-=Shire=-

Splinter Cell’s success proved that the Tom Clancy brand was as powerful in military-themed games as it is in novels. With excellent lighting effects that worked both as eye candy and as part of its stealth mechanics, and evocative atmospherics that wove a compelling thriller narrative with iconic Special Forces themes, Splinter Cell captured the imagination of millions and became one of this generation’s most successful original IPs.

9.
Super Mario Sunshine
Nintendo / Nintendo EAD
Platform: GameCube
Released:  August ’02
Estimated Sales: 2.5 million
Revenues: $85 million
Franchise Sales: 4.4 million
Game ranking: 91%
OFH: Luigi’s Mansion
(We have separated Mario franchises by genre – racing, adventure, sports and party).

No publisher protects its properties better than Nintendo, and no Nintendo property is more revered than Mario. The company’s unfaltering defense ensures that core series Mario games are so well-made – but also so very infrequently released – that when they do come out they make money hand over fist. Even if they’re evolutionary steps, like Super Mario Sunshine was.

8.
Medal of Honor Frontline
Electronic Arts / Dreamworks
Platform: PS2
Released:  May ’02
Estimated Sales: 2.5 million
Revenues: $95 million
Franchise Sales: 34.3 million
Game ranking: 86.5%
OFH: European Assault; Rising Sun

Common knowledge among game critics dictates that Medal of Honor, the franchise that spawned the console World War II FPS as we know it, has long since been eclipsed by others in its fiercely competitive subgenre. But that genre’s competitiveness is a result of the unreasonably high bar the MoH series set for pretenders, and Frontline is the apex of its console efforts – it didn’t just sell because it was the only game in town.

7.
Kingdom Hearts
Square Enix
Platform: PS2
Released:  September ’02
Estimated Sales: 2.6 million
Revenues: $100 million
Franchise Sales: 4 million
Game ranking: 86.5%
OFH: Kingdom Hearts II

It’s weird to think now, but the winning formula of Kingdom Hearts in no way felt like a sure thing prior to its release. As it turns out, adding Disney’s best-loved characters and worlds to an action RPG that already had a cast culled from the Square legacy of Tetsuya Nomura was just what everybody wanted. Thus, Kingdom Hearts found an all-ages audience despite some deficiencies in gameplay.

6.
Need For Speed: Underground
Electronic Arts / EA Black Box
Platform: PS2
Released:  November ’03
Estimated Sales: 2.6 million
Revenues: $115 million
Franchise Sales: 11 million
Game ranking: 84%
OFH: Underground 2; Pursuit 2; Most Wanted

Need For Speed has proven an incredibly resilient franchise, a driving series that has no problem reinventing itself as pop culture dictates car trends. In the case of Underground, Need for Speed focused on underground street racing culture just a few scant months after 2 Fast 2 Furious scored blockbuster ticket sales, and backed it with the pitch-perfect gameplay borne of a decade of experience.   

5.
Super Smash Bros Melee
Nintendo / HAL Laboratory
Platform: GameCube
Released:  December ’01
Estimated Sales: 3.2 million
Revenues: $125 million
Franchise Sales: 3.2 million
Game ranking: 90%
OFH: None

Super Smash Bros Melee benefited from being the only game with Mario in it anywhere near the GameCube’s launch. It was also surely bolstered by its December street date in that console’s first holiday season, but its sales endeared well past that via simple yet lush fighting gameplay that made it perfect for parties, and detailed dedication to Nintendo nostalgia. Naturally, the franchise will help usher in the Wii as well.

4.
Madden NFL 2004
Electronic Arts / Tiburon
Platform: PS2
Released: August ’03
Estimated Sales: 3.5 million
Revenues: $170 million
Franchise Sales: 22 million
Game ranking: 90.8%
OFH: Madden NFL 2002-2006

Madden has always been a great, supremely successful football game. As of late it’s also been the only NFL-licensed football game in town, but what’s interesting is that its most successful SKU came over a year before the exclusivity contract, right as Sega was really turning up the heat with its NFL 2K series. Perhaps competition really is good for everybody?

3.
Gran Turismo 3:A-Spec
SCEA / Polyphony
Platform: PS2
Released:  July 2001
Estimated Sales: 3.8 million
Revenues: $120 million
Franchise Sales: 5.5 million
Game ranking: 94%
OFH: Gran Turismo 4

Gran Turismo 3 came out at a time when PS2 early adopters were looking for something, anything, to show that their expensive new system was more than a DVD player. It delivered in true killer app style, with untouchable graphics and uncompromising simulation-style driving mechanics, and a hungry market devoured it. It even became the first PlayStation 2 pack-in title, which helped drive sales even further.

2.
Halo
Microsoft Game Studios / Bungie
Platform: Xbox
Released:  November 2001
Estimated Sales: 4.2 million
Revenues: $170 million
Franchise Sales: 9.3 million
Game ranking: 95.7%
OFH: Halo 2

Halo didn’t just save the Xbox at launch. Halo is Xbox. Its polished shooter gameplay, well-told science fiction storyline, and criminally addictive multiplayer ensured it as a must-have title, and action fans picked it up by the millions – along with a big black box to play it on. Halo has gone well beyond proving that the reasons for its success went well beyond the empty playing field of its console’s early days.

1.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Rockstar / Rockstar North
Platform: PS2
Released: October ’03
Estimated Sales: 7 Million
Revenues: $300 Million
Franchise Sales: 22 Million
Game ranking: 94.1%
OFH: San Andreas GTA 3

GTA has spent this whole generation as a juggernaut, but Vice City did everything right at exactly the right time. It polished the superlative gameplay of its smash-hit predecessor. It perfected controversy marketing without being pulled from shelves like its successor. It even managed to ride a wave of 80’s nostalgia right as the decade was having a minor renaissance courtesy of VH1 – no wonder its sales reigns supreme.