Game Series and Franchises

How game series and franchise relationships are displayed.

Overview#

Replay Control identifies games that belong to the same series or franchise and surfaces this on the game detail page. This enables sequel/prequel navigation, cross-system series browsing, and helps you discover related games.

Data Sources#

Wikidata (Primary)#

The primary source is Wikidata, with ~5,345 entries across 194+ series covering both console and arcade systems. The data includes franchise membership, sequel/prequel chains, and series ordinals.

Algorithmic Fallback#

When Wikidata has no series data for a game, the app groups games by title similarity. Games that share the same base title (e.g., “Sonic the Hedgehog”, “Sonic the Hedgehog 2”, “Sonic the Hedgehog 3”) are grouped together automatically.

Cross-Name Aliases#

Regional title variants are also linked. For example, “Bare Knuckle” and “Streets of Rage” are recognized as the same franchise through alternate name databases.

Game Detail Display#

Series Siblings#

On the game detail page, series siblings appear as a horizontal scroll of game cards with box art under the series name heading (e.g., “Streets of Rage”). These include:

• Other games in the same series that exist in your library
• Cross-system ports (the same game on other systems)
• Cross-name aliases (regional title variants)

Sequel/Prequel Navigation#

A breadcrumb bar shows play order within the series:

< Prev Title  |  2 of 5  |  Next Title >

• Prev/Next links follow the series order
• Games in your library link to their detail page; games not in your library show the title without a link
• The “N of M” counter shows position within the series