9 Hit Videogames Whose Follow-Ups Disappointed.

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

I read this article titled

"9 Hit Videogames Whose Follow-Ups Disappointed"

 

LINK: http://www.toplessrobot.com/2011/09/9_hit_videogames_whose_follow-ups_flopped.php

Now, I don't necessarily agree with any of them but I was just curious what your thoughts

might be on this? Agree with any of them? All of them? What say you?

Edited September 20, 2011 by OldSchoolRetroGamer

[Gabriel]

I agree with Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 and Zelda 2 being disappointments.

 

I loved Marvel Ultimate Alliance and waited a long time for a sequel. By the time it arrived, I had mostly lost interest, and the sequel was poor in terms of presentation, gameplay, and storyline.

 

There was a time long ago when I liked the first Zelda game. I recall being excited about getting to play the sequel on my best friend's NES. Zelda II blew chunks. It also somewhat illustrated for me how games by Nintendo are only enjoyable by sheer accident. I haven't liked any Zelda games since the first one, and I don't even feel the original ages worth a damn.

 

Anyway, beyond that, I have a few others to list:

 

Final Fantasy VIII = This is one of the most abyssmal JRPGs ever. The mechanics are ass. The plot sucks. I remember being crushingly disappointed when I bought it blind and played it for the first time. All they needed to do was recycle FF6 or 7. Instead they produced this shit, and the series has gone downhill ever since. (It's hit rock bottom with 13)

 

Starfox 64 = You can tell that Miyamoto took a more active role in the design of this game, because it sucks. Everything good about the first game is gone, and there's even more emphasis on the stupid mascot characters. I love the original to this day, but this sequel and all the ones which followed are unplayable, gimmicky garbage.

 

Streets of Rage 3 = If you've played this game and the Japanese Bare Knuckle 3 original, you will probably agree with me that Sega wanted this game to fail. Sega crudely recolored characters, cranked up the difficulty to near unplayable levels, hacked out nearly the entire plot, and basically did everything they could to screw the game up.

 

Tekken 4 = Tekken 3 was awesome, and definitely one of the high points of the series. Tekken 4 just wasn't very good. A lot of changes were made and they all basically blew. Luckily, Namco discarded most of the 4th installment's ass-ness and restored the series to greatness with Tekken 5.

 

Battle Arena Toshinden 3 = Toshinden was basically 3D Street Fighter when that was a novel thing. Installments 1 and 2 are brainless but fun, and part of the reason was that Toshinden had a 3D fighter formula pretty well worked out while everyone else was fumbling around blindly. Instead of focusing on that and refining, Toshinden 3 tossed all of that out the window and tried to imitate the Tekken clones which were starting to appear. It fumbled, BADLY. That's why Toshinden went from being a system selling franchise to the later games not getting multi-region releases and the whole series dying a forgotten death. (We won't speak about the horrible Wii waggle fighter)

 

Silpheed: The Lost Planet = Silpheed was one of (if not THE) greatest Sega CD shooter, and that's not faint praise. The SegaCD had some damn fine shooters. This game was the PS2 followup... and it's just kind of bland. The non-stop action of the original has been replaced by a game which can't decide on it's pace. The mechanical polygon enemies of the SegaCD have been replaced by bio-organic things which are quite frankly ho-hum and forgettable. The high point of the game is the recreation of the SegaCD game's opening.

 

Mortal Kombat 4 = MK2 was awesome. MK3 wasn't as good, but still had the hype behind it, so it was a fun cultural thing. MK4 was like waiting for your birthday cake and being slapped in the face by a sock full of shit and piss.

[Algus]

Largely I think its a fair list. I don't get PD0. Everyone LOVED that game until Call of Duty 2 came out and then it was like after people had been away from it they all started complaining about it. I thought the story was stupid but the gameplay was solid.

 

I don't think Mario 2 should be on that list because it seems like most people agree it is a pretty good game. Now The Lost Levels? There's a game that disappointed.

 

For the most part though I can see where there is question. I think some of those games were good but they weren't always what people wanted in a follow up.

[retrorussell]

Super Mario 2 was the best in the series IMO. Yeah I know it's Doki Doki Panic with Mario characters, but so what? The game is long, involving and fun!

I liked Zelda II a lot as well. Getting through the last level is still quite a challenge.

I felt Castlevania II: Simon's Quest was a disappointment. You could easily get lost (and bored) if you didn't buy game maps/visit GameFAQs.com. And all the people in town giving you false hints was really stupid.

I felt Dig Dug II was a bit of a letdown.

Donkey Kong 3 I thought was pretty bland. Stanley the gardener is among the lamer video game heroes IMO.

[S1500]

Carmageddon TDR just wasn't fun. The devs realized there wasn't much game structure to the races(opponents frequently crashed & just moped around) so they put missions in it. Problem was, the missions were mandatory to further advance in the game.

[MagitekAngel]

Yeah they lost me after the last 3. Mario 2 & Zelda 2? I probably have a bias toward Zelda 2 because it was one of my very first gaming experiences, but I think Mario 2 takes a lot of undue flak because its a hack. Yeah, while Ms. Pac Man was originally a hack. Deal.

 

I've got my own list of sequels that don't quite deliver.

 

-Every Pokemon game after Gold & Silver

-Suikoden IV

-Every Mortal Kombat game released during the 6th generation

-Dig-Dug 2

-Prince of Persia: Warrior Within

-Final Fantasy XIII

-Metroid Prime 3

 

-Oh, and... Paradise Regained. Milton couldn't leave well enough alone, could he?

[Hatta]

Zelda 2 was one of my first gaming experiences too. It was the only Zelda game I played back in the day, and it put me off the series entirely for the rest of the century.

[Reaperman]

I like their mention of playing Invisible War first.

 

I'm probably one of the few that took Invisible war on first, then went back to the first one, and not only couldn't I find much fault in it, I like it more than the original. There are parts of it that I really miss when I play either other Deus Ex game. I just wish it were a longer game.

[Vic George 2K3]

I didn't think Zelda 2 was a disappointment. It was just simply different from the first game, and it didn't hurt that Nintendo tried something different, since it only had the first game before that. That didn't necessarily make it easy to play, though.

 

And I think Starfox 64 was an improvement over the "sacrificial lamb" that the original Starfox was. Being the first for that series didn't necessarily make it being the best for me.

[Austin]

Here are some of the notable ones I remember off the top of my head. Keep in mind I do enjoy

these games today, but when they originally came out, something didn't click with me:

 

Quake 2 (PC): Quake 2 changed up the original formula significantly by introducing light

mission-oriented gameplay, a far more militaristic and futuristic theme (versus the hell and

demons of the first one), and was much more realistic overall than the first game. To me, it

wasn't Quake, and I think I would have been into it more at the time had they called it something

else altogether. God damn did the music kick as though (still does, actually).

 

Raiden III (PS2): The weapons didn't feel right, the stages moved too quickly, the music was

average, the.. I don't know, it just didn't capture the spirit of the original Raiden games. Raiden IV

patched that up quite a bit, but still wasn't quite up there with the originals, IMO.

 

Silpheed: The Lost Planet (PS2): It hardly did the Sega CD game justice. The visuals were amazing

for the time, sure, but the game felt barren with very few enemies scattered throughout the

levels. To put it simply, it was a bore. It was even more saddening that it was made by

Treasure, whose games are typically my favorites, and published by Working Designs, who usually

brought over good games.

 

Yoshi's Island - Super Mario World 2 (SNES): Well.. It definitely wasn't Super Mario World,

that's for sure. Like some other past Nintendo efforts, this one was far too different to even be

categorized as a full-on sequel. It's a great game, and I played it quite a bit back when it was

new, but I didn't get that feel-good vibe that a sequel is supposed to. It shouldn't have been

called SMW2.

 

Earthworm Jim 2 (any platform): EWJ was always goofy, but the sequel took it too far IMO. Too

many gimmicks, too much focus on humor, too many goofy segments with goofy music, and that damn

isometric stage.. Screw that level. Still a decent game, but it can't touch the well though out, cohesive design of the original game. To this day, I still haven't finished EWJ2.

 

Mortal Kombat 4 (any platform): Loved the first three MK games, but the fourth game (not counting

UMK3), not so much. The visuals weren't that great even for the time, the cheese factor was

stressed much more than in the past, the gameplay was even quicker than in MK3 (didn't think that

was possible, ha), and it just didn't feel right.

 

If I can think of more I will post them.

Edited September 21, 2011 by Austin

[stinkoman]

Since I just rambled about fond memories of toejam and Earl, Toejam earl 2 was a huge dissapointment.It got the zelda II treatment.

 

I LOVED Yoshi Island as well but I agree it should have not been called SMW2.

[+FujiSkunk]

I think the author was going more for successful games whose immediate follow-ups were disappointing. He may even be trying to go for series where the first game and any later games were great, but the second game was a disappointment. Some of the titles seem to throw off that theory, but then sometimes it's hard to say how movie-tie-ins really fit into a series. Does anybody really consider Goldeneye a sequel to Parker Brothers' James Bond 007?

 

Assuming the theory is otherwise correct, that's why titles like Mortal Kombat 4 or Final Fantasy VIII aren't on the list.

 

Having said that, the list fails without Spy Hunter II.

Edited September 22, 2011 by FujiSkunk

[retrorussell]

 

Having said that, the list fails without Spy Hunter II.

No doubt! Awful, awful, awful!

[+Cafeman]

Earthworm Jim 2 (any platform): EWJ was always goofy, but the sequel took it too far IMO. Too

many gimmicks, too much focus on humor, too many goofy segments with goofy music, and that damn

isometric stage.. Screw that level. Still a decent game, but it can't touch the well though out, cohesive design of the original game. To this day, I still haven't finished EWJ2.

 

I like EJ2 but I agree - the directions that Shiny went with this game weren't ones I appreciated at all, and I loved the original EJ. They even busted his stand-still animation - I hate his running-in-place jog, which is so less cool and clever than the various animations from EJ1. The puppy catch is overdone, I also hate that frustrating isometric level, I also hate the pointless bubble gun (what the???). The classical music (Beethoven I think?) in the salamander/newt level is a real downer, bad choice of tune. The level designs are mostly 'zany' but , as you said, can't competed with "well thought out, cohesive design" of the original.

 

A couple months back I became determined to beat EJ2 for the first time on Saturn, and I eventually did. It really isn't that hard once you get familiar with it. I grew to like EJ2 more during this time, as often happens over the years. But years ago, I was disappointed and merely rented the game.

 

Still, we do get "Well Done" by cows, something that stuck with me.

Edited September 23, 2011 by Cafeman

[WatchVenusSpa]

My shortlist:

 

Pitfall II and Super Pitfall: Sometimes classics shouldn't be followed up by sequels...

 

Zelda 2 The Adventure of Link: When a villager saying "I am Error" is the only noteworthy part of the game, it's ass.

 

Any Final Fantasy after VI (3) : Anything after that last SNES gen classic ceased to be a game, just crappy movies.

[retrorussell]

Super Zaxxon. What happened? Way too damn fast! Bite me.

[Christophero Sly]

KoTOR 2: The Sith Lords.

 

I still can't believe a game in such an obviously unfinished state was ever released. Not that finishing this game would have improved anything. In fact, finishing it would have only made it worse because this game's biggest problems were it's abysmal level, character, and quest designs, and above all else it's ridiculously convoluted plot. The plot is so awful it gives MGS2 a run for it's money in the stupidity department.

[Cynicaster]

Super Mario 2 is one of the best NES games of all time, IMO. I don't care how it came to be, a good game is a good game.

 

As for let-downs, Twisted Metal 3 on Playstation. TM2 is one of my all-time favorite games, and this sequel--which I believe was done by a different development house--was wretched.

[superogue]

i would also go with:

 

- river raid II:

The first one is my favourite 2600 game, i doubt the sequel would make anyone's top-20

- puzzle bobble / bust-a-move 3,4,etc.

For me personally, puzzle bobble2 is perfect in every way, all additions/changes to this formula in later games never worked for me, even changing the music would kill it for me.

 

Call me an old fart, but basically every first person shooter game after doom is a repetition of the same thing (with no doubt some great exceptions i'm not aware of). I literally haven't played a FPS since (and i've played a lot of console games since).

 

i also agree with the mentioned POP: Warrior within and silpheed (ps2)

Edited October 10, 2011 by superogue

[godslabrat]

Zelda II and Mario 2 were both Nintendo's way of dealing with the same issue: They knew gamers wanted sequels to their most popular franchises, but Nintendo was dead-set against making games that were similar to each other. Just coming out of the era of Centipede/Millipede and Pac-Man/Ms. Pac-Man, Nintendo saw how a steady stream of the same type of game was fatiguing the market. So their policy was to make each game totally different, even sequels.

 

This was one thing I really admired about the late-80s Nintendo. It was a good policy for its time, but would not have been sustainable in the long term. Still, I think it's time they brought back a little of that mentality, especially in the portable realm.

[Rex Dart]

How 'bout every single Mario game after Super Mario Bros? I've seen people whine about some aspect of every last one.

Edited October 10, 2011 by Rex Dart

[+Cafeman]

Super Zaxxon. What happened? Way too damn fast! Bite me.

 

good call, that was a real missed opportunity from Sega but the scroll speed KILLS THE FUN.

[+HammR25]

Carmageddon TDR just wasn't fun. The devs realized there wasn't much game structure to the races(opponents frequently crashed & just moped around) so they put missions in it. Problem was, the missions were mandatory to further advance in the game.

That game was awful. It was done by a different developer than the people who did the first two games. I think that had a lot to do with it sucking. The same goes for the latest Bionic Commando game on XBLA and PSN.

[+FujiSkunk]

This isn't epic enough to make any worst-10 list, but ATV Off-Road Fury 2 was a disappointment to me. To make a short story long...

 

ATV Off-Road Fury was literally the first PS2 game I played. I hadn't really been all that interested in the new generation of games, and in fact only the year previous did I finally have a Playstation (the first one) to call my very own, even though the PS2 had already been out for a while. So I was in for a perfect surprise when my mother gave me a PS2 and several games for Christmas. Maybe because it was the first "new" generation game I played, or maybe because I didn't have much else to distract me while spending a week at the parents' place, the game really grew on me. I loved the detailed graphics, the big race tracks, the open areas, everything. When I heard there was a sequel, it was at the top of my wish list.

 

But then I actually played the sequel. For some reason it didn't seem as deep or as challenging. The race tracks were much smaller, looping over the same scenery more often, and beyond that there just didn't seem to be a lot to do that hadn't been done before. Perhaps I didn't give it as fair of a chance, but AOF2 ended up with a lot less play time than AOF. I keep thinking I should go back and try it again some time, to see if it really is that disappointing or if I was just distracted by other shinies, but so far I haven't worked up the motivation.

Edited October 10, 2011 by FujiSkunk

[+Cobra Kai]

Got any more real classic examples? I mean I just can't sympathize with someone's disappointment over Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2. I was hoping for some NES or Atari examples to read about. For instance I always thought Ikari Warriors 2: Victory Road sucked. The voice came out really bad on the NES port, and the graphics were a complete mess.