ask 5 people and you'll get 5 answers for 5 different reasons tbh.

Do you mean literally the first 5, or any of them up to "Mechwarrior 5: Clans"?

Originally posted by phfor:

Do you mean literally the first 5, or any of them up to "Mechwarrior 5: Clans"?

I basically meant just the Main series games since there's so many spin offs

The main series games don't exactly following a logical numbering system as they aren't all exactly spinoffs. Mechwarrior 1989 and Mechwarrior 1993 for example are basically entirely separate games using the same title. If you strictly mean first 5 and class MW2 GB and MW2 Mercs as spinoffs well we only get to MW3 with MW5 being something like the 9th title in the series if you count a bunch of other games as spinoffs.

mechwarrior 4 mercenaries due to nostalgia only

Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries

Ok, I hope everyone can ignore the LITERAL title of this topic... cuz I meant the main line games even if the numbers don't mesh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUwyRTxH6Gw

Originally posted by Blind:

In the context of their time, of course.

In context of their times? Easily MW2. That was the game that made the series big. It's what established Mechwarrior as a franchise.

Mechwarrior 1 was kind of like Streetfighter 1. It was a niche game most people didn't play. There were other Battletech games at the time like The Crescent Hawk's Inception (and Revenge) which was more popular, Mechwarrior went the realtime simulator route and this may be difficult to understand in today's gaming era, but back in the 80s "real time" wasn't a big deal on PCs and was niche. Turn-based and top-down gaming was king.

Mechwarrior 2 came out in the middle of the 90s when the entire "Action Game" thing was taking off -- this was the era when FPS games like Quake had come out and finally created a genre, and Blizzard was transforming the entire RPG and Strategy landscape with Diablo and Starcraft.

Mechwarrior 2 is the mech game that finally hit it big with Western gamers (Japan and Asia is a totally different story let's not get into that), and it's why we have Mechwarrior 5 today.

Of course in total sales MW2 is well behind MW5, but that's because the game industry especially the PC gaming industry was a lot smaller back then. MW2 sold something like 500,000 copies? That is modest by today's standards but was a big deal back then. MW5 sold 2 million copies, which is respectable even today but hardly a big deal, and Mechwarrior is a niche franchise today mostly riding on the backs of OG fans who've been playing Battletech for decades.

MechWarrior 2 and MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries. Both were tecnical marvels at the time of their release and made the most fans, as you can still hear "MW2/Mercs is the best!" all these years even with them being anything but easy to set up on modern systems.

Originally posted by Blind:

Ok, I hope everyone can ignore the LITERAL title of this topic... cuz I meant the main line games even if the numbers don't mesh

Well, "mainline" doesn't really mean much in this context. Which is the mainline and which is the "non-mainline?" What do you mean by "Mainline?"

For example Mechwarrior 2 -- which one was the mainline, 31st Century Combat or Mercenaries? 31st came first and is probably "the main line" whereas Mercenaries was the spinoff. But in MW5 Mercanaries came first, is it the mainline while Clans is the spinoff?

You'll need to explain what you mean if you want a more accurate answer.

Originally posted by Mochan:

MW2 sold something like 500,000 copies?

It sold 500,000 copies in first three months.
Over its lifetime it sold a few million. Can't remember the exact figure but it was the best selling MW title till MW5 gradually overtook. MW4 had sold roughly a million and that was cited routinely never having done as well as MW2.

Originally posted by Mochan:

Originally posted by Blind:

Ok, I hope everyone can ignore the LITERAL title of this topic... cuz I meant the main line games even if the numbers don't mesh

Well, "mainline" doesn't really mean much in this context. Which is the mainline and which is the "non-mainline?" What do you mean by "Mainline?"

For example Mechwarrior 2 -- which one was the mainline, 31st Century Combat or Mercenaries? 31st came first and is probably "the main line" whereas Mercenaries was the spinoff. But in MW5 Mercanaries came first, is it the mainline while Clans is the spinoff?

You'll need to explain what you mean if you want a more accurate answer.

There's also the Mechwarrior RPG which could also be considered mainline and if he classes MW5 Clans as a spinoff then why? Cause it legit uses a different game engine which also opens a can of worms with MW2 cause there are multiple versions of that all using different game engines,

Originally posted by Bovril Brigadier:

Originally posted by Mochan:

MW2 sold something like 500,000 copies?

It sold 500,000 copies in first three months.
Over its lifetime it sold a few million. Can't remember the exact figure but it was the best selling MW title till MW5 gradually overtook. MW4 had sold roughly a million and that was cited routinely never having done as well as MW2.

Originally posted by Mochan:

Well, "mainline" doesn't really mean much in this context. Which is the mainline and which is the "non-mainline?" What do you mean by "Mainline?"

For example Mechwarrior 2 -- which one was the mainline, 31st Century Combat or Mercenaries? 31st came first and is probably "the main line" whereas Mercenaries was the spinoff. But in MW5 Mercanaries came first, is it the mainline while Clans is the spinoff?

You'll need to explain what you mean if you want a more accurate answer.

There's also the Mechwarrior RPG which could also be considered mainline and if he classes MW5 Clans as a spinoff then why? Cause it legit uses a different game engine which also opens a can of worms with MW2 cause there are multiple versions of that all using different game engines,

Even more reason to say MW2 was the best!

Yeah the distinction between "mainline" and "not mainline" really needs to be explained here.

Or maybe all the "Mechwarrior" games are mainline and the spinoffs he's talking about are Mech Commander and Mech Assault? Which itself is funny because "Mechwarrior" itself was a spinoff of Battletech.

What is this Mechwarrior RPG game you are talking about? I never played that one.

Originally posted by Mochan:

What is this Mechwarrior RPG game you are talking about? I never played that one.

Mechwarrior was the name of the tabletop RPG component of Battletech before it was adapted for use as a title for the video games. You created stat sheets for characters, backstories and skills rather than focused on just the Mechs. So basically their DnD component for want of a better term. It was...interesting...to say the least.

Oh that, I thought you were talking about a video game hahaha, since we're talking about video games here.