these franchises have staying power
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’ll
be counting down our picks for the top
ten longest-running video game
franchises before we begin we publish
new videos every day so be sure to
subscribe for more great content we’ll
be looking at video game franchises that
have been putting out games for the most
amount of time with the fewest big gaps
between releases so age and consistent
output are both important factors the
games also cannot be re-released as
remakes or ripoffs so a lot of simple
games like Tetris that have been redone
to death won’t be on our list come on no
one’s ever happy to see Tetris number 10
Street Fighter Street Fighter set the
bar for arcade fighting games and has
been doing so for going on 30 years now
while its second installment has seen
more remakes than any superhero movie
combined and there have been a couple of
dry spells in the main series release
schedule Street Fighter is one of the
most popular and long-running video game
franchises of all time with many side
series and spin-offs including the
successful Marvel vs. Capcom franchise
and even puzzle games all of which helps
to ensure a spot on this list number 9
Metal Gear
Hideo Kojima’s beloved stealth-action
franchise began with the titular game
take a drink which came out on the MSX
to a computer console before being
ported to the NES the series really
didn’t take off until Metal Gear Solid
for the PlayStation however which
codified its staple mix of attention to
detail over-the-top elements and
cinematic cutscenes the last of which
helped popularize the practice since
then the franchise has expanded on its
wheel house with spin-off titles that
switch off its formula while also
refining and expanding upon what made
fans flock to it in the first place is
coming – Roger that
number 8 Final Fantasy ironically this
game series derives its name from the
fact that the developers were having a
rough time financially and thought that
this would be their last game time and
countless sequels and spin-offs later
has made the title increasingly
inaccurate and rather ironic though be
wise to rest up before we set out
there’s no mistaking the Final Fantasy
series as success though and the
franchise has become a paragon of the
RPG genre with its characters music and
time-tested gameplay all becoming iconic
in the industry despite its vaunted
position as one of the most influential
and long-running RPG franchises of all
time there is another J RPG franchise
that’s been around a little bit longer
one would expect no less of disease to
the crown number 7 Dragon Quest this
series while not as popular globally as
Final Fantasy is even older and even
more influential in the RPG genre
originally known in the West as Dragon
Warrior dragon quests effect on gaming
in Japan is tremendous to the point that
the franchise is considered by some to
be the country’s national game it’s so
popular in fact that it became the first
video game to be adapted into a ballet
slate
fools so swimming to fight the more loss
one alone the secret to its success may
be that the franchise’s gameplay and
feel have remained relatively consistent
for most of its long run making it
appealing to new players and seasoned
veterans alike hey Italian we get it
number six the Legend of Zelda this is
one franchise you wouldn’t want to go
too long without while Nintendo’s other
popular franchise Metroid has been going
since the same year The Legend of Zelda
games have been a much more regular
mainstay of the Nintendo consoles for
over 30 years but entries appearing on
every major platform that the company
has put out and at a pretty steady pace
[Music]
moreover the series is known for being
some of the most high-quality adventure
games ever created with unforgettable
characters stellar music and engaging
gameplay all of which has caused several
of the franchise entries to consistently
top critic best of all time lists and
with breath of the loud spearheading the
Nintendo switch Zelda’s legend will
continue to be the benchmark for
adventuring number 5 Carmen Sandiego I
assign you a case you go to the scene of
the crime and look for clues about where
the crooks who knew that is educational
game series can make geography so
awesome while some people might think of
them as elaborate gender swap games of
Where’s Waldo
the Carmen Sandiego games have been
going strong for longer than a lot of
people realize probably because most of
you are just exposed to the games when
you’re in school even still the appeal
of flying all over the world to find the
elusive crimson suited illness has been
enough to entertain and educate
generations of kids and even spawned
several TV series hello player thanks
for picking me I’ve got a grudge to
settle with that Carmen Sandiego
number 4 Wolfenstein here’s another
franchise that’s much older than most
people realize the series began with
Castle Wolfenstein a game originally
released for the Apple 2 based around
shooting Nazis and navigating the
eponymous Castle using 48 pixels or less
the franchise really hit its stride
though with Wolfenstein 3d which helped
to define the first-person shooter genre
in the early 90s and game since then
have refined the game plan concepts laid
out there while also including some
interesting spin-offs such as an RPG
mobile game the primary goal of the
series fighting the Third Reich hasn’t
changed all that much though
number three Mario you know the pedigree
is heavy on a video game list when Mario
only makes the third place the world’s
most adventurous plumber has become the
definitive mascot for video games in
general thanks to the sheer volume of
titles in the franchise that bear his
name as well as their consistent quality
[Music]
appearing in everything from platformers
to party games to kart racing helping to
define practically every genre he
touches if we were going only by the
game output alone
Mario probably would have topped our
list but age is also a factor and our
next entry predates the Mario games even
if it doesn’t predate the character
number two
Donkey Kong if Mario is the fire then
Donkey Kong was a match introducing the
tendo’s Golden Boy in the game as jump
man since then the two franchises have
overlapped a bit with the Thai sporting
ape appearing in a number of Mario games
and vice-versa but make no mistake DK
has burned quite the swath of his own
over the years along with the original
arcade platformers Donkey Kong has also
starred and be critically acclaimed and
graphically revolutionary Donkey Kong
Country series as well as spin-offs in
genres as diverse as kart racing and
rhythm games this Kong might not still
be king but these franchises stand tall
in the video game world
[Music]
number one pac-man
all three of our top entries are
franchises that grew out of arcade games
and while pac-man may not have had quite
the pedigree of successes to last 2 it
has undeniable seniority and has
consistently put out games for almost 40
years now
the yellow pellet munching protagonist
has evolved to a surprising degree over
time gaining a more humanoid form
entering three dimensions and expanding
his repertoire with more diverse games
such as the obligatory kart racing and
party games
all in all we found the pac-man
franchise to be one of gaming’s most
enduring and is our pick for the top
long-running franchise do you agree with
our picks check out these other great
clips from WatchMojo and subscribe for
new videos every day
[Music]
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’ll
be counting down our picks for the top
ten longest-running video game
franchises before we begin we publish
new videos every day so be sure to
subscribe for more great content we’ll
be looking at video game franchises that
have been putting out games for the most
amount of time with the fewest big gaps
between releases so age and consistent
output are both important factors the
games also cannot be re-released as
remakes or ripoffs so a lot of simple
games like Tetris that have been redone
to death won’t be on our list come on no
one’s ever happy to see Tetris number 10
Street Fighter Street Fighter set the
bar for arcade fighting games and has
been doing so for going on 30 years now
while its second installment has seen
more remakes than any superhero movie
combined and there have been a couple of
dry spells in the main series release
schedule Street Fighter is one of the
most popular and long-running video game
franchises of all time with many side
series and spin-offs including the
successful Marvel vs. Capcom franchise
and even puzzle games all of which helps
to ensure a spot on this list number 9
Metal Gear
Hideo Kojima’s beloved stealth-action
franchise began with the titular game
take a drink which came out on the MSX
to a computer console before being
ported to the NES the series really
didn’t take off until Metal Gear Solid
for the PlayStation however which
codified its staple mix of attention to
detail over-the-top elements and
cinematic cutscenes the last of which
helped popularize the practice since
then the franchise has expanded on its
wheel house with spin-off titles that
switch off its formula while also
refining and expanding upon what made
fans flock to it in the first place is
coming – Roger that
number 8 Final Fantasy ironically this
game series derives its name from the
fact that the developers were having a
rough time financially and thought that
this would be their last game time and
countless sequels and spin-offs later
has made the title increasingly
inaccurate and rather ironic though be
wise to rest up before we set out
there’s no mistaking the Final Fantasy
series as success though and the
franchise has become a paragon of the
RPG genre with its characters music and
time-tested gameplay all becoming iconic
in the industry despite its vaunted
position as one of the most influential
and long-running RPG franchises of all
time there is another J RPG franchise
that’s been around a little bit longer
one would expect no less of disease to
the crown number 7 Dragon Quest this
series while not as popular globally as
Final Fantasy is even older and even
more influential in the RPG genre
originally known in the West as Dragon
Warrior dragon quests effect on gaming
in Japan is tremendous to the point that
the franchise is considered by some to
be the country’s national game it’s so
popular in fact that it became the first
video game to be adapted into a ballet
slate
fools so swimming to fight the more loss
one alone the secret to its success may
be that the franchise’s gameplay and
feel have remained relatively consistent
for most of its long run making it
appealing to new players and seasoned
veterans alike hey Italian we get it
number six the Legend of Zelda this is
one franchise you wouldn’t want to go
too long without while Nintendo’s other
popular franchise Metroid has been going
since the same year The Legend of Zelda
games have been a much more regular
mainstay of the Nintendo consoles for
over 30 years but entries appearing on
every major platform that the company
has put out and at a pretty steady pace
[Music]
moreover the series is known for being
some of the most high-quality adventure
games ever created with unforgettable
characters stellar music and engaging
gameplay all of which has caused several
of the franchise entries to consistently
top critic best of all time lists and
with breath of the loud spearheading the
Nintendo switch Zelda’s legend will
continue to be the benchmark for
adventuring number 5 Carmen Sandiego I
assign you a case you go to the scene of
the crime and look for clues about where
the crooks who knew that is educational
game series can make geography so
awesome while some people might think of
them as elaborate gender swap games of
Where’s Waldo
the Carmen Sandiego games have been
going strong for longer than a lot of
people realize probably because most of
you are just exposed to the games when
you’re in school even still the appeal
of flying all over the world to find the
elusive crimson suited illness has been
enough to entertain and educate
generations of kids and even spawned
several TV series hello player thanks
for picking me I’ve got a grudge to
settle with that Carmen Sandiego
number 4 Wolfenstein here’s another
franchise that’s much older than most
people realize the series began with
Castle Wolfenstein a game originally
released for the Apple 2 based around
shooting Nazis and navigating the
eponymous Castle using 48 pixels or less
the franchise really hit its stride
though with Wolfenstein 3d which helped
to define the first-person shooter genre
in the early 90s and game since then
have refined the game plan concepts laid
out there while also including some
interesting spin-offs such as an RPG
mobile game the primary goal of the
series fighting the Third Reich hasn’t
changed all that much though
number three Mario you know the pedigree
is heavy on a video game list when Mario
only makes the third place the world’s
most adventurous plumber has become the
definitive mascot for video games in
general thanks to the sheer volume of
titles in the franchise that bear his
name as well as their consistent quality
[Music]
appearing in everything from platformers
to party games to kart racing helping to
define practically every genre he
touches if we were going only by the
game output alone
Mario probably would have topped our
list but age is also a factor and our
next entry predates the Mario games even
if it doesn’t predate the character
number two
Donkey Kong if Mario is the fire then
Donkey Kong was a match introducing the
tendo’s Golden Boy in the game as jump
man since then the two franchises have
overlapped a bit with the Thai sporting
ape appearing in a number of Mario games
and vice-versa but make no mistake DK
has burned quite the swath of his own
over the years along with the original
arcade platformers Donkey Kong has also
starred and be critically acclaimed and
graphically revolutionary Donkey Kong
Country series as well as spin-offs in
genres as diverse as kart racing and
rhythm games this Kong might not still
be king but these franchises stand tall
in the video game world
[Music]
number one pac-man
all three of our top entries are
franchises that grew out of arcade games
and while pac-man may not have had quite
the pedigree of successes to last 2 it
has undeniable seniority and has
consistently put out games for almost 40
years now
the yellow pellet munching protagonist
has evolved to a surprising degree over
time gaining a more humanoid form
entering three dimensions and expanding
his repertoire with more diverse games
such as the obligatory kart racing and
party games
all in all we found the pac-man
franchise to be one of gaming’s most
enduring and is our pick for the top
long-running franchise do you agree with
our picks check out these other great
clips from WatchMojo and subscribe for
new videos every day
[Music]
Please follow and like us: