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

Just to add to my OP a bit. This 'distraction' of mine started off as a 'What 50 games would I put on my gaming bucket list?' type of question, but was complicated by the 'Well which games that I've already played would I put on the bucket list?' issue.

So then it became a bucket list for someone who's never played any video games.

So this is my attempt to simplify that I guess. If someone totally new to gaming approached you and asked for the series' that are generally most highly thought of, what would you tell them?

That probably makes it no clearer, but it's just an explanation for why this came about...

@gcunit It depends on how you view everything but I think there is enough there to call Minecraft a series. Most games reputation are built on a single release from that series. Mario got most of its reputation from Super Mario Bros 3 and Mario 64. Mario Kart got its reputation from Mario Kart 64. Zelda mostly got it's reputation from OoT. They may not be the best games in the series but those games got most of their reputation from a single release. So I don't see why Minecraft wouldn't count since it got its reputation from the first game. Yearly releases are probably the only thing that doesn't follow this pattern. Each new year's release seems to be the one that has the highest reputation, until the next newest one. but that is more of just my opinion lol

Think I'll just continue in a new post. I doubt I could manage the full 10 anyways:

4) Dragon Quest - It might be niche in the US, but it's a monolith in Japan, and combined with Toriyama's influence on recent Japanese culture (and beyond!), it's helped shape gaming as whole, especially in Japan. It's in the same realm as Mario at this point, though I'm much more confident on DQ's place on this list, in this case. There are some stinkers in the series, but honestly, the series sells itself so much on its charm that it can handle almost any change they throw at it, and still be enjoyable to some degree. If anything, the main complain one could level at it is that the main games just don't try hard enough to keep up with the times.

...oh crap, I gotta get ready for an appointment. I got three others, so I'll explain them later:

5)

*6/7[TIE]) Mario & Zelda

And then I forget to hit the post button...

minecraft is not a series. it has a few spinoffs but thats it. and different version dont count aswell.

I think I mostly agree with the first person's post. Maybe replace Mario Kart with a series that, even if isn't massively popular worldwide, everyone's heard of at some point (like a Monster Hunter or something).

It has spin-offs. It's a series. Or at least a franchise. Why nitpick over this?

Mario and Pokemon have to be up the top. If a shop has gaming related stuff of any kind? It'll have Pokemon and Mario. Minecraft is a close third. Beyond those three it gets a bit more subjective.

From what I can tell I'd say that Tetris, Zelda, Fallout and Assassin's Creed are the next ones on the list. With anything from Valve also being up there despite being dormant in terms of actual releases. In terms of just games? I think Tomb Raider is very high on that list because of the recent releases. GTA is of course the king in that space. But I can't think of many others that are in that same space.

So I'd argue, in terms of overall reputation/recognition as it currently stands:
1. Pokemon
2. Super Mario
3. Minecraft
4. Zelda
5. Tetris
6. GTA
7. Portal
8. Tomb Raider
9. Fallout
10. Half-Life

@skywake I knew someone would choose Tetris. It's undoubtedly very well known and a long established series, but is it known for being great? I guess amongst a lot of people it might be, but I didn't choose it, I guess because I don't see it as having been very prominent for quite a while. It was once massive and has never gone away, but is it still a leading light?

I also considered Fallout, but dismissed it because (a) I don't think I'd even heard of it before Fallout 3 came along, and (b) Fallout 4, after initially taking over the world for about 48hrs, seems to have divided opinion quite alot/been a bit of a let down. I'm probably inclined to put Witcher ahead of Fallout, because although 1 and 2 weren't huge, 3 seems to have become the latest 'best game ever made', which bumps up the series considerably.

Portal? Only two games aren't there? Doesn't qualify.

Half-Life? Too dormant/culty. Legendary on the PC scene, but where is it now?

@gcunit
In terms of the games themselves and the opinions of current gamers you might have a point. But I was thinking in terms of the larger cultural impact also. With Tetris it's hard to argue that it isn't one of the games that has made the most impact. It's probably the only game I can think of that could be on a poster in a home renovation show or something and the host might recognise what it was. So in that regard you kinda have to include Tetris on these sort of lists.

In terms of Fallout? I agree that I'm only putting it as high as I did because of where things currently are. If I had made the same list three years ago I would have included Assassin's Creed. And again you can make the argument about the reputation of the game itself amongst critics. But here's the main reasons why I included it and not something like The Witcher. Sales and merchandise. In terms of sales this generation Fallout is only behind CoD and GTA. In terms of availability/range of current merchandise it's only behind Pokemon, Mario and Minecraft. So of course I'm going to include it.

So now that I've explained the inclusion of just about every game on the list? I guess the next question is why include Portal and Half-Life. And the answer to that is simple. They don't rank high on this ten because they are kinda old news and aren't as recognisable to the general public. But if a new entry for either of them was announced? Twitter would implode. And IMO more than it would for any other series I can think of.

@skywake I commend you on your justifications for Tetris and Fallout. Portal and Half-Life? That's a big if in the context of this thread

@gcunit
I know it's your thread and you want to make the rules. But I ignored your rules because I think they needlessly excluded series that should rank higher. TBH I'd be ok with dropping Half-Life off my ten and replacing it with something else. I'm not sure quite what I'd replace it with but either way it's just barely in the 10 IMO.

But Portal is firmly in that list IMO. If a site is going to make a greatest games of all time list? Portal 2 will pretty much always be in the top 10. And sure it's not the best selling game ever but a lot of people did play it. And a lot of people will get the inside jokes of the game. It was a very shareable game. And again in terms of available merch? Portal is up there. It may be dormant and it may have only had two games in the series. But it definitely ranks in terms of impact, recognition and reputation.

@skywake Fine, dagnabbit! I hereby remove all restrictions on how many games are needed to qualify as a series. Anything goes provided you can justify it as resolutely as Skywake. But I still await your replacement for Half-Life

Probably Battlefield at #10 then. It would have been CoD but I think that CoD has kinda slid down the list a bit lately. Also there are other game series that have also slid down the rankings just as CoD has. Battlefield hasn't.