The evolution of certain game series'

[Gemini-Phoenix]

Looking back over the years at certain game series, it's hard to believe the origins of where a lot of them came from...

Tomb Raider ~ You look at shots of Tomb Raider Legends, and then go back and play the original Tomb Raider... It's eye-suicide!


Grand Theft Auto ~ Hard to believe that the series we all know and love today originated not long back as a top down game - And a pretty shabby looking one at that! Still... Back in the day, THAT game was the mutt's proverbials...


Virtua Fighter ~ Perhaps one of the most noticable, as the roots of VF go deeper than some other games mentioned above. Take a look at VF on the 32X and then look at VF4 - There is hell fo a difference, and it's hard to imagine that the original was all blocky polygons!


Gran Turismo ~ Although not much of a change in gameplay, the graphics have been overhauled a hell ofa lot since GT on the PSone... That game at one time seemed as "Real" as it was going to get, but we were so very naive back then...


Crash Bandicoot ~ For some reason, Crash doesn't seem to age. Crash Bandicoot I looks just as good now as it did in 1997, and doesn't really look much worse than he current day games.


Sonic The Hedgehog ~ One of the most well known gaming characters of all time, and probably the second longest franchise in gaming (After Mario that is) - Originals are still being rereleased today! Now that's classics for ya!


What other series have changed dramatically over the years?

Kids today accept the games for what they are these days, but are sometimes unaware of some of the pre-cursors to these games...

[Jive3D]

There's always Zelda - drastically changed in size and depth, while staying slightly true to it's roots.

My younger brother's first Zelda experience was OOT. I showed him LTTP, Link's Awakening, and the original - not surprisingly, he says "Those are not Zelda!"

It's all about perspective I guess @_@.

I'd say that Megaman has changed the least, and I'm VERY happy about that.

[Pantechnicon]

This kid (<12)came over to visit once with his parents and naturally wound up in the Room of Doom. I pulled up Donkey Kong on the MAME cab for him and he said, "Hey, it's Mario and Donkey Kong together in one game! This is pretty cool." Being old enough to remember Donkey Kong in its heyday I never really gave much thought to how seemingly divergent the plumber and the ape have become from one another in the last few years but there you go. There's no accounting for Mario Party, I guess.

[bargora]

Doom. I'll bet kids who've only ever played Doom 3 would turn their noses up at Doom and Doom II

R-Type and Gradius have come a long way, graphically speaking. Gameplay-wise, not so much.

Wing Commander just got better and better over time.

Can you argue that Archon -> Archon II: Adept -> The Unholy War -> Wrath Unleashed?

Air/Ace Combat has gotten better looking while remaining true to its arcade flight combat roots.

Xevious went from sprites to polygons in Xevious 3D/G

Are the Ghosts and Goblins games really part of the same series as the Maximo games?

[tuxedojoe]

Somehow or other, Super Mario Bros. evolved into Super Mario DDR. I think that this example may be the most extreme change in a single video game franchise evAr. I miss my Mario. :(

[njiska]

Let's not forget burnout. As far as evolution goes it's a speed demon.

Burnout - A simple racer with actually in race crashes, something not common at the time.

Burnout 2 - Introduced new driving mechanics and the all new crash mode. Crash mode was what kept people playing Burnout 2.

Burnout 3 - Complete over-haul of the game. It's now all about the crashing. Addition of dozens of new play mechanics including boost multipliers, in race crash multipliers, Aftertouch, the list goes on. Also featuring a totally over-hauled crash mode with multipliers and the Crashbreakers. Not to mention the addition of Roadrage, online play, amazing liscensed music and it was one of the first EA games on Xbox live. Oh and seriously agressive AI.

Burnout Revenge - While not as serious an upgrade as burnout 3 Revenge adds in race crash breakers and a new revenge system for points. Possibly even more changes that i just don't know about.

Burnout has evolved more and faster then almost any other series of games. It's something special.

[Nirvana]

You have a good point with the Grand Theft Auto series. I remember when my older brother rented Grand Theft Auto II, and I found it so fun just to mess around. Then way after that, Grand Theft Auto III came out, and it just blew me away. There was just so much to explore, and so many different cars...

I also agree with Virtua Fighter. I was looking at screens of the first Virtua Fighter...and boy, are the graphics just...BLOCKY is definetly the word I'm looking for. And now, I recently bought Virtua FIghter 4: Evolution and the graphics are so beautiful. The animations for moves are very smooth. It's great to see how the evolution of a video game series can mean bigger and better things in the future.

However, change isn't always the best. I am so glad that the majority of Mega Man games stay as the great side scrolling shooting game that I liked when I was younger. I absolutely hated Mega Man Legends, and I heard that one of the recent Mega Man X games are 3-D and the camera can be painful on the eyes when viewed at a certain angle.

[rayearthknight]

Metal Gear--from top-down perspective and bad-translations (uh oh, the truck have started to move...) to cinematic-like glory. (from the MSX to the Xbox)

Metroid--the contrasts between the first game and "First Mission" are huge...I prefer the music in the newer version...plus, Metroid Fusion.

Ninja Gai Den--Through death and alien invasions, Ryu Haybusa's come a long way....when did he ditch the blue robes for black?


Now...where's the update for Warhawk?

[bargora]

Now...where's the update for Warhawk?
Good question. I think that helicopter (even super-duper helicopter) games hae been out of vogue since the late 90s. :(

[hbkprm]

sonic: 1990: grand debut in japan
summer of 1991: debuts in us and europe
'92: tails grand debut in sonic 2
'93: amy's debut in sonic cd
'94: knuckles grand debut in sonic 3, also have starring role on sonic & knuckles
'97: sonic's in full 3d in sonic jam
'99: sonic's back in life-like graphics in sonic adventure, debuts of big and e-102
2001: sonic adventure 2 were the debut of shadow and rouge, debut of best selling gba franchise sonic advance
last year: sonic heroes was the 1st multiplatform game in the franchise, gamecube owners experince it first

on the 16th: will be the release of sonic gems collection, the follow up of the best selling sonic mega collection

and later this year: were expecting 2 new sonic games:
sonic rush takes advance of the ds and the open-ended shadow the hedgehog

[fpstream]

Star fox, from good flying games to bad tank/foot/a little bit of flying games. Kirby's also gone through many genres, pinball, riding on rainbows, and pinball again, and a racing game. Warcraft has also made lots of little improvments to make it the grand experience it is, plus MMORPG.

[Damaramu]

Now...where's the update for Warhawk?
Good question. I think that helicopter (even super-duper helicopter) games hae been out of vogue since the late 90s. :(

I could have sworn that a couple of issues back, OPM had a blurb on an upcoming Warhawk sequel due out for PS3. @_@

[njiska]

Now...where's the update for Warhawk?
Good question. I think that helicopter (even super-duper helicopter) games hae been out of vogue since the late 90s. :(

I could have sworn that a couple of issues back, OPM had a blurb on an upcoming Warhawk sequel due out for PS3. @_@

EGM August 2005 confirms Warhawk is coming to the PS3.

[rayearthknight]

'97: sonic's in full 3d in sonic jam


Wouldn't Sonic R qualifiy as the the first? I admit, it is a racing game, but you can go anywhere in the level you choose to go...or is this list referencing only the Sonic Team games, since Sonic R was developed by Traveller's Tales.

And why was Amy called "Princess Sally" in Sonic CD US?

[Rabid Peanut-Butter]

'97: sonic's in full 3d in sonic jam


Wouldn't Sonic R qualifiy as the the first? I admit, it is a racing game, but you can go anywhere in the level you choose to go...or is this list referencing only the Sonic Team games, since Sonic R was developed by Traveller's Tales.

And why was Amy called "Princess Sally" in Sonic CD US?

Princess Sally? Where did it say that? I thought princess Sally was a character from the TV show and comics.