10. Mortal Kombat Franchise (1992-present)
Mortal Kombat is a fighting game which was made to rival the success of Street Fighter. It was initially made for arcades and then released on consoles. It has spawned a movie and a whole heap of sequels. It is notable for its gory killing sequences known as 'fatalities' in which the player has to push a specific sequence of buttons to enact. The series created a lot of controversy and there has been many court cases about the level of violence in the film. The original game led to the establishment of the ESRB - (Entertainment Software Rating Board) in the US - where it was the first game to be rated Mature - and also the development of the Australian Classification Board. Various titles in the franchise have been banned in various countries and CNN ranked it as the second biggest controversy in video games - citing the game's gore as a major popularity factor.