10 Video Game Franchises With The BEST Spin Offs

If there's one thing pop culture loves, it's the thrill of the new

But if there's one thing pop culture also loves, it's the comfort of the familiar

Which is why on the eighth day, God created the spin-off. And some companies took that idea and ran with it all the way to the bank

In many cases, multiple times, and in many cases, with great success

So I'm Sy, this is WhatCulture, and here are the 10 video game franchises with the best spin-offs

Number 10, Metal Gear Solid. If there's one franchise that's hard to explain to non-gamers, it's surely Metal Gear Solid

a place where 15-minute monologues on global politics are juxtaposed with fistfights between

half-naked clones, and where covering yourself in bees gets you a spot in an elite commando unit

as opposed to a psychiatric institution. Thankfully, that anything-goes attitude also extends to MGS's delightfully daft spin-offs. Take the non-canon Metal Gear Acid games that

spelt with an exclamation mark just to put a fine point on things, these PSP exclusives transform the

stealth action gameplay that the series is known for into a turn-based card game, which is a set of

words that makes my heart very happy personally, where you control Solid Snake exclusively via

your custom-built deck. Even further upending of the tea table can be found in the digital graphic

novel, a comic book retelling of the original Metal Gear Solid that asks players to scan each

panel for MGS-related trivia. That might sound dull to some, but for Metal Gear heads it's an

utterly absorbing experience and a darn fine retelling of one of the series' better stories

But of course the tub-thumping pinnacle of MGS spin-offs is Metal Gear Rising Revengeance

because a game that makes up a word for its title and starts with you chopping a giant robot in

half within the first 10 minutes must be onto something. And let's not forget that it culminates

in a fight against a half-naked US senator who pauses the battle to, yes, monologue on global politics

Because even in spin-off land, there are some tropes that Metal Gear can't bring itself to shake

Number 9, The Legend of Zelda. While it's no secret that Zelda spin-offs were once uniquely terrible, lest we forget the CD-i games

and I use the word games very loosely, Nintendo have spent the past few years getting its act together

when it comes to sending Link and company out on alternate adventures

The first and most obvious point of reference has to be Omega Force's stellar work on the series

As well as offering more fan service than you can shake a Korok at, Hyrule Warriors and sequel Age of Calamity

see the developers catapulting the musou genre to new heights. Turns out bashing thousands of enemies at a time feels a lot less repetitive and a lot more enjoyable

when you're playing with characters as diverse as magical iPad-wielding princess, maraca-shaking tree, and a trio of middle-aged fairies

Aside from the Warriors game, special mention must also be paid to Cadence of Hyrule

a thoroughly bizarre rhythm-action RPG hybrid that sees Link bop his way across Hyrule by attacking enemies to the beat of the music

And of course, there's Four Swords Adventure, a madcap co-op adventure that's easily Zelda's best pre-Warriors spin-off

albeit one hampered by the necessity of finding three other Zelda diehards equipped with GBAs, Link cables, and a complete lack of fiscal sense

but for the 44 people around the world who played this game as intended

Mwah! Magnifique. Number 8, Resident Evil. Not every Resident Evil spin-off has been a success

in fact the series has had more failed spin than some franchises have had good games but when Capcom signature zombie series hits old as it hit hard For one thing you don even need to look outside of the main games for proof With Mercenaries mode Resident Evil has been nestling one of its best spinoffs

inside each of the numbered entries for years now. A staple of the franchise since Resident Evil 4

Mercenaries turns Capcom's survival horror games into an arena-based shooter, with the series' iconic cast blasts their way through the retrospective game's bestiary

As a free addition to Resident Evil 4, 5, 6, and Village, Mercenaries is a staggeringly generous monstrously addictive slice of content

and in the case of RE6 arguably the best reason to buy the game

In terms of separate releases the Chronicles duology retold the stories of the numbered games via the light gun genre

and did a damn fine job of it. Umbrella Chronicles in particular with its numerous side missions and unlockables

is easily the most content rich light gun game ever made. And of course there's the Outbreak spin-offs which are famous for two things

offering online multiplayer on the PS2, and letting you fight a zombie elephant in a T-Virus infected zoo

The Resident Evil remakes are great and all, but can we get back to the RE spin-offs now

I need some a fix of Capcom weirdness. Number 7, Shin Megami Tensei

Shin Megami Tensei is very much the session musician of the JRPG genre

As while it lacks the mainstream appeal of its contemporaries, those in the know are hugely appreciative of what it brings to the table

To wit, brutal strategic combat, excellent soundtracks, and most pertinently, an array of fantastic spin-offs

These can be split into three major series, and you may notice a theme here

Devil Survivor, Devil Summoner, and Digital Devil Saga. The series spans plenty of genres, with Devil Survivor providing excellent strategy RPG battling

Digital Devil Saga offering two of the PS2's finest JRPGs, which is no easy feat for a system overflowing with them

and Devil Summoner giving us everything from cyberpunk JRPGs to a pair of hack and slash games set in 1920s Japan

By far the weirdest spin-off, however, is the fantastically named Tokyo Mirage Sessions FE

This Walking Mad Lib is an SMT game crossed with Fire Emblems

set in Japan's idle industry. It replaces the gothic heavy metal atmosphere of mainline Tenzai games

for a pop-fueled adventure filled with bright colours, cheerful teenagers and genuinely catchy pop songs

Sure, it only sold like three copies, but by God, those three people were left with beaming smiles on their faces

by the time the credits rolled. Having said all that, it's a fair bet some of you are already typing

what about Persona? And to those people, I say... Number six, Persona

After starting life as an offshoot of Shin Megami Tenzai, Persona has taken on a life of its own

and created its own batch of high-quality spin-offs across a variety of genres

For the thinking gamer, there's the aptly named Persona Tactica, It brings the introduction to strategy RPGs that may be a tad simplistic for genre veterans

but is carried along by its lovable cast, excellent writing, and killer soundtrack

For fighters, there's a multitude of flavours. There's the Persona Arena games, a pair of 2D brawlers that see the casts of P3 and P4

square off to knock seven bells out of each other. Or there's Persona Strikers, which transports P5's cast, sadly not into a football game

but into the musou genre, to surprisingly effective results. Much like the aforementioned Hyrule Warriors games, Strikers injects new life into the

1 vs 1000 template through its excellent story, summon based combat, and another killer soundtrack

For fans of old RPG adventuring there the Persona Q games a pair of 3DS games that feature hardcore dungeon crawling surprisingly tear stories and of course killer soundtrack And finally there the Persona Dancing Trilogy

As the name suggests, the games take the party members of Personas 3 to 5

and have them dance along to their respective games tunes. They're all refreshing, lightweight entertainment

but Persona 4 takes the prize for its utterly bat-poo-insane story about saving the world through the power of dancing to, you guessed it, a killer soundtrack

Number 5, Final Fantasy. Oh boy, speaking of which. The undisputed king of video game music has to be Final Fantasy

Chiefly driven by the once-a-generation talent of Nobuo Uematsu, the Final Fantasy series has become a byword for musical excellence

I mean, how many other game soundtracks are regularly featured over at Classic FM

As such, it's only appropriate that Final Fantasy's rhythm game spin-off isn't just a good game

it's arguably one of the best rhythm games of the past 15 years

The At Rhythm Final Barline sees Square Enix take the formula they developed over the past two games and perfect it

marrying its 300-song soundtrack with enjoyably addictive tap-to-the-beat gameplay to create a musical colossus that will keep your eardrums in raptures for months and possibly years to come

Which is not to say Final Fantasy spin-offs consist solely of a one-hit wonder, pun intended

The PSP's Dissadeer games are excellently inventive brawlers that do a remarkable job of emulating the balletic air battles of a Final Fantasy cutscene

Final Fantasy VII prequel Crisis Core is still beloved to this day

and Final Fantasy Tactics may be coming up to its 30th birthday, but few strategy games have come close to matching its colossal impact on the genre

Personally, I'm still waiting for a fully-fledged official standalone Final Fantasy VIII-style triple triad game

but we can't have it all. Number four, Sonic the Hedgehog. Of all the franchises on this list, this one is the most guilty of having a single game do the heavy lifting

Now, it's not like Sonic doesn't have any other decent spin-offs. Sonic Rivals was a cheery weekend rental of a game

Sonic Battle was one of the Game Boy Advance's better fighters. And as a seasoned Sonic fan, I even have a soft spot for the crap stuff

Mario Party Clone, Sonic Shuffle, Puyo Puyo Puzzler-E-Skin, Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine

And who doesn't love the cheesiness of Sonic R? That said, Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed take a bow

Transformed is a glorious celebration of Sega's history. Forgotten classics like Skies of Arcadia and Burning Rangers are rebuilt as thrilling racetracks

that twist, explode and flood around you, resulting in courses that feel fresh no matter how many times you race through them

Combined with a host of Sega icons and also rounds to race as, like Alex Kidd, Beat, Thunderhead and Danica Patrick for some reason

and the best ever mission mode in a kart game, Transformed is a fantastic racing game in its own right

and an unmissable experience for anyone old enough to remember the glory days of Blue Sky Gaming

Put it this way, if the upcoming Sonic Racing Crossworld is anywhere near as good as this one

then Mario Kart 9 is going to have some serious competition. Number three, Mega Man

This list wouldn't be complete without an appearance from the Blue Bomber. Despite having been in a quiet period for the last 15 years

Mega Man has quite the catalogue. What started as a simple NES platformer

cascaded into half a dozen spin-off series over his first 20 years

Fans of the traditional Mega Man formula, the Zero series has to be the first port of call

A spin from the already spin Mega Man X the Zero games are a fine evolution of Mega Man signature gun and platforming action They also brutally hard but if you a classic Mega Man fan you be down for that kind of masochism Intriguingly

the Zero games also have their own spin-off. Yes, a spin-off of a spin-off of a spin-off

the ZX duology, which sees Capcom try their hands at the Metroidvania genre. But the most out there

genre change has to be the Mega Man Legends games. These oft-forgotten PS1 classics completely

overthrew the Mega Man formula by plopping the cheerful robots into a fully 3D adventure game

Capcom clearly have a soft spot for the Legends series, as seen by its characters crossing over

into various other games, which makes it all the more baffling that it has yet to see any form of

remaster or re-release. And also, we'd be remiss not to mention Mega Man Battle Network, some of

the most underrated adventure RPG games of all time. Fight me. Number two, Pokemon. When it comes

to spin-offs, Pokemon's efforts may not be the very best like no one ever was, but at the rate

they release there's a not zero chance there are more spin-offs now than there were Pokemon in the

original games. First up are the Pokemon Snap titles. The original N64 release nailed the

Pokemon Safari concept first time around, and sequel new Pokemon Snap proved to be worth the

22-year wait. With a revamped scoring system, hugely increased Pokedex, and visuals so good

And you'll wonder why the Switch's mainline Pokemon games looked like cursed PS2 titles

Thinking back on it, the N64 provided an abundance of great Pokemon games

Pokemon Puzzle League was great, made even better for fans of the anime by the numerous

voice clips scattered throughout, the stadium games were the best way to battle your friends

at home, and the Game Boy Color had Pokemon Trading Card Game, an excellent handheld RPG

based on the eponymous card game. Surprise, surprise. I love this one

which brings us to Pokemon's lucrative foray into the world of mobile gaming

The app version of the Pokemon TCG was released last year to great success

and Pokemon Go conquered the world on its release back in 2016. Oh, for those halcyon days of wandering around a park

phone in hand, hearing a stranger go, there's a ride up by that tree

and then just like groups who have got nothing to do with each other all converging into this one space

Good times. At number one, Super Mario. It couldn't be any other series, could it

frankly, Mario Kart alone would have been enough to blue shell any other competitor off of the top

spots. And really, what could more be said about Nintendo's iconic kart game? Since the series

launched on the Super Nintendo back in 92, Mario Kart games have been flagpole releases for each

successive generation of hardware. And with good cause, Nintendo have spent three decades refining

a formula that they almost perfected first time around, and the result being that the latest Mario

Kart sold a staggering 70 million copies. But while karting may be Mario's most famous

extracurricular activity, it's by no means the plumber's only sporting endeavour. The owner of

gaming's most famous moustache has tried his hand at tennis, golf, and football over the years

take that cast of Persona, with each excursion resulting in at least one excellent game

Then there's the RPGs. Mario's recent RPG outings may not have reached the heights of

predecessors but that's chiefly because those older games set the bar up in the stratosphere

The original Mario and Luigi trilogy were at the very peak of handheld gaming back in the nauties

and Paper Mario the Thousand Year Door is so damn good that Nintendo gave up trying to better it and

simply re-released it last year so modern gamers can enjoy Mario's most entertainingly subversive

adventure. Put simply, if a genre exists then Mario has likely tried his gloved hand at it

and done it better than most people