Why Mario Could Learn A Lot From Sonic The Hedgehog’s Twitter Page

If you’re a fan of platformers, it’s pretty much impossible to dispute that the genre’s two biggest stars are Mario and Sonic. As you’ll know if you’re a devotee, Mario got his start back in 1981, when he was known as Jumpman, but his first platforming starring role was 1985’s iconic Super Mario Bros. Sonic, meanwhile, debuted in 1991 with Sonic the Hedgehog.

Since then, both have gone on to become huge gaming stars, but their fanbases are rather different, and some of that can be attributed to the fact that Sonic arguably has a much stronger social media presence. A quick look at the Twitter pages of both Super Mario and Sonic as franchises will tell you a lot about the differences between them, and we think Mario could learn a lot from Sonic’s Twitter page. Here are some of the reasons the two should set their differences aside and collaborate on a social media strategy.

Twitter is still a big deal

On the surface, the outlook for Twitter looks gloomy. As revealed by ExpressVPN, user numbers are set to dwindle throughout 2023, but despite that projected fall, the platform is still hugely popular, enjoying 260 million daily active users. With that in mind, both Mario and Sonic clearly still need to court a Twitter audience, and it’s pretty much undeniable that Twitter will be a big part of the strategies for both franchises moving forward.

Sonic’s Twitter approach is much more fun

Taking a quick look at the Sonic the Hedgehog Twitter account, it’s easy to see the approach that Sonic is taking to social media. The tweets sent by the account incorporate far more memes and jokes than those of Mario, as well as nihilistic Gen Z humour and non-sequiturs. By contrast, Mario’s Twitter page feels cleaner and more “corporate”, which is perhaps to be expected, given that the property is owned by Nintendo. The account does tweet jokes and funny images, but it’s nowhere near as bizarre or humorous as the Sonic account is.

Mario’s games speak for themselves, but Sonic’s don’t

Okay, so if you’re a Sonic the Hedgehog fan, we might be about to drop some uncomfortable home truths on you. However, it’s pretty much accepted that most modern Sonic games aren’t of great quality. Mario appears to be going from strength to strength, with the recent series entry Super Mario Odyssey receiving rave reviews. Sonic Frontiers, however, has been reviewed with mixed enthusiasm by critics, and prior series entries such as Sonic Forces and Sonic Boom were loathed by critics and fans alike.

This is likely to be one of the reasons behind Sonic’s Twitter account being so chock-full of memes; since Sonic can’t quite fall back on the quality of its game lineup, it needs to rely on social media humour in order to maintain and engage its audience. However, we think that Mario could do with “coming down” to Sonic’s level a little more. All it would take on Mario’s behalf is one flop, and suddenly, its more family-friendly and less unfiltered social media approach wouldn’t feel so successful anymore.

Mario could use Sonic’s demographic

The Sonic the Hedgehog community consists mainly of players under the age of 21, and it tends to skew more male than female, although its demographics may be changing. Super Mario seems to aim for a broader demographic than Sonic, but if you ask us, Mario could use the Sonic demographic; while chasing families and broader appeal makes sense to a certain degree, Mario arguably couldn’t be said to have a similar core of loyal fans to Sonic, but perhaps if Mario took a leaf from Sonic’s social media book, a more consistent core of fans would solidify around the franchise.

Sonic’s engagement is much better than Mario’s

Although recent trailers for the Super Mario Bros Movie may have changed this to a certain degree, conversations on social media tend to revolve around Sonic more than Mario. This is because Sonic’s social media presence encourages discussion and debate far more than Mario’s does. While it is certainly true that some will draw fanart or write fanfiction for Mario, it’s far less common for them to do so than it is for Sonic, and so we think if Mario adopted Sonic’s social media strategy, then fans would become more interested in the core tenets of the franchise as a result.

It’s more fun to check out Sonic’s tweets than Mario’s

On a basic level, engaging with the Sonic social media presence is far more enjoyable for fans and those who play the games casually than doing so for Mario would be. If you take a cursory glance at both feeds, you’ll likely spend longer scrolling through Sonic’s tweets; they’re funnier, more engaging, and stranger, while Mario’s tend to be more blandly promotional (with the occasional exception). All Nintendo would need to do in order to change this is to adopt a more off-the-wall social media strategy, and Mario’s tweets and online personality would be far more fun to engage with.

Of course, both Mario and Sonic have their individual demographics and fanbases to consider, but we think that Mario could learn a lot from Sonic when it comes to social media and Twitter in particular. While Twitter may be struggling a little at the moment, there’s no guarantee that it won’t end up on top again in a few years or even a few months. Mariowould do well to remember that Twitter is still hugely important in any social media approach.