Topic: What are the Top 10 gaming series by reputation?

I love a games list, and given how things are relatively quiet on the Nintendo side right now, I came up with this distraction, asking myself what I perceive to be the gaming series that are held in highest esteem across the industry.

So it's not about what you/I personally think are the best, but those we perceive to be best regarded globally, not simply based on sales or metacritic scores etc. but trying to take everything into account, what are generally agreed (not that there's any ever general agreement in the gaming community) to be the most revered/respected? What are gaming's Royal Family of series?

The only criteria I'm setting is that the series has to consist of a minimum of 3 main releases, and to be considered the majority of the series has to be of a high standard (hence I've omitted Sonic because of what's happened since Sega went 3rd party - reputation tarnished). Any platform, past or present, but if the series is effectively dead (or dormant for a long time e.g. Half-Life) then it shouldn't be included.

So here's mine (unranked):

• Super Mario (deliberately ambiguous, as I'm trying to include SMB, SMW, SM64, SMG and SM3DW as one series)
• Mario Kart (probably controversial, but sales, fun factor, and practically inventing and owning the karting genre)
• Legend of Zelda (a bit niche Nintendo, but it is nevertheless literally legendary, plus BotW won E3 2016!)
• Grand Theft Auto
• Metal Gear Solid
• Tomb Raider (iconic in the 90s, and the recent reboot has been very well received)
• Uncharted (a bit iffy this one, but it seems to be consistently very good/highly regarded)
• Final Fantasy
• Halo
• The Elder Scrolls

I don't tend to pretend I have the deepest knowledge of the gaming scene, and am sure I must be overlooking some classics. I've left Pokemon out because, while it is a gaming phenomenon, those outside of the fanbase aren't generally that impressed by it, IMO.

Hmmmm, never really thought about it but I'd say even a list like that would still be highly subjective despite its attempts to be objective, as (surprisingly in my opinion) several of those series disappointed a significant amount of people with their latest instalments (Zelda, Fallout, Halo, Final Fantasy if we're just focusing on the single player games and even Mario). What's more, you're bound to find a lot of very special snowflakes who will bristle at the idea of once exclusive franchises still being heralded since going multiplatfrom (looking at Final Fantasy and Metal Gear as best examples of that) or even the undoubted PlayStation iconic franchise that had a year of exclusivity on Xbox One with its latest game because money.

Overall though I'd say your list is hard to argue with.

I'd say:

• Super Mario
• Pokémon
• Zelda
• Final Fantasy
• Metal Gear
• Halo
• Smash Bros.
• Grand Theft Auto
• Madden/FIFA
• Call of Duty

Yeah, I know that some of these may be controversial picks, but I'd say they all have their place.

@Shinion I don't expect objectivity here, I'm just interested in what people think are the numero uno flagship franchises in gaming and I'd say there's plenty of room for different opinions here.

And there's definitely room for disappointment. I'm still tempted to put Sonic in because 90s icon and there's been some perfectly good games more recently, but there's been just too many missteps to make the cut at the moment, particularly most recently. Hopefully 2017 will see the Blue Blur mount a new attack on my Top Ten. Just by sheer volume of games Sonic is still worthy of consideration.

Based on reputation, I think it is a bit like this

1. Pokemon
2. Mario
3. Minecraft
4. Doom
5. Mortal Kombat
6. Call of Duty
7. Grand Theft Auto
8. Final Fantasy
9. Zelda
10. Sonic

@gcunit You'd think that franchises like GTA, COD, FIFA, Pokemon and Assassin's Creed are among the highest regarded franchises. More sales > more popular. Maybe Battledfield too. This is kinda difficult to determine. If people really thought that FIFA was a terrible franchise, I don't think it would sell 10+ million copies annually. Maybe their marketing is just spot on. I'd like to think that franchises like Zelda and Uncharted are among the top franchises, but maybe they're a little too ''niche'' for the average gamer. Difficult question, that's for sure.

@Octane I included Zelda in my list because of its reputation. There are a lot of people that know about Zelda but have never played a Zelda game before. While Fifa may sell well, I think most of its recognition comes from the sport and not the game. So it would be a game series that has less reputation than Zelda. Uncharted, i don't think has become a recognized brand to those who don't play games, so its reputation would also be less than Zelda.

A foolhearted endeavor if there ever was one. You can't ask someone to give you their opinion of other people's opinions of what's popular, especially when that group is essentially a nebulous mass at this point. It's not even sample sizing. You may as well be asking a group of colorblind woodsmen which red dress will best compliment your wife's eyes...

@CanisWolfred I'm not looking for us all to agree, I'm just genuinely interested in what others think are the flagship series.

I'm not going to argue with anyone who puts CoD in there, but for me it's one of those examples where sales figures don't tell the full picture. It's probably the most maligned series there is, and while I think most sensible people will respect the market penetration that franchise has achieved, many of those sensible people also have very valid reasons to not think much of it.

Transformers movies sell tickets, but nobody's going to seriously cite it as a credible series.

@DefHalan When the general knowledge on the Zelda franchise is nothing more than ''Zelda's that guy with the green hat, right?'' Then I have to wonder what kind of reputation the franchise has. Sure, the name rings a bell, but that's about it I think.

It really depends on how large your sample group is. Ask any gamer online and you'll get completely different answers than if you ask your average Joe who happens to own a gaming console. As @CanisWolfred already said, it's pretty much impossible to answer this question.

@Octane But if we surveyed every gamer and developer out there, we'd tot up all the different suggestions and we'd get an answer. This is just trying to guess what that answer would be.

@Octane I agree but it is still fun to make lists lol. This thread doesn't have any weight, except just for fun, really. There are reasons why a person would personally choose certain series over others, I explained mine by replying to your post. This list isn't supposed to be accurate, it is supposed to be people's personal lists of what they think are the top 10 gaming series by reputations.

@gcunit @DefHalan In that case I think I'll stand with my original statement; sales are popularity equal reputation in that case. If we asked every gamer, we would get a lot of FIFAs and CODs, lol.

@Octane You can make a list with that, but I think a game can create a bigger reputation than just their sales numbers.

@gcunit To be fair, I wasn't gonna say anything until I came up with that bit about the woodsmen.
I guess if no one takes it too seriously, and we all understand that we're largely guessing at this point, I guess it could be a fun discussion.

Lemme see:

1) Madden - It's massive, prevelant, and as far as I can tell, it has everything down to a science. At the very least, it's rare that I ever hear complaints from fans, other than graphical glitches, shoddy between-gen ports, and "it's not different enough" - the watter of which would be my complaint as well, if I didn't understand that the real-life spectacle sport doesn't exactly change a whole lot from year to year, but that doesn't mean thingsd under the hood can't be tweaked.
(Though, personally, if I had to get a sports game, I'd get MLB The Show '16 instead, if only because the new side-modes sound interesting)

2) Minecraft - Might be a bit of personal bais here. I love that kids are into this. I can't tell if it's doing better than the Toys-to-life stuff (which I'm just gonna leave off because of how far removed I am from it), but it offers the level of creativity and interactivity that LEGOs provided when I was a kid, but on a much grander scale at a fraction of the cost. Youtube's also been helping to push it, which as far as advertising is concerned is a lot less cynical than, say, Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh

3) Pokemon - I think there was ~2-3 year lull where it seemed less prevelant, but then it came back in force. Some people still feel like the new 'mons are dumb-looking, but we have so many to choose from at this point that people seem to have enough trouble "catching them all" when they restrict it to just their favorites. Personally, I still think Black 2/White 2 + all of Gen 4 soil it's otherwise clean rep, but I seem to be in the minority there.

4)

I'll post now and edit in the rest, this got long-winded...

@CanisWolfred I forgot about Minecraft lol. One of those, So popular I never have to think about it, games lol

@CanisWolfred Yay! But Minecraft? Is that a series yet? In my book it's only had one main game (but I'm totally ignorant here, so please correct me, I'm just not aware of anything other than the original game and that recent Story Mode thing that doesn't seem to be on the same level).

The reason I put Uncharted on my list was because it has a trilogy that beats all but probably Mass Effect from last gen, and has now followed it up with U4 on PS4 which seems to have gone down very well. If Andromeda hits the mark then maybe Mass Effect can take it's place on my list, but Mass Effect will always be tarnished by the outrage we saw for the ending of ME3.

This is the sort of discussion I'm getting at. Which series come across best based on what people say about them.

Metroid would stand a chance if it wasn't so niche and/or Other M and Federation Force didn't exist/hadn't annoyed so many people.

@gcunit It's a "franchise". Plus, there's two seasons of Telltale's Minecraft that have reportedly been "consistant".

@gcunit Minecraft, Minecraft Story Mode, Minecraft Educational Edition. 3 games in the series qualify it, right? You could also count the portable, console, and PC versions as separate but that is a little nick picky lol

@DefHalan Yep, I'm not gonna argue, but I personally would avoid series' whose reputation is only really built on one game. If this was a question of single games with the best reputations then Minecraft would go on my list too, but I'm not aware that those other two titles add to the reputation much (not saying they don't to others though). And does an 'Edition' count as a separate game? Sounds more like an alternative version of the same game to me