Longest Video Game Franchises

Longest Video Game Franchises Still Developing Today

Here we have some of the longest running video games sagas of all time. These have been collected by taking into account, the year that the first game of the franchise was released and if the franchise has games for sale or under development for the current generation of consoles. You may know of older game franchises or sagas that have more games to their credit but they are possibly are no longer in development for current consoles.

Anyway let us get on with it. Staring from the latest to the earliest. 😀

1987 - Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy released in 1987 and has had huge success over the years, Final Fantasy has over 100 games to its name. The main saga finished with Final Fantasy XV. The most recent spin-off was a fighting game called Dissidia Final Fantasy.

Coming soon to a console near you will be much anticipated Final Fantasy VII remake. Final Fantasy goodies can be found Here.

1986 - Zelda

The Zelda saga began with The Legend of Zelda in 1986. It was one of the first games to be presented in an overhead view. It had good graphics and an amazing soundtrack. The gameplay is excellent as you explore the world, find items, solve puzzles and beat the bad guys, what more could you want? With the new Breath of the Wild, the Zelda franchise has amassed 26 games with surely more to come.

Check out some Zelda on Amazon

1986 - Metroid

Metroid was, well is, one of my all time favorite games. A true classic that was first released in Europe in 1988 (Japan 1986). You play a bounty hunter Samus Aran, hunting for space pirates. Metroid is a classic Sci-Fi action adventure game. A brilliant game that start an excellent series of games. So far a total number of 14 games have been developed with Metroid Prime 4 coming on Nintendo Switch soon.

1986 - Dragon Quest 

As Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest is brought to us by the developers at Square Enix. The Dragon Quest franchise started in 1986 and is one of the most successful in recent history. The saga has a total of 31 games including various spin-offs such as Dragon Quest Heroes.

1984 - Tetris

Whether you love games or hate them you must surely have heard of Tetris. It was in 1984 that Alekséi Pázhitnov designed Tetris, a simple and highly addictive puzzle game. More than 150 games of the Tetris franchise have been released since its original outing.

Get a Tetris game free from here.

1983 - BomberMan

It's hard to believe that Bomberman first appeared back in 1983. Still a hugely popular game today with the release Super Bomberman R. The Bomberman character has appeared in 68 games to date. Most of the games follow the puzzle mechanics although the little character has explored other genres such platformers and racing.

You can browse Bomberman merchandise and games here.

1981 - Super Mario

No surprises here, Super Mario has been around for a very long time. You could say since Donkey Kong in 1981, although he really didn't appear in his own game until 1983. Super Mario has to be one of the most successful video game franchises of all time and is still hugely popular today.

There could quite possibly be more than 450 games featuring Mario. The little Italian plumber has not only appeared in platform games he has offered us; puzzle games, football, tennis, karting and more. Thanks to the popularity of the fantastic Nintendo Switch I am certain we will see plenty more from the little man.

Want to buy or browse Mario.

1981 - Wolfenstein

For me, it is fairly hard to believe that Wolfenstein was first released way back in 1981. Wolfenstein is one of the longest video game franchises to still be running today. There have only been 9 different games released for this long running franchise, with the latest release, Wolfenstein Youngblood due sometime next year.

1981 - Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong was first released in 1981. The Donkey Kong series currently has 30 games under its belt including spin-offs like Mario v's Donkey Kong.. The first Donkey Kong saga had very little to do with current games. Back in the old days he was the big bad gorilla trying to stop the player (jumpman) reaching the top of a building to save the girl. The jumpman in the original later became known as Mario.

The latest game in the franchise, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze was recently released on the Nintendo Switch. Find Donkey Kong Products on Amazon.

1980 - Pac-Man

Surely you have heard of Pac-Man? Well those of a certain age would have. Pac-Man is a true classic that was first released in 1980. And can you believe there have been around 41 titles released. I couldn't when I was researching. A simple game of eating while escaping the ghosts in a maze has evolved very little over the years however Pac-man has ben in 3D platformers and racing games.

Fancy owning your own Pac-Man goodies?

If you know of any other long running video game franchises that are still developing today please let me know in the comments, Facebook or Twitter.