What if Sonic & Mario were released now?

There's a lot of love for Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog these days. People just adore these mascots, they claim they are the best characters ever and have the best games. It's amazing how much people will tolerate from these two as well, Mario has become a real media sellout and Sonic has... well made a consistent list of terrible games. Yet people still buy into it unquestioning. Both Mario and Sonic got their start in the early years of gaming with the NES and Sega Genesis, and it strikes me that that's a possible reason as to their success. People remember how good they were back in the past and how they entertained them as kids (thank you Yahtzee) and as such they've become very popular so much so that they get a very undeserved free ride and get to make bad games and do stupid things and no one will question them.

However I'm playing the magical 'what if' game and suggesting that if back in the eighties Mario and Sonic had never been released, instead the very first Mario brothers was released on the Nintendo Wii and the very first Sonic game was too. Both of these games would have to offer little more than jumping from thing to thing and running fast. Next to games like Portal, Bioshock, Halo, Half Life, Metal Gear Solid, Gears of War, Mass Effect and various others I don't think these games would even be noticed. They wouldn't be popular.

Seriously imagine it, would Sonic and Mario even MATTER if they got their debut in this console generation?

I guess not, but I actually like that kind of games, so if I heard of them, I would probably like them.

It depends.

Mario was successful because it was fun, and the same goes with Sonic. It all depends on the console.

360? Not enough blood.
PS3? Not enough length.
Wii? Not enough interactivity.
With the handhelds, they're perfect.