Summary
- Madden NFL tops the list with 44 games spanning 30 years.
- Megami Tensei boasts a staggering 96 games, including all spin-offs.
- Final Fantasy surpasses 100 games in its long legacy.
Video games have been around a good long while now. Not quite so long as movies, but long enough to have left a legacy. Starting back in 1958 with Tennis For Two, gaming has come a long way. No longer are we restricted to limited memory and low resolutions.
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Posts 1And in the 60-odd years since gaming first came around, some games have left a trail long enough to trace back to their origins. Many of those games are still around, while others trailed off into obscurity over the decades. Needless to say, there are quite a lot of games, and these are the ones that have been around the longest.
Updated 1st November, 2024 by Hilton Webster: Wow, there sure are a lot of games out there now, huh? Too many for one person to play honestly. Yet even when spoiled for choice with new series', it's so easy to fall on the comfort of a familiar series that has been running for so long that you can't help but love it. Well we've given this article some heavy tidying so you can admire all these games for the long legacy they've built.
30 Madden NFL (1988) - 44 Games
via ModDB.comMadden NFL 25
Sports Released August 16, 2024 Developer(s) EA Tiburon Publisher(s) EA Platform(s) PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PC Powered by Expand CollapseA sports series which feels like it has been running since the dawn of gaming, Madden NFL has been ongoing for over thirty years. Madden NFL has steadily been releasing one new game every year for as many consoles as possible since 1988. On occasions, the series does deviate from this lucrative plans, releasing mobile versions, or a unique version of its game for the Nintendo 64 in 1997.
The result is 44 unique games, despite the franchise being only thirty years old. Despite having very little differences between iterations, it's still sold over 130 million copies in total.
29 R.B.I. Baseball (1988) - 16 Games
The first R.B.I. Baseball, released in 1988, was a Tengen cartridge for NES, meaning that it was unlicensed by Nintendo. It was a port of a Japanese game and used the name of MLB players for added realism. The sequel, however, was its own thing, and the series kept building on its own name and engine until a 20-year hiatus, which started in 1996.
Though nowhere close to its former glory, new games are still being released to mediocre reviews, with 16 titles bearing the series’ name so far.
28 Megami Tensei (1987) - 96 Games
Shin Megami Tensei 5
JRPG Released November 12, 2021 Developer(s) Atlus Publisher(s) Sega Platform(s) Switch Powered by Expand CollapseAnother role-playing game series created in 1987, Megami Tensei spans many subgenres and birthed so many spin-offs that calculating the exact number of games in the series is a daunting task. There are 14 mainline games, but a frankly staggering amount of spin-offs if you count every other subseries.
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PostsYep, in total you will have over 90 Megami Tensei games if you count the entirety of the series. It makes up the bulk of Atlus' development efforts, while plenty other entries were outsourced, too. AT least we finally have Metaphor: ReFantazio to see what an Atlus game without all the Megami Tensei branding would look like.
27 Final Fantasy (1987) - 100+ Games
Final Fantasy 14 (2010)
MMORPG Released August 27, 2013 Developer(s) Square Enix Publisher(s) Square Enix Platform(s) PC, PS3, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S Powered by Expand CollapseThe incredibly popular Final Fantasy was first released in 1987 and named as such because Hironobu Sakaguchi, the series’ creator, was convinced that this would be his last effort in the gaming industry. The game was so successful that he just had to stay with his series.
The series sold another 100 million copies before Sakaguchi finally left Square. The series has since had 16 main entries, but has had so many spin-offs, including fighting games, racing games and strategy games, that you get approximately 100 titles once everything is tallied.
26 The Legend of Zelda (1987) - 46 Games
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
Adventure 9.7/10 Released September 26, 2024 Developer(s) Nintendo, Grezzo Publisher(s) Nintendo Platform(s) Nintendo Switch Powered by Expand CollapseLooks like 1987 was a pretty strong year for the creation of blockbuster franchises. The Legend of Zelda was also created that year and has since captured the imagination of gamers at large and Nintendo fans in particular.
There has been a grand total of 46 entries in The Legend of Zelda since it first stepped onto the scene in 1987, with Nintendo finally creating a Zelda-helmed adventure of her own. It might not approach the numbers of some of Nintendo's other series', but it's a great number for how how it's existed all the same.
25 Metal Gear (1987) - 27 Games
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
Action Released February 19, 2013 Developer(s) Platinum Games Publisher(s) Konami Platform(s) PS3, Xbox 360, PC Powered by Expand CollapseTo complete the haul of legendary games which first appeared in 1987, we have Metal Gear, which was originally a top-down shooter released for the MSX2 computer in Japan. Later ported to the NES, the game was completely different from what the series would eventually become.
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PostsNow renowned for its stealth gameplay, as well as its endless cutscenes, the series has seen around 27 entries with all the various remakes, spin-offs, and compilations taken into account. Of course, the series has been on something of a hiatus since Metal Gear Solid Survive.
24 Darius (1987) - 12 Games
Darius might not be the most famous franchise on our list, but it’s one of the toughest ones to play. A series of shoot ‘em up games, it started in 1987 with a critically acclaimed arcade game, which was itself ported to numerous consoles.
To stand out from the crowd of shooting games, Darius used mirrors in its cabinet to give the illusion of a widescreen monitor way before such a thing was common. Since then, around 12 main entries have been created, with only a few ports and remakes to speak of.
23 Ys (1987) - 18 Games
Ys 8: Lacrimosa Of DANA
Action RPG Released September 12, 2017 Developer(s) Nihon Falcom Publisher(s) Nihon Falcom Platform(s) Nintendo Switch, PC, PS Vita, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 Powered by Expand CollapseYs is an elder in the genre of Japanese RPGs, with the first game, Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished being released in 1987 for the NEC PC-8801 computer. Since then, the series has been fairly subdued, only producing 18 games over its 30+ years of existence.
These entries have mostly been met with critical success and praises from fans of the genre. More specifically, the series has often been lauded for its music, to the point where each game’s soundtrack was subsequently remixed and released individually.
22 Metroid (1986) - 14 Games
Metroid Prime
First-Person Shooter Metroidvania 10.0/10 Released November 17, 2002 Developer(s) Retro Studios, Nintendo Publisher(s) Nintendo Platform(s) GameCube, Wii Powered by Expand CollapseSince its 1986 origins, the Metroid series has only seen the release of 14 titles, a decent number of those games being remakes and spin-offs of the original. For a series that has been going on for such a long time, it's a surprisingly small number, especially when comapred to other Nintendo series'.
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PostsThankfully, the series got a second wing with the Samus Returns remake of Metroid 2, with Metroid Dread finally bringing us a proper sequel to Metroid Fusion. And now, Metroid Prime 4 is finally back on the radar. The future is, for the first time in a long while, looking bright for Metroid.
21 Castlevania (1986) - 32 Games
Castlevania: Harmony of Despair
Action Adventure RPG Released August 4, 2010 Developer(s) Konami Publisher(s) Konami Platform(s) Xbox One, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 Powered by Expand CollapseStill strong after all these years, the Castlevania series has come a long way since 1986. Though the 32 games in the series more often than not remain close in spirit to the original NES classic, Konami did try to bring the franchise into the 3D world a few times, to varying success.
It's had great success in the multimedia side of things too, with an animated series, pachislot machines, endless collabs, and actually quite competent compilations. While a new game hasn't been made in quite a few years, there's always a chance its popularity will bring a new one into existence. Maybe.
