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The Similarities to Mario - Gameplay-wise

I read on an issue of Nintendo Power, an article on what various employees of game companies (SEGA, Nintendo, Capcom, etc.) had to say about Super Mario Bros. (the first one, as it was Mario's 25th anniversary) and saw an entry by Yuji Naka. He said that he enjoyed the game, but always wanted to get past World 1-1 as fast as possible. He stated that this ended up becoming a concept to be implemented in Sonic the Hedgehog.

Sonic the Hedgehog was then made to be Mario's competitor. As a result, he had to primarily be a Platformer, but as time went by, Sonic did other things, too. Just as Mario had.

Sonic's Rings are, predictably, based on Mario's Coins.

This is the core of Sonic's similarities to Mario, and the reason he is based on him. From day one of the SEGA/Nintendo rivalry, however, Sonic had always been presented as being "cooler" than Mario. So, basically, Sonic was a sped-up, "cool" Mario.

The Similarities to Mario - Characters

There are some similarities to Mario in terms of characters, their roles, and/or their personalities.

Shadow the Hedgehog is Sonic's rival, and looks a lot like him to boot. (Let's ignore the fact that he's black and red and not blue, for a moment)

Wario is Mario's rival, and looks a lot like him. (Wario is a lot... bigger, and his face seems to be stuck in a sick smile, and wears yellow and purple, but let's leave that alone)

They share a role as a rivaling doppelganger of their respective protagonists. But they have very different personalities; Shadow is just in a bad mood most of the time, while Wario is money-mad.

There are other similarities between other characters, but this one kind of sticks out the most in my mind. But, whatever the case, the similarities are most likely coincidence here. Anyone who knows Shadow's Sonic Team origins knows that he was not created to rival Wario at all. Their roles just happened to end up that way.