Is this in the context of what the character has done in the game, i.e. is the person universally renowned as a hero?
For instance, Solid Snake surely would not get a standing ovation according to his game context because a) hardly anyone knows about him b) the politicians take credit for his actions c) his actions were widely purported as terrorism in MGS2 with no one knowing how he helped save the day.
But if it's just by recognition alone, then I'd say Mario. Casual people know of Mario; they don't know of Link.