From the forum question for issue 23

[Darran@Retro Gamer]

Crikey, it's that time of the month already.

Anyway, what's your favourite franchise/series and why?

[SirClive]

Is it too predictable to say Final Fantasy? Its like the Madonna of the game world - It just keeps reinventing itself into something more beautiful than the last. Although sometimes it is guilty of looking great but being the same old same old underneath (just like Madge ).

[kaiserpc]

it's got to be Ultima - come on you can even bake bread

[andy vaisey]

The Last Ninja series on the C64.

Although the quality of the games has been called into question in the past (I do *love* LN2, however...) this was the first series of games that I recall, on a personal level, that were a bit like big trilogy films like Star Wars.

They were well received, sold by the sack loads and made certain coders/graphicians/composers "famous".

Or I suppose I could choose the Zork series of adventures, which spanned different formats and sold a shedload as well...

[Jax]

for classic I say Sabre Man

and for fun agree The Last Ninja was great

thats far back but moving to newer

Leisure Suit Larry

Kings Quest

Oh oh no wait wait about

another world - flashback - fade to black

[paranoid marvin]

Monkey Island-although the best game came first
(although you could say Lucasarts graphic adventures throughout the
'90s was a classic series as a whole)

Baldur's Gate-only 2 but both classics

Fallout-ditto

[Matt M]

It would have to be Sonic the Hedgehog. Back in the day, if you had a Mega Drive, you would own Sonic. The 2D Sonic games are fine examples of platforming at it's best.

[RetroBob]

I'd have to say the Command & Conquer series. The first time I saw C&C I was blown away by the amount of control you had over your units, as well as the lovely visuals and sound - considering what I'd been used to with Dune II on my black and white laptop sans sound card. At school we spent hours playing this, and each eagerly anticipated sequel - minutes dissapeared into hours, hour into days. Who said the Chronosphere wasn't real?

[Mayhem]

Legend of Zelda. No other series comes close in terms of playability, addiction, atmosphere and engaging the player. Sure the NES games look a little rusty today, but they still hold up. Link to the Past on the other hand, is THE greatest game ever... with Ocarina of Time, Link's Awakening and Majora's Mask not very far behind.

[paranoid marvin]

I'd have to say the Command & Conquer series. The first time I saw C&C I was blown away by the amount of control you had over your units - considering what I'd been used to Dune II. At school we spent hours playing this at school, along with each eagerly anticipated sequel - minutes dissapeared into hours, hour into days. Who said the Chronosphere wasn't real?

You can now buy an anthology of the games for pc-at last I can play
command & conquer in xp

[Frank Chickens]

I enjoyed the Jetman series of games with Jetpac being my fave.

The Monty Mole range were rather to hit and miss to be consider a classic - the poor Monty is Innocent and the mediocre Auf Wiedersehen sandwiched inbetween Wanted: Monty Mole and Monty on the Run.

When it comes to the arcade, the most famous series stars our lil' yellow chomper Pac-Man. Pac-Man was the first arcade game to appeal to both men and women and spawned a top 10 hit record in America, "Pac-Man Fever" by Buckner & Garcia.

The series started to flag when Pac-mania gave the series the boost in the arm it needed. Bought up to date with the introduction of 3D perspective and the ability to jump over the ghosts in the maze added a mcuh needed spark to the gameplay. This is my favourite game in the series, after Pac-Man of course!

[Sabreman]

Bit of a toughie. I dithered over Final Fantasy and Resident Evil, but both those series have had instalments that I've really not liked at all. Phantasy Star would be up there - I just love the whole concept of it, the bright, attractive visual style and the way it paints a quite different universe to the vast majority of RPGs.

I'll settle on Ys though. The finest action RPG series by a long stretch, and it just keeps getting better. It's had a couple of hiccups along the way from a simple Master System adventure to a fiercely action-packed feast for the eyes in it's latest incarnation on the PC, but it's been a hell of a fun journey. And the music... my God, the music...

[eggman]

It has to be the Monkey Island series. There are loads of reasons to love the series.

The series has great characters like Guybrush, Le Chuck, Wally and even likeable cannibals.

Some of the best humour of any game I've ever played. Infact, its probably the best. Havn't seen many funny games recently, so can't see it been beaten.

Has to be one of the most quoted(for the right reasons unlike badly translated games!) games ever. How approprite you fight like a cow!

And great story and gameplay as well. I will allways remember the story of Guybrush and his quest to be a mighty pirate, and Monkey Island is one the few games to give a true sense of adventure.

Monkey Island is a series that will not be beaten. Its a true classic of the gaming world.

[Wils]

The Monkey Island games are my favourite series, because they arrr!

(Fetches coat)

Look behind you! A three-headed monkey.

[RetroBob]

I'd have to say the Command & Conquer series. The first time I saw C&C I was blown away by the amount of control you had over your units - considering what I'd been used to Dune II. At school we spent hours playing this at school, along with each eagerly anticipated sequel - minutes dissapeared into hours, hour into days. Who said the Chronosphere wasn't real?

You can now buy an anthology of the games for pc-at last I can play
command & conquer in xp

True, but they've made it difficult to play C&C and RA online or over LAN. There's been hell to pay on the EA forums! The abuse reminded me of the Ubisoft forums when they released the buggy mess that was Rainbow Six: Letdown.