Sonic 1 vs. Mario World

[Zoe F]

I have to go with Super Mario World by a huge margin. I just played through Sonic 1 again, and it's barely even above average. The levels have a lot of complexity, but there are many problems where enemies and hazards are nearly impossible to avoid because you literally cannot see them without pausing to look up or down. There's way too much "waiting" necessary, and the level designs don't seem to have been created with Sonic's speed in mind. It almost feels as though the game was a very ordinary platformer which had Sonic shoehorned in at the last moment. That said, the music is fantastic.

Lest anyone think I'm a Sonic hater, I absolutely love Sonic 2, Sonic 3, and Sonic and Knuckles. Those might actually tempt me to go against Mario.

[Kevincal]

Sonic 1 was and still is a masterpiece for anyone to say its mediocre is clearly a nintendo fanboy.

The fact of the matter is Sonic 1 alone convinced many NES gamers to switch brands and buy a Genesis. Myself included. I loved Mario 3 but I just had to have a Genesis and Sonic 1, I guess when I saw Mario World in magazines etc it just didnt look like a huge leap from Mario 3, whereas Sonic graphically was a huge leap from mario 3. Also mario world seemed to be a bit rushed and came out not very long after mario 3. Sonic was this brand new awesome game. The graphics sounds level design, just the whole Sonic 1 game was mind blowingly good in 1991. Ya it was shorter than Mario World but personally I dont like really long games and Mario World was a bit too long for my tastes. Mario 3 is about as long as I like platformers to be. Even that game is pretty darn long. And to this day I prefer Mario 3 over Mario World. I dont care for riding on Yoshi or the cape at all. I also dont care that the game designers try so hard in mario world to confuse you and at certain points hard to figure out how to progress in the game, I hate that and its a reason I never really cared for Zelda games. Zelda games are too long and confusing and require too much effort lol.

[Leo_A]

Not sure if trolling or just willfully ignoring....

That you and a few others disliked an aspect of the game doesn't mean there was "tons of controversy" about the game. Otherwise, every game ever released has been controversial since there's always going to be someone that didn't care for even the most positively recieved game ever made.

That was the purpose of the last post to point that out to you. The response was overwhemingly positive and there are been few complaints over the past 15 years. There was no controversy to speak of.

I don't like the art style for the characters in Rayman Origins (It looks like any generic flash cartoon from the past few years and looks horrible compared to the excellent environments). That doesn't mean there was tons of controversy about the game when the vast majority of people that have played it have loved it.

[Zoe F]

Ya it was shorter than Mario World but personally I dont like really long games and Mario World was a bit too long for my tastes. Mario 3 is about as long as I like platformers to be. Even that game is pretty darn long.

Super Mario Bros. 3 actually has more levels (not exits!) than Super Mario World, and you can't save your progress. It seems bizarre that anyone would approve of Mario 3 while claiming that Super Mario World is too long.

[TimeLady]

SMW is the better game, by a wide margin. Sonic 1 was great for it's time but sort of mediocre today... plus I'm still bitter at SEGA for using Sonic to displace Alex Kidd. SMW itself, however, does pale in comparison to SMB3 - or, for a much lower difficulty, SMB3 All Stars. I very much prefer SMB3 All Stars' graphics to the sparse sprites used in SMW, and one of the best SMW hacks I've played replaced the graphics in that game with SMB3AS's.

Sonic 2, however, and Sonic 3 & Knuckles are still top-tier video games that can hold their own with the best of the best, ever. Carve it into your soul!

[turboexpress]

nice thread. I love both games but the nod goes to SMW because of more hours of gameplay. Sonic is way too short.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

I haven't read everyone's posts, but I'm honestly pretty surprised that this topic even exists in the first place. Mario World and Sonic 1 share very little in common. It's literally like comparing apples and oranges. They're both good, but you can't compare them because they don't share any noteworthy common traits.

Is this some sort of attempt to fan up the last dying embers of the Sega vs Nintendo rivalry of the early 90s?

[o.pwuaioc]

^I generally like oranges better than apples. Love me some apples, too, but if I would compare them, I'd say oranges taste better to me.

[M.Buster2184]

Hmm both really good games but I think I'd have to go with Mario World. Sonic was new and exciting at the time,(I believe i was in 1st grade) but I feel Super Mario World had more involved gameplay. I loved the new power ups, the story and seeing Yoshi for the first time was very entertaining.

[Kevincal]

I haven't read everyone's posts, but I'm honestly pretty surprised that this topic even exists in the first place. Mario World and Sonic 1 share very little in common. It's literally like comparing apples and oranges. They're both good, but you can't compare them because they don't share any noteworthy common traits.

Is this some sort of attempt to fan up the last dying embers of the Sega vs Nintendo rivalry of the early 90s?

its ridiculous that people keep saying these games are so different, bullshit they are 2d platform run and jump games that were released the same year and were direct competitors i guess a lot of you are too young to appreciate 1991 i was 10 years old and old enough to realize sonic kicked major ass while mario world was just another mario rehash and mario 3 was better. i had a group of friends in my hood and we all played nes, mario 2 3 etc etc and i brought home my genesis and we were all blown away by sonic 1. graphics control sound enemies level design everything was freaking spectacular and the game is only too short if you speedrun the damn thing but i always like to play a bit slower and collect as many rings as possible and kill lots of baddies and try to get all the chaos emeralds if you play this way the game is plenty long, i think its perfect. and technically genesis did beat snes in 16 bit console war and sonic 1 is what started genesis fever. and the sonics kept getting better until knuckles chaotix. though sonic and knuckles was too short. now that game IS too short, sonic 1? no. mario world is great i just think its overrated by so many nintendo fanboys who might have tried other companies games and systems but are hardcore nintendo people with rose colored glasses on.

[ReaXan]

After thinking about it some more...

Super Mario World was the better game than Sonic 1, but at the time I think Sonic 1 was more fun since it was so different and introduced new elements of gameplay we had never seen before. Yet today I think SMW comes out the better game with a longer replay value after trying both out recently.

Then you had Sonic 2 and especially Sonic 3 dominating the living room TV when basically there was no proper Mario content at all coming out for SNES if you don't count Mario RPG, Mario is Missing,etc. I jumped ship to Sega fully during that time just because I got sick of playing SMW for the umpteenth time and I hadn't really discovered RPGs.

Really what made Nintendo outshine Sonic finally was Donkey Kong Country, its semi competitor Sonic and Knuckles was still a fun game but DKC was just flat out epic at the time.

Then finally you have SMW2 which came out in 1995, yet by that time everyone was ready for the 32 bit era. People can say how great it is all they want, but I don't remember any of my friends really talking about it or even playing it. It was all about the Saturn and Playstation and getting the proper port of MK3 among other things.

[Rickstilwell1]

After thinking about it some more...

Super Mario World was the better game than Sonic 1, but at the time I think Sonic 1 was more fun since it was so different and introduced new elements of gameplay we had never seen before. Yet today I think SMW comes out the better game with a longer replay value after trying both out recently.

Then you had Sonic 2 and especially Sonic 3 dominating the living room TV when basically there was no proper Mario content at all coming out for SNES if you don't count Mario RPG, Mario is Missing,etc. I jumped ship to Sega fully during that time just because I got sick of playing SMW for the umpteenth time and I hadn't really discovered RPGs.

Really what made Nintendo outshine Sonic finally was Donkey Kong Country, its semi competitor Sonic and Knuckles was still a fun game but DKC was just flat out epic at the time.

Then finally you have SMW2 which came out in 1995, yet by that time everyone was ready for the 32 bit era. People can say how great it is all they want, but I don't remember any of my friends really talking about it or even playing it. It was all about the Saturn and Playstation and getting the proper port of MK3 among other things.

Depends on how much money your family had. During 1995 and 1996 the Playstation, Saturn and Nintendo 64 libraries were still pretty small, not delivering as much variety as they eventually would in 1997 and on. For people like me the Genesis and SNES still seemed like they would be important to have around and games like DKC2, SMW2, X-Men 2: Clone Wars, Kirby Super Star, DKC3 and Sonic 3D Blast were just too exciting to see in shopping ads to pass up. Before the internet, the two main places I found out about games were TV commercials and printed ads in the mail from major retailers.

[Dire 51]

Sonic the Hedgehog vs. Super Mario World. Hmmm. After giving this some thought, I'd have to say that I prefer Bonk's Adventure.

But really, if I have to choose between those two, I have to go with SMW. I finished Sonic when it first came out and had no desire to revisit it. It bored me. SMW I still play.

[sheath]

I've always preferred Sonic 1. Super Mario World bores me to tears. I barely enjoyed Super Mario Bros. 3 and World just feels like 3.5 with a hundred level edits. I think both games are a smidgen over rated, but I've replayed Sonic 1 a ton of times.

[wiggyx]

Can't stand Sonic. No power ups, boring enemies that present just about zero challenge, and gameplay that is entirely too simplistic for the 16-bit era.


Run run run run run run = Zzzzzzzzzz

[j_factor]

Can't stand Sonic. No power ups, boring enemies that present just about zero challenge, and gameplay that is entirely too simplistic for the 16-bit era.

Heh. It's funny, some people don't like the Sonic games because they think they're too hard ("I never got past Chemical Plant!"). Others think they're too easy. Not sure what's up with that. Personally I lean more towards the "too easy" side, but I still like them a lot.

[kedawa]

Sonic has speed, shield, and invulnerability power-ups.

[wiggyx]

Sonic has speed, shield, and invulnerability power-ups.

The speed thing just makes the game worse IMO, and the other two don't add anything to Sonic's abilities.

The same way I don't consider the clock in Zelda 1 a power-up. Makes you invincible, but doesn't add anything to your abilities.

I guess I should have been more specific.

[Gunstar Hero]

They were both pretty revolutionary and had a big impact but from personal preference I just think Super Mario world is a better more well made game. Don't get me wrong though sonic 1 still kicks a whole load of ass

[Gunstar Hero]

Oh AND don't forget the secret levels in SMW! There's a ton!