Most widespread game series?

[GM80]

And by that, I suppose I mean "which game series officially exists for the widest variety of systems?"

Off the top of my head, I'm going to go with Dragon's Lair. There have been ports, adaptations, and poor uses of the license (many of which have been nothing like the animated original) on a ton of systems. The series has officially appeared on at least the NES, GB, GBC, SNES, 3DO, Sega CD, PS2, GameCube, Xbox, Windows, MS-DOS, Mac, Jaguar, Atari ST, Amiga, CD-i, C64, DVD Video, and home LaserDisc in addition to the original arcade release.

[diskoboy]

I'm sure it would have to be Tetris. Or at least a very similar clone.

Honestly - try and think of a system it isn't on...

[segarocks30]

Maybe Metal Gear....

NES, MSX, PS1, PS2, Gamecube, soon to be PS3, and PSP.

[Ed Oscuro]

Maybe Metal Gear....

NES, MSX, PS1, PS2, Gamecube, soon to be PS3, and PSP.
You aren't trying. Castlevania, Contra, and Gradius trump that easily :P

Also, I think GM80 has a good point. Dragon's Lair has been everywhere. Oh god, that rhymed. I feel as if I have been slimed.

d;

[theshizzle3000]

The Final Fantasy series will get there soon enough. And technically it would be Atari games and what not with all there console remakes.

[RetroYoungen]

Tetris. It's been on practically every platform in some form or another, and will be on platforms to come.

Tetris.

That is all. :)

[walrusmonger]

What about final fantasy?
Nes, Snes, PS1, Gamecube, PS2, PS3, Xbox360, PC, Wonderswan, Gameboy, Gameboy Advance, Nintendo DS, PSP and more I'm forgetting probably.

[segarocks30]

You aren't trying. Castlevania, Contra, and Gradius trump that easily :P

Also, I think GM80 has a good point. Dragon's Lair has been everywhere. Oh god, that rhymed. I feel as if I have been slimed.

d;

I know I'm lazy tonight.

[cyberfluxor]

What about final fantasy?
Nes, Snes, PS1, Gamecube, PS2, PS3, Xbox360, PC, Wonderswan, Gameboy, Gameboy Advance, Nintendo DS, PSP and more I'm forgetting probably.

Systems with Tetris:
Arcade, CD-i, Dreamcast, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Color, GameCube, N64, Nintendo DS, Nintendo NES, NUON, PlayStation, PS2, Saturn, SNES, TRS-80, Virtual Boy, Xbox, PC

That's from the rarity guide, it's possible a few other obscure things are missing, such as dedicated handhelds.

[savageone]

My first thoughts were Mega Man, Tetris, and Pac Man.

[Damaramu]

How about good old Street Fighter II?

[bangtango]

Paperboy and Pac Man have to be in the mix somewhere. Those ones, along with their various sequels, were on just about every system imaginable. Just look up Paperboy in the rarity guide. You'd be surprised how many systems got a version of it. It was on pretty much every 8-bit system and every portable.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Pac-Man. Over at MobyGames, we've got the following platforms listed:

Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Commodore 64, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Game Gear, Intellivision, MSX, Neo Geo Pocket Color, NES, PC Booter, TI-99/4A, VIC-20, Xbox 360, and ZX Spectrum. And that's not counting the CLONES.

If we count the entire Pac-Man series of games as a whole (Ms., Jr., and the puzzle games), the list grows quite a bit.

[savageone]

Pac-Man. Over at MobyGames, we've got the following platforms listed:

Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Commodore 64, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Game Gear, Intellivision, MSX, Neo Geo Pocket Color, NES, PC Booter, TI-99/4A, VIC-20, Xbox 360, and ZX Spectrum. And that's not counting the CLONES.

If we count the entire Pac-Man series of games as a whole (Ms., Jr., and the puzzle games), the list grows quite a bit.

Also, don't forget its releases as part of compilations on PS2/XBOX/etc. Though I suppose its debatable whether or not those should count towards the Pac's grand total.

[goemon]

Space Invaders has been on pretty much every system. I can't wait until PS3 Space Invaders -- that's a system seller if I ever saw one!

[savageone]

Don't leave out Mega Man though. While Mega Man hasn't appeared on the most systems, mostly simply because he was birthed on the NES, he almost definitely has the highest ratio of games per system. At least I can't think of any other series that beats Mega Man.

A few examples:
7 games on NES (1-6, that weird japanese only mega man board game)
6 games on SNES (x1-3, 7, Rockman & Forte, Mega Man Soccer)
at least 14 games on PS1 (including the x games, the 1-6 remakes, legends games,etc), countless games on GBA, etc etc

So even when you toss in systems where Mega Man has appeared with maybe 1 game (n64? wonderswan? genesis?) the ratio average remains insanely high as far as an average number of games per system. For that Mega Man deserves the good old honorable mention.

[exit]

If you want to include different variations, Breakout is probably near the top of the list.

[NESHero]

WWE (F) games, im not sure if you can count that as a series tho.
But look, they been on NES,SNES,N64,GCN,PS2, etc etc etc, the lsit goes on.
EVEN N-GAGE
Mega Man was on n64 too.
Mega Man Legends a PSX Port

[Mayhem]

My choices have all been mentioned... I'd go with either Tetris, Space Invaders or Pacman.

[Nebagram]

No one reads retro gamer, obviously. :)

Apple 2/C64/NES/Spectrum/MSX/Arcade/SG1000/Atari 8-bit/FDS/Gameboy/PC Engine or TG16/PC/Saturn/SNES/Mac/Playstation/N64/Wonderswan/GBC/GBA/PS2/Cube and probably many more to come. The game? Lode Runner. :)

[GillianSeed]

No one reads retro gamer, obviously. :)

Apple 2/C64/NES/Spectrum/MSX/Arcade/SG1000/Atari 8-bit/FDS/Gameboy/PC Engine or TG16/PC/Saturn/SNES/Mac/Playstation/N64/Wonderswan/GBC/GBA/PS2/Cube and probably many more to come. The game? Lode Runner. :)

If you're going to count off-shoots then Pac-man would seem to have a pretty clear edge:

http://www.mobygames.com/game-group/pac-man-games-licensed

[xfrumx]

Would Pac-Man VS. be an offshoot

I dont think so since it is an original like pac-man game where other players could play the ghosts

so add the gamecube th Pac-Man list

[Jorpho]

No mention of Bomberman? Many of those Pac-man and Tetris games are unlicensed knockoffs, but Bomberman, the genuine article, has been everywhere. (Even Virtual Boy if you want to count the Panic Bomber games.)

[wallydawg]

I was thinking Myst, but no where near the highest.

[Griking]

No one reads retro gamer, obviously. :)

Apple 2/C64/NES/Spectrum/MSX/Arcade/SG1000/Atari 8-bit/FDS/Gameboy/PC Engine or TG16/PC/Saturn/SNES/Mac/Playstation/N64/Wonderswan/GBC/GBA/PS2/Cube and probably many more to come. The game? Lode Runner. :)


There's a Lode Runner game for the PS2 and Gamecube?

[Nirvana]

Lode Runner is the SHIT

[bangtango]

Ah, can't forget Double Dragon. There is the Double Dragon fanpage linked from classicgaming.com that shows all the various ports for the original game.

[j_factor]

Lemmings came to mind for me. Amiga, DOS, Atari ST, C64, Amstrad CPC, Spectrum, SAM Coupé, Windows, Apple IIgs, Acorn Archimedes, Mac, Genesis, SNES, Game Boy, Game Gear, NES, SMS, CDTV, Lynx, 3DO, CDi, Turbo CD, X68000, mobile phone, Windows 95, Palm OS, CD32, PSX, Saturn, PSP, GBC, PS2, Windows XP, and a new one coming for PS3.

[Mayhem]

There's a Lode Runner game for the PS2 and Gamecube?

Cubic Lode Runner, released as part of the budget range by Hudson in Japan...

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-4a-77-2-49-en-15-cubic%2Blode-70-2db.html

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-42-49-en-15-cubic%2Blode-70-2os.html

[Jorpho]

And what's this PS2 Lemmings game?