Board 8 > We never got a Mario vs Sonic match and that's a shame.

(+) Yeah! (+)

We got Mario vs Shadow in 2003, Luigi vs Sonic in 2006, and even Super Mario World vs Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in a game contest, but never a character match with Mario and Sonic in it.

What's crazy is that between 2002 and 2010 Mario faced every single noble nine member in a 1v1 match besides Sonic. Sonic also faced every other noble nine member in that timeframe. With the exception of Sephiroth whom he faced twice in a 2008 four way match, Sonic faced every other member 1v1.

While Link vs Cloud will always be the rivalry of gamefaqs, there's no arguing Mario vs Sonic was the rivalry in gaming. A little outdated by the time of these contest? Possibly, but I still remember a lot of rivalry chat between the years of 2002-2006. Once Sega started making games on Nintendo consoles there was nonstop talk about these two getting their own game together. Needless to say the two had quite the history together. The fact that they were both noble nine members was all too perfect, but it just never came to be.

Most people just assume Mario would have easily won this battle and there's good reasoning behind it if you glance at it. Mario was the strongest noble nine member besides Clinkeroth. Outside of those three Mario was essentially untouchable (besides a 2004 loss to Crono). He beat Samus, Snake, and Mega Man all with relative ease, all of whom were able to defeat Sonic at some point in history. Sonic on the other hand only defeated one noble nine member in a 1v1 matchup (Crono in 2006) and had far weaker overall feats. That said there are a few things I've noted to suggest the battle between the two would have been interesting.

For one are some of the previous matchups I've listed. Shadow himself was able to get 44% on Mario in 2003, and while he was at peak popularity at that time it's hard to believe he was as strong as Sonic at that point in time. Sonic himself was able put up more than 60% on Luigi in 2006. A performance far stronger than what Tifa did to the green plumber in the 2005 contest. Why do I bring up Tifa? Well she was a character that came less than 1% away from beating Samus in 2006. Sonic having a performance far greater than a character of that strength is impressive. Lastly we saw Sonic defeat Crono in 2006, a character with a long hard fought history with Mario. We know what happened in 2002 and 2003, but Crono actually beat Mario in 2004 before losing again in 2005. Crono had definitely lost a little of his power by 2006, but still an impressive win nonetheless.

So with all this said, do I think Sonic had a realistic shot at beating Mario? No, not at all but I do believe it would have been closer than what most people would tell you now. A lot of it would depend on the year of the contest. 2005 was Mario's strongest performance so he likely would have beaten Sonic relatively painlessly, but any other year I couldn't see Mario touching 53% in a match.

In closing thoughts I don't really care about seeing them meet up in a future contest. Not only are these contest far past their peak on this site, but the rivalry between the two doesn't hold a candle to what it did 15-20 years ago. Not only that but the noble nine is essentially nonexistent now, it's just a name of what used to be. Sonic has continued to get weaker each contest due to his inconsistency in game quality while Mario has remained the quality name of platforming. Mario would stomp Sonic now, likely worse than what he did to Sephiroth in 2018. We'll never know what a match between the two would have been, but I'm more than interested to hear what you guys have to say on the topic.

Spoilers mario wins

---

Yeah, we should've had it in the first 3 years, but Mario was set up against Crono constantly instead, which tbf gave us some fantastic matches.

The only other two Noble Niners that never met each other in any format to this day are Crono and Sephiroth.

---

ctesjbuvf posted...

Yeah, we should've had it in the first 3 years, but Mario was set up against Crono constantly instead, which tbf gave us some fantastic matches.

The only other two Noble Niners that never met each other in any format to this day are Crono and Sephiroth.

As much as I love the Mario vs Crono rivalry I would have easily given up one of those battles just to see one Mario vs Sonic match. Mario got the first and last laugh from Crono (really any laugh except for 2004).

2003 in my mind is the year that would've made the most sense in hindsight. Yes we wouldn't have gotten the crazy 30 minute extension match, but there would still be Mario and Crono's first match, the 2004 match where Crono gets his revenge, and the 2005 match where Mario gets his revenge.

It would be such a shame to lose the 2003 match though. You don't have to give one up though. Mario meeting Crono doesn't exclude Mario meeting Sonic.

In 2005 it would not be exciting anymore though.

---

2002 or 2003 would have been the closest based on how close the NN members were to each other in 2002 as well as Shadow's performance, though Sonic arguably achieved his peak strength in 2006 but the Nintendo boost was too high at that point.

We did get Mario World vs. Sonic 2 in Games 2004, and Mario and Bowser vs. Sonic and Robotnik in Rivals. I feel like those two results are pretty indicative of how Mario vs. Sonic would actually go.

---

What if it's held now? Sonic is still as relevant as ever, amirite?

---

I think Sonic peaked early. 2006 was probably more Crono declining.

They are indicative that Mario would win I suppose? There is no way Mario would put up 70% on Sonic even today, that's Link numbers. I think it would've been fun to see them head to head back early on. Mario had some very weird first years, weird in a way that often favored him, but I think Sonic could had a chance then.

---

Mario absolutely puts 70%

Sonic is an awful character and his games have proven that

---

Zelda and Snake got 56-57 on him in 2018. Mario would get something like that too.

---

Pretty sure Mario would win even when Sonic was at his strongest with at least 55.

---

Based on what exactly

It was clear last contest Mario would not get much more than that today. To say that it would be the same back when Sonic had strength is basically ignoring all stats. Being kind to Mario in adjustments still makes it unlikely Mario would get more than 55% in the first three contests. In 2003, the one of the three years where Mario looked to be ahead of Sonic the most, Mario got 55.10% on Shadow. That's a super weird result sure, but at least 55%? No.

---

Didnt we have Mario/Bowser VS Sonic/Dr Eggman in the Rivalry Rumble?

Mario/Sonic shouldve been in that contest.

---

You are correct. Still it doesn't really count right?

---