Mario is better than Sonic

Thanks to Con for his speedy (heheheh) response. - == Speed == Con doesn't really contest any of my points under this section. All he does is give evidence for the large speed differential between Mario and Sonic, but I never denied the existence of that differential. Instead, I spent more than half of last round explaining why Mario would be able to *overcome* the differential and still win the fight. Allow me to re-iterate: Mario is capable of staying airborne for the majority of the battle thanks to his flying power-ups and superhuman jump. This is a problem for Sonic because he only has his speed advantage where there is a surface to run on -- in other words, the combat utility of his speed is basically nullified by the fact that Mario can completely avoid it by just taking to the air. However, Mario's aerial abilities aren't only a means for defense against Sonic's speed-based tactics. They can also serve as great offense if used in conjunction with his infinite stamina, phenomenal martial arts skill, and natural speed/agility. He could avoid all of Sonic's attacks AND pull off well-aimed combos left and right, landing hit after hit on the hedgehog. == Power-Ups == Con brought up a good reason for why power-ups should not be considered in this debate... but then he proceeded to talk about Sonic's power-ups anyways, so I think it's fair for me to assume that Mario has access to power-ups as well. Super Sonic may be a powerful transformation, but it simply doesn't compare to Mario's Star Mode. As we can see from Video [1], Star Mode puts Mario into a literally invincible state where, for a short period of time, he can kill everything in his path -- including hedgehogs. On the other hand, Sonic's transformation is far from having this level of power. If we take a look at the first few minutes of Video [2], we see that Super Sonic is unable to beat an unnamed enemy, eventually just resorting to throwing away all the Chaos Emeralds (the source of Super Sonic's power) and making a quick escape by falling down to Earth. If Star Mario was in such a situation, he would simply ram into the enemy, instantly finishing him off. Star Mario is clearly stronger than Super Sonic. That said, Star Mode would not be a very good offensive tactic for Mario to use, since Sonic could probably just outrun it. Instead, it would be used more as a defensive measure against Super Sonic. A direct, two-way clash between the characters' most powerful forms would inevitably end in a victory for Mario, so in order to avoid escalating the battle to that point, Sonic (if he's smart) would abstain from turning Super. As for Chaos Control, this is not a technique which Sonic is well-versed in. Most of the abilities from Con's article have only ever been used by Shadow the Hedgehog (who has full mastery over the technique). The only time Sonic has ever used Chaos Control unaided is in the scene depicted in Video [3] (starting from about 2:00) -- under life-or-death circumstances, Sonic managed to perform a single teleportation, and even that took quite a bit of time and effort on his part. He simply does not know Chaos Control well enough to use it effectively in combat. So neither of Sonic's power-ups can feasibly be used in battle. Meanwhile, Mario still has things like the Fire Flower, Ice Flower, Mega-Mushroom, Blue Shell, and various other mushrooms & flowers (e.g. penguin, springs, clouds, rock, rainbow, etc). All of these could be used strategically to enhance the aerial combos discussed under the Speed section [4]. == Physical Strength == Sonic being able to break through numerous layers of metallic armor is impressive, but that's only one step above what actual human karate masters can do (i.e. breaking through numerous layers of brick and stone). On the other hand, Mario is able to do something which is truly beyond the limits of human potential -- grab a several-ton beast by the tail, swing him around in circles, and throw him a long distance away with enough force to detonate an explosive. Mario's brute physical strength easily outmatches Sonic's. Really, just looking at the difference in their body structure should be enough to affirm that... Con bringing up Eggman vs. Bowser actually turns against him. Eggman only fights using robots, and they are not particularly durable robots, given that they can usually be obliterated within a couple strikes. On the other hand, Bowser is literally the epitome of durability. I request that the audience watch Video [5]. Not only because it is hilarious, but also because it shows that Mario has had to resort to some incredibly harsh methods in order to defeat Bowser, including.... - boiling him alive in magma - repeatedly throwing him into explosives - causing him to fall down enormous heights - punching him into the Sun - punching him into a black hole, - shooting him several times at close range - crushing him with a gigantic Yoshi egg - running him over with a train And what's even scarier is that none of these things actually kill Bowser -- they merely incapacitate him long enough for the Princess to be rescued. He's always back eventually to try kidnapping the Princess again. Bowser is, without a doubt, one of the most terrifyingly strong enemies in video game history, and the fact that Mario has managed to defeat him so many times with little more than his wits and bare hands is a testament to his incredible strength & skill as a fighter. == Utility to the World == I'm not sure why Con brought this up, as it's not relevant to the characters' performance in battle, but I'll address it anyways. In the Mario Universe, the Mushroom Kingdom IS "the world", so Mario's job is essentially to save the ruler of the world from peril. This is just as important (if not more so) than stopping a single mad scientist from taking over the world, especially since his motives for conquest are more related to harmless self-aggrandizement than any real malicious intent. - And with that, I hand the debate back over to Con :) - 1. 2. 3. 4. http://www.mariowiki.com... 5.