• Top 10 Video Game Franchises

  

  Written by Zeromage 74 Comments
  Last Updated:: February 5, 2009

  There have been some video games that have been so popular that they were not only made into a series, but into a whole catalog of games, becoming a franchise. These franchise games would be released on every new system released by console developers. With a new Nintendo console would come a new Mario, Zelda, and Metroid. With a new Playstation console would come a new Final Fantasy and Street Fighter. These games were the backbone of these new systems because of how popular the preceding games were in the series. In this list we highlight what are the top 10 greatest franchises of all time in video game history. We were pulling no tricks with this list, but just knowing what the most popular franchises were by understanding how many games have been released for each. These franchises have created some of the most timeless games of all time for the video game medium.

  10. Donkey Kong

  Donkey Kong found his humble beginnings being the bad guy for Mario to destroy while saving the Princess, again and again and again. Still, Donkey Kong was not simply a bad guy. He was a fun looking beast who didn’t know right from wrong but just knew he thought the princess was pretty. He was sort of like Lennie Small from “Of Mice and Men”, unconsciously doing things for altruistic reasons but not realizing his lack of good form in approaching human situations. Luckily for Donkey Kong, he would become the lovable hero we all wanted him to be in the superb Donkey Kong Country series. It was in these games that Donkey Kong was the hero he was always supposed to be, by stopping King K Roll from achieving all of his nefarious ambitions of island by island imperialism. He would find his other appearance in the Mario Kart series where he could be devastating to play with if you knew how to control him. Get this big bastard accelerated and he would outspeed all the competition. Donkey Kong is known to everyone, regardless of if he’s shamelessly capturing a princess or trying to save an island from the grips of a wanton pirate.

  9. Castlevania

  Castlevania crossed platforms from 8-bit Nintendo, to Gameboy, to the Playstation and even to the Sega Genesis with Castlevania “Bloodlines”. Surely a series that could both be featured on a Nintendo and Sega system had to have something special going for it. It all started with Castlevania 1 which was one of the greatest side-scrollers of all time. Castlevania 3 would follow this same style but give the player more freedom in choosing which course he wanted to take on his quest. Castlevania 2 was a completely different beast and was one of the most haunting games to play for 8-bit medium. Castlevania hit it’s apex though in Castlevania “Symphony of the Night” which took the design of the Super Metroid and knocked it into a new dimension. This monster of a game had one of the finest soundtracks ever put to video game record and was one of the most finely detailed adventure games ever made. There has never been a bad game in the series, and for this reason is considered one of the greatest video game franchises of all time.

  8. Metal Gear

  Metal Gear for Nintendo was a beast of a game. It was one of the best games for an 8-Bit system that was loaded with great games. While Metal Gear 2 for Nintendo wasn’t as strong as the first installment, it was the Metal Gears for Playstation that would take this game into a new world. The game became more intricate, and became one of the best spy games of all time. Under the title “Metal Gear Solid”, Snake (your protagonist), a once retired solider, has to rid a compound of nuclear arms. The subtle design of the game went a long way for establish the fact that Metal Gear could transcend the greatness of its first installment. Avoiding the alarm lights not only brought about massive amounts of tension, but a sense of fun in trying infiltrate a seemingly imponderable fortress. This greatness in the Metal Gear franchise would continue in its sequel on the play station and all subsequent games. You could play these games over and over again.

  7. Mega Man

  Mega Man 1 was an OK game. Mega Man 2 though was an astonishing game with some of the greatest bosses of all time (check them out in our “Top 10 bosses from Mega Man” list). After Mega Man 2, the Mega Man franchise would become one of the biggest of all time with Mega Man becoming the premiere heros in the video game universe. Dr.Wily would become the most nefarious mad scientists in the video game universe after Mega Man 2 also. Mega Man 2 was not simply the end of a great series though, Mega Man 3 would continue the success of Mega Man 2 and include even more innovative bosses. Move on past the Mega Mans for the 8-bit Nintendo into the SNES and the video gamer had the privilege of playing the Mega Man X series which gave the original Mega Mans a run for their money. The bosses were more unique and X had more powers than the original Mega Man, not to mention a more elaborate and dramatic storyline. As one of the most fulfilling and fun side-scrollers to ever hit the video game world, Mega Man will forever hold it’s place as one of the greatest franchises in video game history.

  6. Metroid

  Much like Zelda and Castlevania, Metroid was a transcendent game that became so popular in it’s original inception that it was imperative to expand it’s output to the future Nintendo systems. If you thought Metroid 1 was great, wait until you played Metroid “The Return of Samus” for Gameboy. You would have never thought that a game on a black and white screen could be so addicting. If this wasn’t enough for you, wait until you played Super Metroid, which any reader of Old-Wizard knows is a bit of an obsession with us (putting in the top 10 of the “Top 100 greatest games of all time” and making a list specifically for the “Top 5 greatest bosses from Super Metroid“). This is arguably the greatest game of all time for us. Although Metroid’s apex was realized in the SNES, this franchises height of greatness would sustain itself on the Gamecube with the Metroid Prime Series which is arguably the greatest first person shooter adventure game ever created. The real task is trying to figure out which game is the greatest from the whole series.

  5. Street Fighter

  It wasn’t until Street Fighter 2 that the Street Fighter franchise would see its popularity reach new heights. Street Fighter 1 was ironically a poor mans Double Dragon, but SF2 established the fighting game style as one of the most popular not only for the coin-op industry for the whole console industry also. Many controllers were broken playing Street Fighter. Many fights were almost brought on by a loss to someone in the arcade at one of the Street Fighters. Street Fighter aroused a passion the gamer unmatched by 95% of the games ever released. Street Fighter 2 saw itself go into many different versions, adding on new characters and finally establishing M.Bison as the biggest and badass street fighter in the series, with Street Fighter Alpha. The games would always be solid and would slowly but surely build on the success of the original Street Fighter 2. Go into any arcades left standing these days and you will find some version of Street Fighter standing with it.

  4. Final Fantasy

  The Final Fantasy franchise will never be final, we know that for sure. Can anyone could how many Final Fantasies have been released for almost every video game system in existence? Seriously, someone answer this question for us. There’s an never-ending amount of games to the Final Fantasy and for good reason. They have the best story lines of any games ever made. They are bigger than any other games ever made, and are as dramatic as watching Citizen Kane for the first time. The finest point of the Final Fantasy series is Final Fantasy 3, a game that had the greatest story line ever put to a video game, so big you could probably publish it as a book, and this is just one game from an entire series that always came close to equaling this grandiosity. If you wanted the graphics to be more elaborate and more “techy” then you could play the incredible Final Fantasy 7. Final Fantasy 8 would only further the greatness of the series. One could go on and on about the Final Fantasy franchise. Frankly, there is just too much to talk about.

  3. Warcraft

  If this were a numbers game currently the warcraft franchise would be quite possible be number one. But this isn’t a numbers game. Well it is a game, and yes the game does contain numbers, like how much gold and lumber you have. And yes, they are important numbers because you need alot of them to build your army, and you also have to manage said money carefully or you won’t be able to upgrade your units in a timely manner, while of course re-supplying your defenses so your base isn’t destroyed. Of course then there is WoW were gold is even more important. You gotta save up for your abilities, mount, epic mount, flying mount, epic flying mount, that sweet piece of epic gear in the AH, and all the other fun stuff that Blizzard stuck into that hypodermic needle of a game. Which reminds me the Warcraft franchise is made by blizzard and is incredibly addictive.

  2. Zelda

  From the Zelda’s inception with Zelda 1 for the Nintendo to Twilight Princess on the Nintendo Wii, the Zelda franchise is one of the finest series of games to ever be put into in the hands of the video gamer. It’s hard to find a weak link in the Zelda franchise. Some will point to Zelda 2 for Nintendo, but we have argued time and time again that anyone who actually played the game would love it just as much as Zelda 1. Once one got past the difference in game playing style of Zelda 1, they were in for one of the biggest adventures for the 8-bit platform. Zelda would see it’s apex in “Zelda: Link To the Past” which hit the #1 spot on Old-Wizard’s Top 100 games of all time list. The Zelda series translated perfectly to every console including gameboy, the N64, and the Gamecube. Every game could be argued as being “one of the best” in the series. With this in mind, it would be impossible not to include Zelda in this list.

  1. Mario

  As everyone knows, Mario is Nintendo’s flagship franchise. This was the first game we at OW remember playing, and we were instantly addicted. Thus, for those who love to hate OW you can blame Mario because he is the reason we became the Sega hating, sarcastic, awesome, funny, handsome, great, …. anyway I digress. Though I can go on and on about how awesome this website is, we even made it to number one on this list we wrote about the best nerd websites. We didn’t ask for that recognition but it was welcome none-the-less. Anyway, back to Mario. The Mario Brothers franchise is constantly changing, unlike some franchises, which just have you running around in circles over and over again. I won’t say which game I’m referring to but it involves robots and animals, its basically a copy of Mario and it is very boring, not worth mentioning really. Mario on the other hand came out with something new and different each time, and each the game was a complete hit. I almost cried when I got Super Mario 3 for my birthday, that bright yellow package with Mario flying out of the package in his raccoon suit. Then there was Super Mario World which, at the time was even more awesome than Super Mario 3. This franchise is easily the most recognized face in the video game industry, and deserves to be number one.

74 Comments

1. #1 Gyb says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 8:48 am

   Dro: You don’t have to grind in Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross as the other (unused) characters automatically sync their level with the chars who are frequently used, just about 1-2 differences.

   And why grind, really? It makes the game waaaay easier.
2. #2 Jesse says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 3:05 am

   This list is the perfect example of why i love this site… nintendo fanboyism ftw!
3. #3 avi says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 10:05 pm

   I’d say: 10. Castlevania 9. Halo 8. Metroid 7. RE 6. Madden Football 5. Zelda 4. SF 3.MGS 2.FF 1.Mario.
4. #4 avi says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 10:41 am

   David MacPhail: There are a few things that make a good game, but most importantly: It has to be FUN.
5. #5 avi says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 10:47 pm

   Why do people on here hate pokemon? I don’t think it should be here, but if they made it a bit longer, then i might make a spot for it.
6. #6 avi says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 11:01 pm

   I changed my mind new top 10: 1.Mario 2.FF (That was easy.) 3.MGS 4.Silent Hill 5.Zelda 6.Madden 7.RE 8.Halo 9.Pokemon 10.Ratchet and Clank Honourable mentions:Castlevania, SF, Mortal Kombat, Sims, Megaman. Sonic maybe once but not now.
7. #7 avi says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 1:19 pm

   aggh I forgot Metroid!!!
8. #8 avi says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 6:50 pm

   MacPhail:If you didn’t know, the Zelda series has sold MORE than Sonic and Gran Turismo! Still consider it ”Garbage”
9. #9 avi says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 6:52 pm

   Oh, and don’t criticize me for fogetting the question mark.
10. #10 avi says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 9:21 pm

    or the ”r” in ”forgetting.”
11. #11 avi says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 2:09 pm

    pokemon is so overunderrated.
12. #12 Atom36 says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 1:12 pm

    fu ck old wizard . com you guys suck
13. #13 DoctaCossack says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 6:42 pm

    I believe that the Metroid series should be higher on the list, simply because unlike every other game franchise on the list, Metroid always has quality games. The first person shooters are a bit on the “iffy” side for me, but Metroid has ALWAYS been quality. Nintendo has never screwed up Metroid, never realeased a cash-in, and has a great trilogy of games released for Nintendo’s 3 best consoles: Nintendo, Game Boy, and Super NES.
14. #14 Avi says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 12:03 am

    WRONG. nintendo’s 3 best consoles;N64, wii and Gamecube.
15. #15 Avi says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 12:08 am

    how is warcraft, street fighter, or megaman better than FF, Metroid or MGS? the key word here being ”or”.
16. #16 DoctaCossack says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 2:17 pm

    Avi, Street Fighter was the first insanely popular fighting game that set the bar for future fighters. Also, it gave new life to arcades. Megaman was great because of it’s creative level design, challenge, excellent music, innovative powerups, and some of the best boss battles in history. I’m not gonna comment on the Warcraft series. I’ve never played any of them. And your ‘best Nintendo consoles’ comment is stupid. I’d bet you never owned all of Nintendo’s consoles if you’re saying that the Gamecube, 64, and Wii are their best consoles.
17. #17 Wolf says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 10:10 am

    “WRONG. nintendo’s 3 best consoles;N64, wii and Gamecube.”… i must admit N64 was good i have a wii and its not that great theres not many good games on it… crap the only good game i can think of is wii sports and the gamecube was a letdown not one of their best(i have one of them to) id take the NES or N64 over Wii or gamecube any day
18. #18 avi says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 12:01 pm

    doctacossack,

    regarding street fighter: i’m sorry it’s just that i don’t like fighting games much, they are good games but because they’re fighters they’re not that high on my list.

    as for megaman:the series has shown quite well that it doesn’t work in 3D, that’s the main reason why i don’t place it very highly on the list, i admit the 2D games are excellent though.

    and just because i have a different opinion doesn’t mean i haven’t played your favorite consoles.
19. #19 Delta says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 1:12 pm

    Avi…..

    You might not like Fighting games, but you can’t let your ignorance keep you from knowing how important the series was. I’m not a big fan of Fighting games now, but I was absolutely addicted to STREET FIGHTER II when it came out. I was actually a lot better at it then(both the Arcade and SNES port) than I am now. DoctaCossack is correct that it saved the Arcade industry. And look at how many imitators it spawned, including like a dozen from CAPCOM it’s self, STREET FIGHTER II’s publisher/developer. So, the STREET FIGHTER series is quite important.

    WARCRAFT, I haven’t played, but what I do know about it, it put new life into the RTS genre. And were it not for WARCRAFT, we wouldn’t have WORLD OF WARCRAFT. I’ve never played it, but I can’t deny that it’s been huge, causing the MMORPG genre to go from simply a successful niche to a massively successful market, at least with WOW. And has caused quite a bit of growth in the genre.
20. #20 avi says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 9:43 pm

    did i ever say street fighter was not an extremely important franchise? no. i said it was not that high on my favorite franchises.

    also, i hated world of warcraft, i think it’s highly overrated.