Video games have been around for quite a while and have rapidly become one of the industrialized world’s greatest past times. Over the years, the staying power of many of the electronic entertainment industry’s mascots have depended greatly on how popular they play out with kids and adults alike. For instance, Pit Fall Harry hasn’t been all that exciting since a few popped up after his Atari hey-days, and Centipede was a huge contender 20 plus years ago, but his value faltered. As for today’s audience, it takes some massively engrossing adventures, spooky plots, and just a little bit of sex and violence to keep their collective heads above the saturated water. Here are TWELVE OF MANY that have done the job.
15. Doom
Igniting the First-Person Shooter genre in 1993, DOOM made a huge impact on the video gaming world. Allowing a player any number of borderline ridiculous weaponry, one was able to lay waste to monsters and aliens. Spawning a rapid sequel, DOOM II in 1994, the franchise has gone on to make a huge name for itself. Oh, and the movie starring The Rock was pretty sad. My personal favorite? I wore my controller out to DOOM for sure!
14. Castelvania
Spawning quite a few games of its own, the epic struggle of good versus vampire has been around since Simon Belmont first swung his whip. Now, several incarnations later, some of the best versions have mad appearances on the Nintendo hand-held systems and, as the rumor mill grinds, a movie is in the works as well.
13. Sports Games
Be them EA Sports, John Madden presenting, NASCAR sponsored, or the ever-present Acclaim, sports games have been around guarding its own little corner of the market since one could hurl a lighted red dot at another, slightly less red dot. The realism today is such that it nearly feels as though you are playing the television as opposed to a video game. My personal favorite? Hockey.
12. Star Wars
Never has a more viable movie double-trilogy transferred with such ease onto the video game screen. Back in the days of Atari (2600, 5200) one could experience the feel of The Empire Strikes Back by battling the dreaded ATAT walker, and things just got better from there. Now, with games dedicated to either the expansion or destruction –whichever you prefer– of the Jedi, you can practically run an entire galaxy. My personal favorite? Lego Star Wars.
11. Pacman
Since his gluttonous beginnings gracing arcades all over the place, the pellet-munching yellow fellow has grown to spawn as many sequels as possible ranging from Ms. Pacman, to Pacman Junior, to Pac-Land, to even his own Saturday Morning cartoon series from the eighties and a pretty retched cereal to boot. My personal favorite? I was always partial to Ms. Pacman. HOT!
10. Metroid
Remember when you discovered Samus was a girl? Yeah, I was pretty freaked out about that, too. But it was such an awesome original game for the NES that I forgave the oddity and went on to eventually play as many of her ‘offspring’ as I could. The game remains a Nintendo staple to this day. My personal favorite? Metroid Prime was outstanding!
9. Final Fantasy
I can still recall the very first time I fell in love with an honest to goodness roll playing game for the Nintendo, and Final Fantasy (along with Dragon Warrior) was it. Being in charge of a slew of travelers come warriors and the epic landscapes and adventures therein was just amazing. The music was stellar, and the menu screens… well, it’s all nostalgia now. Either way, FF has produced a ton of sequels and spin-offs for every level of player. My personal favorite? FF-III all the way!
8. Mortal Kombat
There was something special to be said about a video game for a system rival to the Super Nintendo called the Sega Genesis wherein you could actually wrench out a player’s spine or burn his skull to a bloody crisp, and Mortal Kombat was it. I actually bought the system just for this game so my friends and I could see all the arcade-style blood and gore… only to find out that a year later Nintendo would finally do the same thing. Oh well, the Genesis came in handy for other games as well. Anyway, MK produced hit after hit, two pretty cool films, and a theme song that still hasn’t left my subconscious. My personal favorite? I am a sucker for the original as it still holds a warm place in my heart.
7. Mega Man
Beginning its reign for the Nintendo system back in the original NES’ hey-day, Mega Man and his arch-nemesis Dr. Wily burst onto the scene with a cool new addition: with each defeated level you took on the boss’ power! Mega Man went from pellet-launching blue boy, to fire, saw blades, leaves, spikes, or any number of other items firing killer! The objects he could procure just kept getting more obscure and each came in handy in destroying some other foe. Awesome! My personal favorite? Mega Man 3 was really tough at the time and took me forever to get through.
6. Grand Theft Auto
Though the original two installments of this much maligned series were nothing more than cars smashing into one another, it was the release of Grand Theft Auto 3 that changed the very face of video gaming as we know it. If you haven’t been privy to this masterpiece, you must try it for yourselves and feel just how much fun it is to destroy everything in sight. Even hookers. Since then, the series has gotten better and better. My personal favorite? GTA 3 did it for me for HOURS!
5. Sonic The Hedgehog
Sega’s answer to Nintendo’s little, mustachioed plumber was a blue-spiked critter who could attain super-fast speeds and bust through scenery on his way to collecting whirling rings. Though not necessarily a knock-off of Nintendo’s poster child, Sonic was very similar but continued to differ in future installments. His reign continues today but, since Sega no longer makes a system, he can be found on the Playstation. My personal favorite? Sonic three was cool with the introduction of Miles Prower the fox, and Knuckles the echidna.
4. Halo
Very few other games have had the power of Halo when it comes to the masses lining up for its release. Though only on its third installment, Halo has no plans of slowing down in any foreseeable future and everyone knows that Master Chief will return for part 4 as soon as the masterminds get it made. My personal favorite? I’m sad to admit I have never played….
3. Resident Evil
Such a scary and other-worldly game, one would think, would never find its niche in a world controlled by first-person shooters and RPG’s, but those people would have been dead wrong. Resident Evil introduced us to the Umbrella Corporation and its horde of the undead as you, as Claire and Alice, take on the monsters in darkened locations and eerie surroundings. Not so much loud and obnoxious as other games similar, Resident Evil has relied on hidden horrors and surprising terror to give it ‘life’. Oh, and let’s not forget the movie trilogy that really is quite good. My personal favorite? I like R.E. 2 since it was the first one I played and beat.
2. The Legend Of Zelda
One of the most prolific and fantastic franchises ever to grace every Nintendo Entertainment system, Link stars as the perpetual hero in the constantly consistent Zelda series of video games. Beginning its reign of constancy with the original Legend of Zelda, Link has had to shrink to miniature size, travel the seas on a wind-blown dragon boat, and do battle through time as a wolf. The series continues to fascinate and intrigue newer and older gamers alike providing games for the large screen and the hand-held systems. My personal favorite? Zelda and the Ocarina of Time made me weep with joy! This is also a game that is so popular with Listverse readers that its exclusion would cause a near mutiny!
1. Mario
From his humble beginnings as the wary climber leaping over monkey-tossed barrels in Donkey Kong, Mario has gone on to host an enormous series of amazing games. Ranging from the outstanding original, Super Mario Brothers for the Nintendo, to the sequel featuring him and his cohorts in dreamland, to the third installment where you could become a raccoon, to his exploits as a guy made out of paper, to the newest: Mario Galaxy, this prolific plumber has done it all. In fact, members of his entourage have gotten their own titles including Luigi as a ghost collector, Yoshi exploring his island, and even Wario and his unusual games. Mario is the number one son of the Nintendo Entertainment System and his reign looks to be going nowhere soon.
Contributor: StewWriter
Zelda? No Zelda at all?
Also, that movie starring The Rock was “Doom,” not “Halo.”
Zelda is number two dude.
WTF? Umm Rock in a Halo movie? NO! try doom. and yes any TOP 10 list that doesn’t include Zelda is worthess IMHO.
Sonic, Halo, Mario, Final Fantasy, GTA. All awesome. But seriously, GTA ahead of Final Fantasy? I think you need to rethink the order a bit mate, the final fantasy series as a whole is incredible, and definitley deserves to be at least in the top 3.
i’d say grand theft auto should be ahead of sonic, seeing as how sonic only had 4 real big hit games. nice list nonetheless.
Thanks for the correction guys – I have updated the list.
WoW?
This has got to be the first gaming list I have seen without Zelda.
Still no zelda!!!
Hmm, I’ve just noticed a reccuring theme of ‘this is only some of them’, or ‘this is 10, but not in any order’ in StewWriter’s lists haha
Blizzard has done a lot to impact the video game world with Warcraft & Diablo
diablo, warcraft, starcraft, zelda WHERE!!!!!!!!!!!
WoW is great I am super addicted but I don’t think it belongs on this list.
john doan: diablo, warcraft and starcraft are not franchises. There might be a case for warcraft, but definitely not the other two.
Awww… I hate to be negative here, but I think Half-Life should be on here. Not only is it a very awesome game, but it has had one the most popular mods ever, Counter-Strike (and all of it’s versions).
From Wikipedia:
“Counter-Strike is the most widely played online first-person shooter in the world. In 2002 there were over 30,000 populated Counter-Strike servers on the Internet (second place was Unreal Tournament with about 9,800). In 2004, GameSpy statistics showed over 85,000 players simultaneously playing Counter-Strike at any point in time, and in 2006, Steam regularly shows over 200,000 players for Counter-Strike (this includes Counter-Strike: Source, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero and Counter-Strike). According to statistics gathered by Valve’s content-delivery platform, Steam, these players collectively contribute to over 6.17789 billion minutes of playing time each month, as of February 5, 2007, solidifying its position as the most popular online first-person shooter of all time.”
i feel compelled stew. despite this already being said…no zelda?!?!?!? just the three on the original NES are a better series than sonic, and that doesn’t even take into effect all of the great chapters on other systems. this seems like such an obvious choice.
did you do this on purpose to get us all up in arms? if so, i might blow the magic whistle and me and my buddy link will show up at your house to talk about it.:)
Link wouldnt talk about it
anesb: Half Life is not a franchise.
Oh boy – another controversy
I’m surprised the whole id Games empire wasn’t included…Doom and Quake. Led the pack way back when…spawned TONS of knock-off’s (still doing so) using Carmack’s rendering engines.
Jamie: this is not a controversy, its fact Zelda is one o the greatest franchises of all time, and anyone who knows a lick about gaming knows this.
i guess for games like half-life, Civilization, warcraft….is what exactly is stew using to determine if its a franchise or not?
like the other list, no Civilization????
Hrmmm… interesting you say so, Dangorironhide. Because the VP of EA thinks differently.
“We consider Half-Life and Counter-Strike to be two of the best game franchises of all time,” said Tom Frisina, Vice President and General Manager, EA Partners. “We could not be more excited to have the opportunity to help deliver these outstanding games to players around the globe.”
From itvibe.com
StewWriter is awesome! he got the guts to do a “top 10 video games”
i though about it, but i was afraid as hell! how can you please 10.000 pleople who like 100 diferent videogames ? You can’t! I bow to you StewWriter
First no Zelda, really. Second sports games is not a franchise. Madden or Tiger Woods or Blitz is a franchise.
I know this is a small thing, but Tails first appeared in the second Sonic game, not the third…yeah, I’m pathetic for knowing that.
No zelda? That’s just silly.
Really, no Zelda?
No half-life, no zelda?
Juggz: I know nothing about gaming whatsoever – I can’t pass judgement
the only thing i have to say is sports games should be higher on the list…madden games sell like crazy, baseball games (including the triple plays form back in the late 90′s) sell like crazy. 2K sports, EA sports, EA Big, 989 Sports, Acclaim, and Midway all companies that made amazing games on multiple levels that continually get better and push the development of game engineering. Madden itself is it’s own franchise, being one of the top selling ones ever. easily the op sports franchise…also, tony hawk games are another HUGE seller…but otherwise, great job on the list
Sorry to not see any of the old PC RPGs like Ultima, Wizardry, or Might & Magic. Or any MMORPGs. Otherwise, good list.
Can we have some kind of list that manages to include Colecovision’s Smurf Adventure? That would make me happy.
No WoW?
/me cries on your shoulder.
OH MY GOD! I HONESTLY completely forgot Zelda and I should be punished repeatedly with solid metal objects about the face and neck. I had NO intention of creating a controversy and I am absolutely the most ignorant human being on the planet. I LOVE that franchise and have played many of the numerous games. I will now appeal to Jamie (ha) to add it as number 2 (will that suffice?) and I’ll do a bit of a synopsis. FORGIVE ME!
Mario dug the trench and laid the rubble, but Zelda paved the path of the gaming industry today. Mario does deserve #1 spot without a doubt, Zelda should have bee #2 and FF should have been #3. Halo and Resident Evil should not be on the list Halo is trying real hard to make a cache on the gamers and has it calling but still not a top game franchises. Resident Evil? Halo is closer to being on this list than RE. Half-Life should have been on here as it has expanded out of its box and into a new one with Counter-Strike. Sports games should have been #4 just because there are a million to chose from and they come out with another 200+/- every year to make you want to upgrade from your pathetic wimpy last years game. Ultima…you forgot Ultima. They have as many if not more releases than FF though not of the same quality. That and they went online and still run as the longest mmorpg running (not including mmuds). 10 years and running with a strong population. Not as big as WoW or SWG…but still.
anywho…i think I have rambled off enough…lol… my list would have been
1. Mario
2. Zelda
3. Final Fantasy
4. Sports Games
5. Half-Life
6. Metroid
7. Castlevania
8. Ultima
9. Mega-Man
10. Mortal Combat
11. Doom
12. GTA
13. Myst
14. Pac-Man
15. Sonic
Ravyn: Looks good, and as I said, I have remedied my terrible error of leaving Zelda out. Should be corrected soon…
Pacman??? Has there been a good original game since atari? get rid of it.
Has Anyone said Metal Gear Solid. The PS1 game was epic and the PS2 games were also awesome.
Oh yea and Zelda
ok – so what the heck is zelda?? She sounds very popular.
Jamie: I ought to smack you for that. I can’t tell if you are being sarcastic or honest.
Ravyn: haha – and I am not going to tell you which it is
Well that is fine. If you are being sarcastic that is cool. If you are being honest though, I guess I will just not tell you the answer to that one.
Ravyn: okay – I wasn’t – what is it?
Jamie: Still unsure if you are being sarcastic. I think now either you are trying to make fun of me for not knowing you were really being sarcastic in the first place or you genuinely don’t know.
Do I over-*****yze?
Ravyn: Halo does belong on this list. All the records halo 2 and 3 broke, i mean c’mon halo 2 had the highest grossing sales in one day in video game history only to be broken by halo 3 on its release. it is definatelty one of the biggest game franchises ever.
Jamie: look up The legend of zelda on wiki, plenty of info there
I think that the “Sports” franchise is very generic, thats more like a type of game (like FPS, RTS, action/adventure) not a franchise. Thats a wasted spot, that could have been replaced by some other true franchises, like Metal Gear, Age of Empires, Warcraft… emmm Zelda… I don’t think that pacman is a franchise either, yes it has some games but its all about the same thing, if that was the case then Tetris could have appeared on this list (Tetrisphere somebody???)…
Wait? jfrater, did you ask ‘what the heck is Zelda’?! Sarcastic or not, here comes a response! Allow me to school you…
The Legend of Zelda series is the beginning, the end, the one who is many. Wait. Maybe not quite… heh.
Ready for my incredibly horrible summary of the series?
Zelda is a princess, and for some reason has a series of games bearing her name. Always made me confused… considering in every game it’s some green-clad guy named Link who’s saving the world. Essentially, there’s this triforce doohicky that was left behind in the land of Hyrule that can give it’s bearers ultimate power. Obviously, there’s gonna be a bad guy who wants said power, but first has to gain all three pieces of the Triforce. So you have Zelda, the princess of Hyrule and bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom; Link, the hero, and bearer of the Triforce of Courage; Ganondorf (or Ganon), the villain, bearer of the Triforce of Power. This stays pretty much uniform throughout all the games in the franchise. If you want more specifics, Google/Wiki it. You’ll find tons of info on all the different games!
Either way, it’s an awesome franchise, and it should have definitely made the list. After all, I think BBC did a ‘most awesome video game ever’ (or something like that) list a while back… and ‘The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time’ was listed as number one! Everything else was pretty good… except the Star Wars video game ‘franchise’. I agree that as a movie franchise it would qualify for the top 12… but games? Eh… I don’t think so. But that’s just my two cents.
(I normally never comment on boards… I prefer being a lurker. But this… it broke my LoZ lovin’ heart…
)
Juggz: was that you in that video on your site or was that a found vid?
Just because you are one of the many who have fallen for the Halo trance (yes I play Halo and still have 1 and 2) doesn’t mean it is a top game franchise. Sorry hun but that is it. Yes it has 3 games out, yes it has millions of people that are eatting out of the companies hands. But seriously….. bah… like talking to a brick wall.
Faolin: thanks
you will be pleased to know that Zelda is coming in the update to the list shortly.
jfrater: WAH HOOO! *personally thinks that Zelda should be at the top of the list, but may be a bit biased…
* Yeah… it’s definitely deserving of a top 12 spot. It’s a shame that (now I’m assuming) you were never exposed to the game. If you ever have time, I highly recommend playing at least one of the Zelda games. They are quite awesome! 
Ravyn: no it wasnt mein the video, i wish i was that creative
falling pray to Halo trance does not negate its popularity, while it may not be one of your favorite games it is indeed one of the biggest game franchises of all time.
This has inspired me to come up with a much more informed top 10 frachises list. ill post it on my blog over the weekend then you can come criticise me Ravyn
Jamie: assuming that you haven’t played and really don’t know what Zelda is. Definatly try one out for size. I would recommend the first one provided you have a NES system. It is truely a great series and is very deserving of a top spot.
Juggz: I will see to it.
BTW: I never said Halo wasn’t one of my favs.
I would have to say that I agree with Ravyn’s list…the lack of Zelda is troubling indeed, as many have already pointed out. But nonetheless, brave attempt, and not an entirely bad one. I think we just have a lot of geek users… 0=)
Kelsi: Um geek users….you think? I don’t know. Oki yeah I would have to say I agree on that
Any top video game list that has no mention of Zelda…sigh…I have to respectfully disagree. There’s no way that Mortal Kombat, Mega Man, or Sonic are in the same league as Zelda.
Dont think eny1 has said Crash bandicoot,number 1 was a great game back in the day,
WoW is missing too
I’d like to add my opinion on this list (love the site, but never had a reason to say anything).
I think neglecting the SimCity franchise (est. 1989) is neglecting a huge portion of gaming history. It spawned a whole genre of games and is still being updated.
Worrymon: I thought about the Sims while making the list I made in the comments but forgot to put it in and remembered it after I couldn’t edit it anymore…lol…completly agree wit the sims.
right – zelda is in! Crisis averted
WOOT! Near Mutiny for the win!
ehem…i mean very nice
I have outrun the masses, quit a feat for a fat guy, and come out surprisingly unscathed and, hopefully, vindicated. Zelda and Doom are aboard. Please, relinquish yon pitchforks. Oh, and have a nice day.
looks like i didnt get here soon enough for all the controversy over this list, but, i think it’s good, there are some missning, notably:
Half Life and Sim City
As for Halo, there are no plans for Bungie to make Halo 4, Bungie has said many times that the Halo story is a trilogy, and it is over and done with with the 3rd one. Anyone who’s beaten it knows it is.
Now that Bungie and MS are no longer together, and MS can do what they want with Halo, i see them getting someone else to make Halo 4, and it sucking hard core.