Board 8 > Is Mario still a bigger franchise than Sonic, when you look at stuff like merch?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Movies, shows, merch, anything else that revolves around a media franchise? Does Mario still win? I know Mario far, far surpasses Sonic when it comes to game sales.

Sonic probably has more media crossovers but does he even have more merch than Mario? It feels like Mario is the only Nintendo franchise that actually gets pushed on toys and stuff.

According to Wikipedia, Mario beats Sonic $47.5 Billion to $7.7 Billion. So, yes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_media_franchises

I couldn't even IMAGINE it's remotely close, and JackMan's number confirm that.

According to Wikipedia, Ben 10 has made money than Sonic. That sounds so wrong that I have to assume their list isn't 100% accurate.

That said, Mario should still be way ahead of Sonic.

Sonic has more from the box office at least!

But despite that the box office numbers don't even begin to approach game sake numbers, and Mario crushes it on that

Johnbobb posted...

Sonic has more from the box office at least!

But despite that the box office numbers don't even begin to approach game sake numbers, and Mario crushes it on that

Just wait until Chris Pratt comes to put an end to that

Although "bigger" is a debateable term. Mario definitely makes way, way more but I honestly feel like Sonic is talked about more, and definitely has more in the way of fanart and near-professional fan games, so even if they're financially separated by miles, I'd say the global influence is potentially on a similar scale?

According to the sources at the bottom, the number quoted for Sonic merchandise is from 2004, so I think it's safe to say that it's ahead of Ben 10 at least.

Johnbobb posted...

Although "bigger" is a debateable term. Mario definitely makes way, way more but I honestly feel like Sonic is talked about more, and definitely has more in the way of fanart and near-professional fan games, so even if they're financially separated by miles, I'd say the global influence is potentially on a similar scale?

Absolutely not. Fan-art and gaming discussion are a niche currency. Mario is vastly more popular in every conceivable measurable metric.

Mario is ubiquitous with video games, so I don't think Sonic will ever pass him in popularity. Plus, Mario has a lot more games and they generally sell better than Sonic games.

Sonic's popularity is nothing to sneeze at, of course, but yeah, he still pales in comparison to Mario.

Has Sonic ever been close? Mario was the face of video games before Sonic was Needlemouse.

The specific question of "does Sonic merchandise sell more than Mario merchandise" might be interesting

Johnbobb posted...

Although "bigger" is a debateable term. Mario definitely makes way, way more but I honestly feel like Sonic is talked about more, and definitely has more in the way of fanart and near-professional fan games, so even if they're financially separated by miles, I'd say the global influence is potentially on a similar scale?

Mario gets buttloads of romhacks so I don't think Sonic is ahead on the fan game metric.

Also are you forgetting Bowsette?

Mario vs Pikachu is is a very debatable subject, but Mario vs Sonic hasn't been remotely close for decades now

Sonic might sell more toys and plushies than Mario himself, but if we're comparing franchises then you have to consider all the toy/stuffed versions of Yoshi and Toad and Luigi and Bowser, all the princess stuff for the girls, etc. So Sonic might be keeping it closer these days, at least after the success of the last two movies, but I doubt his franchise has been able to pull ahead in this area.

Amazon has ~7,000 results for Sonic toys, but over 20,000 for Mario toys.

They both have ~5,000 results for clothing.

I saw way more Mario stuff at San Diego Comic Con than Sonic stuff this year, though granted it had a giant animatronic Lego Bowser.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/9/6/AADoKzAADjcM.jpg

I think Mario is kinda in a "quiet" time right now since Mario Odyssey is almost 5 years old and there's no major mainline Mario game announced yet which kinda gives the look that Sonic is bigger for now.

Think the only thing Sonic has the edge in is movies since Mario doesnt have much going there. Not til the movie anyways

-hotdogturtle-- posted...

It feels like Mario is the only Nintendo franchise that actually gets pushed on toys and stuff.

I can only assume you aren't counting Pokemon...

Animal Crossing and Zelda get a lot of toys and stuff but they are a giant tier down after those top 2.

Mario has an entire land in a theme park and two more on the way in the United States. It isn't close.

Yes, partially because SMB has been around a lot longer. It has had 3 cartoons, a wide variety of merchandise over the years, breakfast cereals, 1 (awful) movie with another one on the way, clothing and probably other stuff that is country exclusive.

Zylothewolf posted...

Has Sonic ever been close? Mario was the face of video games before Sonic was Needlemouse.

Possibly in the early 90s during the Genesis days you could argue he was close. Now that we are around three decades out, definitely not.

Mario has his own line of very expensive Lego sets, Sonic only got one

so there you go, Mario wins