The most important franchises

[G-Boobie]

I've been playing Halo 3 with a couple of my friends. These friends, you must understand, are not just Halo fans...They are Halo fanatics.

Which is fine. I've always enjoyed Halo since Combat Evolved; I've just never understood the level of regard it's held in. I mentioned this to my friend Adam which sparked off a pretty good discussion about what certain franchises mean to gamers, both as a group and as individuals, and what those same franchises mean to individual platforms. Adam is a Halo nut; he has the cat helmet on his mantelpiece. He has a cardboard stand up of Master Chief in his gaming room. He has all the soundtracks, and the Halo edition Xbox AND 360.

I'm pretty much a Castlevania and Elder Scrolls nut; I have four copies of SotN; one on PSX, one on Saturn, one on Xbox 360, and one on PSP; I have a pretty ridiculous amount of Castlevania chotchkies as well, much to the chagrin of the girlfriend.


So my question is this: What franchise means the most to you personally, if any? Will you cop to having a case of blind fanboy-ism for certain games (or genres)? And what franchise do you think is the most important right now?

Oh yeah... Most important franchise right now? God help us all, Pokemon.

[2Dskillz]

Castlevania, I always seem to turn a blind eye to any flaws in this series.

I always start out cautious with each Silent Hill fear they are going to do something wrong, but I always end up pleased.

Important Franchise, that is a tough one, I will have to revisit.

[Cloud121]

I've been playing Halo 3 with a couple of my friends. These friends, you must understand, are not just Halo fans...They are Halo fanatics.

Which is fine. I've always enjoyed Halo since Combat Evolved; I've just never understood the level of regard it's held in. I mentioned this to my friend Adam which sparked off a pretty good discussion about what certain franchises mean to gamers, both as a group and as individuals, and what those same franchises mean to individual platforms. Adam is a Halo nut; he has the cat helmet on his mantelpiece. He has a cardboard stand up of Master Chief in his gaming room. He has all the soundtracks, and the Halo edition Xbox AND 360.

I'm pretty much a Castlevania and Elder Scrolls nut; I have four copies of SotN; one on PSX, one on Saturn, one on Xbox 360, and one on PSP; I have a pretty ridiculous amount of Castlevania chotchkies as well, much to the chagrin of the girlfriend.


So my question is this: What franchise means the most to you personally, if any? Will you cop to having a case of blind fanboy-ism for certain games (or genres)? And what franchise do you think is the most important right now?

Oh yeah... Most important franchise right now? God help us all, Pokemon.

Resident Evil by far. I've lost track of everything I have RE related.

[Darren870]

For me I love Super Mario (standard from SMB-Galaxies) and Halo. I bought 4 xboxs back in the day just so we could do 16 person lan on halo 1.

Most important? Not pokemon...thats just insanely popular.

Id say Mario, kind of paved the road for franchises. However its also the most milked.

[G-Boobie]

Most important? Not pokemon...thats just insanely popular.

Yeah, in retrospect, you're probably right. I retract my earlier statement.

[108Stars]

I don´t get the Halo-hype at all...I mean, it´s a nice series of FPS, but not that spectacular either. There are many games on the same level I think, but I´m not that much of an FPS-expert.

[HYB]

Castlevania definitely and Zelda. Oh wait, and Metroid.

I used to be a Sonic fanatic before that but the series has really died since Sonic heroes. That game sucked so much balls it made me lose any faith I had in Sega. I still bought Shadow the Hedgehog (possibly worst decision since buying Mickey Mouse adventures when I was a kid). I'm so glad my boyfriend bought Sonic 360 intstead of me wasting money (he's obsessed with sonic). The stages keep on getting longer and longer. God I mean, can't I have loads of amazing stages and missions like in SA2 instead of a couple 15 minute stages with multiple stupid deathtraps.

Oh and I like my pokeymans, basic game and stadium/colosseum etc. style.

[108Stars]

Well, the most important for me is Final Fantasy. But sadly now that it´s being butchered by SE that love is getting smaller and smaller.

[kaedesdisciple]

Another RE nut here. I'll buy pretty much any game with the RE tag on it. Let me tell you, that's gotten me some really crappy games too (Survivor, I'm looking in your direction). But I still love the franchise nonetheless.

EDIT: Even though there are only two games so far, I'll also buy any Killzone game. I absolutely love the Helghast.

[diskoboy]

The franchise than means the most to me = The Jet Set/Grind Radio series.

And I'm stilll crossing my fingers that Sega will make another sequel. Or at least put the original DC version on XBLA.

Another one would be anything to do with Pac-Man or the Pac family. I've stated numerous times, I don't really consider myslef a collector, I just love video games. But anything Pac-Man related is my exception. When Pac-Man CE came out a few months back, it renewed my faith and love of the franchise. Pac Man should've stuck to it's original formula over the years. Pac Man CE injected new life into Namco's dying mascot. I even collect the better Pac clones (Example - Munchman on the TI, KC Munchkin on the O2 which was far superior than Atari's Pac Man. Ladybug on the Colecovision, etc..)

[Nebagram]

Probably Final Fantasy in first place for me right now.
Second is likely Mario, I don't buy all the vast amounts of cruft he puts out (Mario Pinball, Mario Basketball etc) but everything from Paper Mario upwards, I'm there.
Possibly Sonic still in third. He hasn't done anything decent since 2001, though.
Fourth, anything by Tetsuya Miziguchi. After that, it all kinda blends into a blur.

[HYB]

The franchise than means the most to me = The Jet Set/Grind Radio series.

That series is nothing less than brilliant. I've been hoping for a sequel also for years. I wanted to buy the pachinko machine but alas had no money (and seller had no outside of uk ship). I forgot to include it in my list because morning thinking seems to be impossible for me.

[G-Boobie]

Jet Grind Radio is great, but I didn't care much for the sequel.

I wouldn't mind another iteration of Chu Chu Rocket, while we're waxing nostalgic about Sega.

[Buyatari]

Madden

[Sailorneorune]

Phoenix Wright and Zelda.

I love a Zelda game no matter how close it pushes me to the edge of insanity, and I love a Phoenix Wright game even when it pushes me off the edge.

Phantom Hourglass and Trials & Tribulations are threatening my wallet as we speak.

[cyberfluxor]

Madden

As much as I dislike the Madded football games it is quite possibly the most important game franchise. If it needs to be explained why then I'd just suggest using the search feature.


With that aside, some of the important franchises as a gamer to look forward to (and haven't been listed) are:
Worms, Unreal, Panzer Dragoon, Quake, Half-Life, Diablo, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Fallout

[monkeysuit]

The Metal Gear series will always hold a special place in my heart.

[diskoboy]

I wouldn't mind another iteration of Chu Chu Rocket, while we're waxing nostalgic about Sega.

I'm willing to bet that MS will probably want Sega to make Chu Chu Rocket for XBLA - it would be perfect fit for the XBLA lineup.

And now that broadband is the norm for todays consoles, the lag from the DC version will probably be a thing of the past.

[tom]

the Pac family

[Hwj_Chim]

My Favorite is Castlevania. I am buying a PSP just for The Dracula X chronicles.

The king of fighters, except for castlevania I have more games from this series than anything else