Hm... Well, there's the matter of them as mascots or "games". Many Mario games suck donkey balls also. Some just aren't like others AT ALL. Mario64 could've been using any other theme. Say, don't know... ninjas? pirates? pirate ninjas? whatever, would it have been that popular then? It is obvious that the fact that Mario was the main char has influded on that. Hence its being a good mascot (by no means do I say mario64 wasn't good by its own merits, anyway). Sonic is good as a mascot, also. But you are all right by saying that there's no good game (and if there is, PLEASE tell me) since Sonic Adventure 2. And I prefer Sonic A1, anyway. Well, some of the advance games were good, actually. And the first for DS was good (not great, but good). The second one sucks donkey balls.