Favorite Sidescrolling Platformer Series

Sonic is technically superior to SMB in almost every way, from the gameplay mechanics, physics, level designs and pacing to the graphics, scrolling and music. There is almost nothing that SMB does technically better other than being more difficult, by often relying on cheap tricks. Mario fans should try take off those rose-tinted nostalgia goggles.

Then you clearly missed the point of the game design. It's like a racing game, where the more you master the tracks, the faster the lap times you get. Sonic has an arcade-style of game design, something many Mario fans fail to grasp when they bash it for not playing like their favourite slow Mario games.

Banjo, Spryo, and Crash are not sidescrollers dewd. Mario is the king. Sonic was never that great even Sonic CD was mediocre and that's widely considered to be the pinnacle of the series. Also have to mention Ristar. Sadly, it never became a series but that game was one of my favorites as a kid.

I mean, you're free to think Sonic is better, but don't try to falsely give your post the veneer of objectivity by saying "technically superior" when you're just stating your opinion on things like level design, mechanics, music (the only thing even remotely objective about this is the sound quality and I say that as someone who greatly prefers Sonic's soundtracks).

I was talking about the original SMB trilogy and the original Sonic trilogy, not later Mario and Sonic games (the poll lists SMB, not Mario as a whole, and is about the side-scrollers). The Mario series improved after that, while the Sonic series went downhill after that. But if we're comparing the original SMB trilogy to the original Sonic trilogy, the original Sonic trilogy is technically superior in most categories: the gameplay mechanics are more sophisticated, the physics more realistic, the level designs are deeper, it has faster arcade-style pacing, it has better graphics and more advanced scrolling, and catchier and more varied music.