The Best Gaming Franchise

Everyone who has ever touched a console has a favorite game series of some sort. According to Wikipedia, the top selling franchise of all time is Mario with over 210 million copies of various games sold, followed by Pokemon with 193 million and then Tetris with 125 million. There are many notables on the list including The Sims, Legend of Zelda, Sonic the Hedgehog and much more.

Think back to your own gaming collection. Today and growing up, is there any series you bought more times then every other? I can name more than a few people who have played the entire Final Fantasy series, and who hasn't picked up a copy of Donkey Kong or played a game of Madden at some point in there life?

After giving it much though, it was pretty easy for me to list my top 5 gaming franchises. This is a personal list based on how much enjoyment I received from the series and the number of games I've bought over the years of it. How close is your list to mine?


Number 5: Doom
Developed and produced by Id software, Doom goes back a long way with me growing up as a kid amazed at having an 8 mb hard drive being just enough to play the only game that ever mattered on my PC. Doom puts the player into the role of a nameless space marine fighting hordes of demons through Mars, Earth and Hell.

Graphically amazing for it's time, the series amazingly has aged really well. With hundreds of really good free fan made levels, a majority of good level design in the original game and the much care and craft put into it by the likes of John Romero, Sandy Peterson, American McGee, John Carmack and others this game and it's sequel will live on an eternity. If you have never touched one of these games, it's not to late. Buy em off of steam and see why first person shooters used to be called "Doom Clones" in 1994.



Number 4: Metal Gear

Metal Gear originally released on an old computer console MSX brought forth a new genre of gameplay with it's stealth elements favored over direct combat, and a heavily developed narrative that keeps fans returning for more. When the utilization of 3d graphics in Metal Gear Solid the game was reborn and turned Solid Snake into a house hold name.

I rag on Metal Gear Solid all the time for it's story that seems dumber every time I play it, but I'll never forget my first time through experiencing what was almost literally the first game to utilize so much more story and characterization than anything previously seen.

Sure, by today's standards the games are incredibly long winded and full of so much shit you'll need to spray your Playstation with a bottle of Fbreeze, but it'll always hold a special place in my heart. The Metal Gear Solid series is incredibly fun to just dick around with the enemies, and worth multiple playthroughs just to see all the little tiny hidden details that make it so great. Hideo Kojima is insane, but the man knows how to implement the tiniest things to be some of the most memorable.

Number 3: Mario

Today there isn't a single person alive that hasn't heard of Mario. Whether it's the old school platforming of the original NES games or the newer incarnations of some of the only 3d platforming that has ever worked, Mario almost always guarantees a decent experience.

He's a bit whored out by Nintendo as their mascot no doubt as he seems to have his own Kart Racing, Tennis, Soccer and hundreds of other leagues he's at the head of, and every Mario Party he throws is another $50 bucks out of your pocket if your down for a mini game mash up. That said, some of the spin off games have been some of the best games of all time. The Paper Mario series as simple as they are have some of the best writing video games will ever get! Mario is an obvious choice, but he can't be ignored.

Number 2: Sonic the Hedgehog

Oh Sonic... what has Sega done to you? At one point everything was happy days of running fast, eating chili dogs and spouting one liners. Now you're dealing with inter-species relationships with princesses, going back in time to sword fight, or turning into a Werehog...

And the fans... good god... the fans. Some of the most horrific fan art is Sonic inspired and these people will swallow up whatever trash Sega throws up at them further degrading their mascot more and more.

Despite this, he's number two for me, because except for number one, no other character had a bigger impact on my child hood in the world of video games. I had the cartoon, the comic books and the games. Had Sega not continually let me down with their fight at the console wars, I probably would have followed more closely with the Sega CD, 32 x, Saturn and Dreamcast. Sonic gets a lot of free Nostalgia points with me because I just love the Hedgehog with an attitude, but I'm not going to lie and say most of his games are good. Trust me though, if Sega ever turns it around and Sonic makes a real substantial next gen game with the care and love the original series had, I'll be there... God this section was probably the most pathetic thing I've ever written...

Number 1: Mega Man

Mega Man is my favorite, without hesitation, without remorse, and sometimes without logic.

Keiji Inafune created the blue bomber with a simple formula. Rock beats everything.

Alright, a bit of exaggeration, but each game has the player fighting through dangerous stages full of pits, spikes and enemies to make it to the area's final boss, where upon defeating them you'd receive their weapon or power up of some type for which another boss was weak to.

In the more RPG series of the games, this usually would be some sort of elemental ability more than a direct weapon weakness. The Legends series doesn't really pick up on this, but it has it's own sort of homages to the original games which I'll get into at a much later date.

The Mega Man franchise as a general rule is hard. I used to wonder how hard it was up until the speed gamers went for a marathon of the series. If you're a seasoned Mega Man veteran like myself, the challenge of the games is going to substantially smaller then first time players. This is not a pick up and go franchise. It takes effort and practice to utilize every move in your arsenal and to learn to do this with new games as they come out. The speed gamers marathon was painful to watch as they just seemed to die over and over again, and some of these games get just plain stupid on the difficultly level when cheap deaths involving instant kill level design take precedent.

That said, I know this going into any Mega Man game that there is going to be a bullshit spike trap somewhere, and I tend to give them passes myself. Really, buying any Mega Man game is usually not a gamble, because you tend to get at least a decent product out of it. Yes, there are flops and terrible games out there with Mega's face on it but these are few and far between. With over 50 US releases alone, Mega Man is probably the most prolific character in all of gaming.

While I haven't been updating much as of late, expect that when I do, it will be to review a Mega Man game. I'll be going over every Mega Man game I've ever touched, and hell I might review some of the various cartoons as well. Mega Man games are the best out there, and I'm going to show you why I think so in the comming months.