Microsoft’s recent announcement that it would be canceling Fable Legends and looking to close Lionhead Studios has made me think about the developer’s most famous franchise — Fable.

It’s hard to believe, but the “Fire Emblem” series came close to cancellation a few years back. After a period of declining sales, Nintendo threatened to ax the longtime strategy game.

The worlds of Final Fantasy have always been among the most beloved of any video game to me. The iconic notes of Bombing Mission at the start of Final Fantasy VII … the grandeur of Ivalice in Final Fantasy XII … and the beauty of Yuna dancing on water in Final Fantasy X.

At its core, “Far Cry” is a series that drops players into a beautiful setting, gives them tools to survive, and then lets them loose.

The “Assassin’s Creed Chronicles” series has been an interesting couple of side stories, looking at different corners of the “AC” universe the main games just haven’t had a chance to look at. While the games themselves haven’t been particularly great, the trip into different historical settings has at least been novel.

Of Nintendo’s many franchises, the only three I claim loyalty to are Pokemon, Zelda and Fire Emblem, and of those three, only Fire Emblem truly causes me to lose my mind in a gaming marathon of insanity.

There is little doubt that the Nintendo DS revolutionized gaming — not only through it ushering in a new renaissance for handheld gaming, but also through its legitimization of touch as a feasible gaming mechanic.

Crystal Dynamics set a solid foundation when it rebooted the revered “Tomb Raider” series back in 2013. With a bigger world, more varied combat, and more high-octane action, “Rise of the Tomb Raider” is better than it predecessor in every way.

“XCOM” has never pulled its punches. The series has continually pitted hapless humans against a blitzkrieg of technologically superior alien invaders. In fact, so many players failed to save Earth during their playthroughs of 2012’s “XCOM: Enemy Unknown” that Firaxis was inspired to dream up a dark future where the aliens actually won.

Back in the early ‘00s, I used to love X-Men Evolution. If you remember it, then you remember that it was actually a pretty quality show about the X-Men … if they were all in high school. Watch it on Netflix. It’s worth it!