Current Events > Who is the most recognizable video games character?

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Who is the most recognizable video games character?
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Mario and it isn't that close.
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Between either Pac-Man or Mario I wouldnt be able to guess.

I mean Mario is in a lot more games, but I feel like PacMan might be better ingrained in pop culture. Sort of like how Mickey Mouse is so popular despite almost never really showing up in much outside of merch.
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Mario or Pikachu.
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Voted for Mario, but it's probably Pikachu
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MJOLNRVII posted...

Mario or Pikachu.

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Mario or Pac-man

Pikachu would be split between people calling it Pikachu and 'that's a Pokmons right?'
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I think you pretty much have to be some uncontacted tribe in the Amazon to not have seen Mario in any shape or form.
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Pikachu is a cartoon character that's in video games, not a video game character.
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Darmik posted...

Pikachu would be split between people calling it Pikachu and 'that's a Pokmons right?'

This.

Because of that I think Mario and Pac-Man are the two choices. They're probably even.

I'd argue that Mario might even have a SLIGHT edge in that all generations from my 90 year old grandma to little kids know who Mario is, but I wonder if young kids have as much awareness of Pac-Man these days

It's pretty even Mario and Pac-Man

I wouldn't even consider putting Pikachu on this list.

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TheDarkCircle posted...

I'd argue that Mario might even have a SLIGHT edge in that all generations from my 90 year old grandma to little kids know who Mario is, but I wonder if young kids have as much awareness of Pac-Man these days

I was already on the side of Mario, but I hadn't even considered this. It's now absolutely, unquestionably Mario.
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Pikachu > Mario > Everything else

Mario ain't got anything over Pikachu.

LordRazziel posted...

Pikachu is a cartoon character that's in video games, not a video game character.

TC pls.

Link should def not be on this list

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RainCoat posted...

TC pls.

No, I agree with him 100%

I'm not a Pokemon fan at all, I don't play the games, I don't watch the cartoons, I don't play the card game, I never have. I'm entirely neutral.

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of Pikachu is cartoon/anime character. Nothing about Pikachu makes me think video game character first.

Sonic, Master Chief, Mario, Link, Pac-Man, Q-Bert, Mega Man, those are video game characters. Pikachu is not.

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Pikachu by a country mile. The games came out before the show, movies, trading cards, toys etc

You know why they got all that shit? Cuz that's how fucking popular him and his series are.
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If Pikachu is so popular why didn't Detective Pikachu make a shitload of money?
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Pac Man or Mario. In that order.
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BipBapBam posted...

Pikachu by a country mile. The games came out before the show, movies, trading cards, toys etc

You know why they got all that shit? Cuz that's how fucking popular him and his series are.

See, I didn't even know that. He was always a cartoon character, to me. None of my friends have ever watched or played pokemon. I'm guessing you're a bit younger. Mario speaks a wider audience.
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BipBapBam posted...

Pikachu by a country mile. The games came out before the show, movies, trading cards, toys etc

You know why they got all that shit? Cuz that's how fucking popular him and his series are.

Except you're incorrect. The first Pokemon animated series premiered in the USA in 1997. The first games released in the USA in 1998.

The show came first.

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Mario is a contender for most recognizable character in fiction.

Putting Sonic in the poll over Pikachu is some galaxy brain shit.
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MabusIncarnate posted...

BipBapBam posted...

Pikachu by a country mile. The games came out before the show, movies, trading cards, toys etc

You know why they got all that shit? Cuz that's how fucking popular him and his series are.

Except you're incorrect. The first Pokemon animated series premiered in the USA in 1997. The first games released in the USA in 1998.

The show came first.

https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/History_of_Pok%C3%A9mon

The first Pokmon games, Pokmon Red and Green Versions, came to the Nintendo Game Boy system in Japan on February 27, 1996

The popularity of the franchise also led to an anime series based on the games, premiering in Japan on April 1, 1997.

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Blighboy posted...

Mario is a contender for most recognizable character in fiction.

Putting Sonic in the poll over Pikachu is some galaxy brain shit.

It blows my mind that you think Pikachu is a more iconic video game character than Sonic.

Maybe it really is an age thing, like TC mentioned. I'm not considering if I wasn't alive during the Sega Genesis/SNES era.

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BipBapBam posted...

https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/History_of_Pok%C3%A9mon

Oh are you Japanese? Do you live in Japan? I was assuming we were talking about gaming in American culture, as the consoles released. My mistake if you are.

If not, Japan release is entirely irrelevant, my post was about the American market, which I assumed everyone was talking about.

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MabusIncarnate posted...

BipBapBam posted...

https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/History_of_Pok%C3%A9mon

Oh are you Japanese? Do you live in Japan? I was assuming we were talking about gaming in American culture, as the consoles released. My mistake if you are.

If not, Japan release is entirely irrelevant, my post was about the American market, which I assumed everyone was talking about.

I wasn't aware this topic specified about the most recognizable video game character in America only. Mind telling me where it says that? And even in that very link I posted, it states both the games and anime debuted in North America in the same year and month anyways, September 1998. Only that the anime was on the 7th and the games the 30th so it's not even that big of a difference.

Either way, the fact of the matter is that if it wasn't for the games the show wouldn't even fucking exist so obviously, yes Pikachu is a video game character that just happens to have a very successful anime.
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Both of ya'll getting this heated about something this silly
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BipBapBam posted...

MabusIncarnate posted...

BipBapBam posted...

https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/History_of_Pok%C3%A9mon

Oh are you Japanese? Do you live in Japan? I was assuming we were talking about gaming in American culture, as the consoles released. My mistake if you are.

If not, Japan release is entirely irrelevant, my post was about the American market, which I assumed everyone was talking about.

I wasn't aware this topic specified about the most recognizable video game character in America only. Mind telling me where it says that? And even in that very link I posted, it states both the games and anime debuted in North America in the same year and month anyways, September 1998. Only that the anime was on the 7th and the games the 30th so it's not even that big of a difference.

Either way, the fact of the matter is that if it wasn't for the games the show wouldn't even fucking exist so obviously, yes Pikachu is a video game character that just happens to have a very successful anime.

Regardless, I think there are a significant percentage of people that think he's a cartoon character.
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It's Pikachu, your ignorance doesn't change that

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CM_Ponch posted...

It's Pikachu, your ignorance doesn't change that

The ignorance of many does.
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LordRazziel posted...

Regardless, I think there are a significant percentage of people that think he's a cartoon character.

There's also a lot of people that think the Earth is flat. That doesn't make them right.
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BipBapBam posted...

LordRazziel posted...

Regardless, I think there are a significant percentage of people that think he's a cartoon character.

There's also a lot of people that think the Earth is flat. That doesn't make them right.

But if were talking about what the public thinks, it matters.
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Who's heated? He just brought up Japanese statistics, and I was wondering if he wasn't from here. If it came down to who is the most recognizable video game character in Japan, yes, Pikachu would be a valid response.

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BipBapBam posted...

There's also a lot of people that think the Earth is flat. That doesn't make them right.

Okay there goes the credibility. I'm going back to my drinking and music thread.

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MabusIncarnate posted...

Blighboy posted...

Mario is a contender for most recognizable character in fiction.

Putting Sonic in the poll over Pikachu is some galaxy brain shit.

It blows my mind that you think Pikachu is a more iconic video game character than Sonic.

Maybe it really is an age thing, like TC mentioned. I'm not considering if I wasn't alive during the Sega Genesis/SNES era.

Sonic is a more iconic video game character if you were a child in the early 90s and then tragically died. As this is GameFAQs, a lot of posters are in that sort of position.

The amount of exposure Pikachu has on any given day dwarfs what Sonic had at his height. He's had a hit show for 20 years. Merchandise is literally everywhere. He just beat Sonic to a live action movie and it even managed to not suck.

Sonic has been a punchline in the gaming community for 15 years and has had basically no exposure outside of that since dropping off his peak.
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Mario by a mile.

Almost nobody who started games past the PS1/N64 generation even knows about Pac-Man.

Sonic in recent years is too niche. He's someone who people would see and go 'oh yeah, he exists too'. Not even close to being 'most recognizable'. If this question were asked in the early 90s he'd be a strong contender. Now? No way.

With all due respect to Zelda games, Link doesn't deserve to be mentioned here. This spot would have been better given to Solid Snake, and even he's way too unrecognizable for the average non-gamer.

Pikachu is actually the only one who is a legitimate challenge to Mario, but he's in a weird spot. Given Pokemon games' focus on introducing new Pokemon in generations, Pikachu is a Gen 1 Pokemon, aka a fossil, in the games' reckoning, and even in the Gen 1 days the games never revolved around him. Nowadays nobody recognizes Pikachu because he's a video game character, they only recognize him because he's the staple Pokemon in the games' accompanied anime and he found his way into all kinds of merch related to said anime. At this point Pikachu's no longer a video game character but an anime character and is also recognized as such, which works against him since precious few are going to think of him when you ask them 'name a video game character'. A lot of them will instead go 'wait, Pikachu was in a video game?'
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Blighboy posted...

MabusIncarnate posted...

Blighboy posted...

Mario is a contender for most recognizable character in fiction.

Putting Sonic in the poll over Pikachu is some galaxy brain shit.

It blows my mind that you think Pikachu is a more iconic video game character than Sonic.

Maybe it really is an age thing, like TC mentioned. I'm not considering if I wasn't alive during the Sega Genesis/SNES era.

Sonic is a more iconic video game character if you were a child in the early 90s and then tragically died. As this is GameFAQs, a lot of posters are in that sort of position.

The amount of exposure Pikachu has on any given day dwarfs what Sonic had at his height. He's had a hit show for 20 years. Merchandise is literally everywhere. He just beat Sonic to a live action movie and it even managed to not suck.

Sonic has been a punchline in the gaming community for 15 years and has had basically no exposure outside of that since dropping off his peak.

Mario beat Pikachu to a live action movie even earlier heh.

Mario has been around for 10 years longer, his games sell more, he's the face of the most well known game company on the planet, he's getting a theme park section dedicated to him, also debuted with a popular cartoon, is going to have another movie very soon and is popular with both kids and adults alike today.

It's Mario. No contest. Oh yeah and his franchise has sold over 500 million games.
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Distant_Rainbow posted...

Nowadays nobody recognizes Pikachu because he's a video game character, t

Let's Go Pikachu literally came out last year

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Mario.
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Distant_Rainbow posted...

Mario by a mile.

Almost nobody who started games past the PS1/N64 generation even knows about Pac-Man.

Sonic in recent years is too niche. He's someone who people would see and go 'oh yeah, he exists too'. Not even close to being 'most recognizable'. If this question were asked in the early 90s he'd be a strong contender. Now? No way.

With all due respect to Zelda games, Link doesn't deserve to be mentioned here. This spot would have been better given to Solid Snake, and even he's way too unrecognizable for the average non-gamer.

Pikachu is actually the only one who is a legitimate challenge to Mario, but he's in a weird spot. Given Pokemon games' focus on introducing new Pokemon in generations, Pikachu is a Gen 1 Pokemon, aka a fossil, in the games' reckoning, and even in the Gen 1 days the games never revolved around him. Nowadays nobody recognizes Pikachu because he's a video game character, they only recognize him because he's the staple Pokemon in the games' accompanied anime and he found his way into all kinds of merch related to said anime. At this point Pikachu's no longer a video game character but an anime character and is also recognized as such, which works against him since precious few are going to think of him when you ask them 'name a video game character'. A lot of them will instead go 'wait, Pikachu was in a video game?'

I just put Sonic and Link in there because I wanted more than 2 options.
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Darmik posted...

Mario beat Pikachu to a live action movie even earlier heh.

Mario has been around for 10 years longer, his games sell more, he's the face of the most well known game company on the planet, he's getting a theme park section dedicated to him, also debuted with a popular cartoon, is going to have another movie very soon and is popular with both kids and adults alike today.

It's Mario. No contest. Oh yeah and his franchise has sold over 500 million games.

Of course it's Mario, I said as much in my initial post.

I was just saying that Sonic isn't even close to being a contender at this stage.
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red plumber from brick breaker


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It's Pikachu.

Pokemon is the largest multimedia franchise of literally all fucking time.

Remember Pokemon GO and how much of an explosion that was? It's Pikachu. This is undebatable.
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Last time I heard it was Pac Man.
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Mario is the titular character in his games. That alone would give him the edge. But he has also been around for over a decade longer than Pikachu and is going to be more recognizable to older generations. My mom doesn't know who Pikachu is. She has probably heard of Pokemon but doesn't know anything about it. She absolutely knows who Mario is.
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All time? Mario and it's not even close.

But I sometimes feel like we go through short moments where some immensely popular game's protagonist dethrones him for a week or two.
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It might be Pikachu if Pokemon were named Pikachu and Friends or something
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