Video games have been a part of our lives for a long time now, with many game franchises celebrating key milestones in 2021. Some of these franchises include Animal Crossing celebrating 20 years in April and Pokemon celebrating 25 years back in February. Taking this, ManySpins analysed monthly searches for the world’s most memorable video games by each country to find out all of the popular video games in each nation. After analysis, it released a report with the data for the same.
The company analysed over 100 retro games and in its report stated that only 18 games out of the 100 were the most popular across the globe. Here we will be taking a look at all of the most popular retro games across the globe, which are celebrating a key milestone (celebrating 20, 25, 30, or 35 years since their initial release) in 2021.
Top 10 retro games around the world
According to the report, the most popular retro game in 34 countries is Super Mario 64, which was released back in 1996. It is the most popular in the US. The second spot is shared by Metal Slug and Super Mario World with both having popularity in 19 countries. Metal Slug is most popular in Argentina and Italy, whereas, Super Mario World is most popular in Peru, Mexico, and Brazil.
Coming in at the third position is Pandemonium! with it being popular in 15 countries. It is most popular in the UK.
The fourth position is held by Sonic 3D Blast (10 countries), fifth is Devil May Cry (nine countries), sixth Dragon Quest (seven countries) and in seventh place is Road Rash (six countries).
Battletoads and Duke Nukem share the eighth position with popularity in five countries each. The ninth place was shared by Mario Kart and Tetris Attack, both celebrating 25 year anniversaries. The last position was taken by Bubble Bobble.
| Rank | Video Game | Release Year | Number of Countries Most Popular In |
| 1. | Super Mario 64 | 1996 | 34 |
| =2. | Metal Slug | 1996 | 19 |
| =2. | Super Mario World | 1991 | 19 |
| 3. | Pandemonium! | 1996 | 15 |
| 4. | Sonic 3D Blast | 1996 | 10 |
| 5. | Devil May Cry | 2001 | 9 |
| 6. | Dragon Quest | 1986 | 7 |
| 7. | Road Rash | 1991 | 6 |
| =8. | Battletoads | 1991 | 5 |
| =8. | Duke Nukem | 1991 | 5 |
| =9. | Mario Kart 64 | 1996 | 3 |
| =9. | Tetris Attack | 1996 | 3 |
| 10. | Bubble Bobble | 1986 | 2 |
Apart from this, the games popular only in one country were F-Zero in Japan, Metroid in Sweden, Tekken 2 in Pakistan, Rolling Thunder in New Zealand and Return to Castle Wolfenstein in the Czech Republic.
|
Video Game |
Release Year |
Country Most Popular in |
| F-Zero | 1991 | Japan |
| Metroid | 1986 | Sweden |
| Tekken 2 | 1996 | Pakistan |
| Rolling Thunder | 1986 | New Zealand |
| Return to Castle Wolfenstein | 2001 | Czech Republic |
The report excluded a few retro games including Sonic the Hedgehog, Civilization, Yoshi, The Legend of Zelda, Castlevania, Crash Bandicoot, Residential Evil, Tomb Raider, Animal Crossing, Black & White, Burnout, Ico, Max Payne and Adventure Island, due to there being no search volume data available for these.
