Mario series VS. Legend of Zelda series

Love both, but Mario has more excellent games under his belt. And yes, I do just mean the platformers.

Edit: Why are you even including Mario Kart with Mario? Why must you **** up every topic you make? lol

Mario is better. Zelda has always had poor combat.

Easily, Zelda, and it's pretty much the only reason why I buy Nintendo hardware anymore. Aside from Galaxy 1-2, Mario is a mid-tier platforming experience to me, and I don't play any of the spinoffs.

I've never seen somebody support 2D Sonic over 2D Mario like you do

Just like Zelda is with Trio Force heroes or or having Hyrucle Warriors

Then you haven't looked around, but it's not just Sonic. Mega Man, NiGHTS, Gunstar Heroes, Alien Soldier, Castlevania, Metroid, Shinobi, Rocket Knight, Strider, Rodea, Azure Striker Gunvolt, Freedom Planet, I like all of those more than Mario, which I don't even think is bad, but it's definitely not my favorite, especially the 2D variety.

Mario's had multiple excellent games. Zelda's had 1 as far as I'm concerned. It's Mario, and it's not even remotely close.

Never played zelda, but mario is high quality platforming. So Mario.

I'm going for Legend of Zelda on this one because both Zelda games like A link to the Past and Ocarina of Time are one of the best Legend of Zelda games I ever play in my gaming life. Zelda win this vote.

Mario is good and all, I still have love memories for Mario RPG, 64, Sunshine, Galaxy, from sports to Karts, but when it comes to Zelda series, Mario is no match for Legend of Zelda greatness so this was a huge tough choice to make.

Mario, but not for Kart, not a fan of MK.

Still surprises me every time I see a gamer say this. Not because I think everyone should play Zelda or some shit like that, but it's such a cornerstone of gaming.

As great as Mario is, Nothing beats the Zelda series for me.

Both are amazing, but slight edge to mario

Zelda.

Mario. Not even close.

The problem with this comparison is that with the Mario franchise, you get some top notch platformers, RPGs, racing games, party games, and more. With Zelda, you have a pretty similar experience between installments. Not that that's bad. I love Zelda, and chose it in the poll. It's just kind of unfair since Mario has dabbled in most genres besides FPS by this point.

Mario has a few GOAT-tier games in his catalog in addition to some amazing spin-offs such as the aforementioned Mario Kart. I love Zelda but when you start comparing the franchises Mario wins in a landslide. Also the transition to 3D was much more kind to Mario.

The Legend of Zelda's games for the most part feel grander and I love their sense of adventure, but if I was forced to choose one I think I would go with Mario without hesitation.

I enjoyed both a lot but ultimately I prefer action adventure games to platformers, so Zelda for me.

Mario, definitely. It's not nearly neck and neck as it seems.

Zelda all day every day.

Going by their main series only, Mario.

I would pick just the main Mario platformer series alone over Zelda, not even counting any of it's great spinoffs. Mario platformer games are more consistently great, whereas Zelda games can be very hit or miss for me. There are some Zelda games that I love, but there are just as many that I find tedious and boring, whereas I've enjoyed every main Mario platformer game to some extent.

I liked the Mario series.

Mario if only because I find that it's one of those series that I can just easily pick up play. With Zelda, I have to be in the right mood to commit to it.

I like Zelda, but it's not even in the same league as Mario as far I'm concerned.

Mario wins.

Zelda are some of the worst games I have ever played and I have no idea why fanboys like it. Everything about zelda is terribly done and only gets praise because "nintendo made it."

The combat in Zelda has always been mediocre. No voice acting. Terrible controls. Auto-jumping which is annoying. Broken game breaking puzzles. Graphically terrible. Lame non-sense stories, Boring fetch quests requiring players to replay sections over and over aka padding. Hand holding 10 hour introductions. Tingle. Lame hero.

Filled with gimmicks each game. Ever wonder why these gimmicks never return? Because they suck and nintendo knows it.

Zelda is my most beloved series. Metroid a second. But if you include Kart, Sports, Maker and RPG games of the Mario series... (What about Dr. Mario?) Then I guess I'd have to vote Mario...

@stuff238: Zelda bad controls, graphically terrible...game-breaking puzzles lol? Some of the worst games you've ever played? Go back to the woods.

And really auto-jumping is a problem? I can agree with the combat(except in TP it was good and Minish Cap did it well) but fetch quests that force you to replay the same sections? Wtf lol.

Zelda is not winning? You guys sure have some bad taste.

Mine would have to be the Zelda series. Enjoy the gameplay and characters. Have you seen this image?

@stuff238: Zelda bad controls, graphically terrible...game-breaking puzzles lol? Some of the worst games you've ever played? Go back to the woods.

And really auto-jumping is a problem? I can agree with the combat(except in TP it was good and Minish Cap did it well) but fetch quests that force you to replay the same sections? Wtf lol. You're really looking for reasons to hate on the game and just made up flaws it doesn't have.

I play more Mario but Zelda has more experiences that with stick with me forever.

Easily Mario. Most of the spinoffs are almost as great as the actual main franchise. With so many great games featuring Mario, Zelda doesn't stand a chance. That said, Zelda is up there as well.

Zelda. And it's not even close. A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time wipe the floor with every Mario game ever made.

Tie game!

That's because there aren't many Sega fans around here, since Sega is no longer part of the System Wars. And as a Sega fan, I feel the same way about Mario. It feels like a mid-tier platforming experience to me. I prefer the more fun, faster-paced, arcade-style platforming experience of Sega platformers, over the slower, relatively boring, console-style platforming experience of Mario.

What does this have to do with System Wars?

Aside from Metoid and Castlevania, Mario shits on all of this. Strider? Lol GTFO.

Even if i prefer Zelda i think will be fair for Main mario series to be the game that considered best.

Zelda thru the years became somewhat stale , somewhat predictable if you get what i mean. Mario seems to surprise everyone , again and again , in a good way , with its gameplay and level design over and over. Something that is not that easy if you ask me therefore i think Mario is the clear winner even if as i said , i orefer Zelda

@Jag85:

Yep, that's pretty much my opinion. Mario just doesn't do anything special, and is usually a slow trot, while the other games are either more adrenaline pumping or more atmospheric, (or both). Not only that, all of them have way better music too.

@Juub1990:

LOL. I'll take an arcade and action packed experience over a sterile one like Mario, and yes, that includes Strider (Strider 2 in particular). Stay mad.

Legend of Zelda for me. The original game is why I play video games. If my uncle didn't hand me the controller that day and say, "here Cody, play some Zelda." I might not have become a gamer. Mario is gangster too, but I love Zelda just a bit more.

Mario's shit is too slow to even touch those games. The likes of Sonic, Gunstar Heroes, Shinobi and Strider are too fast and action-packed for slow Mario.

Mario is a good platformer series, but honestly, it's one of the most overrated gaming franchises, right up there with GTA.

Ha, this is so true. You can tell something is overrated when even the slightest criticism upsets so many. How dare we prefer and value a different style of gameplay, right?

Mario has been better as of late. Zelda has been in a bit of a decline. But this could all change with Breath of the Wild.

Which doesn't mean shit aside from "I don't like it as much as people do". Lol @Sonic being better than Mario. That's why Mario still is a hit year after year and draws praise from gaming profesionnal and fans around the world whereas Sonic has become the laughingstock of the industry. Shinobi hasn't made a good game in 20 years.

Simply don't claim Mario is overrated or not that good only to name worse games right after. I wouldn't have said a thing if you had said Metroid, Castlevania or even Rayman. But garbage like Sonic needs to be left in the distant past and Megaman has sucked for the better part of the last two decades. Strider and Shinobi don't even deserve a mention.

For the record, I voted Zelda not even a fan of Mario. Just don't think you can come barge in here and start naming obscure series because some of us have played those games. They aren't more popular or revered because they aren't really good.

@Juub1990: lol, cry more, please. I'll name whatever the hell I want because I DO like those games more than Mario. I'll say it again, they focus on action and speed, which isn't something that appeals to the mainstream, but it appeals to guys like Jag and I, that prefer the arcade experience. Sonic in particular is fun as hell to speedrun, and doing just that in Generations, for example, is way more rewarding to me than playing any Mario campaign, which I find most of the time not to be worth more than a one time playthrough. These other games make me come back, because I want to get faster and achieve a higher score. If you can't grasp what I'm saying and if that upsets you, I couldn't care less, because I have no interest in arguing over something as subjective as to what constitutes as good gameplay.

Good. Shitty Sonic games can stay in the bargain bin so chumps like you can play them for cheap. We'll stick to quality content. Thank you.

lol, I'll continue playing both series, thanks. Stay mad, doe.

You're the one who was getting upset about Renegade preferring arcade-style platformers over Mario. It's an opinion. Get over it.

There are a number of ways in which 2D Sonic is better than 2D Mario: faster-paced gameplay, action-packed arcade-style gameplay, more realistic physics, more advanced gameplay mechanics, more sophisticated level designs, better parallax scrolling graphics, more sophisticated music.

As for recent Sonic games, they've been very hit-or-miss, from the excellent Sonic Generations (which I prefer over 3D Mario) to the terrible Sonic Boom.

As for Shinobi, the franchise may no longer be around, but its spirit still lives on in Ninja Gaiden, a franchise that was clearly inspired by Shinobi.