This whole site is all about artifacts from the 90s. Seriously. Voting against nostalgia is a bad idea.
Late 90's, sure. Early 90's? I'm not convinced. Most of the big 16-bit games aren't especially big here any more (the few that still are owe it to their series continuing into the N64/PSX era), as evidenced by Chrono Trigger, Mega Man, and Sonic all dropping off in contests. OoT/FF7/Pokemon are where it's at, and even FF7 (which aimed at a slightly older audience back when all of the above were new) is starting to slip into the past.
Mario/Sonic is a non-rivalry from around 1994-5 (whenever it became clear that the Genesis had lost) onwards, while many of our voters grew up amidst OoT hype. Yeah, I'd pick Link.
--
The RPG Duelling League: www.rpgdl.com
An unparalleled source for RPG information and discussion