Quote Originally Posted by Evastio View Post
I like Mario way better. That's like asking me if I like Cecil or Kefka better.

I guess it's time for me to reveal my big secret about my hatred of Link and The Legend of Zelda series (which explains why I make really long responses for threads like these).

Frankly, Link is the video game character that I hate the most (I'm actually almost starting to like Snake being in Brawl better than Link being in Brawl). The thing is although some game series like Mario, Sonic, and Pokemon are really liked, there's also quite large group of people that absolutely abhor those series. With the Legend of Zelda series, there isn't a group like that (I'd personally like to see anyone link me to a site that's proves otherwise). Because of that Link and his game series are horribly overrated. There's barely any balance at all between Link fanboys and Link haters. The Legend of Zelda series shouldn't be an exception to this yet they are.
Popularity is kind of a lame reason to hate a character and a game. (I hate Final Fantasy VII because it bored me to tears, not because it's so popular. xP) Link and the Zelda series receive higher praise because the games are so consistently awesome. Zelda games, with one or two exceptions, are always adventure games. There are very few spinoff games. Mario is more of a brand than a series of games, and because of that, it's difficult for one person to love all of his games because he's in just about every KIND of game.

Besides Link being overrated I don't like his character design either. I know people find Link much cooler and much more easier to take seriously than Mario, but personally I really don't get how people would think someone who wears pantyhose and a miniskirt is cooler than someone who just wears a cap, a red shirt, gloves, and an ordinary pair of blue jeans. Link having a realistic human look yet having an elf outfit is a really awkard combination that I personally don't like (although other people do). I also find Link's Ocarina of Time voice a lot worse than Mario's voice (good thing they found a new voice actor for Link in the Twilight Princess). Although people like how Link doesn't rely on allies as much as Mario does, I have the exact opposite opinion. Not having allies shows unsociability and arrogance within a character.
Link always struck me as incredibly humble, really. The fact that he can be saving the world without anyone really noticing it's him is, like, the opposite of arrogance. As for his design, well, he's from a medieval fantasy style game. He's going to have a character design to match.

Also although many of Link's games are really good, a lot of them are single player. Quite a lot of Mario's games don't have this problem. Although some of them are just spinoffs (like Mario Party, Mario Golf, Mario Kart, etc.) being able to play games with other people make those games much more fun despite not being that good. In a way, I guess a lot of people like Link's games better because they don't have anybody else to play multiplayer games with. Most of the time though, playing games multiplayer makes a game a lot more fun than playing a game that's of higher quality.
Zelda is a type of game that doesn't lend itself well to multiplayer. (Even though several of the Zelda games do have multiplayer modes.) Plus, Four Swords is way more fun than almost any multiplayer Mario experience. :P

There's also those Link fans that want him to replace Mario for Nintendo's main mascot. Seriously, do we really want little kids to be growing up with Link instead of Mario? I know Mario does do some violent things like beat people with hammers and burn people with fire but Link is a lot worse. He shoots arrows at his victims and slashes and stabs people with his sword. There's a reason why Mario is Nintendo's main mascot and Link isn't. It's not just because Mario was made first. It's because Mario is one of the most family friendly mascots that Nintendo have (I mean do we really want little kids wanting to shoot missles like Samus or shooting at things with Airwings like Fox?). Link driving a go-cart or Captain Falcon shaking up a soda bottle doesn't make much sense (unless you're making some sort of "Falcon Punch" joke). Although some people don't like seeing Mario and his friends being reduced to doing random things like that they're the ones that best fit the job (although I'd like to see Pokemon or Kirby doing that one day just for fun...).
I don't think many people really want him to replace Mario as the mascot. Quite the contrary, really. I think most of his fans want him to stick to adventure games, maybe making an appearance in a fighting game now and then. If he was the mascot, that wouldn't happen. Plus, Mario is Mr. Nintendo. Link will never take over that spot. :P

I would hope my kids would want to aim a bit higher than being a plumber, anyway. xP