Video game discourse is perhaps the most toxic of any discourse around any form of media. If you were a Sonic the Hedgehog fan in 2015 and publicly admitted to that, you would be drawn and quartered within the hour.
Ten years later, and it’s hard to say things have gotten much better. There are still those who will absolutely hate certain franchises with all of their passion and spend absolutely zero time considering that others may find value in them.
And yet, despite the massive number of people who are oh so willing to throw hate to the wind, some franchises have dodged that kind of vitriol entirely. No one is mad when they see these in a presentation, and the fans simply get to enjoy it in peace.
I find these franchises especially interesting. Especially those that have managed to sell quite well while avoiding discourse as much as reasonably possible, completely invalidating any reason for haters to even exist, despite their success.
10 Donkey Kong
Gone Bananas
One trend you may notice here is that franchises that have had fairly long periods with no new games tend to lose any passionate hate they may have once had, and that’s certainly the case with the Donkey Kong series, more or less.
From 2014 to 2025, there were zero new Donkey Kong games, and with the last one being Tropical Freeze, a generally well-liked sequel, the love stayed strong and hate died out. If anything, people just kind of hated Nintendo for re-releasing a four-year-old $50 game for $60 with barely any new content.
Once Donkey Kong Bananza came out to massive critical acclaim, with the addition of a hell of a lot of respect for the legacy of the series, you’ll rarely find anyone being a hater, other than crazed individuals who claim that it should have been a Mario game.
It’s pretty much always been great, and outside of Donkey Kong 64 or the random older game like Donkey Kong Jr. Math, you see these games get remembered fondly more often than not. It’s always nice to see a new DK game, and most people will agree with that sentiment.
9 Scribblenauts
Constant Creativity
A series that has been on hiatus for quite a while, Scribblenauts was always one of the hallmarks of childhood for most people who grew up with a DS, me included. It’s just a simple, fun game where you get to express your creativity; it’s hard to be mad about that.
The entries on the DS sold a ton. Scribblenauts Unlimited and Unmasked are where the series pretty much hit the peak of quality, then it was a little downhill from there. Scribblenauts Showdown released with a way worse way of making words, and hardly anyone remembers it.
It has now been seven years without a new entry in the series, most likely because 5th Cell is a bit of a walking corpse these days. Still, Warner Bros. doesn’t seem particularly keen on bringing it back in any capacity, either, after the failure of Showdown.
Despite this, I see a ton of love for the series from people who grew up with it, especially with the rise of a bunch of YouTube videos on the games, revisiting them and talking about how well-made, charming, and adored they were. I think we all miss Scribblenauts, really.
8 Spyro the Dragon
Taking Off
Another series that hasn’t seen much activity, Spyro was an absolutely massive icon on the PS1 before diving into mildly obscure territory. Unlike some others, I’ve only ever seen positivity toward this series, even during a lull of good games.
Pretty much every Spyro game on the GBA or after Enter the Dragonfly, either got panned or was never as well remembered as the original three games. That doesn’t mean they’re all worthless, but have you really ever seen anyone gas up Spyro Orange?
After Dawn of the Dragon was released in 2008, production on the series stopped almost entirely, outside of using the name to boost the sales of Skylanders. Ten years later, we saw incredibly well-received remakes of the original trilogy, then never anything else.
I’ve seen nothing but love for this series ever since, and as someone who has only really gotten into it recently, every Spyro fan just kinda celebrates their little guy, and hating the series in this condition is going a bit further than just kicking a dead horse.
7 Picross
Blocked Out
The chillest series of all time, for real, Picross is a genuinely massive series of games that has spanned pretty much every console generation, and if I ever see a single soul be genuinely mad about seeing a Picross game, I’m going to lose faith in humanity.
It’s always been pretty prevalent, with tons of games on the Switch, several Nintendo series crossover games like Pokémon and Zelda picross, and plenty of fans of the series being inspired to make their own nonogram-based puzzle games.
For example, Murder By Numbers mixes the usual Picross gameplay with investigation games like Phoenix Wright, and it works wonders. Those devs eventually went on to make Fall Guys, and that’s crazy to me. Picross is literally everywhere, even if you never notice it.
I have seen zero people hate this series, but frankly, it’s a bit difficult to find something to hate about it. Nonograms are well-designed puzzles, and these games are wonderful for sitting back, relaxing, and knocking out a good bunch of puzzles whenever.
6 Microsoft Flight Simulator
Aerial Expert
For some reason, Microsoft Flight Simulator is a more consistent series of theirs than half of the franchises they own, but I’m not complaining. It’s a genuinely good simulator, and it gets used by pilots in training all the time.
On top of that somewhat altruistic motive for this series’ existence, as a casual who can’t even fly a real plane, I find it really fun to fly around in a flight sim. Having a massive recreation of the entire Earth to work with makes it really damn fun to explore.
It’s one of the longest-running video game series ever, starting in 1982 and getting a new entry just last year in 2024, and with the announcement of that game, I purely saw people excited to play it and mess around in the air, and absolutely zero hate.
It’s just fun to fly around, and it’s really hard to hate a series that’s become a genuinely good tool for some.
5 Mega Man
Blue Bombs
If there is a single series most well-known for being inactive forever, it’s probably the Mega Man franchise. The series saw tons of love into the 2000s, took a break until the release of Mega Man 9 and 10, then took an even longer break until 11.
Mega Man’s best-selling game ever was Mega Man 11, all the way back in 2018, and it hasn’t seen a single new game since. Mega Man fans are still staying strong and passionate, though. I see love for this series all the time, and it never dies out.
Even with Capcom’s neglect, I still see multitudes get hyped for Mega Man’s inclusion in Sonic Racing Crossworlds, absolutely bursting with excitement at the slightest bit of new official content. It’s really lovely, honestly, like a community that is somehow both tight-knit and massive.
Any hate I’ve seen for Mega Man was so long ago, I can’t even remember why they were hating in the first place. Nowadays, you see nothing but awesome fan content for the series, and that leads to it being really difficult to dislike the Blue Bomber.
4 Metroid
Morph Balling
One of Nintendo’s most consistent series, Metroid has had a single really bad game, a massive hiatus after that, and some of the best, most revolutionary games ever made afterwards. It’s impressive how massive the comeback has been recently.
The series has always earned a ton of respect for having quality games, practically inventing the Metroidvania genre, and yet, it’s one of the lesser-played Nintendo series. It peaked at 3 million with Dread, but honestly, that might be a good thing.
It’s made the series a bit of a selective experience tailored towards the core audience that already loves it, and it’s made very few people upset. It’s super targeted towards people who love sci-fi Metroidvanias, and if you aren’t into that, you probably just don’t care.
Especially after the fans had to wait so long for a single new game, then had to wait 8 years for any news on Metroid Prime 4, it’s always a breath of fresh air to see something from Metroid. It’s pretty much guaranteed you can pick up a game in this series and enjoy it, aside from Other M.
3 Ace Attorney
True Justice
I remember Ace Attorney being one of the most iconic series of all time on an older version of the internet, yet the series hasn’t seen a single new entry since 2017, despite selling pretty well and still being an iconic, recognizable franchise.
On one hand, it’s hard to blame Capcom for focusing on Monster Hunter, Street Fighter, and Resident Evil when those games sell so well, but on the other, I see so much love for Ace Attorney all around, and pretty much everyone has enjoyed something from it.
Ever since yelling “Objection!” and having the Pursuit music playing became a hallmark of internet culture, this series has entered legendary status. While the constant remakes and collections are nice to introduce more people to the series, there are thousands of people still waiting for something new.
Either way, I’ve never seen anyone hate this series. It’s a super long-running, beloved franchise, and usually when something achieves icon status on the internet, it receives some flak, but not this one. It’s really quite remarkable, and I love it so.
2 Tetris
From Russia, With Fun
Tetris is a massive franchise, and it’s such an important one that it has an entire company dedicated to it, dozens of unique games, and an entire film based on the wild story of its creation. Despite how popular and iconic it is, it’s really only ever received love.
Pro Tetris players are some of the most dedicated, locked-in gamers you can find, and it’s honestly just astonishing to see them work their craft. On top of that, this series is important and is one of the most well-studied, perfected pieces of game design out there.
I’m willing to bet that a majority of the biggest games in the Puzzle genre wouldn’t be here if not for Tetris, and that alone has made the series command respect. Every game in it is good at the absolute minimum, or they’re Tetris Effect, which is an absolute masterpiece.
With all that love and respect for the franchise, you won’t really find anyone online willing to spew vitriol over a simple, beloved game. At most, people just aren’t into it or don’t understand it, with that being something really far off from pure hatred.
1 Kirby
Star of The Show
I think it’s pretty well-known information at this point, but Kirby is just an awesome series, man. What seems like an easy game for kids on the surface is actually an incredible series with tons of incredibly fun movesets and eldritch abominations to slay.
The Kirby fanbase is easily one of the least toxic out of any Nintendo franchise, with most people just enjoying all the games and not being mad at you for saying that “the bad one” is your favorite. It’s really quite peaceful, and I love that.
On top of the fans being generally rather pleasant, the games are always great. They have some of the best music in video game history, and even Star Allies, which I consider my least favorite in the series, has an awesome mixing mechanic and some of the best lore in the series.
HAL is pretty much the Kirby company, at this point. It’s almost all they make, and their commitment to quality and fun means being a Kirby fan is just really easy. I never see any hate towards Kirby as a franchise, unless it’s people just ragebaiting online, but they aren’t real, because I said so.
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Author: 360 Technology Group
