Super Mario Bros is the better-designed game; Sonic the Hedgehog is the better-looking and better-sounding one. Mario's jump is the most precise control in games and its levels teach without text. Sonic is about momentum, and the first game has more platforming and less speed than its reputation suggests.
The two mascot platformers that defined their consoles, both built on one verb and levels designed around it.
Every level introduces a concept and tests it. The controls have not been bettered in forty years.
More like this: games like Sonic the Hedgehog.
Green Hill Zone, the soundtrack and the loops. The later Genesis entries — Sonic 2 and 3 & Knuckles — are the stronger games.
More like this: games like Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros is the better-designed game; Sonic the Hedgehog is the better-looking and better-sounding one. Mario's jump is the most precise control in games and its levels teach without text. Sonic is about momentum, and the first game has more platforming and less speed than its reputation suggests.
Better is the wrong question for these two — they are close enough that the answer depends on what you want from the next twenty hours. Pick Super Mario Bros if you want the design. Pick Sonic if you want the style.
No. There are no scores anywhere on this page. This is a written opinion about what each game is for, so you can judge whether it matches what you are after.