Best First Game in a Series - Round 1

[This Old Neon]

Round One of the “Best First Game in a Series” side-event includes 8 polls of 9 games each.

• You can vote for up to FOUR (4) games in each poll, or skip a poll entirely.
• The top 4 games from each poll will move on to Round Two.
• You can’t change your votes once they’ve been submitted, so click carefully. Voting closes on Saturday at 11:59 P.M. ADT.

VOTE HERE

Poll 1 of 8
Banjo-Kazooie (1998, N64)
Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009, Multiplatform)
Final Fantasy (1987, NES)
Luigi's Mansion (2001, GCN)
New Super Mario Bros (2006, DS)
R-Type (1987, Arcade)
Sid Meier's Civilization (1991, PC)
SimCity (1989, PC)
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (1996, SNES)

Poll 2 of 8
Bubble Bobble (1986, Multiplatform)
Castlevania (1986, NES)
Fallout (1997, PC)
Lunar: The Silver Star (1993, SCD)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (2001, GBA/DS)
Resident Evil (1996, PS1)
Shadow Hearts (2001, PS2)
Sonic the Hedgehog (1991, Genesis)
The Secret of Monkey Island (1990, PC)

Poll 3 of 8
Dark Souls (2011, Multiplatform)
Deus Ex (2000, PC)
Dynasty Tactics (2002, PS2)
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (2003, GBA)
Overlord (2007, Multiplatform)
Pikmin (2001, GCN)
Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel (1987, PC)
Suikoden (1995, PS1)
You Don't Know Jack (1995, PC)

Poll 4 of 8
Baldur's Gate (1998, PC)
Dragon Age: Origins (2009, Multiplatform)
Myst (1993, PC)
Phantasy Star (1987, SMS)
Pokémon [Blue/Red] Version (1996, GB)
Punch Out!! (1983, Arcade)
Super Mario 64 (1996, N64)
The Legend of Zelda (1986, NES)
Wipeout (1995, Multiplatform)

Poll 5 of 8
Dead Space (2008, Multiplatform)
Gauntlet (1985, Arcade)
Mass Effect (2007, X360)
Mega Man X (1993, SNES)
Metroid (1986, NES)
Out Run (1986, Arcade)
Shantae (2002, GBC)
Star Wars: X-Wing (1993, PC)
Warsong (1991, Genesis)

Poll 6 of 8
BioShock (2007, Multiplatform)
God of War (2005, PS2)
Halo: Combat Evolved (2001, PC/XB)
Mega Man (1987, NES)
Paper Mario (2000, N64)
Rocket Knight Adventures (1993, Genesis)
Super Mario Bros. (1985, NES)
Super Mario Galaxy (2007, Wii)
Tetris (1989, GB)

Poll 7 of 8
Dead Rising (2006, Multiplatform)
Doom (1993, PC)
Guacamelee! (2013, Multiplatform)
Half-Life (1998, PC)
Metal Gear Solid (1998, PS1)
Pac-Man (1980, Arcade)
Professor Layton and the Curious Village (2007, DS)
Shining in the Darkness (1991, Genesis)
Viewtiful Joe (2003, GCN/PS2)

Poll 8 of 8
Double Dragon (1987, Arcade)
Fable (2004, PC/XB)
Gradius (1985, Arcade)
Metroid Prime (2002, GCN)
Ninja Gaiden / Shadow Warriors (1988, Arcade)
Shining Force: The Legacy of Great Intention (1992, Genesis)
Splatoon (2015, WU)
Super Mario Kart (1992, SNES)
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (1995, SNES)

[This Old Neon]

NOTE that this category is for the best game that happens to be the first of a franchise, series, etc. NOT the best series.

Cast your votes on the basis of the games listed here, not the ones that came after them.

[Kong Wen]

I'm pumped about this category, mainly because it's going to involve some HARD CUTS.

There are a lot of series I love with half-decent first games that aren't good enough to get votes.
There are also some series I don't care about as much that have dynamite first games.

Poll 1 of 8
Banjo-Kazooie (1998, N64)
Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009, Multiplatform)
Final Fantasy (1987, NES)
Luigi's Mansion (2001, GCN)
New Super Mario Bros (2006, DS)
R-Type (1987, Arcade)
Sid Meier's Civilization (1991, PC)
SimCity (1989, PC)
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (1996, SNES)

Arkham Asylum is the best Batman game and the best of these Arkham games, so it's an easy pick here. Final Fantasy isn't the best FF game (it's a primitive grind), but it has some nice elements that carry through into later entries and this is a relatively weak bracket. I'll vote for it here but probably not later. R-Type is an all-round solid game. I had to choose between Civilization and SimCity, but I think I spent more time with the original version of the former, so for the purposes of this category, that's what gets my vote.

Poll 2 of 8
Bubble Bobble (1986, Multiplatform)
Castlevania (1986, NES)
Fallout (1997, PC)
Lunar: The Silver Star (1993, SCD)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (2001, GBA/DS)
Resident Evil (1996, PS1)
Shadow Hearts (2001, PS2)
Sonic the Hedgehog (1991, Genesis)
The Secret of Monkey Island (1990, PC)

Castlevania is an exemplar of its genre. Easy pick. Fallout is great. The Sega CD version of Lunar is in many ways better than its own "enhanced port" to PS1 a couple years later, so it's an easy vote for me. Finally, it's hard not to toss a vote at Monkey Island, which is another one of those genre trailblazers.

Poll 3 of 8
Dark Souls (2011, Multiplatform)
Deus Ex (2000, PC)
Dynasty Tactics (2002, PS2)
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (2003, GBA)
Overlord (2007, Multiplatform)
Pikmin (2001, GCN)
Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel (1987, PC)
Suikoden (1995, PS1)
You Don't Know Jack (1995, PC)

This would have been my first conundrum, since the original Suikoden is kind of clumsy in many ways... but fortunately it has come up in a bracket that I don't have a ton of other interest in.

Dark Souls, it goes without saying, is a masterpiece and an easy vote here.

Poll 4 of 8
Baldur's Gate (1998, PC)
Dragon Age: Origins (2009, Multiplatform)
Myst (1993, PC)
Phantasy Star (1987, SMS)
Pokémon [Blue/Red] Version (1996, GB)
Punch Out!! (1983, Arcade)
Super Mario 64 (1996, N64)
The Legend of Zelda (1986, NES)
Wipeout (1995, Multiplatform)

I enjoy the Punching series, but the arcade one is kind of weak IMO. The NES entry is great, but I can't vote for this one.

Poll 5 of 8
Dead Space (2008, Multiplatform)
Gauntlet (1985, Arcade)
Mass Effect (2007, X360)
Mega Man X (1993, SNES)
Metroid (1986, NES)
Out Run (1986, Arcade)
Shantae (2002, GBC)
Star Wars: X-Wing (1993, PC)
Warsong (1991, Genesis)

Man, I miss space dogfighters. X-Wing is a great game. Metroid is just getting edged out here because, while it's fun and one of the earliest NES games I ever played, both of its immediate successors are much better (Metroid II and Super Metroid), so in its old-school form it can't take a bite at Warsong, X-Wing, Mega Man X, or Gauntlet.

Poll 6 of 8
BioShock (2007, Multiplatform)
God of War (2005, PS2)
Halo: Combat Evolved (2001, PC/XB)
Mega Man (1987, NES)
Paper Mario (2000, N64)
Rocket Knight Adventures (1993, Genesis)
Super Mario Bros. (1985, NES)
Super Mario Galaxy (2007, Wii)
Tetris (1989, GB)

OK, here's an interesting bracket. As much as I love the Mega Man series, I consider the first entry to be a fairly bad game. I'm not going to vote for it even with votes to spare. Similarly, as much as I love Tetris and vote hard for it in the main event, I have a hard time considering it a true series-starter, since most Tetris games that follow seem to be more like remakes of this one than sequels. Obviously you can make a case for there being a "series" of Tetris games, but I don't know, it doesn't jive with the spirit of the category for me (and besides, the first Tetris game would have been the PC one).

Poll 7 of 8
Dead Rising (2006, Multiplatform)
Doom (1993, PC)
Guacamelee! (2013, Multiplatform)
Half-Life (1998, PC)
Metal Gear Solid (1998, PS1)
Pac-Man (1980, Arcade)
Professor Layton and the Curious Village (2007, DS)
Shining in the Darkness (1991, Genesis)
Viewtiful Joe (2003, GCN/PS2)

This is a killer bracket. Doom is still excellent. Guacamelee! is damn near perfect. I love the early Shining games, and Shining in the Darkness is a really nice dungeon-crawler with classic Shining elements. Curious Village is (IMO) the best of the Layton games, so the fact that it's the first one is impressive. I think I'm going to have to suck it up and make a hard Shining cut. I'll make up for it by voting for Shining Force in the next bracket.

Poll 8 of 8
Double Dragon (1987, Arcade)
Fable (2004, PC/XB)
Gradius (1985, Arcade)
Metroid Prime (2002, GCN)
Ninja Gaiden / Shadow Warriors (1988, Arcade)
Shining Force: The Legacy of Great Intention (1992, Genesis)
Splatoon (2015, WU)
Super Mario Kart (1992, SNES)
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (1995, SNES)

While Shining in the Darkness is the first game in the whole Shining franchise, Shining Force is the first game in the main Shining Force subseries of that franchise. And it's one of my fave tactical RPGs.

[MerlinDrazziw]

Poll 1 of 8: Luigi's Mansion and New Super Mario Bros
Poll 2 of 8: no vote
Poll 3 of 8: no vote
Poll 4 of 8: Super Mario 64 (first in what series?)
Poll 5 of 8: no vote
Poll 6 of 8: Bioshock and Tetris
Poll 7 of 8: Doom, Half Life and Prof. Layton
Poll 8 of 8: Metroid Prime

Held back on some votes as this is not a best series poll, but best 1st entry. Given that I don't know more than half of the games I only voted on those I know and could/would play again for fun.

[Kong Wen]

Poll 4 of 8: Super Mario 64 (first in what series?)

Arguably, the 3D Mario subseries... but along those lines, would Final Fantasy 7 be the first game in the 3D Final Fantasy subseries? This is why I didn't vote for SM64—didn't care for the nomination.

Tangent: I could have nominated Final Fantasy Tactics because there are a couple FFT Advance games that came after, but every game after the original is terrible, so I don't choose to see it as a proper series in my mind.

[MerlinDrazziw]

Poll 4 of 8: Super Mario 64 (first in what series?)

Arguably, the 3D Mario subseries...

I was asking because of Super Mario Galaxy .. thought that was part of the 'same' series

[The Shoemaker]

Yeah Mario 64 and Galaxy I found difficult to vote for because they don't feel like "first" entries. Is Mario 3D Land a first entry and Mario 3D World a second entry?

Dark Souls was an easy vote for me, it's a game that feels just as good as its sequels and doesn't actually feel like it came years before the others. Original LOZ is fantastic as well.

[This Old Neon]

Poll 1 of 8
Banjo-Kazooie (1998, N64)
Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009, Multiplatform)
Sid Meier's Civilization (1991, PC)
SimCity (1989, PC)

Poll 2 of 8
Bubble Bobble (1986, Multiplatform)
Castlevania (1986, NES)
Sonic the Hedgehog (1991, Genesis)
The Secret of Monkey Island (1990, PC)

Poll 3 of 8
Dark Souls (2011, Multiplatform)
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (2003, GBA)
Pikmin (2001, GCN)
Suikoden (1995, PS1)

Poll 4 of 8
Phantasy Star (1987, SMS)
Pokémon [Blue/Red] Version (1996, GB)
Super Mario 64 (1996, N64)
The Legend of Zelda (1986, NES)

Poll 5 of 8
Dead Space (2008, Multiplatform)
Mass Effect (2007, X360)
Mega Man X (1993, SNES)
Star Wars: X-Wing (1993, PC)

Poll 6 of 8
BioShock (2007, Multiplatform)
Super Mario Bros. (1985, NES)
Super Mario Galaxy (2007, Wii)
Tetris (1989, GB)

Poll 7 of 8
Doom (1993, PC)
Guacamelee! (2013, Multiplatform)
Half-Life (1998, PC)
Metal Gear Solid (1998, PS1)
Professor Layton and the Curious Village (2007, DS)

Poll 8 of 8
Gradius (1985, Arcade)
Metroid Prime (2002, GCN)
Shining Force: The Legacy of Great Intention (1992, Genesis)
Super Mario Kart (1992, SNES)
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (1995, SNES)

Moving on to Round Two!