I did this for Playstation All Stars. I picked up Uncharted, Ratchet and Clank, Little Big Planet, Killzone, and Dead Zone (post-release) in order to understand the characters thinking "They are going to be adding tons of content from these series and I will have no idea who or what they are!" Needless to say, there wasn't a lot of content and I would of saved money if I had just read the wikis. Though I became a fan of all of the franchises I picked up (with the sole exception of Ratchet and Clank).
However, I know Nintendo franchises well so I don't really need to know any back story/information about the characters. But for ****s and giggles, I am playing through Twilight Princess and Mario Galaxy (the later because I never finished it).