'I Want Sonic To Surpass Mario," Says SEGA Executive

Sega Sammy Holdings Inc - ADR (OTC: SGAMY) executive Osamu Ohasi has set his sights high, expressing his desire to see Sonic the Hedgehog surpass Mario in terms of popularity.

Ohasi, who currently manages SEGA's 2nd Business Department, responsible for the Sonic franchise, shared his ambitious vision in a recent interview conducted by sega.co.jp and translated by NoisyPixel.

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"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," Ohasi said.

He continued: "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."

Ohasi's enthusiasm and ambitions are undeniable, but achieving these objectives will be a formidable challenge. For instance, a basic comparison shows that the recent Super Mario Bros. movie grossed $1.36 billion at the box office, while the two Sonic the Hedgehog movies combined generated a total of $725 million.

In the realm of video game sales, Mario currently holds the title of the best-selling video game franchise of all time, with over 830 million copies of games sold globally.

Sonic Superstars, the latest Sonic game, is now available on various gaming platforms.

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Image credits: Nik on Unsplash