6 Best Game Franchises of All Time

Liputan6.com, Jakarta - Think about the first video game you ever played, or the one you remember most. There is a good chance it belongs to one of the biggest game franchises ever made.

These series have been part of people's childhoods, weekends, and friendships for decades. They are more than just games. They are shared experiences that connect people across different ages, languages, and cultures.

So, which game franchises made the biggest mark in history? Here are six of the most popular ones and why people still love them today.

Super Mario Bros. started in 1985, made by Nintendo in Japan. A designer named Shigeru Miyamoto created it. The story is simple: Mario, a plumber, must save Princess Peach from a villain called Bowser. Players jump, run, and collect coins through colorful levels.

The franchise became one of the biggest in gaming history. Famous games include Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario 64, and Super Mario Odyssey. Each new game brought new ideas, like open worlds, new power-ups, and creative level designs that surprised players.

Today, the core Super Mario series has sold over 430 million copies. In 2023, The Super Mario Bros. Movie became a huge hit in cinemas worldwide. Mario is now one of the most recognized characters in the world, even more famous than some cartoon characters.

Grand Theft Auto, or GTA, began in 1997. Brothers Sam and Dan Houser created it. They started a company called Rockstar Games and published the series through Take-Two Interactive. The first GTA games were small, but the series grew into something much bigger.

The franchise is known for its open-world design. Players can explore large, fictional cities, complete missions, and do almost anything they want. Famous titles include GTA: San Andreas, GTA IV, and GTA V. These games are praised for their detailed worlds and strong storytelling.

GTA V, released in 2013, became one of the best-selling games ever with over 200 million copies sold alone. The whole franchise has sold nearly 465 million copies. GTA also holds several Guinness World Records, including the largest voice cast in a video game.

The Legend of Zelda first appeared in 1986, also created by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka at Nintendo. Players control a hero named Link, who must rescue Princess Zelda and defeat a villain called Ganon in a fantasy land called Hyrule.

The series is loved for its mix of exploration, puzzle-solving, and combat. Classic titles include Ocarina of Time, which many people call one of the best games ever made, and Twilight Princess. In recent years, Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom changed the series with a large open world.

Breath of the Wild is the best-selling Zelda game, and Tears of the Kingdom sold 10 million copies in its first week. As of 2025, the franchise has sold over 156 million copies in total, across about 29 games. It remains one of Nintendo's most important and respected series.

Final Fantasy was created in 1987 by Hironobu Sakaguchi at a Japanese company called Square, now known as Square Enix. The name came from a personal story. Sakaguchi was thinking of leaving the games industry, so he called it his "final" project. Luckily, it became a massive success.

Unlike most series, each main Final Fantasy game has different characters, a new world, and a separate story. There are 16 numbered main games in total. Final Fantasy VII, released in 1997, is one of the most famous and influential role-playing games of all time.

The franchise has sold over 195 million copies. It also produced a trading card game that sold 240 million cards. Final Fantasy remains the best-selling franchise from Square Enix and a cornerstone of Japanese role-playing games worldwide.

Resident Evil launched in 1996, made by Capcom in Japan. It was created by Shinji Mikami and Tokuro Fujiwara. The game is set in a world where a powerful company creates dangerous viruses that turn people into zombies. Players must survive, solve puzzles, and use limited resources carefully.

This series is credited with creating the "survival horror" genre in gaming. It changed how horror games are made. Over the years, the series shifted in style, from slow and scary exploration to more action-focused gameplay. Famous titles include Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil 7, and Resident Evil Village.

As of early 2026, the franchise has sold over 183 million copies, making it Capcom's best-selling series. It is also the best-selling horror game franchise of all time. The ninth main game, Resident Evil Requiem, sold 5 million copies in under one week.

Pokémon began in 1996 in Japan, created by Satoshi Tajiri. His idea came from a childhood hobby of collecting insects. The concept is simple: players travel through a world, catch fictional creatures called Pokémon, train them, and battle other trainers. Famous designer Shigeru Miyamoto helped guide the project.

The games are published by Nintendo and developed by Game Freak. Beyond the games, Pokémon grew into a huge media franchise with an anime series, movies, and the Pokémon Trading Card Game. Pokémon GO, released in 2016, became a global phenomenon with over 1 billion downloads on mobile.

With over 480 million video game copies sold, Pokémon is the second best-selling game franchise in history, behind only Mario. It is also the highest-grossing entertainment franchise of all time across all media, ahead of Star Wars and Harry Potter.