Favorite video game franchise I've played.

When it comes to console gaming, I've been around quite awhile. In fact, I played NES (or the Nintendo Entertainment System) before I could walk (and I've heard, before I could talk).

Either way, I've been a Nintendo fan from the get-go, but that doesn't mean I stick to only the system. I now have an Xbox 360 and had a regular Xbox, so I'm not only loyal to Nintendo.

On Nintendo, though, you can't get any better for a franchise within the video game market than Super Mario. It's amazing to me that, even though the Super Mario brand has been spread so unimaginably thin over so many different consoles and types of games (from sports, to puzzle, to almost anything) the franchise brand still stands. That is, it's simplistic and easy to learn, but challenging enough to make it fun and interesting enough to continue playing until you're all the way through the game.

It's fascinating to me that almost every Super Mario game I've played (short of the sports games that aren't Mario Kart games) I've finished to completion. You just don't see that with many games, save entire video game franchises.

If you've never owned a Nintendo system you're really missing out, because you can't get more genuinely "fun" than the Super Mario video game franchise.