One of the best things about modern gaming is the abundance of games that are released every week. Granted, not all of these games are hits, but with how popular the gaming industry is today and how many studios are trying to release the next best thing, there’s plenty of great content to keep players occupied.
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Despite how much competition there is today, there are some iconic franchises that have remained popular over the course of multiple decades. The following franchises on this list have allbeen able to reinvent themselvesmultiple times to stay relevant and have released games in four different decades.
8Donkey Kong
The originalDonkey Kongwas released in 1981 and is considered to be one of the most important gaming releases of all time. The arcade game introduced the gaming industry to two characters who would become mascots for the entire industry, Mario and Donkey Kong, and it also kickstarted the platform genre.
NotableDonkey Kongreleases in the decades that followed includeDonkey Kong Countryfrom the ’90s,Donkey Kongafrom the ’00s, andDonkey Kong Country: Tropical Freezefrom the 2010s.
7FIFA
TheFIFAseries began in 1993 withFIFA International Soccer, and new titles have been released every year since. This amount of releases may sound like over-saturation, and some believe that it is, though the games are consistently among the best sellers of their respective years.
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Interestingly, the latest release in the series,FIFA 23, will be the last under the EA and FIFA partnership. EA are set to launchEA Sports FCnext year, while FIFA have said that they still plan to release aFIFA 24.
6Final Fantasy
TheFinal Fantasyseries has been at the forefront of the JRPG genre for many years now. The franchise started in 1987 and has received numerous main series releases, with the gap between 2016’sFinal Fantasy XVand the upcomingFinal Fantasy XVI(due to release in 2023) being the longest gap between main series entries.
The release ofFinal Fantasy XVIwill mean that there have been main seriesFinal Fantasygames released for five decades in a row, and the franchisedoesn’t look to be ending any time soon.
5Resident Evil
Whereas theFinal Fantasyseries stands atop the JRPG genre,Resident Evilis a dominant force in the survival horror genre. The series started in the ’90s with a trilogy of games that popularized horror in gaming and stood out with their iconic fixed perspective. The main series then drastically changed in direction with the legendary shooterResident Evil 4before opting for a first-person and more pure-horror experience withResident Evil 7andVillage.
Another similarity toFinal Fantasyis thatResident Evilhas also had a plethora of titles released outside of the main series, though the main series games are where the series' true quality lies.
4Crash Bandicoot
TheCrash Bandicootfranchise was created by Naughty Dog and began in 1996 on the PlayStation 1. The bandicoot was created with the intention of being PlayStation’s answer to Nintendo’s Mario and Sega’s Sonic, a high standard that Naughty Dog did an excellent job of trying to reach with the franchise’s iconic PS1 trilogy and classic kart racing game.
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TheCrash Bandicootseries suffered from a significant drop in quality when Naughty Dog left afterCrash Team Racing, and the series looked like it would never recover after a stretch of underwhelming releases in the late 2000s. However, after a near-decade-long gap between main series releases, the bandicoot came back with a bang with theN. Sane Trilogy, a remake of the original trilogy. In 2020 a sequel was released to 1998’sCrash Bandicoot: Warped, securing the franchise’s spot on this list.
3Pac-Man
Before Mario came along (more on him later) the yellow circle with a mouth known as Pac-Man was considered to be gaming’s mascot by many people. The character debuted in the iconic arcade gamePac-Man, a maze game that is still great fun to play today.
There’s no denying that thePac-Manfranchise has never come close to reaching the heights of the original release in terms of popularity, though the character has starred innumerous enjoyable games across a variety of genresover the years and decades, such as 3D platformer, kart racer, and party.
2Super Mario
The firstSuper Mariogame was released in 1985 and it’s no exaggeration to say that the gaming industry wouldn’t be where it is today without it. This is not only because Mario would go on to become the gaming industry’s unofficial mascot but also because the game was fundamental in helping the industry recover fromits 1983 crash.
TheSuper Mariofranchise remains one of the gaming industry’s most critically acclaimed and beloved franchises today, with numerous classic titles having been released across five decades. The latest game,Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Furywas released in February 2021.
1The Legend Of Zelda
Like theSuper Marioseries, theLegend of Zeldafranchise was instrumental in helping audiences trust home console gaming again following the 1983 crash. The originalLegend of Zeldamay not look like much by today’s standards, butits open world felt enormous at the time, and having the freedom to simply explore was a rarity when the game was released in 1986.
The series has gone from strength to strength since, with its jump to 3D inOcarina of Timebeing a notable standout, along with the most recent main series game,The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
