One Franchise Gamers

[Cortez]

This is a concept that is mostly alien to me though I've noticed it alot online.

There seem to be quite a few people who stick to only one video game franchise (Sonic and Pokemon tend to be a popular choice in this situation) and buy consoles soley to play games from that individual franchise.

I can understand people favouring games from a single franchise but to me it seems like a waste of money to pay £200 or so just to play a handful of games and never branch out to other games. Do you know anybody like this? How do you guys feel about it?

[Blacklightning]

Dunno what you're talking about. I know people who generally revolve around one or two franchises and buy every possible game and required console for them, but never have I actually seen or heard of somebody who literally only buys a single franchise's worth of games and not branch out to a handful of others to bridge the time between new releases. There could be exceptions depending on the franchise though, but they'd have to be either pretty fucking big, very frequently updated or just plain have a lot of games, and I don't really know many franchises that fit that description well, save maybe WoW.

Myself, I'm actually a Duke Nukem fan. Sonic is the secondary interest and I buy plenty of other games that catch my interest, but it's only for the sake of biding time until a new Duke game comes out. Needless to say, that's a lot of games between DN3D and DNF, and still counting.

EDIT: It didn't occur to me until after I made this post, but have you considered the possibility that some gamers are, y'know... poor? Obviously I don't know what it's like cos money isn't really an object to me anymore, but I know I'd stick to a franchise I trust well if I didn't want to spend too much on my gaming habit. Hell, the main reason the PS2 lasted this long is because most households couldn't be fucked to shell out money for a nextgen console, but that's getting into a different point entirely.

Edited December 1, 2010 by Blacklightning

[Badnik Zero]

I guess these people exist theoretically or on the internet, but I don't know any of them.

Even if you're just a huge Sonic or Zelda or whatever fanboy, there's got to be something else in the genre that caters to you.

Could it be they're just young gamers with a fixation?

When I was a kid I started at Sonic, but became interested in other Sega stuff like Ecco and Vectorman pretty quickly.

[Cortez]

I don't know, I've seen quite a few topics that have come up here where people have mentioned that they only play Sonic games and I've seen the same thing on the shit fest that are the Serebii forums a number of times regarding Pokemon. I've never really thought it could be to do with money issues, I suppose it's a possibility though it's not like alot of preowned games are overly expensive after a year or so from the game's release (Mirror's Edge can be bought for little more than a fiver over here these days for example).

I'm not complaining about people to who only stick to the franchises they know by any means and I'm not saying it's a bad thing, I'm just curious as to why people could only buy a handful of games from a single franchise out of an entire console's catalogue.

[Chooch]

I don't think at any time in my life I was ever a 'single franchise gamer', but I'm definitely guilty of sticking exclusively to a single or very few genres of games at various points in my life. Primarily platformers.

[Conando]

I honestly think sticking to one franchise is a stupid idea. Why limit yourself to just one great line of games?

[Badnik Zero]

I don't think money is an issue either.

Like Professor J said, a lot of games are available cheaply. If you didn't have the money for them two years ago, you probably do now.

I'm broke and I only have 6 games for my DS. Three of them are Sonic... But the other three are Megaten games and Pokemon.

[Aquaslash]

I started out this way, sticking to Sonic. I wanted to stick to Mario, but didn't have the means at the time. To date, I've bought a Game Gear, Dreamcast, Gamecube, 360, Wii, PSP, several GBAs and a DS. Additionally I have the habit on maxing out on controllers/jump packs/accessories, and I've even bought a Kinect.

The only one of those I DIDN'T buy for Sonic was the DS. I bought that for Totally Spies. I don't regret any of those purchases though. I've found a ton of games on each system to be worth my while, and then there's the joy of Homebrew.

However, the only catch is unless it's Sonic or TS! I'll have to have a demo for it. Usually this isn't a problem thanks to demo discs and downloads.

[Core]

I'm almost like that. There are very few non-Sonic games that I buy. The reason is that they just don't interest me.

Over the years I've been spending less and less time playing video games, and nowadays, even Sonic games I barely play. But even at the time when I was playing a lot, the games I bought were mostly Sonic games. I don't care enough about the rest, regardless of whether they are good games or not.

Edit: in the past, during the 32-bits era, before I bought my games myself, I used to play a lot of different games. But then, the more I became obsessed with Sonic, the less I cared about everything else.

Edited December 1, 2010 by Core

[ovarloard]

Me? I started off as a one franchise gamer. The only game I ever played was Pokémon. Of course, this wasn't really due to my lack of interest in other games and rather it was because of my lack of funds as a whole (and my parents refusing to pay for a single game).

So it was more of a forced restriction for me.

[Double Agent Motobug]

Yeah, back on Gameboy I was a Pokemon-only guy. Mostly because none of the shops anywhere around here ever rented Gameboy games, so I didn't know which ones were good and which weren't, other than Pokemon. Then years later, I'll admit, I bought my Xbox360 solely for the promise of a kickass HD Sonic Game (lol) but I knew eventually there'd be more for me on the Xbox in the future, and MAN am I glad I made that choice; I'd be so lost without my Xbox, quite literally!

(If I bought a PS3 like I'd originally intended, I'd have never worked in RBN and never met all the cool people I have through RBN connections!)

:'D I still favor some franchises like Sonic, Pokemon, Zelda, Rock Band, etc, but I do tend to buy consoles for way more than just one game now-a-days. Lesson learned with Sonic 06. xDDD

[Glenn]

I used to be dangerously like this. Granted, attention shifted from time to time. Basically (after my epic early years as a gamer with a MegaDrive, and then a large space of time with no videogames at all) I asked for a PlayStation for Christmas because I wanted to play Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. It was my entire reason for getting the console, and it took a while for me to start buying other games outside of the Star Wars franchise. One of those games was Tomorrow Never Dies, and suddenly I was a James Bond fan. So likewise, when the PlayStation2 came out, I waited until James Bond 007 in... Agent Under Fire was released and, again, asked for the upgrade for Christmas. Played nothing else for months, until I realised they made Star Wars games on the new console too!

I guess, actually, I'm more of a one-type gamer. There are a few notable exceptions (Sonic being the most major, as he's a videogame first and foremost) but for the most part, I buy licenced games. Star Wars, James Bond, Star Trek, 24: The Game, Indiana Jones and Naruto are my staple gaming diet. In fact, if it wasn't for a couple of the excellent Lara Croft Tomb Raider games I've got on the shelf, Sonic would be all alone in my PlayStation2 collection as a videogame first and foremost (I used to own many other PlayStation2 games that were games first and foremost, like TimeSplitters and Black, but traded them in long ago for, yep, more licenced games).

Two consoles of mine have broken the rule, both of which happened this year. Back in January I was given my PlayStation3 as a late Christmas present from my father. The first time he's given me a console I didn't ask for, actually! And while my first wave of purchases included nothing but Sonic, James Bond and Star Wars, over the year I've explored beyond the limits of licenced gaming. Alpha Protocol, Wolfenstein and Katamari Forever are all on the shelf now, too. The second rule-breaker was my Nintendo DS, given to me by Mahzes back in April. That console was given to me specifically for the purpose of playing Sonic games. Again, over time, I've expanded the collection to include Naruto, James Bond and Star Wars, but it primarily ends up running a cartridge with Sonic emblazoned upon it. So while I had no intention whatsoever, I guess my Nintendo DS was purchased solely to follow one franchise!

[-Mark-]

I did start off like this (with Sonic, obviously), but then to be honest, I'd imagine most people did.

Sonic was the 'main' game series I got, from ages 7-11. Sure, I dabbled a little bit on other things, but Sonic was by and large the reason I played games at all. I branched out to Nintendo consoles when I was around 12, getting a Game Boy and N64, which upped things to include Mario, Zelda, Pokemon and Banjo-Kazooie.

I've found that personally, even now, I tend not to stray too far from first-party Nintendo games, Sega games, or the odd handful of licensed anime (mostly Naruto) games. I think each new console I get branches my interests a little more though, the Dreamcast did wonders for me with Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio (Jet Set Radio Future can go die though- well, it can't, it's a game, but I still think it's rubbish!).

Oh, and Okami. Great game that. And Ace Attorney. Okay, it's usually first-party Nintendo, Sega, Capcom, or Naruto games for me, then. That makes up about 90% of my gaming library, with the rest just being the odd thing I'll have picked up on a whim.

[Scott]

almost all my games on gamecube were sonic games, besides smash bros and metroid and I started gaming with the gameboy advance SP just to buy sonic games....

Then later in life I bought an xbox 360 just for Sonic 06 and loved it, but then I noticed guitar hero was on the xbix and was gonna buy it but my xbox buggered, the CD drive broke in some form.

So I downloaded games on it to continue playing it and discovered other great games beyond sonic, though I already had other games than sonic on my gamecube, gameboy and ds.

Infact, I originally wanted a DS for Super Mario 64 DS, and once I had it, I felt like the happiest man alive

[goku262002]

I think i'm getting pretty guilty with this with halo!

I like multiple franchises but i just cant afford all the games for them.

I really gotta start getting some cheap games.

[Vertekins]

I play a multitude of franchise's but Sonic is my absolute fave and by far the series i've played the most. I tend to be a gamer who goes for games of particularly high acclaim and usually never regret doing so, becoming glued to the franchises as a result. I went for Golden Sun years ago and got glued (Hurry up December 10th! I want Dark Dawn!), Zelda OoT on Virtual Console which I loved so much that I got other Zelda's (Majora's Mask, Twilight Princess, Spirit Tracks), Kirby Super Star Ultra which compelled me to get Mouse Attack, Dreamland 3, 64, Fun Pak on Virtual Console and I'm waiting impatiently for Epic Yarn and I have a taste for the Mario Galaxy series after mastering the first when it was first released. Also love the Pokemon series even if it just doesn't have the same impact anymore.

That said, I still play Sonic much more than them. Sonic has that special something that other games just don't have, a charm, a kind of extreme endearment. But then I have been a fan for nearly 17 years and bonded to the series at a very young age so that might explain a lot.

Edited December 1, 2010 by Verte

[DarkOverord]

Obviously I was like this. Kind of. It was more two franchise.

I was Sonic on Console (Till mum got me a chipped PS1, but the Dreamcast Rekindled that), and Pokémon on Handheld. I'm not so much these days. But honestly, my small franchise group is just what I enjoy, most new games I genuinely am not keen on :V

[edge.]

I'm kinda like that right now with Sonic, as my funds are kinda lacking right now. (I hate being 16 and without a job.) Thanx to illegal means, I am able to play more franchises that I used to, like how I was back in the days of late Gamecube/early 360 phase.

[Conando]

Oh, I suppose I should mention that I was never really a one franchise guy. I started with Super Mario Brothers when I was a toddler, then moved onto to Genesis and SNES when I was a kid. Granted, Sonic was pretty much the only thing I played on Genesis, but I played just about everything on SNES. I'm sort of a Nintendo fan due to having mostly Nintendo systems for my young life, but I branched out to Sony with the PS2 and now play games on all 3 systems come this generation. So I would say I was a more of a 1 console/developer kid, but not a one franchise kid.

Oh yeah, I also had a Game Boy. While Pokemon was my favorite, I played a lot of other things too. Mario Land, Wario Land, Donkey Kong Land, and Zelda just to name a few.

Edited December 1, 2010 by Hero Of Fate

[Tori Himemiya]

I honestly think sticking to one franchise is a stupid idea. Why limit yourself to just one great line of games?

You should tell that to hardcore Kingdom Hearts fans. D'OH-HO-HO-HO!

I don't see why sticking to one series of games is a good thing because you would have to wait several months for the next installment. I know if its a good game its good. But don't wear it down so much.

[Vulpine]

Not really. I have many different interests and therefore, many games have introduced me into different franchises (especially crossover games such as Super Smash Bros). The first Super Smash Bros game for the N64 introduced me to the whole Pokemon phenomenon in 1999, even if I knew what Pokemon was back then. Not to mention the fact that the later Super Smash Bros games (Melee for the Gamecube and Brawl for the Wii) have helped me know more of Nintendo's history then before (Screw Kingdom Hearts, Super Smash Bros. will always be the best crossover game ever). I personally prefer games (from franchises that originated from a video game) from first-party or second-party developers, or high-quality games from first, second and third-party developers (i.e. Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, Rare, SEGA, Namco-Bandai, Konami, Capcom, Square-Enix. As long as they have nothing to do with Disney). You may noticed that I do not like licensed games (Because they're poor-quality and are only made as extra merchandise to please the fans of said movie/book/show and nothing more), so they don't count. If it weren't for the Super Smash Bros games, then I would never have played Pokemon, Fire Emblem and all those games that I know today. SEGA also made many great games, more then just Sonic alone, such as Alex Kidd, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, Shinobi, Phantasy Star, Shining Force, Super Monkey Ball, and so on. Yet, out of all of SEGA's franchises, Sonic is the only one that became an iconic cash-cow, not realizing that many SEGA fans and gamers are wanting for an anticipated sequel to another franchise (Streets of Rage 4, anyone?) which some would rather see instead of Sonic going downhill. If you want to ever become a "game master", then you will have to play games from a variety of different franchises.

[Carbo]

One Franchise Gamers still exist?

I thought they were just a common phenomenon of denial ocurring in the thrilling days of our youth when we'd only get one console and stand forth as king-of-the-hill because your parents didn't buy you the right console.

Edited December 18, 2010 by Carbo