Top 5 favorite franchises?

[ptdebate1]

Hi, all! Many of us have been strongly influenced in our gaming tastes by one major franchise or another, be it Madden, Metal Gear, or Street Fighter. What are your top 5 favorite series? Think about those series that always get you excited for the next major fall release season. New IPs are what keep the industry moving forward but hey, there's a special comfort in familiarity. Anyway, here's mine!

1. Final Fantasy (Square, Inc.; Square-Enix)
2. "Souls" (From Software)
3. The Legend of Zelda (Nintendo)
4. Mario, Mario & Luigi, Paper Mario (Nintendo)
5. Super Smash Bros. (Nintendo)

I actually agonized a bit over the last two. Although I always purchase (and greatly enjoy) the latest Mario platformer, I'm sorely lacking in experience with recent Mario & Luigi and Mario RPG titles, even though I like them based on secondhand exposure. SSB is my favorite 2D fighting series--and the most robust that I am aware of--but I played very little of Brawl, being frustrated with how inferior it was to Melee. Here's to hoping SSB for Wii U turns things around!

As for the top three, Final Fantasy is first because it's the series that made me interested in games in the first place. "Souls" is second because I believe it is objectively the best thing in gaming since A Link to the Past. Zelda is third because it made gaming an adventure full of wonder and discovery rather than just a challenge or a competition.

[Vexer1]

Sonic the Hedgehog is definitely my all time favorite franchise, Sonic 2 got me into video games in the first place and there hasn't been one single Sonic game i've truly hated.

My others favorites are Mass Effect, Grand Theft Auto, Saints Row and Mario.

[ptdebate1]

By the way, I did notice that this topic has been discussed before, but since those discussions ended in 2006, I figured that enough has changed in the industry since then to warrant rethinking the question.

[nesfan1]

1. Final Fantasy
2. Mario platformers
3. Mega Man
4. Chrono series
5. Persona

I was having a really hard time choosing between Persona and Dragon Quest for the number 5 spot. My choice might have something to do with Persona 4 being the last game that I beat. At any rate, narrowing all of my favorite game series down to 5 was not an easy thing to do.

[Rev1]

Favorite franchises would have to be:

Mario, Sonic, Super Smash Bros, Fire Emblem, and Final Fantasy. In no particular order (my favorite really depends on my mood).

[Atarifever1]

I don't even know anymore.  I like Mario some of the time; I like Mario Kart only because of 8; I love Xenoblade, but that's only one game yet with another in development.  I love TF2, but haven't ever even played TF Classic.  I am playing the heck out of Nanostray right now, but haven't played the other 2.  I love a ton of classic arcade games, but most of them are only franchises in name, as different games in the series are so very different.  Sonic is great or terrible depending on the game. 

I'm not big into franchises generally speaking I guess. 

The only 3 I can think of that I really love as franchises are (and I do feel like I'm forgetting one):
Halo
Animal Crossing
The Legend of Zelda. 

Those 3 haven't ever had a bad game (not counting Cdi Zelda), and I have loved every installment I have played.

[Tron1]

1. Tactics ogre
2. Fallout
3. Advance Wars
4. Fire Emblem
5. Hot Shots Golf

[Sut1]

Metal Gear - my absolute favourite games of all time, engrossing, well produced and sometimes even silly but always leave you looking forward to the next instalment.

Streets of Rage - please, please Sega bring it back !

Shinobi - I really enjoy this series despite it being balls hard.

Pro Evolution Soccer - I love my 'soccer' games and these were the absolute pinnacle in the PS1/PS2 era

Sonic (Sega Systems) - Sonics 2D games are Sega's gift to humanity and he's way cooler than Mario

Honourable mentions Street Fighter, Bioshock and Uncharted

[ptdebate1]

[QUOTE=Sut]
Sonic (Sega Systems) [/QUOTE]

An important distinction to make, as post-Dreamcast Sonic games are Sega's [b]curse[/b] to humanity.

[JWK1]

1. Castlevania!!!! - I know... You're shocked! But I honestly can't think of a better 2d side-scroller. The franchise has about a dozen classics and is one of only a few series that can number its lifespan in decades. I just wish konami would take this out of Mercury Steams' hands.

2. Mega Man Classic/Megaman X - probably the best 2d platformers of all time. Even the "bad" games are pretty great. Except mega man x7. That one's crappy.

3. Persona - my favorite rpg series. I was tempted to say the entire SMT franchise so it would include games like digital devil saga and SMT IV, but it's really this sub series that I love the most. And Persona 3 is the best thing to happen to JRPGs since the end of the SNES era. Period.

4. Mario platformers/Mario Kart/Mario RPGs - this is totally cheating, I know. Other than featuring the same character, these series have absolutely nothing to do with each other. But it's still under the Mario umbrella, so I'm going with it. Favorites include Yoshi's Island, Super Mario 3, Mario Kart 7 & 8, Super Mario Galaxy, Paper Mario 1000 year door, and M&L Partners in Time.

5. Uncharted - Brilliant games, all of them. Probably the most impressive thing on 7th gen consoles this side is The Last of Us.

Honorable Mentions: Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Legend of Zelda, God of War, Mother series, Bioshock