But what about Link? Super Mario World? Cool. Mario 64? Yeah. A Link To The Past anyone? Fuck yeah! Ocarina Of Time? 50 times and still going.

In any given conversation involving anyone videogame friendly, if you speak Mario, you speak greatness. But speak of Link, and dammit, you're pretty much speaking gospel. Mario's cuts in the video gaming world are a lot. However Link's cuts are a few, but are a lot more deeper.

 

[Blue Chipper]

Mario has made the biggest impact. It's arguably, and very likely, the most popular game; everyone and their mother knows it. He is the symbol most associated with Nintendo, and for reason. Mario is the Hulk Hogan of gaming. It is a muscular franchise that everyone has enjoyed at one point for its simplistic addictive gaming experience.

Link has its hardcore niche of fans, and while it isn't as popular, provides unmatched game play. Rather Link is a better game or not is another story. However, this goes to Mario, for its huge likability and popularity.

 

[Dagger Dias]

The comparisons in the original post of Mario and Link as the Hogan and Michaels of video game characters respectively, are actually a very good way to explain it. Mario is the most famous video game character ever. Just like Hogan is for wrestling. Link's games are rarely bad, much like Michaels' matches, and Link is a gaming legend in his own right.

When it comes to quality and gameplay the Zelda games are better than just about every game Mario has been in with only a few exceptions and Link has become inspiration for the creation of countless other heroic figures in games. However, that doesn't mean he is the better draw as a character or that he has made the bigger impact.

Mario Bros 1 made video games very mainstream again during a time when they were nearly dead. Everyone knew who he was and either owned the Mario Bros game or knew somebody who did. Even people who dislike video games know who Mario is. Much like Hogan with wrestling. Mario also branched out into so many other genres of games and Link did not.

The comparison of Mario as the Hogan of games and Link as the HBK of games holds true. Both are legends as characters and have made huge impacts on video games.... I like Link more than Mario (just as I like HBK more than Hogan) and Zelda games are almost always better than Mario games (HBK matches are better than Hogan matches).... but the choice is obvious as to who made the bigger impact.

Mario is the one true big draw and the character who made the bigger impact because without Mario Bros 1 video games might never have become mainstream again. Plus, not as many people pay attention when a new Zelda game comes out. A new game featuring Mario, on the other hand, will turn heads in the gaming community no matter what simply due to Mario being in it. You can't argue with that one.