I agree with all the people who say Mario's more popular because of the spin offs. and I know it's off topic, but I never got into Pokemon that much... I was always more of a Mario and Sonic person and still am

Pokemon always seemed more popular than Mario in my eyes.

I've always seen Pokémon as being more popular than Mario. When I used to be in school, there were always kids playing Pokémon (there was like a Pokémon revival fad when I was a senior). There were a lot of people who played Mario games, but not as much as Pokémon.

Lol, nope. Who's still the mascot of Ninty?
I do realize that it's eclipsed every other franchise there though.

I can't believe no one else mentioned this:

Factually, no it hasn't

Mario is more recognisable than Mickey Mouse. By that I mean more random people on the street in modern society across the world will recognise Mario, than they will recognise Mickey Mouse.

I can guarantee you that outside of the games industry Pokemon is not that well known.

I beg to differ greatly. Almost everyone I know knows about Pokémon. Even people that don't play games know what Pokémon is.

The people you know probably have some sort of background with video games. Go to New York and ask five hundred people who Mario is and what Pokemon are. I'm pretty sure not even a tenth of those random will recognize the name Pokemon, let alone know exactly what it is.

To quote Colonel Campbell, " There's probably not a single person who doesn't know Mario, he's that famous."

i still think if you had a person walking around wearing a mario costume, and a person wearing a pikachu costume, more people would recognise mario than pokemon. not just the kids, but adults as well.

Almost everyone that you know - you being a gamer - knows about Pokemon?

Who woulda thought that could happen?

Come back to me when you've surveyed a couple thousand people in rural China or Middle Africa.

The Pokemon Anime was a Mega-hit, Bankai. It's the only anime that still premiers during the day around here, for instance. The games were also the top games played by Non-gamers back in the late '90/early 00's. It's Mario that's not as well known outside of the game industry.

@Bankai.... isn't that the case with most games?
Anyway, if I randomly bring up Pokemon with random people in the room, a lot to most of them will at least know the name. Simialrly, most of them would know Mario too.

Anyone that knows pokemon also knows Mario. That can't be said the other way around.

Mario is more recognisable than Mickey Mouse. Ergo Mario is known by a lot of people outside the games industry.

A popular anime means sweet crap all. One Piece, Bleach, Dragon Ball Z are all massively popular animes - especially in Japan - but no one with a shred of sanity would say any of those are more recognisable than Mickey Mouse, which is well beyond a cartoon character and is a cultural icon. Go up to a group of people aged over 30 and mention any of those anime and you'll get a lot of strange looks.

You're simply commenting from your perspective. The vast majority of the planet has not seen the Pokemon anime, let alone recognises any character from it.

When I say "know", that doesn't just include friends and fellow gamers. The idea that most people don't know what Pokémon is just absolutely absurd. Pokémon has always been huge in the states. Sure it may not be as popular as Mario, but it is still very well known by a lot of people.

Pokemon is massively recognizable outside of gaming. I'm pretty sure if you ask a random person, they will recognize the name Pokemon, even if it's with a definite lack of knowledge. The TV show, game, and toys were all massively popular. Recognizing characters is different though.

If you asked some random person about say, Metroid or Uncharted, then you'd get a highly mixed answer.

While I am pretty sure Mario is still more famous, just wanted to make my observation. I don't even play Pokemon anyways

There's no proof of this. You have no idea what you're saying.

Pokémon has always been huge in the states. Sure it may not be as popular as Mario

So we actually agree? Why argue with me then?

Common knowledge needs no proof!

Wait, since when was Mario more recognizable than Mickey Mouse? And since when was that a good judge in this day and age? I thought there are lots of characters more recognizable than Mickey Mouse now?

Nevermind, I looked it up. Everything I find relates to a survey back in the 1990's, and it only related to children. I think it's possible that times have changed. Perhaps it's time for a new survey?