In this industry, franchises and sequels reign supreme. Unlike the film industry, game sequels have always generally been better than their preceding entries in a series. As a natural consequence of that, gamers usually show their support for a franchise throughout the years. That is, of course, as long as the quality remains consistent with each progressive release.
Now there are examples of series in which certain entries went wrong. We all know that DMC2 sucked so hard that the series has had to resort to two prequels in order to save face. Pretty much every Metal Gear has been subject to divided opinions since the first one. The Final Fantasy series (main entries) has unquestionably seen its share of ups and downs. And we've all seen what's happened to poor Sonic the Hedgehog.
Barring the exceptions, what game series do you feel has had the most consistent level of quality throughout its run?
My answer may seem obvious, but it's only an easy choice because of how truly consistent this series has always been. I'm talking, of course, about the Mario series.
The only games in the mainline series that have engendered any kind of debate as to their quality were SMB2 (US version) and Sunshine, and in my opinion both of those games were good. Otherwise, nearly every mainline Mario game has seen itself among countless Top 10 Lists. The original obviously marked a rebirth for the industry that we still play in today, SMB3 and SMW are both widely considered to be two of the best 2D platformers ever made to this day, Mario 64 set a standard for 3D platformers that was imitated yet unsurpassed for over a decade, and now Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 have done the impossible in arguably topping every entry in the series that came before it!
Over 25 years later, Miyamoto & Co. still have what it takes to craft some of the best games ever made.
What other series has been this great for 25+ years? Probably none, but don't let that stop you from posting some other series that have shown consistent quality throughout their existence.
Now there are examples of series in which certain entries went wrong. We all know that DMC2 sucked so hard that the series has had to resort to two prequels in order to save face. Pretty much every Metal Gear has been subject to divided opinions since the first one. The Final Fantasy series (main entries) has unquestionably seen its share of ups and downs. And we've all seen what's happened to poor Sonic the Hedgehog.
Barring the exceptions, what game series do you feel has had the most consistent level of quality throughout its run?
My answer may seem obvious, but it's only an easy choice because of how truly consistent this series has always been. I'm talking, of course, about the Mario series.
The only games in the mainline series that have engendered any kind of debate as to their quality were SMB2 (US version) and Sunshine, and in my opinion both of those games were good. Otherwise, nearly every mainline Mario game has seen itself among countless Top 10 Lists. The original obviously marked a rebirth for the industry that we still play in today, SMB3 and SMW are both widely considered to be two of the best 2D platformers ever made to this day, Mario 64 set a standard for 3D platformers that was imitated yet unsurpassed for over a decade, and now Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 have done the impossible in arguably topping every entry in the series that came before it!
Over 25 years later, Miyamoto & Co. still have what it takes to craft some of the best games ever made.
What other series has been this great for 25+ years? Probably none, but don't let that stop you from posting some other series that have shown consistent quality throughout their existence.
