Board 8 > What's the longest running story arc in a game series?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I was inspired by the fact that they are saying that Metroid Dread will conclude the five part story arc of the 2D Metroid games. That would mean that this is one arc over 35 years. Are there any that are longer? That is actual story arcs, not just continuity. KH dragging its main arc out over 17 years has nothing on this!

---

In terms of game count, Assassin's Creed has been going for more games than any series I can think of.

I wouldn't really say Metroid 1 had a story, so counting it as part of a "story arc" is kinda specious.
---

I don't know how anything is older than Metroid at this point. I guess if Metal Gear were still going, it'd be on the same level.

---

Probably not, but it's kind of hard to count Metroid when this was not really intended at first.

I thought of Tekken, where the Mishima story arc began in 1994 and ended in 2017 with the seventh game. I'm not sure it was planned so specifically, but at least I think they knew they were making a new one each time.

---

Mac Arrowny posted...

I wouldn't really say Metroid 1 had a story, so counting it as part of a "story arc" is kinda specious.

---

Doesn't Zelda technically have a timeline, even though it splits?

---

I think Ys 1 probably had more of a story than Metroid 1, and that series started in 1988. Never played the original Ys 1 though. Same character in each game too.

RyoCaliente posted...

Doesn't Zelda technically have a timeline, even though it splits?

Timeline != story arc. All the Elder Scrolls games take place in the same world too, but they definitely don't share one story arc.
---

ctesjbuvf posted...

I thought of Tekken, where the Mishima story arc began in 1994 and ended in 2017 with the seventh game.

What's the ending?

---

RyoCaliente posted...

Doesn't Zelda technically have a timeline, even though it splits?

They arent all the same story arc though
---

Metal Gear ran from 1987 to 2015, so that's 28 years if we don't want to count Metroid's minimal story.

---

This probably isn't the real answer, but shout out to Guilty Gear's Sol arc that started in 1998, spanned almost every possible form of media alongside semi-regular game releases and finally finished last week.

---

Anagram posted...

What's the ending?

Ending was Kazuya killing Heihachi once and for all, as the devil gene made him survive things Heihachi couldn't. Kazuya's mother was also in the game, though I can't remember her exact story point, perhaps it was just flashbacks and explanations. They can of course continue if they want, it's not like the story is that great, but they promoted the game as the conclusion to the Mishima story line and I don't think they've done that previously.

---

I wouldnt say all the Metal Gear games are one story arc either

Lightning Strikes specified not just continuity
---

ctesjbuvf posted...

Ending was Kazuya killing Heihachi once and for all, as the devil gene made him survive things Heihachi couldn't. Kazuya's mother was also in the game, though I can't remember her exact story point, perhaps it was just flashbacks and explanations. They can of course continue if they want, it's not like the story is that great, but they promoted the game as the conclusion to the Mishima story line and I don't think they've done that previously.

Neat, thanks.

---

Jakyl25 posted...

I wouldnt say all the Metal Gear games are one story arc either

Lightning Strikes specified not just continuity

Well, I wouldn't count REVENGEANCE for instance, but if you consider the overarching theme of the series to be the rise and fall of Big Boss, I think it works.

---

Metal Gear is kind of odd. It seemed like the story arc that started in Metal Gear ended in MGS4 and Peace Walker was its own story arc. Then V ends that all very abruptly. Still I would consider it mostly separate.

Regarding Metroid, Metroid 1 has a story. Its entirely in the instruction manual, but it is a story:

https://www.nintendo.co.jp/clv/manuals/en/pdf/CLV-P-NAAQE.pdf

Where do you think the Galactic Federation and the Space Pirates came from? This is also where they misgender Samus to keep her gender a secret. I assume the writer had never heard of singular they.

Anyway yeah it is thin but there is a clear story arc in those games. 1 leads to 2 leads to 3 leads to 4 leads to 5.

---

I wouldn't really call that a story arc though. Sure the events set up the next one but not necessarily immediately.

I would give it to something like KH which routinely recontextualizes older games and has a very complex timeline that it jumps around in.

And it isnt just continuity the villain always needs the whole plot to have happened to work (somehow)

---

I don't know if they follow a single arc, but the Wasteland series has a continuous story (with recurring characters) that started in 1988 and had a new installment last year.

True, there were several decades before the first and second games, but still...
---

Mac Arrowny posted...

In terms of game count, Assassin's Creed has been going for more games than any series I can think of.

I wouldn't really say Metroid 1 had a story, so counting it as part of a "story arc" is kinda specious.

Assassin's Creed is actually divided into three main arcs (this doesn't include the Chronicles games). There's the Desmond arc, the whatever-you-call-the-first-person-character arc, and then the Layla arc which is ongoing.

---

scarletspeed7 posted...

Assassin's Creed is actually divided into three main arcs (this doesn't include the Chronicles games). There's the Desmond arc, the whatever-you-call-the-first-person-character arc, and then the Layla arc which is ongoing.

Wouldn't that be the Juno/Sage arc?

---

RyoCaliente posted...

Doesn't Zelda technically have a timeline, even though it splits?

No, they just retroactively made that up after all of the (unrelated) games were already out.

does Mega Man count

---

Dedf1sh posted...

No, they just retroactively made that up after all of the (unrelated) games were already out.

Its silly but every Zelda game since the first was designed as a sequel or prequel to another. Its not made up afterwards its just convoluted.

Leonhart4 posted...

does Mega Man count

No but Mega Man X does.

---

Lightning Strikes posted...

Its silly but every Zelda game since the first was designed as a sequel or prequel to another.

False.
---

Guys its obviously Mario

---

redrocket posted...

Guys its obviously Mario

The only problem is that Mario Galaxy rebooted the universe so everything started over there.

---

We'll see how long it takes for HL3 to come out

---

I doubt LttP or OoT were made with other games in mind.

---

LttP was designed as a prequel (which is the reason for its title) and OoT was designed a prequel to that

Of course thats not to say there werent massive retcons.

---

It's never too late for Zork IV

Lightning Strikes posted...

LttP was designed as a prequel (which is the reason for its title) and OoT was designed a prequel to that

The title triforce to the gods was made because it was a prequel? The games themselves show zero support for connections. I feel that I recall some old interviews about this, but they were conflicting at best.

---

This topic is really taking some liberties with "story arc".

I wish people would stop trying to headcanon LoZ. These games were never designed to be completely interconnected. Let it go.

How are there still Zelda timeline deniers when it's literally official at this point lol

---

Xiahou Shake posted...

How are there still Zelda timeline deniers when it's literally official at this point lol

Yes a retconned timeline 35 years after the first game is definitely legit

ChainLTTP posted...

I wish people would stop trying to headcanon LoZ. These games were never designed to be completely interconnected. Let it go.

It's literally canon

---

Xiahou Shake posted...

How are there still Zelda timeline deniers when it's literally official at this point lol

it's just a question of when the timeline actually became a thing

---

HeroDelTiempo17 posted...

It's literally canon

Nothing is "canon" after the fact, despite what some executive at Nintendo says

Lightning Strikes posted...

LttP was designed as a prequel (which is the reason for its title) and OoT was designed a prequel to that

Of course thats not to say there werent massive retcons.

this is objective fact. are people disputing this? The connection between LttP and the NES games was explained in the game's instruction manual. and OOT basically spells out the connection between it and LttP in story.

after OoT you can make an argument that WW and on are were just designed as Zelda games and the timeline came later.

---

Anyway, the LoZ series is clearly a string of unrelated games linked (no pun intended) by gameplay elements and a recognizable I.P. It was only decades into the series that there were any intentional connections between the story arcs.

ChainLTTP posted...

Anyway, the LoZ series is clearly a string of unrelated games linked (no pun intended) by gameplay elements and a recognizable I.P. It was only decades into the series that there were any intentional connections between the story arcs.

LttP was connected to the NES games from the jump and OoT was always intended to be a retelling of the Imprisoning War mentioned in LttP so yeah you're kind of super wrong.

LeonhartFour posted...

it's just a question of when the timeline actually became a thing

Fan speculation on the timeline has been going at least since the WW/TP era. And in the mid-2000s Nintendo apparently confirmed they had internal timeline documents. So is "15-20 years" good enough? This isn't really some new, recent addition to the series just because it was released officially.

Honestly the hostility towards the Zelda timeline is just baffling to me. Major developers taking an interest in fun fan theories should be encouraged, but in this case people are bitter that something they don't like got enshrined into the games.

---

ChainLTTP posted...

Anyway, the LoZ series is clearly a string of unrelated games linked (no pun intended) by gameplay elements and a recognizable I.P. It was only decades into the series that there were any intentional connections between the story arcs.

stop trolling. at the very least you realize that Zelda 2 is a direct sequel to Legend of Zelda right?

---

colliding posted...

stop trolling. at the very least you realize that Zelda 2 is a direct sequel to Legend of Zelda right?

Yes that one is pretty clear.

But anything that says "yes this is totally a prequel/sequel/whatever even though we're using the same characters in a different world who have no direct knowledge of the other games" is just purely lazy. That is not how storytelling works.

Murphiroth posted...

LttP was connected to the NES games from the jump and OoT was always intended to be a retelling of the Imprisoning War mentioned in LttP so yeah you're kind of super wrong.

I mean I'd like to see some sources tbh.

Fans are wrong all the time about stuff like this. Just because there is an official timeline now does not mean anything for back then.

And yes I do think the timeline is dumb because the "hero falls timeline" makes no sense at all. Why doesn't link losing in any other game create a new timeline??

---

pjbasis posted...

And yes I do think the timeline is dumb because the "hero falls timeline" makes no sense at all. Why doesn't link losing in any other game create a new timeline??

because just like in contests Link only has one legitimate loss

---

WW pixxxxxxx!!!!!!

---

I kind of love the timeline solely because of how much it pisses people off.

pjbasis posted...

I mean I'd like to see some sources tbh.

LTTP instructions manual IIRC and OoT has always been an obvious prequel dealing with the origin of 'Dorf.

Shenmue... The story will continue