>>35866
It’s the Mario effect. Japan loves their mustached plumber, and Sonic just doesn’t have the same cultural footprint. Plus, Sonic’s whole “cool dude with attitude” thing doesn’t resonate as much over there.

>>35867
I heard that Eggman's design was influenced by Mario :D

>>35868
Wait, really? I heard that too, but it’s more of a fun coincidence than anything. Eggman’s design was actually based on Theodore Roosevelt and classic ‘mad scientist’ tropes, later also on Stalin. But speaking of Mario references, have you heard about the Marxio Brothers from Fleetway’s Sonic the Comic? They were literally a parody of Mario and Luigi, complete with overalls and mustaches. They showed up in one of the early issues, and it was such a blatant nod to Nintendo that it’s almost shocking they got away with it. Fleetway didn’t hold back with the jokes, that’s for sure. Eggman might not be Mario-inspired, but the Marxio Bros. definitely were!

>>35869
Yeah, the Marxio Bros. were wild, but let’s not forget how much SEGA has straight-up lifted from Nintendo over the years. Like, Zavok from Sonic Lost World? Dude’s just Bowser with a fresh coat of paint. Lost World as a whole felt like a desperate attempt to rip off Mario Galaxy, from the gravity mechanics to the level design. And don’t even get me started on Sonic Shuffle—basically a poor man’s Mario Party.

SEGA’s been trying to chase that Nintendo magic for decades, but they always end up with a cheap knockoff. It’s like they can’t decide if they want to be their own thing or just copy Mario and hope no one notices. At this point, it’s almost a tradition.

>>35870
Well the thing is, Sonic Team actually has good story writers. Mario games almost never have much of a story at all, whereas Sonic games occasionally have an amazing story. Problem is, they very rarely have a game that has the great story AND the great gameplay AND a reasonable difficulty. Sonic should be more popular overall in Japan than he is. But man, the management just can't get the actual good Sonic games out fast enough.

Sonic appeals to roughly 15% of the population, so it seems like Japan doesn’t like it because the country is just small

>>35874
If only I had a way to get to Japan and help them get their numbers up... 🫠

>>35875
Isn’t the point to get more Sonic, not to change Japan?

>>35876
My offspring will for sure be fans of Sonic.

Btw even the Japanese had some weird, shall we say, Sonic adaptations, like there was a Japanese comic where Eggman literally pissed on Amy Rose💀

Doesn’t Japan have like a Sega store too

>>35878
Hmm, kinda hawt. I bet there's R34 of those two now that I think about it, but it would definitely be non-con.

>>35880
"Everything is canon" (c)