Top 5 Greatest Video Game Series of All Time

[PhantomTriforce]

I think the 5 greatest series are (in no particular order):
The Legend of Zelda
Mario
Metroid
Super Smash. Bros.
Final Fantasy

 

[MonkeyFightSquad]

1. Mario: Who doesn't know Mario?

2. Legend of Zelda: Best games ever.

3. Halo: I don't like Halo but a lot of other people do.:O

4. Call of Duty: (See Above).

Pokemon: There's nothing like fighting and catching all the cute.(And some not so cute Pokemon.)You know what they say, Gotta catch 'em all.

 

[Reaca]

1. Legend of Zelda/Final Fantasy
2. Legend of Zelda/ Final Fantasy
3. Halo
4. Elder Scrolls
5. Batman Arkham Asylum/City

 

[Veely]

My thoughts to others maybe stupid but heres what I think

5. Zelda
4. Mario
3. Elder scrolls
2. Halo
1. Saints row

Most are mature but fun to play ^.^

 

[Garo]

There's really no objective criteria for what makes a game series the "greatest"; unless you mean best-selling, in which case simple math can determine that, or perhaps most influential, which again is harder to pin down and comes into more subjective territory rather quickly.

As for influential, I'd say easily the five most influential series are Mario, Zelda, Final Fantasy, The Sims, and Call of Duty.

In terms of greatest (an entirely subjective definition), easily: Final Fantasy, Zelda, Kingdom Hearts, Metal Gear Solid, and Uncharted.

 

[Fig]

1. Mario - It defined what a platformer should have and be designed in both a simple and challenging way.
2. The Legend of Zelda - The idea of exploration and secrets started with the first game of the series.
3. Pokémon - A great role-playing game that is both unique and fun to play with others.
4. Sonic The Hedgehog - A great game that has great game elements and physics.
5. Metroid - An awesome shooting game that has a great storyline to it.

 

[JuicieJ]

1.) The Legend of Zelda
2.) Metroid
3.) Super Mario
4.) Final Fantasy
5.) Metal Gear Solid

 

[Link-of-Lylat]

Zelda, Metriod, Mario, Halo, and pokemon.

 

[Cfrock]

In no particular order:

The Legend of Zelda
Resident Evil
Halo
The Elder Scrolls
Pokémon

 

[Libk]

1.) Mario
2.) Legend of Zelda
3.) Final Fantasy/Kingdom Hearts(they're almost exactly the same thing)
4.) Mega Man
5.) Kirby

 

[Kupsacker]

1) Legend of Zelda
2) Mario
3) Metroid
4) Final Fantasy
5) Need for Speed (I just had to)

 

[KaeporaGaebora]

1) Sonic the Hedgehog - I'm heavily biased towards this series as Sonic 2 is the first game I ever played, on a Co-Op like scale. Still to this day a much better platformer series than Mario. Although that's just my opinion.

2) Final Fantasy - My personal favorite game series, but lately on the decline. After X, Final Fantasy could'nt decide what kind of a jRPG it should be. I still LOVE the original through X, but after that, it's hit or miss with me. I have a very, very biased hatred for VIII. Also with no Uemastu, the music is just, meh.

3) Counter-Strike - The best and most influential FPS ever.

4) Zelda - Hey, I'm on a Zelda fan website, I have to think it good.

5) Earthbound/Mother - Heh, I love Mother 1-3. All really fun RPGs with funny American jokes, even though only one was ever localized out of Japan. To bad we'll never see them outside of emulators.

 

[Sir Quaffler]

Mario is the #1 greatest, even though I don't particularly care for the way it's been going the past few years. I mean without him we might not even HAVE videogames today. He almost singlehandedly revived the industry after the crash of '83, and he's been going (mostly) strong ever since.

Zelda is obviously my favorite series and has had a huge impact on the gaming industry. Instituting a save system and nonlinear design in the first one, perfecting the action-adventure formula down to a science in ALttP, introducing a deep (for its time) narrative into the handheld industry with LA, introducing the lock-on target system in OoT, and now perfecting the 1:1 motion control in SS (which I believe still has the potential to greatly affect how we play games).

Pokemon revolutionized the handheld market. Adding a social trading aspect skyrocketed the whole industry, and nowadays handhelds are arguably even more popular than consoles. Add to that the fact that they are cross-media, with trading cards, television shows, movies, and tons of other merchandise, and it's hard to argue against its impact on the youth culture.

Halo helped Microsoft establish a hold in the gaming indistry and helped to develop the online play system we now use (even if I don't care about it).

Grand Theft Auto singlehandedly defined how we go about creating sandbox games, and its more mature content was the catalyst in bringing about more mature content in gaming. (Not that that's necessarily a GOOD thing, but its impact cannot be denied.)

Honorable mentions
Metroid, for further developing the nonlinear playstyle Mario and Zelda used beforehand into something entirely new, for being one of the first to use atmosphere effectively, for showing developers how you CAN tell a very rich and meaningful story in a FPS game, and for making sure that the first female protagonist was remembered not for sexualization but for her tenacity and will to fight.

Metal Gear Solid; who, along with Final Fantasy, brought the PlayStation to the forefront and ensured its stay in the industry; and for setting up a deep and meaningful narrative in a shooting game (see where I'm going with this?)

 

[NESpowerhouse]

5. Final Fantasy
4. Sonic the Hedgehog
3. Mario
2. Metal Gear Solid
1. The Legend of Zelda

 

[tysonrss]

1. Metal Gear
2. Resident Evil
3. Legend of Zelda
4. Assassin's Creed
5.Megaman Kingdom Hearts