Platformers and Mascots III

Nintendo quickly found themselves second-guessing... just as quickly as they found their resolve to go through with this whole thing.

They had been quite quick to work on all of it... the NES push, Nintendo Power, and whatnot.

It was so quick that it was only weeks ago or so.

As it turns out, Creed reacted quite quickly to the whole thing.

They even had a quick character in a quickness-based video game to illustrate the quick point that they wanted to quickly convey.

Sonic the Hedgehog!

The quick stuff aside, this game sure is something.

It's something so familiar yet different in many ways.

It had the elements that made Super Mario Bros. unique and also outright had its own elements that make it unique as its own.

The plumber brothers can jump. The hedgehog can jump too.

That's the very basics that tie them in the same category, however, it's only going to get a lot more nuanced when the comparing and contrasting goes on.

On this basic level, both franchises are very much platformers, but the gameplay differs a lot.

Super Mario Bros. offers to take a slower, more methodical, and considered approach, while Sonic the Hedgehog seems to be about speed.

This Sonic fella even has special animations and dubbing that'll tell you that gotta go fast.

If you're looking for the thrill of barrelling around those loops as Sonic, you won't find quite the same experience in their Mario game

Likewise, Sonic's stages don't tend to be geared towards tricky jump sections and such, which Nintendo could only hope for their upcoming Mario fans to love this kind of thing.

Does this make either franchise better than the other? Not exactly.

Of course, Nintendo would favor its own if given a checklist on who does one aspect better.

However, there's no denying that Creed's contender has a lot of things that were better and totally advanced.

On graphics alone, Mario lost.

The speed aspect and the whole animation-dubbing part just knock Mario out of contention.

Even the boss and stage design are much more varied, lush, and dynamic despite only supposedly having 6 Zones in the South Island.

Their Mushroom Kingdom has 8 worlds but the repeat Bowser finales aren't something to write home about.

It's not really a fair comparison because one is 8-bit while the other has more than double. However, this is the kind of obvious discrepancy that very much affects the choice of consumers.

Granted, Nintendo was quite proud that they had something like Super Mario Bros. despite its limitations. Still, will their pride even amount to anything at all?

It's not to say that Super Mario Bros. is completely outclassed and out of contention. Maybe it has redeeming qualities.

Then again, the existence of something like Sonic the Hedgehog does not bode well.

Especially if Creed Games were to do the same level of response to the rest of the NES game selection.

It may not even take that long for their prized 17-game roster, including arcade classics, to be matched, surpassed, and made obsolete.

Creed will probably do it one game at a time.

A very veritable countdown to a grim fate wherein the futility of their whole NES strategy becomes oh-so loud and clear. Undeniably so.

What kind of red-green disgust has spurned Mr. Yamauchi to give a go to this? Ironically enough, the Mario Bros. were red and green, weren't they?

Also, what kind of drug did Worlds of Wonder's Kingsborough put in their drinks to make them acquiesce to his Creed-paged plans?

Was low-pricing, wider retailing, and various whatnot even elegant and effective anymore?

Without a doubt, Nintendo's renewed confidence quickly became a shaky, crumbly one.

At this point, they might as well just have their fingers crossed. With Super Mario Bros. already ticked off the list, what title was Creed going to target next?

If their assumptions are correct and if Creed's response is as meticulous as this Sonic the Hedgehog, then the line-up on what title is about to be demolished might have been decided already.

From what they know of this well-timed enemy of theirs, this might as well just be the factual truth.

Nintendo, even WoW, would really be messed up by such a possibility.

And to think... this is all spurned by a blue anthropomorphic hedgehog that's all about making dashes and loops.

For an upbeat video game, it sure did quite a dash through their egos and twisted their emotions up in quite the loops.

-------

Had Alexander known what kind of thoughts Nintendo was having at the moment, he would have carved up a smile.

Still, it was gratifying to note the bountiful preliminary sales of these new $35 GameKeys. Which in turn, spurned the continued sales of Creed Chaos Systems as well.

It's these types of steady statistics and incremental numbers that assures Alexander to not really care for rowdy competition.

Regardless of Nintendo's supposed rowdiness, Sonic the Hedgehog was and always had been slated to be released this month of July, after all.

How else would he have developed Sonic the Hedgehog so quickly?

It sure was not because he was worried about Mario. He didn't even expect Nintendo to do this whole NES power stuff of theirs. He may be a fast programmer but he wasn't that fast.

More than anything, South Island's tropical feel just fit the summer season. So why not have Sonic?

It was clear that the business of minding one's own business just works itself out.

Had Nintendo known that Sonic the Hedgehog was not in any way intentionally directed towards their Mario game, their already turbulent thoughts might have just become even more turbulent.

It wasn't that Sonic popped out of nowhere to stop Mario in its tracks.

It's actually Mario that popped out for a challenge and got rightfully smacked.

Of course, choking it up to chance and coincidence should be the right way to go.

Or... it may just be these rivals scurrying to the fates that they were always meant to have.

Whatever the case might be, Alexander's interest in these platformers and mascots is far from over.

Aside from this NES and Chaos unit saga not being done in one go, the rest of gaming history has yet to run its course.

Mario may have taken a preliminary loss now... but his evolution has only begun.

When one thinks about video games, one of the first characters that come to mind is Mario, The chubby little Italian plumber hero who always saves his damsel in distress.

He is incredibly iconic for a reason. This mid-80s Super Mario Bros. was just the first of its many iterations. Not to mention its spin-off games.

Even a rival like Sonic is considered an underdog for the most part of their feud.

Which puts the prospects of Nintendo's platformer mascot as something that's not to be underestimated.

Then again, Alexander wasn't someone to wallow in the regrets of not being able to plunder such an I.P.

That's Nintendo's jurisdiction... for now... it's best to work on what he has.

Minding one's own business, as Alexander would say.

And plenty of them, he has.

After Sonic, Creed Games still has games coming up and he has to hustle for them.

Whether they be a suppressor to Nintendo's games or not, Alexander's schedule was just lined up and booked already.

Intriguingly, his next game was actually another platformer and mascot. Plundered from Capcom this time around.

Like Sonic, the fellow's actually blue.

Platformer, mascot, and also blue. Just what are the odds of that happening?

Whatever it may be, it's already intriguing, is it not?