Favorite Nintendo franchise?

[Zen Man]

The video game giant has created many well-known and not so well-known titles throughout its existence. But with so many franchises representing so many memorable characters, which ones are your absolute favorite?

You may vote for more than one franchise.

[Desensitized]

Earthbound, StarTropics, and Kirby are my favorites. Two of which are dead and the third hasn't had a main console release in a long time.

But I do love Mario, 2D Metroid, 2D Zelda, and Smash quite a bit too.

[Tanooki]

i like adventure-type games, so my favorite franchise is "the legend of zelda". even though the story is essentially the same time and again, whenever a new game is released i am always entranced. "majora's mask" is my favorite of the series

not really into NASCAR or any other type of racing event, but for some reason i get a kick out of the mariokart franchise with "mariokart: wii" being my favorite of the series. spent a good two hours today just racing others online

and, of course, can't say no to mario. 3D will never hold a torch to 2D, but, in my opinion, there has yet to be a faulty game in the main series. "super mario world 2: yoshi's island" is my favorite of that series

[Luna]

It's a toss-up between Mario and Pokemon for me....both franchises have given me alot of entertainment over the years....

[Punisher]

I'd say so far, Pikmin has been my favorite, but Metroid, Star Fox, and Donkey Kong are up there as well. I can't really say much about Pikmin, other than I love the way both games combine adventure, strategy, and puzzle solving elements into one awesomly unique package. A third Pikmin would be sweet, but as it stands, the first two have been close to pefect so, if the series is over, I'd have no problem with it.

As for the other three, they're just solid franchises, my favorites of each being Super Metroid and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes for Metroid, Star Fox 64 for Star Fox series(although Adventures is close, really is an underrated game) and Donkey Kong Country for the Donkey Kong series. I guess I like those three franchises because none of their games are really the same, compare Star Fox 64 to Adventures and then to Star Fox Command. All totally different games that are special in their own way. Same with 2D and 3D Metroid, and again with the DKC series, DK64, and Jungle Beat.

With some other Nintendo franchises, it's the same game just redressed with Zelda, Pokemon, Kirby, and to some extent Mario. Not to say they're bad games, to the contrary, it's the scenario where you can't have too much of a good thing really. Just kind of boring after a while though.

[PC!]

Mario, easily. I love platformers, and Mario hasn't had a bad one yet, if you ask me.

Pokemon easily fits second. Probably the most addictive video game I've ever played in my life.

Donkey Kong is third, if only for the sheer brilliance that is the Donkey Kong Country trilogy. Don't like any of the other DK games.

[GWOtaku]

Technically speaking, Fire Emblem isn't a Nintendo franchise. Intelligent system develops the games, and Nintendo publishes them. But out of Nintendo published games, Fire Emblem is it. I've always liked strategy, and Fire Emblem delivers on that while offering some great storytelling and usually more than a few memorable characters every game.

Out of Nintendo developed games, its Mario. Super Mario 3 and Super Mario World still stand as excellent 2D platformers. Then Super Mario Galaxy set the standard to beat for 3D platformers. From what I hear Mario 64 was good for its time but has been eclipsed, and Sunshine was a generally letdown, but Galaxy is a game that people will have fun going back to for a long time to come. It shows that Nintendo still has what it takes to make a great Mario game, evolving the gameplay while keeping the key elements of what makes the series fun.

[Ishtar]

Gotta go with the original, Super Mario Bros. It's just so classic that I feel it's very hard to have another Nintendo franchise take it's place, although I'd say Zelda is pretty close.

[Tay the Cat]

#1 is easily Pokemon. It's kept me in 10 years strong. No other franchise has been able to do that, except for #2, which is Kirby.

Unfortunately without a DS, I haven't been able to play the latest games for either.

That will change soon, hopefully.

[Zero Kagayaki]

Kirby

[Daxdiv]

Man I sure did vote for alot of them... For the ones that I voted for

Kirby since I think of it more as a modified Mega Man system, and it is a blast to control Kirby, since I find him more powerful than Chuck Norris and Jack B.

Pokemon will always have a special place in my heart, since it was my first RPG, as for my favorite game I said before that it is a tie between GSC and DP.

Mario, gotta give props to Mario 3 for having the most awesome items and being fun game for both the easy and the hard.

Fire Emblem, Since I only played two, the ones availible on the consoles, I enjoy them very much, and always had my finger reach for the reset button if my favorite character died on me

I like Pikmin 2 over one since 2 did everything right that turn around.

Punch-Out for it cartoony appearance, and being a very addictive and fun game on the NES, and it looked amazing for the generation.

Animal Crossing, Okay I admit that I was skepitcal of that, but once I followed my policy of shutting up before I play, I was hooked, Too me it hard to choose since I like both the DS, and the GCN version, though I think I enjoy the GCN ones just for the NES games.

Star Fox, It is awesome game all around, I enjoyed SF64 and DS, I only enjoyed the Arwing mission on the GCN one.

F-Zero for being original racing property for them to use other than Mario Kart.

As for Other, Super Smash Bros series, for giving me the opportunity for making Link and Mario beat up Zelda and Peach for years of holding back on them, my favorite entry is obviously Brawl for being balanced and having many side mission with prizes worth fighting for. Also I do enjoy Sin and Punishment and Drill Dozer.

[Mynd Hed]

I'd call it a tossup between Mario and Zelda-- Zelda has been more consistent over the years, although only LttP has reached the heights of the greatest Mario games IMO. They're quite close no matter how you look at it.

Most other long-running Ninty franchises are pretty hit-or-miss IMO; most have just one or two really good games followed by a slew of phoned-in sequels and spinoffs, often farmed out to other developers with mixed results. Star Fox, for example, peaked early with SF64 and has been more or less crap ever since.

[mookie75]

It's a tough call between Mario and Zelda for me. I went with Zelda because I tend to get more enjoyment out of replaying those games than I do Mario's adventures.

[Demonic Raven]

Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Fire Emblem, Golden Sun, Mario Kart, and Smash Bros all deserve mentions from me. Just don't ask me to choose between them.

[Daxdiv]

Oh yeah I forgot about Advance Wars Series. I like the warfare system, and Days of Ruin was a good way to paint the series in a new light. I just like the gritty setting and none of the happy go lucky one from the previous installment, which is kind of weird for a war game.

[Zen Man]

Well here are my picks...

Super Mario Bros - what can I say I grew up on the franchise and have enjoyed every minute of it. From the characters to the unique settings to the music, its one of the greatest video game franchises ever. Yeah its repetitive sometimes but I don't care. :p

Donkey Kong - well it was primarily the DKC trilogy that drew me to the franchise. Its to bad Nintendo and RARE couldn't continue their partnership.

Kirby - for me its right up there with Mario as one of the best side scrollers ever. Kirby's Dreamland and Kirby Superstar will always hold a special place in my heart.

Punch-Out!! - though I could never beat the game, its still a personal favorite. It was a great way to work out some aggression. LOL

Pikmin - I rented the game once and from what I saw I liked. I'm not to big on strategy games, but Pikmin does have plenty to offer with great graphics and a unique style of gameplay.

For others definately Super Smash Bros and Duck Hunt.

[WolfieKiwi]

The Legend of Zelda, hands down. Long live puzzle solving in video games.

[Novapocalypse]

I'm going with The Legend of Zelda series. But Mario comes close.

[Draft]

Kirby
Mario
Pokeman
Earthbound

[Leviathan]

I like the Game and Watches (and the Galleries) the most, since we're seeing gameplay and graphics stripped down to the barest essentials, and yet I've never been so addicted to a game.

Mario, Kirby, and Earthbound are tied for second. But, really, there's probably not a Nintendo franchise I don't like.

[TacoHunter]

While Nintendo is not perfect they're pretty damn good.

There has never been a bad F-zero game. And the best of them all is F-zero GX on the GCN.

Mario. He's Mario. I feel the best game was Mario World. There was just SO much in that game. And it has a nice save function so I could pick my favorite levels to play over and over again. It was epic.

Zelda. The best of them all where the Oracle games on the GBC. They had the best replay value of a Zelda game ever. Honestly, handheld Zelda WAY better then console Zelda.

Pokemon, I was very enthralled with the original. And while the newer ones haven't been able to keep my interest in them like the original, where I maxed out the clock at 255 hours (I think). But I still play the newest games, and have a lot of fun with them.

I was not a Metroid Fan back in the day. I just couldn't get in to it. But now, I find it to be a great series. The first Metroid game I beat was Metroid 2 on GB. I've done the Primes and the GBA games, I still need to get around to beating Super Metroid and getting the DS game.

Fire Emblem is the greatest series that I hate. Just because I keep doing stupid things and getting my characters killed...and to spend hours on a map to have 1 person die...and then for me to just reset and do it all over again. It is fun, but oh man...

I love Kirby, and his greatest game was Kirby Super Star on the SNES. I don't understand why the rest of the series doesn't offer as much as that game does. With multiple ways of using powers, co op, and just a plain big long awesome adventure...or in the case of Super Star it was a whole bunch of adventures.

And the Mother series. The series that makes me hate Nintendo. Did you know they had the original Mother 1 game totally translated and ready for US release. And yet...they canned the whole thing because it was the end of the NES's life. And then Mother 3...no idea...at least we've got a fan sit working on that one now. Looks like they're almost done too.

DK. I love Donkey Kong. Rare did an AWESOME job with DKC. And even stuff like Jungle Beat were pretty awesome.

[Kevin the Geek]

I consider Donkey Kong to be my favorite Nintendo franchise, because the Donkey Kong Country games have nice game play and great soundtracks.

[danreyes1]

EVERYTHING! Seriously.

[Darklordavaitor]

Gotta go with Zelda for #1, followed by Animal Crossing and Star Fox. But really, I like all fo their franchises that I've played of, aside from Pikmin(did like the multi-player in #2, though) and F-Zero.

[Jay]

The Legend of Zelda

[Light Lucario]

I'm going to go with Pokemon as my favorite Nintendo franchise. I've always enjoyed the games, even the side games like MD and Ranger have been interesting, and I always get addicted to the new games. I've been a strong and happy fan for ten years and that's another reason why its my number one choice. Mario comes at a close second because not only have I enjoyed the games from that series, but I have some great memories of watching my older brother play those same games and the both of us playing the games together. Zelda would be in third mainly because I haven't had too much experience of playing the game myself, mainly watching my older brother play his Super Nintendo copy years ago, but I did enjoy what I saw in the remake for the Game Boy Advance SP a few years ago.

[Shozuka]

Pokemon has been and always will be my favorite franchise. No doubt about it. ^__^