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Zelda Vs. Mario

Joined
Oct 16, 2011
Location
Kakariko Village, Hyrule
The mario series has more sales because it has over 200 games. However Zelda only has 15 (coming up 16) games and has a very good amount of sales for a series of it's size. So technically, Zelda has more sales per game. Mario is mainly big because it appeals to a large variety of people, especially those *shudders* casual gamers. However, Nintendo are doing a LOT to make Zelda bigger right now and it will be the bigger series in time. My opinion may be a little biased but I tried my best to be factual :)
 

MW7

Joined
Jun 22, 2011
Location
Ohio
The mario series has more sales because it has over 200 games. However Zelda only has 15 (coming up 16) games and has a very good amount of sales for a series of it's size. So technically, Zelda has more sales per game. Mario is mainly big because it appeals to a large variety of people, especially those *shudders* casual gamers. However, Nintendo are doing a LOT to make Zelda bigger right now and it will be the bigger series in time. My opinion may be a little biased but I tried my best to be factual :)

Haha I'm a little biased towards Zelda too :), but I found different evidence. The mario series has more sales because the main series games are much more widely popular than zelda games. The combined sales of six regular non-bundled (not spinoff) mario games: SMB 2 (10 million), SMB 3 (18 million), SM64 (11.62 million), SM Sunshine (5.5 million), Galaxy (8.84 million), and Galaxy 2 (6.36 million) is 60.32 million which is more than the total amount of all 15 Zelda games (59 million).

Another reason why the mario series has more sales is that 2 games were sold with their respective consoles, and New Super Mario Bros. Wii has also been bundled with the Wii at some point. The official amount of sales of these 3 games: SMB (40 million), SMW (20 million), and NSMBW (21.94 million) totals 81.94 million in sales which is almost 40% more in sales than all the Zelda games combined. This shouldn't really count in arguing that Mario games sell more games since the bundling means you can't figure out if a person would have bought the console without the game if it was possible. However, this does illustrate a significant reason why Mario games have outsold Zelda games by such a large margin.

Basically my point is that even if you ignore the 190+ Mario spinoff games and every Mario game that has been bundled with a console that Mario games would still be outselling the Zelda series.
 
Joined
Nov 29, 2010
Location
NORTHEN IRELAND
For me Mario is bigger if you take into consideration all the things Mario has had his picture on.
Mugs,clothes etc.
Mario has also had more games but generally they are easier than Zelda games.
Zelda games require more thought to work out and progress in the game.
 
Joined
Sep 4, 2011
Mario is the same always just a little more sales because they always have a ton of advertising, and have a lot of games, Zelda is the 10x better game, it is by far better than Mario for most of everyones opinion, NOT SALES.
 
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S

SS,OoT,WW,TP

Guest
Zelda beats Mario in story, gameplay, music, characters, and EVERYTHING!!! So why ask?
 

geek4887

The Unknown
Joined
Jun 19, 2011
Zelda beats Mario in story, gameplay, music, characters, and EVERYTHING!!! So why ask?
Well, I wanted to ask people from an unbiased point of view and such. But considering this is a fan website, that was sort of an epic fail. :sweat:
 
Joined
Sep 25, 2011
The truth of the matter lies in the people themselves. People aren't so much into fantasy games as they are shoot everything and simple platformers. For instance: go and ask many people about Mario and everyone will say yes I know of Mario, yet I can talk to some people that do play video games on a normal basis and ask about Zelda and even then the chance is still slim that they've even heard of it. Whenever I talk around my girlfriend and her relatives or even some of my family about my enjoyment in fantasy games and interest I always get a look and sometimes the rare "well you're gay and that's stupid" from some of the more impolite of them that overhear. A game like Mario is more widely accepted while fantasy games in general are often looked at, rather stereotypically, as games only for the super nerd. I for one find platformers to be really mundane and while they have some entertainment value they get really repetitive really quick. Zelda always introduces something new and has always had that exploration and discovery aspect that platformers just really don't have and can't compare to. I always will prefer Zelda to Mario and I believe should hold the flagship of the Nintendo world. Mario is lovable, Link is epic.
 
Mario trumps Zelda in sales. Zelda beats Mario in reception. 3D console installments of both franchises are widely regarded as some of the best games of all time. I prefer the accessibility of Mario and the complexity of Zelda. Mario and The Legend of Zelda are a win-win pair!
 

Rytex

Resident Netizen
Joined
May 10, 2010
Location
Random house in Texas.
Mario is, undoubtedly, the more popular of the two. As the Colonel put it in one of his conversations with Snake in Brawl, "There's probably not a single person int he world who doesn't know who he is." Mario is an excellent example of how a semi-childish series can go right in every way. However, while Mario is Nintendo's flagship franchise, it is not as important to them as Zelda. It really isn't, despite what you may think. Mario has had its share of screw-ups (like some of the sports games out there) and it has had its share of gems (nearly all console games). But you know Mario's classic "duduh duh duduh DUH! duh"? What if I told you it, while undoubtedly the most recognized video game song ever, has not been included in every Mario game? It's true. Super Mario Bros. 2 (Doki Doki Panic in Japan) didn't have it, Super Mario World didn't have it, and a lot of the Mario Kart games haven't included it.

In comparison, Zelda is simply more well-received. While Mario is Nintendo's flagship franchise, Zelda is Nintendo's baby. Their games are definitely the most well-done, and Zelda has been ranked as the number 3 game franchise in history (behind Call of Duty and Halo, which I believe are not worthy to hold up the jock strap of Link, due to the fact that most people only buy those games so they can play online multiplayer), In fact, in a Deathmatch tournament between Zelda and 15 other Franchises, Zelda came in first by beating opponents in this order: Star Fox, CoD, Halo, and Mario. I'll try to find the link (no pun intended) to the tournament thingy in question so I can prove it, but it'll be a little hard, so bear with me. You know the theme of Zelda? Unlike Mario's classic theme, the Zelda theme has appeared in literally every Zelda game somewhere. Just goes to show which franchise Koji Kondo cares about the most.
 

geek4887

The Unknown
Joined
Jun 19, 2011
I agree with you Rytex. It's certainly obvious that Nintendo cares more of Zelda than Mario. It just so happens that Mario is Zelda's big brother. Nintendo always made Zelda games themselves (except for MC, FS/A). There are BARELY any spin-off games, too. Zelda also trumped Mario as the Greatest Game of All Time. By the looks of it, Shigeru Miyamoto prefers Zelda over Mario. For crying out loud, he created Zelda with his childhood in mind, while he made Mario to save Nintendo. I think that it's easy which Nintendo loves more here.
 

~SkullKid~

~Mazuke~
Joined
Jun 3, 2011
Location
Philadelphia
I think in a battle Link would win but it's still the same company and their just different types of games like Zelda is dungeon solving and Mario is star hunting. Their both really good games.
 
Joined
Dec 21, 2011
Location
Brazil
I love mario, its one of the better and most epic games, but Zelda its ZELDA !!!! And Zelda beats any other games
 

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