10 Biggest Gaming Franchises With So Many Entries It's Just Offensive

1. Mario

However, Pokemon is still a fair ways away from our #1 entry, the ubiquitous Italian plumber, Mario. Since 1981, he has served as Nintendo's de facto mascot, appearing in over 200 video games, with his own titles selling over 400 million units worldwide. It all began with the Donkey Kong series, before Mario moved onto his own Super Mario Bros franchise, and over the years his most notable sub-series have included Mario Kart, Paper Mario and Super Smash Bros. In addition to this, numerous supporting characters (Luigi, Wario and Yoshi, for instance) have proven popular enough to earn their own individual series, such as Luigi's Mansion and WarioWare. The little guy is everywhere, co-starring and cameoing in many of his buddies' games, as well as countless Nintendo sporting titles, and even some Olympic-themed titles against Sonic the Hedgehog. Between roughly 5 and 10 games starring Mario are released every year, with 5 already penciled in for 2014, making it clear just how popular he is that he can flood the market like this yet not turn players off. As someone who hasn't owned a Nintendo console since the GameCube, I struggle to see why Mario hits the audience sweet spot above all others, and how he hasn't fatigued gamers by now, but I suppose the sheer number of games means that virtually nobody plays all of them. Gamers have to pick and choose the ones that work for them, and the most popular Mario titles speak for themselves. Are there any absurdly over-populated franchises I missed? Let me know in the comments!