Sonic the Hedgehog started out as a rival to Mario, but since then, the two mascots have gone on to star in a number of games together. Still, this doesn't necessarily mean the days of competition are over.
In a new Sega interview (translated by Noisypixel's Ryuji), Sega's executive director and self-confessed "Sonic lover" Osamu Ohashi mentioned how he personally wants to see Sonic "catch" Mario and surpass him in terms of popularity. He didn't hold back, either - noting how he wants the blue blur's games and movies to be "bigger" than Mario, and for him to eventually have a USJ theme park attraction.
"Simply put, I want to surpass Mario. Sonic was a game originally developed to compete with Mario, and we have yet to achieve that. Because we respect Mario, my goal is to catch up to and surpass him.
"We want Sonic to be played all over the world, including Japan, just like Mario, and we want the movie to be a bigger hit than Mario. We also want to build a Sonic attraction in Universal Studios Japan. That is my goal as a Sonic lover."
Sonic and Mario most recently went head-to-head last month with Sonic Superstars arriving just days before the launch of Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Mario's producer even commented on this at the time calling it an "interesting coincidence".