Seeing the thread about the top "retro" franchises got me to thinking.  I began to wonder what games today had their start in the classic era. Note that not all of these are good (and many have become quite bad).

Pitfall games decide from the Atari 2600 classic by Activision.

Licensed sports games began on the Intellivision (NFL Football, MLB Baseball, NBA Basketball, NHL Basketball, NASL Soccer, etc.)  [NASL is North American Soccer League -- the professional league in North America in the early 1980s].

Pac Man dates from an old arcade game that was translated for many home consoles/computers.  (Many other classic games have had re-releases and modernization treatments -- but Pac Man has actually had its own games).

Additions and comments welcomed.

Mike from Morgantown

You know, I enjoyed the SNES version of Pitfall quite a lot. It even had the original game hidden in there.

Prince of Persia anyone? This classic was probably also the inspiration for Tomb Raider.

Also, Metal Gear and MGS.

And pretty much 50% of Nintendo franchises have been revamped for the modern day.

There are definately more, but I can't think of them now.

FINAL FANTASY

definetely a huge franchise with amazing success

we will be on the 13th main game in this epic saga of love, betrayal & wars!

what other franchises can boast of such feats

"Classic" means pre-crash.
In other words, games that pre-date the NES/FC or SMS.
We're talking 1983 and before.

Mike from Morgantown

Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. ?

Come on, classic can mean 20 years ago too

Darth not from morgantown!!

Punch-Out!! released in the arcades in 1984, I don't know if it qualifies as "before the game crash" but it was before the NES came out in NA.

Gees, you're talking about games released before I was born! I mean I played some, but seriously? Couldn't we just make it games before the 90s?

yea, same here, hence why I only had 1 title to suggest. I know of a few since I played a 2600, but I couldn't tell you half the titles that I played, and almost none of them made it to the next generation.