Fans of video gaming's classic era remember the brutal back and forth known as the first console war. Nintendo and Sega's long duel to the death ended unceremoniously many years ago, but the twin stars of the competing companies are engaged in a new conflict in a new medium.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 might be the most hotly anticipated film of 2022, while the as-yet-untitled Super Mario movie is quite possibly the most intensely dreaded release of the year. Fans of the Blue Blur are vibrating in excitement to see Sonic return to the big screen, while Mario's film efforts have inspired nothing but derision and laughter.
There are countless reasons that the Mario movie was met with hearty laughs and crushed sighs. The involvement of the animation studio best known for the Minions, the extremely strange cast, the inclusion of strange characters like Foreman Spike, all sparks confusion. 2020's Sonic the Hedgehog enjoyed a similar response from some. Its cast inspired more hope, but the infamous initial appearance of the main character dominated the conversation for months. Sonic is no bastion of quality, but the film adaptation was one of the best pieces of media in the franchise ever released. Trust was firmly established with the first film, so Sonic the Hedgehog 2 gets to enjoy unmitigated hype and outcries of fan support. These historical elements did affect the reception and outcome of these films, but there's a bigger difference between the two characters that change how the films will land.
Who is Mario? What is his personality? Why does he do what he does? There are no real answers to these questions. Mario is not a character, in a very real sense, he's a mascot. His feelings, aesthetics, and identity are indeterminate and unimportant. He slots easily into whatever media Nintendo needs him to fit into with very little issue. Love for Mario as a character doesn't really exist. His games are amongst the most well-received and universally enjoyed experiences in gaming history, but the plumber whose name is in the title is just there to beat the bad guy.
Even in the best Super Mario narratives, Mario is little more than an avatar for the player's actions. The man in the red cap barely speaks, doesn't make any choices, and may not even be the same character from one game to the next. Nothing is tethering most of the games together, they all just start and end around the same place. Despite the outstanding quality of most of his games and overwhelming love for his legacy, there's just nothing behind his big blue eyes. Sonic the Hedgehog, meanwhile, is exactly the opposite.
Sonic has starred in some of the worst games ever made, but even on his worst day, he has a personality. Anyone who has laid eyes on a Sonic game knows exactly which character traits are front-and-center for the Blue Blur. He has remained extremely consistent for more than thirty years of games and, despite being handled by dozens of creatives, is always the same immediately identifiable character. His personality is the draw for most fans, people will defend truly awful games, largely out of their sincere love for Sonic as a character. Online communities build monuments to this hedgehog that make no mention of his games. Where Mario is a blank cipher who fills a place in some of the best games ever made, Sonic is an effervescent fan-favorite who brings light to some of the worst.
The problem becomes obvious when the characters are viewed in their natural habitat. When gameplay is removed, Sonic thrives and Mario ceases to be. Sonic could reasonably be argued to be improved by the excision of gameplay elements. Mario and his cast of friends are all great designs and unquestionably lovable, but a film cannot be supported by solid character art. The 1993 film Super Mario Bros. attempted to solve this problem by having nothing to do with the game that shares its name. While this could theoretically result in a decent film, it wouldn't result in a good Mario movie. If the two options are to ditch everything about the source material or make a bad movie, maybe the text isn't ready for adaptation.
The upcoming Super Mario Bros. movie has a lot going against it, and the problems are not skin deep. The upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is shaping up to be a treat for fans and newcomers alike. The awful truth is, some characters just fit the medium they were created for too well to work elsewhere. Mario is a video game character, and to many, he's the Platonic ideal of a video game character. Sonic has consistently proven to work better in TV or on film than he ever has in his own games. Fans can only hope for the best, but when it comes to this revamped battle, Sonic has a huge head start.