DoYouLikeTheDirection Nintendo and SEGA took MarioandSonic?

Through the years. I guess this topic is geared toward older gamers (ages 28+). I personally don't.

Super Mario was my original cherished character, I used to draw him so much back in elementary, and then Sonic came out and I began drawing them both.

I loved me some Super Mario Bros, with Super Mario Bros 3 for NES being the best of the Mario games for me, and I loved me some Sonic the Hedgehog games, with Sonic 2 being the bar none game.

The cartoon series was really the driving force for me to get the Mario and Sonic games. I loved Super Mario Super Show. Do the Mario!!! with the real live Mario and Luigi and cartoon bits mixed between, and then the slap stick humor of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, with the cool breeze attitude of Sonic who I knew was voiced by everyone's favorite television nerd Steve Urkel, was my personal favorite Sonic animation.

But then Super Mario 64 comes out, and Mario sounds nothing like he did in the cartoons. Princess Toadstool is blonde and not redhead with a Jersey accent.

Sonic Adventure comes out and Sonic looks and sounds nothing like he did in the cartoons.

oh and I was also disappointed at the direction Nintendo did with Zelda. Link had dark hair, he was kind of cool, at least that's how I perceived him from the Animated series. Sure he was kind of a womanizer but hey, its what all of us guys grew up to becoming.

It's like Nintendo and SEGA took their properties in complete opposite directions when they got big enough and was getting traction.

Imagine if when you turned on Super Mario 64 and Mario face appeared with "It's me Mario!" in the voice of Captain Lou Albano.

If Zelda was less serious as the games got as the graphics in them increased with each gen. Like Link became more of a prankster, he stayed a brunette and got more perverted with his wise cracks and hitting on Zelda.

Imagine if Sonic Adventure was the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, full game. Now you had control of Sonic in Tails in the Mobious world brought by DiC.

Badniks were Scratch, Grounder and Coconuts, and the final stage meant you would finally get to see Dr. Robotnik's lair in full 3D on Dreamcast.

Sadly none of that happened, which is why I kind of grew out of Mario, Zelda, and Sonic fast.

I'd imagine if that did happen, I'd probably never grow up.

i don't know what happened to sonic the hedgehog but i fell out of favour with that joker over a decade ago. nearly two decades.

Let me get this right..... this has nothing to do with gameplay ? You just don't like the way they look and sound ?

As long as Mario is in good Nintendo hands, there will not be any concerns. Too bad for Sonic.

Nintendo should buy the Sonic IP and actually make good games with it

I was expecting at least a thesis on the gameplay on either games but all I got was meaningless platitudes on the cartoons and looks.

Mario continued to make good games and Sonic continued to make bad games. Not really seeing a change of direction, as much as the status quo remaining the same.

Nintendo's handling of the Mario franchise has been nothing short of astonishing. The quality control and continued innovation is just worthy of so much respect.

Sega is shockingly careless about the way they handle their flagship franchise. They should have known better than to release shit like Rise of Lyric or Sonic 06 and to mess up Unleashed with those rancid Werehog levels. Sure, Sonic games might make a lot of money even when they are bad, but there is something to be said about treating your franchises with care.

That door that says "do not enter," had part of it's sign broken off.. "Stupid Thread Ahead" was the rest of it.

@c_smithii: I understand where you are coming from. You are more referring to the overall tone of the character and the worlds--the aesthetic. I remember back in the 80s with the NES with the cartoons and all the merchandise; it is hard to describe but it is almost as if Mario became more of a super hero than plumber. However, visually the series went through changes in each entry. It didn't really start with Mario 64. It is just that the marketing remained fairly consistent throughout the life of the nes and snes.

You should try Mario 3D World. It actually feels like an older iteration of the character. The music and sound effects are very reminiscent of the cartoon.