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
Dont even need to put sports, the Madden franchise has been the most successfull sports game for more than a decade.
Why is pokemon on the list? It’s the second biggest franchise(after Mario). Check wikipedia. Also, sports games should be removed, probably pacman as well. Age of Empies and/or Starcrat and/or Warcraft should be added. Also, no fighting games are there other than Mortal Kombat, so you should add, I dunno, Street Fighter, and The Sims is pretty good.
First of hello. and please don’t take this the wrong way…
With the way you have set up your list and have so many errors in the “why” statements, i really think you are not a gamer. as no self respecting gamer would put “Zelda and the Ocarina of Time” to quote you exactly. Since its widely considered the first console game to GET 3D adventuring right (PC is debatable) the name should come easily: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. now that thats off my chest….
most of the list I personally find adequate given the current state of video games and its 25+ year old industry. the main problem with the list is that it feels like hearsay and conjecture from your (note I feel this way because the post give me this vibe) short and small time with video games. In fact, I would probably not have seen this list if I wasn’t directed to it through a link. I see flaws within your list. Now with most replies I’ve seen here, they mostly are shouts of “WHY NOT THIS GAME???? IT ROCKS AND ________ SUCKS!!!!” with no reasoning or backing, they are implying that you know what they are talking about when they say something like that. I’ll try to avoid that.
My first dissension is your number 15 is Doom. It seems that you mistook Top for Most Influential. Doom was the first real FPS in Gaming history. everyone knows that(I would hope) and it did lay down much of the ground work for FPS games in general. (i.e. the BFG aka the super secret gun, the strongest gun in the game. getting it is like the holy grail. it is also seen in Goldeneye 007 for the N4 where the Golden Gun, a one hit KO pistol, is of the same nature.) now to get back to square one, Doom in and of itself is not in the Top fifteen. there have only been three games in the series. and many of the aspects of the first two games (cpu ai for example)have been out done by many mundane or nigh to forgettable games (killzone, quake The World is Not Enough 007) Doom 3, the most current iteration of the franchise, received a high score, but is often criticized for its overall poor game play for great graphics style (basically, not a game so much as an interactive Cg movie) this game doe not deserve this position.
next, only one sports game is more franchise due to the fact it has a history and popularity is nigh to unbeatable each year. Don’t loop things together like that unless your doing a Top Genre list. makes it sound less like you know what you are talking about. All that aside, I think sports games are pathetic personally, because nothing compares with the actual thing. the only game in this Genre that deserves attention is Madden. Madden defines what it means to produce a franchise game more than any other sports game because of many factors. One, the game never loses its core game play yet can still produce a new version year after year. Two, it’s the longest consecutive sports game series (at least from 95.) Three is that it rallies the hype-train (marketing strategy to rally buyers through mass advertising and merchandise. Halo and Pokemon are other note-worthy examples of this marketing ploy) effectively. combine all of these things and you get the success that is Madden. It’s probably the real reason EA games is still around.
Star Wars as a franchise is solid, you can’t really argue against it as a gaming giant. what you can argue is its claim to your Top 15 spot. Star Wars as a video game franchise relies too heavily on the existence of the movie franchise that the games wouldn’t exist otherwise. there are enough hit to garner a top 100 (KOTOR, Rouge Squadron, ETC) but there are too many misses (Bounty Hunter, Galactic Battlegrounds) for it to be in the Top 15. Star Wars fits into the negative area of gaming that exist only to rake in money. game made off of non-related media, such as movies and tv, fit into this area and are the WORST GAMES EVER (#2 ET for the Atari, #1 is Superman64) Star Wars is barely isn’t grouped in that cesspool. But i do agree that Lego Star Wars was fun. short, but fun.
I cannot believe you put MK up. not only that, you lack clear evidence to back up its position. too much opinion. ever since the fist Mortal Kombat, the series went down hill faster than sonic after Adventure 2 battle. there are plenty of higher rated Fighters out there (STREET FIGHTER, NIGHTSTAKERS, TEKKEN EVEN) that MK is overlooked in general gaming. it fits the influential list like Doom does more than a Top15 list. also: movies based off games as a general rule, reak. you have WAY too much opinion in this part.
GTA is a great game, and may define a genre (sandbox-esque) but to make a list means the franchise as a whole must be worthy. if you state that the first two games weren’t great, that’s about little less than half the series (1, 2, 3/Liberty city stories, Vice city+stories, San Andreas.) 4 has to be phenomenal in game play and entertainment to put it here. I think its in the Top 15, just not the Top 10…
I liked #2 the best personally.
Sonic the Hedgehog at #5? wow, what are you smoking? Up until Adventure 2 battle, the series was a contender for a top action game. when the series hit heroes on though, the only game franchise to hit a nose dive faster than this one was Bubsy. (3D KILLED Bubsy. in one game!) the Blue Blur has some of the best games, but Heroes, Next Gen Sonic the Hedgehog, and Shadow are widely considered bad. Just plain rotten. Sonic hit one hell of a hough patch. and although he is my favorite game character, he doesn’t belong at #5. not anymore.
Halo is a touchy subject. Its a decent game, in fact, many cite it as the best FPS, the fact is it’s sorta the best, I’ll explain. Halo got what many other games tried to do right. Duel wielding(Goldeneye 007, Perfect dark) vehicles (Perfect dark, any WW2 shooter) and so many other things my mind would explode if I tried to name them. But Halo in and of itself is generic to a fault. “shooting at aliens on another planet? OMG I’ve never seen a game like this (DOOM) before!” What Credit should be given out for Halo’s success is to its Marketing Team. Pokemon is the only Franchise that tops Halo in the Hype-train strategy. I’m pretty sure Game Fuel(mountain dew Halo endorsement), Heroclix figures(action figure game along the lines of DnD and chess, if they had a love child) books, and various rumors spawning even from the day Halo 2 was released(there is gonna be a trilogy!) make up the bulk of the second most successful hype up in video game history. Halo does many things right, but in all doesn’t exceed or stand out if you take away the hype Microsoft created. Finally, Halo is over as far as Bungie is concerned, and that means any other installments will be for milking the series for cash.
Now, the rest of the list seems fair, but a few games that need to be considered are:
Pokemon
the best team based RPG in existence, well into its 10th anniversary and still going strong. gave us the largest Product marketing hype up ever (still hasn’t slowed down) and introduced many game play mechanics for video games in general (downloadable exclusives such a Mew, and many other Pokemon, Rock paper scissors combat for team building, Modern setting) that many similar games(Digimon FF tactics) still don’t achieve a better game play score in comparison. the cartoon and card game are still around too.
Warcraft
arguably the best Tactical game ever, with four different factions at its peak (3, Rein of Chaos) with so many character units for each, it is truly a thinking players game, as strategies on playing it vary so greatly, its still a blast to play. and lets not forget the MMORPG Monster that is World of Warcraft that has “over 6 million players worldwide”
Truly a Franchise of Franchises.
Now, they way i see it, you have a good list with some minor errors that hinge on your own opinions. if you supplement factual references or, state that this list is your OPINION in the first place, then please, post that. otherwise, i offer this list of Franchises I find to be the Top 15
15: Street Fighter
14: Castlevania
13: GTA
12: Sonic
11: Madden
10: Final Fantasy
9: Mega Man
8: Metroid
7: Halo
6: Pokemon
5: Resident Evil
4: Metal Gear
3: Warcraft
2: The Legend of Zelda
1: Super Mario
Is the list based on sales of games because then you should add Pokemon. I’d include streetfighter too.
Final Fantasy should be #1. I am upset now. Thanks for ruining my day
Does anyone know if GTA4 has hit Number one, of all time, yet?
Call of Duty, Command and Conquer, and Madden belong somewhere on this list.
Crimanon: No idea checkout ign.com
Crimanon: Yeah i think it got like a 99% rating or something beating Zelda.
I don’t think Halo deserves a place in this list. Sure, it’s great (although I wouldn’t go as far as calling it the best FPS out there), but it’s a way too young franchise to be in the top 15.
Pokemon, on the other hand, should have been there – it’s the second best-selling franchise in the world, just after Mario, and has had a huge cultural impact.
I also think that Final Fantasy should have been higher on the list.
personally cmon metroid should have been down in the top three that game makes you focus and solve puzzles while still having it being action packed!!! yay nice one with the resident evil though it was fantastic
Why isn’t Pokemon on the list?
Pokemon is second best selling francise ever after Mario. Out of top 25 best selling video game ever, Pokemon titles make up seven of them and Pokemon red/blue/green is best selling video game ever.
Uh, what about Half-Life? FAIL
I’d have to say Tomb Raider belongs on the list. And the Sims games, whether it be SimCity or The Sims. But it’s definitely gotta be hard to make an abbreviated list of something like this.
15. Sonic the Hedgehog
14. Doom
13. Grand Theft Auto
12. Halo
11. Half-Life
10. Call of Duty Infinity Ward)
9. Warcraft
8. Madden
7. Resident Evil
6. Street Fighter
5. Castlevania
4. Metal Gear
3. The Legend of Zelda
2. Final Fantasy
1. Mario
Love mortal kombat and sonic. Sega Rules!!!
Zelda is definately my favourite franchise. it’s completely awesome and pretty much every game is good!
WTF no Metal Gear? It should’ve made it into the list!
IMHO Halo is just your run of the mill shooter with beefed up graphics that make everyone go gaga for it. The gameplay is repetitive, go here, kill (insert current target name here flip), press/flip/use (generic switch for advancing in level), repeat ad nauseum. The multiplayer is inventive, but not impressively so. The guns are pretty standard, especially in the second installment, though the third fixed this a little. If you say that it is good because so many people like it, that’s like saying somiking’s good because so many people are addicted to it. Overall, however, Halo should not be on this list.
Do you even play half the games you featured in this list?
“Zelda and the Ocarina of Time”? Seriously, WTF?!?!?
And I believe you left out Pokemon, Half-Life, Silent Hill, and Super Smash Bros.
Final Fantasy should be in the top three. It’s epic! It’s been around for 20 years and still going strong. But maybe I’m biased
Final Fantasy VII is the best game in history.
Mega Man X was my favorite of the Mega Man games. I remember drinking Surge and eating Flaming Hot Cheetos quite a lot playing that game. The right side of my SNES controller was orange!
I agree with krow. also where is the mother series?
one and half word.
Half-Life.
AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW, No Elder Scrolls, Might and Magic and what about the Monkey Island series?^^
Poke’mons not on there and its the most popular franchise in the world.
Halo at #4… pffft! Halo would be lucky to make Top 15 at all.
Sports Games at #13 is too generic and needs to be broken down to Madden, or Tiger Woods, or FIFA etc…
Final Fantasy should be higher up the list, and the fact that you rate Mega Man and Mortal Kombat better than FF reeks to the high heavens. FF7 is one of the best games EVER.
Metal Gear should be in here somewhere.
Most importantly though… where is Half-Life?
What about Fallout, Call of Duty, Metal Slug, Contra, Metal Gear Solid? All these series have at least 4 games in them (Fallout series with a game called Wasteland) which should qualify them as franchises I’d say.
There just aren’t enough spaces on this list…
Metal Gear Solid should be on the list countless 10/10 on gamespot.com on most of the games metal gear solid 4 is rated as one of the best games of all time!
call of duty…..
What no Quake? Quake 1 was pure deathmatch mayhem
What about Silent Hill? I would say the Fatal Frame series (it’s my own personal favorite) but I realize it’s not universally loved. It does, however, have a loyal following.
I like anything nintendo. so i was pretty exited when i saw this list. they should put a list on “top female video game characters” i’d LOVE to see that
pretty good except pokemon and street fighter isnt on there and the resident evil movies suck balls.they give the game a horrible name.theyre not even based on the story which makes them retarted
and half-life should be on there
Pokemon should be on there!
I’d go like this: 15.Ratchet & Clank 14.DK Country 13.Mortal Kombat 12.The Sims 11.Megaman 10.Castlevania 9.Halo 8.Metroid 7.RE 6.Madden 5.Zelda 4.SF 3.MGS 2.FF 1.Mario.
Forgot the Medal of Honor and Call of Duty series. Best FPS’s EVAR!
Sims?
You left out STREET FIGHTER II, it was originally the biggest game in the world.
List = EPIC FAIL!
worst list ever
and might I add, I’m surprised you didn’t add “Shooting Games” as a franchise.
I am very disappointed that Pokemon does not appear on the list. The Pokemon games make some of the greatest worldwide sales in history, yet it gets topped by Pac-Man, a franchise only known to be good in the arcades of yesteryear?
Do you know anything about the video game industry? Anything at all? Did you put in any research?
metal gear solid?
Uhhh…so much to say.
“Sport games”. Lmao. Considering FIFA and Madden are the 8th and 9th highest selling video game franchises ever, don’t you think they deserve seperate spots?
-Sonic is the most overrated game franchise ever made.
-Halo has only 3 main titles. 3…very similar games.
-Pacman? Idiottt… Lol.. I am actually laughing right now.
-You’re 1 and 2 are utterly safe and predictable.
-The picture you’ve used for Final Fantasy does not convey at all what the series is about.
Note I did not complain that certain series were not here, only that certain series WERE. You strike me as a very immature gamer if you think PacMan and Sonic are amongst the best ever.
Im suprised Pokemon isn’t here. Guitar Hero? You’re lame enough to pick them.
no street fighter thats bad
FRATER BLASPHEMY ??!!
Where is command and conquer AAND red alert
Where is tekken and street fighter
where is diablo and warcraft
AND TOMB RAIDER or
Need for speed !!
Do everybody a favor and put a second list on the site
I’m surprised wolf stein wasn’t any where in here! it used to occupied many of late night hours for me!
what about cod? i dont know when this list was created, but Modern Warfare, WAW, and Modern Warfare 2 are the best selling game on the planet. And i did mean WAW not WoW
Agreed, Call of Duty should be on the list.
What? No World of Warcraft?
I know this was probably said before, but Tails was not introduced in Sonic 3. Knuckles was, but Tails originated from Sonic 2.
what is this, i don’t even…
I like to tickle men’s balls with my tongue
i realy hate it when people dont give the Street fighter series the astonishing credit it deserves. like nobody knows how much it influenced games after it came out. like any games main character in a fighting genres has like 4 ryu ripoffs and it developed pvp tactics and so much more street fighter deserved the number 2 spot. ***** the legend of zelda hes got the smallest fan community of any successful game
@crimanon i read through 81 comments waiting for some1 to say something about streetfighter and then start a incoherent rant about it until u beat me to it. shame on all the first 81 commentors
NO WAY IN HELL is halo better than metroid, megaman, and final fantasy. This list is just stupid! Atleast he go the top 2 right tho
this list is garbage
wtf really man??? no street fighter?????? this list sucks
no Pokemon?!?!??! they made massive impact on pop culture and its still going they made a cartoon 1 year later and comic 1 week later and thieve made more money then Zelda this lists awful
WTF!!! Halo?Halo? seriously what impact did halo have..it’s just an average shooting game nothing spectacular..ooooooohh graphics..who gives a flying *****…gameplay is all that matters..i love resident evil games but it gotta be moved down,same with mega man..mega man hasn’t dropped a jaw-dropping game since the 90′s..Sonic games are repetative and boring..Metroid has to move up to like 5 at least..Final Fantasy gotta be in the top 3…Mario & legend of zelda do deserve the top 2 slots tho..