Sequels so BAD that they killed the series'

[Sylentwulf]

Sequels so BAD that they killed the series' (Literally, or you personally stopped playing the series)

Some Parasite Eve music popped up in my winamp and got to thinking how the first one is one of my all time favorite games, and the second one didn't get more than an hours play time. PE2 was just a R.E. clone, and a bad one at that IMO. The first one was a PERFECT mix of RPG/survival horror and would have been great had any other games come out like it.

[Nez]

Turok poor poor turok.

[Ed Oscuro]

Which sequel? 2 was pretty go, far as things are...no clue about 3 or the last one.

[Maddrox]

well tomb raider 2! and well all the tomb raiders...

[Gapporin]

Zillion II. 'Nuff said.

[Ernster]

Super Mario Sunshine :angry: OK OK..I'm sure the series will recover LOL

Seriously, Id have to say Driver 3

[Oobgarm]

Seriously, Id have to say Driver 3

I'd even go as far as to say Driver 2.

Power Punch II for NES? I dunno if that counts...

[Gemini-Phoenix]

Really? Parasite Eve II is far superior to the first one!!! I also think Dino Crisis II is a lot better than the first too, but I think the third one went too far off on a tangent and killed that series off...

I think it's safe to say Tomb Raider Angel Of Darkness has put the nail in the coffin of Ms Croft. Chronicles put the nails in, AOD hammered them in!!!


But you don't have to look any further than Acclaim to see how not to make a game... Their track record should show at least half a dozen games which fit the criteria of this thread!!!

[Maddrox]

Super Mario Sunshine :angry: OK OK..I'm sure the series will recover LOL

Seriously, Id have to say Driver 3

sunshine was fun......

[Ernster]

Super Mario Sunshine :angry: OK OK..I'm sure the series will recover LOL

Seriously, Id have to say Driver 3

sunshine was fun......

Sunshine was meh. I thought it was a good platformer but doesnt deserve to have the Mario name slapped on. In the past Mario games were Revolutionary, AMAZING to play, OMG!!!1111 kind of game. However Sunshine to me was the biggest dissapointment from GC. But I will forgive Nintendo if Mario 128 is a REALLY good game. 8-)

[MegaDrive20XX]

Tomb Raider
Turok
Clay Fighter (Started out good...then ehh I dunno..)
Battle Arena Toshiden....1 and 2 were great...then 3 appeared...never to be heard from again
World Heroes....ok many people hated this series...but after WH Perfect...it was game over for ADK....Yet I proudly say I hated WH Perfect for it's insane character AI

and the series that took a serious nose dive over the years....

Duke Nukem :( At the highlight of Duke 3D, people demanding a sequel....3D Realms just couldn't finish the job....yet some tell me the project of "Duke Forever" is still around..

[Jorpho]

Zillion II. 'Nuff said.

There was a Zillion II?

How about Mortal Kombat 4, or Blaster Master 2?

[Ernster]

What's so bad about Mortal Kombat 4? I mean it went 3D, had realy cool fatalities and there was even weapons. Id say the downfall of MK series was Trilogy...utter crap O_O

[Arcade Antics]

Zillion II. 'Nuff said.

There was a Zillion II?

How about Mortal Kombat 4, or Blaster Master 2?

MK4 didn't kill the series, because the two MK games that came after it are stellar. And MK4 isn't bad either. :)

My vote goes to Rampage Through Time.

It took the successful (if not predictable) Rampage franchise and removed all the fun from it by forcing the computer to control any of the three monsters that were not controlled by human players. To top it off, the control is weak and the game isn't nearly as smooth as the three rampage titles that preceeded it. The hell? Rampage Through Time? Maybe BACKWARDS through time is what they meant. Ugh. Play any of the other three games instead.

[Lord_Magus]

I found Deus Ex 2 to be a huge disappointment.

I can't say it was bad enough to kill the series though, since I still consider Deus Ex to be one of the best games ever made. :hail:

[Ed Oscuro]

There was a Zillion II?
I've got a demo/proto cart, if that counts. Too bad I don't have one of the original game! LOL

[it290]

Hmm, I seem to be mentioning Double Dragon a lot, but how about Double Dragon III? Not a very good game to begin with, it was downhill from there for awhile. Super Double Dragon, ROTD (if you count that), and DDA were pretty good, but DDIII combined with that lame fighting game nearly spelled the end..

[s1lence]

Spy Hunter 2, terrible

Any Tomb Raider after the first one x_x

Crash Bandicoot Wraith of Cortex...Really really bad.

Driver 2, hello load times.

[fishsandwich]

A lot of the games being listed didn't kill the series... there will be another Mario, other Tomb Raider, another Mortal Kombat. The new MK game is great, and now that Tomb Raider is in the hadns of a new developer, it may do well.


Gek was an ok game... his last N64 game killed him.

Earthworm Jim was a very cool character and had two great games... Earthworm Jim 3 (also on N64) killed him.

Bubsy 3-D killed what I thought was a pretty decent series. I know a lot of people hate Bubsy, but I thought the first two games were pretty good.

Turok has already been mentioned. Poor guy. I really liked the N64 games except the mutiplayer-oriented one.


Cheers

:D

[Ed Oscuro]

Super Double Dragon, ROTD (if you count that), and DDA were pretty good, but DDIII combined with that lame fighting game nearly spelled the end..
I've no experience with Super, Rage of the Dragons, or Advance but as far as the old Double Dragon games go...I'd have to say DD3 is my favorite (no verdict on the Neo Geo game yet...don't dislike it thus far, but don't much like it either). Some good music in there too (though very short tracks). The arcade's "buy characters and tricks" money-stealing scheme was lame through and through (but then again, so is Dynamite Duke's) and it's funny how easy they made it in the home console version.

I'd have to say that Double Dragon 2 and Double Dragon V on the Genesis were HORRIBLE. DD2, in particular, seems to crawl along at an ungodly pace despite having such low graphical detail and even a small view space (if I remember correctly). :(

[downfall]

By far, Ghoul Patrol.

It ruined anything good that could have ever come from Zombies ate my Neighbors.

[MegaDrive20XX]

Zillion II. 'Nuff said.

There was a Zillion II?

How about Mortal Kombat 4, or Blaster Master 2?

MK4 didn't kill the series, because the two MK games that came after it are stellar. And MK4 isn't bad either. :)

My vote goes to Rampage Through Time.

It took the successful (if not predictable) Rampage franchise and removed all the fun from it by forcing the computer to control any of the three monsters that were not controlled by human players. To top it off, the control is weak and the game isn't nearly as smooth as the three rampage titles that preceeded it. The hell? Rampage Through Time? Maybe BACKWARDS through time is what they meant. Ugh. Play any of the other three games instead.

I so agree...the Rampage series has gone to mush....Have you played the GBA game? it's a Puzzle Game I think, heard it was pretty decent

[molnars]

I think Alundra 2 takes the cake for a sequel killing a series.

[Arcade Antics]

I so agree...the Rampage series has gone to mush....Have you played the GBA game? it's a Puzzle Game I think, heard it was pretty decent

Rampage Puzzle Attack: a nifty little puzzle game, but I counted it as a spinoff instead of part of the series for the purposes of the "series-killer" discussion. I thoroughly enjoyed this one, and if they were to do another in the Rampage Puzzle series, I'd definitely pick it up.

I LOVED Rampage World Tour and Universal Tour, but the sluggish mess that is "Through Time" killed the entire dilly-o in my book. The World/Universal Tour games are even better than the original IMO - faster, better and more stylized graphics, lots more to do, lots more (and more clever) tongue in cheek gags, and the control is far superior to the original game too.

[Daria]

...Parasite Eve....The first one was a PERFECT mix of RPG/survival horror and would have been great had any other games come out like it.

Koudelka? And well all the other Shadow Heart games I'd imagine although I haven't played 1 or 2.

[klausien]

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

It was so good that there have been no sequels on actual home consoles since that were truly great.

Yes, the GBA games are all excellent, but it seems as though the well has dried up.

Where is my hi-res, 2.5D Castlevania love-fest damnit!?!?!

[MegaDrive20XX]

You had to mention CastleVania didn't ya?? ;)

Ok, let's face it people, CastleVania seriously needs a console 2D game.

The GBA trio is lovely yes...but I want some classic 2D with 3D backgrounds as a CastleVania...just like SOTN....Hell if CastleVania was done like "Contra Shattered Soliders" on PS2...I would be all over that!

I think we will never get the chance to play as Alucard again. :(

There is already rumors of a CastleVania on DS coming around next year...which will probably be true.

Yet I am sick of companies relying on portables to do the 2D dirty work...

[Chooky]

*Holds his copy of Castlevania: Lament of Innocence and cries*
"It's okay, I still love you..."

Anyway, Devil May Cry was a heavily flawed but promising game. DMC2 was pure shit. And Bubble Bobble 2 removed the two-player mode, and consequently, any promise of fun. :(

[evildead2099]

What's so bad about Mortal Kombat 4? I mean it went 3D, had realy cool fatalities and there was even weapons. Id say the downfall of MK series was Trilogy...utter crap O_O

One thing that really detracted from my enjoyment of MK4 is the fact that the dial-a-combos are watered-down from MK3. Worse yet, all characters share virtually identical dial-a-combos. So basically, you have a bunch of fighters whose normal attacks are the same and whose (very simple) combos are the same; the only thing that really distingushes one fighter from another in the course of a battle is his/her/it's 'super' moves.

MK Trilogy is probably my favourite game in the series after MK2. MK Triology really wasn't any worse than MK3 unless you actually cared about a sense of coherent plot.

[Sotenga]

I still think the Castlevania series is going strong, and not even the Castlevania Adventure ruined it. Course, that's just my humble opinion. :D

Mortal Kombat's also still going good, if I do say so myself. MK4 is underrated, but when I take a step back and look at it, it's probably the worst game in the series, at least, I think so. But no, I can't count that...

I expect a slight tad of saber-rattling for what I think jumped the shark, but... Final Fantasy, back at FFX. When I realized that I spent 130+ hours of my life on this game, that's when RPG's started to taste a little bitter for me. It didn't help that FFX-2 kinda blew, IMO, and when it moved to online gaming... bleh. I still might wanna get Final Fantasy Origins/Dawn of Souls, since I'm a sucker for classics, but as far as the prime FF vein runs, the blood that flows through it has been tainted in my eyes.

[evildead2099]

Mortal Kombat's also still going good, if I do say so myself. MK4 is underrated, but when I take a step back and look at it, it's probably the worst game in the series, at least, I think so.

You haven't played MK Advance, have ya, slapnut? LOL

[Ed Oscuro]

I still think the Castlevania series is going strong, and not even the Castlevania Adventure ruined it. Course, that's just my humble opinion. :D
Well, Legends damned near did!

At least it killed off Alucard's chances of getting with Sonia (according to Igarashi) LOL

Nah, Adventure for me is just a game that takes the really annoying platforming bits out of CV2, and makes a whole game out of them. There's some neat stuff in there, it's just hard to find any of it (outside of March of the Holy, badass BGM right there!)

[Sotenga]

Mortal Kombat's also still going good, if I do say so myself. MK4 is underrated, but when I take a step back and look at it, it's probably the worst game in the series, at least, I think so.

You haven't played MK Advance, have ya, slapnut? LOL

Heh, I haven't, but I heard it was an absolute pile.

...

Pile of shit, that is. LOL

I decided to stay away from it with good reason. However, considering the fact that so few played it, I can't consider it a series ruiner.

But on the case of a "not-quite-but-almost" series, Contra: Legacy of War and C: The Contra Adventure sucked. They just sucked, and I can't think of any better word to describe them. However, they weren't made by Konami, and when Konami took over again with Contra: Shattered Soldier, Contra was back in action and still incredibly awesome. Soooooooo... that doesn't count, but I can't think of too many other examples.

ADD: Heh, Ed, I only played through Legends a couple of times. I guess that and the two N64 games nearly wrecked things, but being the CV nut I am, I still liked them. Go fig.

[Crush Crawfish]

Monster rancher 4 and Grandia Xtreme....good god what dissapointments those were.

[Ed Oscuro]

Nobody bashes Castlevania 64 while I'm around!

@_@ look into my eyes, it's a great game.

[E Nice]

FIST seems to have pretty much ended the Pretty Fighter series. But at least they managed to make a 3D fighter for the Saturn, unlike other companies.



Battle Arena Toshiden....1 and 2 were great...then 3 appeared...never to be heard from again

That's not exactly true. And you didn't mention the other two games that appeared before Toshinden 3, Toshinden URA and Nitoshinden (if any game could end a series it would have been this one).

There have been sequels after Toshinden 3.

Puzzle Arena Toshinden
Toshinden Cardquest
Toshinden Subaru

[max 330 mega]

King of the monsters got ruined in KOM 2...

[mr_jiggles_13]

halo 2 was a huge dissapointment for me


also throught that the adventures of link(zelda 2 on NES) sucked royally, didnt ruin the series, but i liked it less after that one.

[ubersaurus]

I still think the Castlevania series is going strong, and not even the Castlevania Adventure ruined it. Course, that's just my humble opinion. :D

Mortal Kombat's also still going good, if I do say so myself. MK4 is underrated, but when I take a step back and look at it, it's probably the worst game in the series, at least, I think so. But no, I can't count that...

I expect a slight tad of saber-rattling for what I think jumped the shark, but... Final Fantasy, back at FFX. When I realized that I spent 130+ hours of my life on this game, that's when RPG's started to taste a little bitter for me. It didn't help that FFX-2 kinda blew, IMO, and when it moved to online gaming... bleh. I still might wanna get Final Fantasy Origins/Dawn of Souls, since I'm a sucker for classics, but as far as the prime FF vein runs, the blood that flows through it has been tainted in my eyes.

If you ask me, there were only 3 really worthwile Final Fantasies in the main series, and that's 4, 6, and 7. I haven't played 10 yet, so I can't judge, but man. All the others range from average to crap.

[Promophile]

If you ask me, there were only 3 really worthwile Final Fantasies in the main series, and that's 4, 6, and 7. I haven't played 10 yet, so I can't judge, but man. All the others range from average to crap.

I'm indifferent to 4, love 6 and 7, and like PARTS of 8.

[Kid Ice]

Wait...I thought the idea was the sequel was so bad it "killed" the franchise. I'd hardly consider Castlevania, Final Fantasy, Street Fighter, or Mortal Kombat dead. Even Tomb Raider sold a respectable number of copies in the last outing.

I'd say Ridge Racer V put the series on life support and R: Racing Revolution pulled the plug.

Syphon Filter's future isn't looking too hot.

But for the most part, it takes more than one lousy sequel to kill a good series. That's unusual.

And what the heck happened to Colony Wars? Streets of Rage? Darius?

[evildead2099]

also throught that the adventures of link(zelda 2 on NES) sucked royally

I strongly disagree with you. :angry:

[bargora]

And what the heck happened to Colony Wars? Streets of Rage? Darius?
Colony Wars -- It seems the received wisdom these days is that you can't sell an in-cockpit space shooter unless it has a license hung on it. Besides, Sony bought out Psygnosis years ago, and I can't recall Sony releasing any games in that genre recently (please correct me if I'm wrong). Maybe Sony doesn't like space shooters.

Streets of Rage -- Beats me.

Darius -- I guess that G Darius didn't sell enough copies to put Taito into a big hurry to push out the next one. Too bad, because it's pretty decent. But I wouldn't be surprised if we eventually see one more Darius. After all, didn't we get R-Type Final and Gradius V? And if Technosoft hadn't gone under we'd have already had Thunderforce VI for the Dreamcast and be eagerly anticipating TF VII for the PS2, no? Yes, the world needs at least one more side-scrolling fish shooter.

[SamuraiSmurfette]

What? Has nobody mentioned MegamanX?
He's been on a serious decline, with every game being worse than the last.
1 Excellent!
2-3 Great!
4 Good
5-6 okay
7-8 enough already!

[Sotenga]

Nobody bashes Castlevania 64 while I'm around!

@_@ look into my eyes, it's a great game.

I actually agree with you on that, seriously underrated, in my opinion. I am much more partial to Lament of Innocence, but both Castlevania 64 titles deserve more love than they have been denied.

4, 6, and 7 are among my more favored games in the Final Fantasy series, 6 being my absolute fave. I really liked X, but after beating it, the series just seemed... not as good as it could be to me. It's hard to explain.

I did indeed forget Mega Man... I finally realized the series went on too long by Mega Man X5. Yeah, I be a doofus. Or a hopeless whore for the series. But I think the whole entire MM franchise jumped the great white shark when Battle Network was released. I was just like, "A Mega Man RPG with entirely new characters... what the fuck? This isn't Mega Man! This isn't the Mega Man I know!" And it was then I realized that Capcom would abuse their most famed names to make any sort of dinero. Goddammit. :shameful:


Maybe Sony doesn't like space shooters.

They sure don't, Bargora. I can tell you that. :angry:

One more series to conclude this rant: Assualt Suits Valken (aka Cybernator) was awesome. Why did Assualt Suits Valken 2 have to be a strategy RPG? :(

[DynastyLawyer]

Some Parasite Eve music popped up in my winamp and got to thinking how the first one is one of my all time favorite games, and the second one didn't get more than an hours play time. PE2 was just a R.E. clone, and a bad one at that IMO. The first one was a PERFECT mix of RPG/survival horror and would have been great had any other games come out like it.

Very true.


Devil May Cry was a heavily flawed but promising game

Did Penny Arcade tell you that one?


What's so bad about Mortal Kombat 4? I mean it went 3D, had realy cool fatalities and there was even weapons. Id say the downfall of MK series was Trilogy...utter crap

I'm pretty sure MK3 was the one that killed the series, Ace.

I'd like to add Chrono Cross and Xenosaga.

[retroman]

Golden Axe 3.....nuff said

[orangemage]

I'd like to add Chrono Cross and Xenosaga.

damn right, how darn they try and pass that off as the sequel to chrono trigger :angry:

[sabre2922]

Devil may cry 2 almost killed the series for me
thank god I never played Earthwormjim 3-D or whatever it was called becuase the first 2 (especially the first) were brilliant
alundra 2 was terrible
for me though it was Final Fantasy 8 on PSone that killed the series for me until part 9 came out FF9 is my personal favorite of any recent Final fantasy games I also hated FFX on PS2-please keep the flames to a minimum ;)

[HC Andersson]

Tomb Raider 3 killed a great game serie. TB1 and TB2 were greeeat!
Alex Kidd the enched castle killed the Alex Kidd series. Tekken 3 killed the Tekken serie.

But Super Mario Sunshine beats the crap out of Mario64 big times!

[briguy578]

Heroes of Might and Magic 4 - that game not only sunk the Heroes franchise, but also helped sink 3DO.

Outpost 2 - What happened with this crap pile?

Lords of the Realm III - Why Sierra, why????

Sonic Adventure 2 - gahh, Sega needs to wake up and realize thier 3D sonic formula doesn't work.


BTW, To whomever said Xenosaga - what are you smoking? Xenosaga is one of my favorite RPGs, in fact, its the game that got me back into console RPGs. Besides, They are restarting the entire Xenosaga / Xenogears universe with Xenosaga, from what I understand Xenogears will be retold in Xenosaga Episode V.

[Chooky]

No DynastyWarrior, Penny Arcade did not tell me DMC was a flawed game, but thanks for being a smartarse! The awful controls while jumping, the terrible camera angles, tacked-on feel of the puzzles, and of course the unbelievably bad story are what made me call it flawed.

And I haven't played it, but from what I hear Parappa 2 basically killed any chance for a future Parappa/Lammy game.

[Jorpho]

Outpost 2 - What happened with this crap pile?

Did the first Outpost also not suck profoundly?

[DynastyLawyer]

No DynastyWarrior, Penny Arcade did not tell me DMC was a flawed game, but thanks for being a smartarse! The awful controls while jumping, the terrible camera angles, tacked-on feel of the puzzles, and of course the unbelievably bad story are what made me call it flawed

I wasn't seeking to offend you for calling it flawed. I was seeking to offend you for calling it promising.

[o2william]

How about Super Pitfall?

Yeah, the series continued with The Mayan Adventure and others, but I think people had a hard time taking it seriously after that Pony Canyon piece of garbage. If Activision hadn't hidden the 2600 version in the newer games, I wonder if anybody would have bought them.

[rbudrick]

Nobody bashes Castlevania 64 while I'm around!

@_@ look into my eyes, it's a great game

Well, it wasn't bad....I wouldn't say it was great tho...

I guess it was pretty good. I mean if SotN was a 10, CV64 was probably 6-6.5

And those who bash Zelda II for NES I would fathom hasn't gone all the way through the game. That game rules!

-Rob