The world of gaming is always evolving, driven by rapidly advancing technology that allows developers to push boundaries with each new console. It’s fun to predict which games will be the next big hits, but there are also some well-known examples that didn’t live up to expectations.
Many video games have become incredibly successful in certain areas, like how much money they’ve made or how popular they are, and it’s unlikely any new game will reach those same heights soon. From famous titles to hidden gems, the games below are the best in their category and will likely remain so.
Super Mario Bros.
The Most Influential Video Game
Mario is undeniably the most famous video game character of all time, and it’s unlikely anyone will ever surpass him. But how did he become so iconic? The key lies in the original Super Mario Bros. – it’s widely considered the most important and influential video game ever created.
The video game industry nearly collapsed in 1983, but Nintendo helped revive it with the release of Super Mario Bros. in 1985. This game showed people that video games could be more than just score-chasing exercises – they could offer full-fledged adventures with stories and endings. Super Mario Bros. was so important that it essentially saved console gaming, and it’s unlikely any future game will have the same lasting influence on popular culture.
Minecraft
The Best-Selling Video Game
Minecraft is the best-selling video game ever, with more than 350 million copies sold. It’s famous for letting players of all ages build anything they can imagine. Plus, the game is flexible enough to support different styles of play, including popular modes like Battle Royale and Survival.
Ultimately, the key to Minecraft‘s success is that Mojang never made any sequels. This allowed them to continually profit from the original game, released back in 2011, while still offering it on different consoles and providing free updates. Anyone wanting to play Minecraft today simply needs to buy that original version.
Pokemon
The Highest-Grossing Media Franchise
Pokémon is the most iconic monster-catching game series, and even with many competitors, nothing has quite surpassed it. But its success goes far beyond gaming – Pokémon is not only the leading monster-catching and role-playing game franchise, it’s also the most financially successful media franchise globally.
For nearly three decades, Pokémon has generated over $113.7 billion in revenue. This success is due to how well the video games, spin-off titles, animated TV show, and trading card game all work together as a cohesive brand. It’s extremely unlikely any other franchise starting as a video game series will ever achieve this level of financial success.
No Man’s Sky
The Biggest Open-World Map
These days, many open-world video games are judged by how large their maps are. Games like Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Grand Theft Auto 5 are famous for having huge worlds filled with activities, but No Man’s Sky stands out as the biggest and most ambitious open-world game available.
No Man’s Sky features an incredibly large universe with over 18 quintillion planets to discover, all created using procedural generation. Although the game had a rocky start, the developers at Hello Games consistently released free updates that significantly improved the experience. Its sheer scale and unusual development journey make it difficult to imagine another game matching its ambition. To put it in perspective, Starfield, a comparable space game released seven years later by a larger studio, only offers around a thousand procedurally-generated planets.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
The Biggest Video Game Crossover
The Super Smash Bros. series is a wonderful way to experience Nintendo’s past, and the latest game, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, is especially known for including a lot of famous characters from other companies as playable fighters. These include popular faces like Simon Belmont from Castlevania, Steve from Minecraft, Kazuya Mishima from Tekken, Sephiroth from Final Fantasy, and Sora from Kingdom Hearts.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate truly feels like the biggest video game crossover ever created. It boasts a massive collection of characters – over 90 if you include those represented through spirits, music, stages, and costumes – pulled from more than 40 different game series. While Fortnite also features characters from other games, it’s mostly just costumes. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate actually lets you play as these iconic characters. Though future Super Smash Bros. games are likely, it’s doubtful Nintendo will attempt a project as expansive and ambitious as Ultimate again.
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots
The Longest Video Game Cutscene
Hideo Kojima is a celebrated video game director known for his storytelling and use of lengthy, high-quality cutscenes. The Metal Gear series, especially Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, is famous for these extended, animated sequences where players simply watch the story unfold without needing to play.
The ending cutscene for this game is over 71 minutes long, earning it a Guinness World Record for the longest video game cutscene – a record it still holds since its 2008 release. This length makes sense considering Metal Gear Solid 4 concludes the series’ story, requiring a detailed resolution of numerous storylines and character arcs. Given that Hideo Kojima is now developing other projects like Death Stranding, OD, and Physint, it’s unlikely he’ll create a cutscene of this scale again in the near future.
Fire Pro Wrestling Returns
The Biggest Fighting Game Roster
You’d probably assume the fighting game with the most characters would be a famous series like Street Fighter or Tekken, or maybe a game based on a popular anime like Dragon Ball or Naruto. Surprisingly, though, the game with the biggest roster is actually a lesser-known PlayStation 2 game from 2005 called Fire Pro Wrestling Returns.
With 327 playable characters based on real wrestlers from different promotions, Fire Pro Wrestling Returns boasts an enormous roster. Players can also create and customize their own fighters. While the gameplay is fairly straightforward and many characters share similar moves, the game’s massive selection of fighters remains unmatched in the fighting game genre.
Clockwork Aquario
The Longest Development Period For A Video Game
Many video games take years to develop, and we’ve seen high-profile examples like Duke Nukem Forever, Metroid Dread, and the anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6 experience lengthy delays. However, a lesser-known game called Clockwork Aquario actually holds the record for the longest development period ever.
After a remarkably long development period of 28 years and 81 days, the vibrant and appealing 2D platformer Clockwork Aquario finally launched in 2021. Originally started in 1992, the game was canceled by Sega in the early 90s when 3D games and fighting games became more popular. However, Strictly Limited Games obtained the rights in 2017 and released it on modern systems four years later. The challenging and unusual journey of Clockwork Aquario’s creation is truly one of a kind and unlikely to happen again.
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2025-10-25 13:37