Halo Crushes Super Mario Sonic and Call of Duty as Best Franchise

In what will certainly be considered a surprise by many gamers unfamiliar with the exploits of Master Chief and Cortana, Halo has topped the Guinness World Records list for the "Top 50 Videogame Series" of all time. That's right, Master Chief trumped Mario, Sonic, GTA, and the rest of the bunch.

But don't blow your brains out yet if you're a Sony or Nintendo fanboy. The list was compiled by Guinnes World Records, however it's actually based on user (reader) votes and not the traditional calculation of sales, longevity, etc.. It does say a lot about the franchise and it's strength in building a strong fanbase though. Since Halo topped the best franchise of all-time, you can probably figure out that the Xbox franchise is also the best shooter on the list as well.

It wasn't a small group of gamers as over 13,000 readers voted for the list in an online poll hosted on the Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition website for eight months in 2009. The list is featured in the Guinness World Records 2010 Gamer's Edition, a variant of the popular record-keeping reference book dedicated to achievements by video games and their players.

Nintendo and Sony exclusives got some love too along with some major third-party franchises. The full list of Guinness World Records's "Top 50 Videogame Series" follows:


Halo
Call of Duty
The Legend of Zelda
Guitar Hero
Metal Gear
Super Mario Bros.
World of Warcraft
Gears of War
Super Smash Bros.
Grand Theft Auto
Pokemon
Resident Evil
Fallout
Half-Life
Sonic the Hedgehog
Counter-Strike
Runescape
FIFA
Kingdom Hearts
Final Fantasy
Pac-Man
Madden NFL
The Sims
Tomb Raider
WWE Smackdown Vs. RAW
Rock Band
LittleBigPlanet
Saints Row
The Elder Scrolls
God of War
GoldenEye 007
Bioshock
KillZone
Skate
Left 4 Dead
Need for Speed
Chrono Trigger
Gran Turismo
StarCraft
Ratchet & Clank
Pong
Tom Clancy's
Star Wars: Battlefront
Battlefield
Diablo