The Sega executive wants Sonic to “Surpass Mario” in games and movies

Sonic the Hedgehog originally competed with Mario, although the two have since appeared in other games together. This doesn’t imply competition is over.

Sega’s executive director and “Sonic lover,” Osamu Ohashi, said he wants Sonic to “catch” Mario and exceed him in popularity in a new interview (translated by Noisypixel’s Ryuji). He said he wanted the blue blur’s games and movies to be “bigger” than Mario and to 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 Superstars debuted days before Super Mario Bros. Wonder last month. At the time, Mario’s producer called it an “interesting coincidence”.