Mario. Young and old, everyone knows Mario. Megaman doesn't have the mainstream exposure, Sephiroth DEFINITELY doesn't, Pikachu is mostly for younger gamers, pacman isn't so popular anymore, and Solid Snake might have a great following, but come on. Really? And Pacman definitely doesn't have the popularity he had like twenty years ago.
It's Mario. Probably followed by Sonic.
Originally posted by Obsidian Fury
Sonic? In modern popularity, Master Chief is likely above Sonic.
Our modern video game characters are more talked about than Sonic and Mario, but the amount of people who know who those two are isn't even comparable.
We'd have to define popularity. Current popularity? Popularity at their peak? Or are we assuming an experiment where we ask every person on earth to identify various characters? Whoever gets recognized more is more popular. A few have already touched on this distinction, which would be needed to make this a more objective analysis.
Because in something like Sonic v. Master Chief, MC has current but I'd go out on a limb and say Sonic is more universally recognizable, if only because he's been around longer, and on more systems.
Mario and Link, obviously, though. Those are a pretty clear 1-2 in my mind.
First off I'm taking "popular" to mean more widley known since knowing what character people like more is very difficult to actually know. Second, Sonic is WAYYYYY more known then any 'Gaylo' character probably ever will be. Master Chief isnt even in the same league as Sonic in that respect. Without a doubt though Mario is the most known character, I'd say hes about as recognisable as Superman or Mickey Mouse, EVERYONE knows him even people who have never seen or touched a video game before. No other character in videogames comes even remotley close to Mario, hell most characters in ALL media dont come close to Mario. He is an Icon, to many, Mario IS the poster boy of videogames.
Originally posted by ((The_Anomaly))
First off I'm taking "popular" to mean more widley known since knowing what character people like more is very difficult to actually know. Second, Sonic is WAYYYYY more known then any 'Gaylo' character probably ever will be. Master Chief isnt even in the same league as Sonic in that respect. Without a doubt though Mario is the most known character, I'd say hes about as recognisable as Superman or Mickey Mouse, EVERYONE knows him even people who have never seen or touched a video game before. No other character in videogames comes even remotley close to Mario, hell most characters in ALL media dont come close to Mario. He is an Icon, to many, Mario IS the poster boy of videogames.
I dunno; Sonic gives Mario a huge run for his money in this field. Heck Sonic is so popular he was the first video game character to be placed in the Macy Day Parade.