The ORIGINAL Was Better!

[digitalpress]

Reading over Gary Williams' review for Devil May Cry 2 (http://www.digitpress.com/reviews/devilmaycry2.htm) just made me think about the games whose sequels did them no justice.

It's not the same as the movies where the original is USUALLY better. In gaming, there is time to fix problems, upgrade graphics, and squeeze more "new stuff" into a game. Unlike movies, it doesn't require a whole new plot.

What games come to mind when you think about sequels that fell short of their predecessors?

[Happy_Dude]

ALL OF THEM DO.
Sure theres the upgraded graphics and design, not as many bugs etc...
But it's always the same gameplay engin (exept Dune II but it wasn't a sequel now was it ;) )
Tomb Raider 3 was meant to be "Compleatly Different", Core said "They had
pushed the current game engine as far as it would go". How many more games
did we get :roll: Milk it till it's dead then milk it some more, why be creative when
people will buy the same crap just repackaged >:( [/Rant]

I always hated Super Mario Bros. 2.

[Goodwill Hunter]

Driver 2...one of the few games I have ever purchased, full price on release day (although I still bought it from a store that had a promo for Driver 2 that included a free $10 gift card...always gotta get a bargain!). I'm such a huge fan of the first game, and I was expecting an experience like the one I got going from GTA 3 to Vice City.

Instead I got slowdown and sometimes complete stops, right in the middle of chases....highly touted curved roads which added nothing to gameplay and an overall lack of thrills and challeneges that made the first Driver such a treat.

Driver 2 is still an okay PS1 game, but a big disappointment after Driver. You can be sure I'll be waiting for player reviews before I pick up Driver 3.

Rich

[Atar1G1rl]

THPS freakin' 4. Talk about burning a good thing out. THPS2 is still my favorite- a sequal that did actually improve upon its original premise creatively. But I just am not digging the setup on 4 like I thought I would at E3 last year. They try to keep it interesting with the extra little games within a game (like playing tennis with your skateboard, etc), yet it is still the same old thing. But not in a good comfortable "old shoe" way due to a number of the changes that they made in regards to obtaining mini-goals and the way they time things and the levels aren't catching my attention anymore. Blah.

[mauigamer]

people will buy the same crap just repackaged [/Rant]

I always hated Super Mario Bros. 2.



You complain that sequals are all the same and then complain about Mario 2 and it was way different then the first? Sounds like there is no pleasing you.

[gamingguy]

ALL OF THEM DO. Sure theres the upgraded graphics and design, not as many bugs etc... But it's always the same gameplay engin

I agree. That's why I only have one Resident Evil, one Gran Turismo, and one Tomb Raider. If the sequels all play the same as the original, why spend more money? I'll just pick out the best one.

I'd rather buy something new than replay the same series over and over.



Okay back to topic: I didn't think DDR Revolution (PS2) was as good as the original DDR (PS1). They tried something new with the graphics, and I just didn't like it.

[gamingguy]

people will buy the same crap just repackaged [/Rant]
I always hated Super Mario Bros. 2.
==========================


You complain that sequals are all the same and then complain about Mario 2 and it was way different then the first? Sounds like there is no pleasing you.



Maybe he was talking about the real SMB2 (aka Lost Levels), not the Doki Doki Hack sold to the U.S.?

[digitalpress]

I agree. That's why I only have one Resident Evil, one Gran Turismo, and one Tomb Raider. If the sequels all play the same as the original, why spend more money? I'll just pick out the best one.

Hey let me see if I've got this right.

You're saying that the original Resident Evil is better than Resident Evil 2, or Code: Veronica; that Gran Turismo is better than Gran Tursimo 3; and that that Tomb Raider is better than Tomb Raider 2 or Chronicles, is that correct?

[Mayhem]

I think he means he's just picked one to buy from all of those which are available (which suggests he hasn't been interested in whichever series until at least 2 titles have been out), naturally the best one (in the case of Resident Evil, that would be #2 in my book)...

[gamingguy]

$1.00 goes to Mayhem! (Okay, it's a monopoly dollar but still better than nothing.)

I have Resident Evil 2, Gran Turismo 3, and Tomb Raider: Last Revelation. I have no plans to buy any of the sequels until either (a) the gameplay changes or (b) new PS3 versions happen. I just don't have much interest in sequels. Or money to spare. I'd rather spend my money on some other Horrior Survival game like Eternal Darkness than another RE. Or maybe something completely different like Buffy or Rhapsody.

Zelda: Wind Waker is an example of a sequel that I *will* buy, because it's very different in appearance from the N64 versions. It will be a *new* experience, which is what I look for in games.


Uh oh, I was also planning to buy FF10-2 which is almost a clone of FF10. My ideal is kinda falling apart. Oh well. Whatever. (shrug) LOL

[Raedon]

Banjo-Tooie comes to mind..
so does Zelda 2

[YoshiM]

I agree, many of the sequels fall short of the original. Doesn't necessarily mean they are bad or not worthy of one's time, but still they fall short. Banjo Tooie, as Raedon mentions, is a good example. I loved Banjo Kazooie, all the way to the end. I enjoyed Banjo Tooie, but it wasn't nearly as difficult and ultimately satisfying as BK was.

Here's some of my examples:

Gauntlet: Dark Legacy-Better graphics, more characters, yet extremely ho-hum.

Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask-I wanted to get into this game, but I just couldn't. While the first had a decent storyline to get you captivated, the second really didn't. The dungeons seem to exist just to exist. And the limited time thing was way out there.

Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest

Kid Icarus: Myth and Monsters-what made the original great was its difficult gameplay. It was fun enough to keep you coming back for more and it made you a better player. The GB sequel created a security blanket, allowing you to fall and not die. It just didn't have the charm of the first. Maybe it was the black and white graphics too.

[Charlie]

Star Tropics for the NES is my all time favorite game that is missing the world "Tetris" or "Puzzle League."

And then there is Star Tropics 2: Zoda's Revenge. I was SOOOOO anxious for that game, I got it for my 13th birthday, and I felt completely and totally jipped. It sucks on so many levels, the storyline is horrible, and they totally changed the jumping dynamics from Star Tropics 1, and that was the best part of the game. Fuck you Nintendo, and bring us a new Star Tropics that doesn't suck already!

Honorable mentions: Zelda Spew: The Advengers of Fink (Zelda 2, boring), and Banjo-Tooie. Banjo Kazooie was pretty good... hasn't aged paticularly well, but AT THE TIME it seemed good, but you had to collect too many damn thing. Banjo Tooie was three times worse!

[Ascending Wordsmith]

The original Spy Hunter is by far, better than the sequel. The characters (cars types) have more of a personality. Remember the 'evil cars'? Bulletproof Bully, Switchblade, Double Barrel Granny, and the Mad Bomber made life a living hell for Spy Hunter players. That sequel with the 3D view is actually a good game, but the original has it easily beaten.

http://www.shockwave.com/images/large/picon_sw_spyhunter_lrg.gif
Spy Hunter

http://roms2.mame.dk/png/spyhunt2.png
Spy Hunter 2

[bargora]

Colony Wars. The original had great atmosphere, a huge branching storyline, and a fantastic soundtrack. They even put hours of completely useless background information on the discs about the colonies and their history. It was geek heaven.

The sequels tried some gameplay innovations, but I think that in the end, they were mostly gimmicks. Plus, the mission tree was severely truncated in the second and nonexistant in the third. In the end, Colony Wars is all about 3D space shooter dogfighting. I thought that the sequels just didn't feel as epic as the original.

[VG_Maniac]

Actraiser. The original rocked...the sequal sucked big time.

[AlexKidd]

I prefer the original Ninja Gaiden for nes than either of the sequels. I also like the first R-type more than most of the later ones.

[VGfan]

Wave Race Blue Storm
Yoshi's Story (if it is supposed to be a sequel to Yoshi's Island)
Battle Bakraid (Unlike Garegga this one looks and feels like a normal generic shooter)

[Jumpman Jr.]

Majora's Mask (Still good... but not as good.
Super Smash Bros. Melee (in my opinion)

[VGfan]

Yeah I agree about Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Just because Melee has more stuff in it, a lot of people seems to think there is no way the original could possibly be better.

[Jagasian]

Super Mario Kart: everything was "nerf'ed" in the sequals. Anybody could easily learn to execute a multi-hit combo in battle mode because you could pick up a single item consistenting of multiple shells. In the original, you had to time your shots so that you could pick up another weapon to combo with. Red shells were also changed, so that dodging was less of an art form. In the original, they had strange and erratic behaviour that allowed for "Kung-Fu" like acrobatic escape moments, where you could outrun a red shell closing in on you and then twist and turn and hop around until the red shell "freaked out" and smashed into a wall. In the sequals, red shells basically just travel in a straight line towards their opponent, so dodging them is less fun. I could go on and on, but I must say that while graphics and sound have improved in the Mario Kart series... the gameplay has not.

Quake: Quakeworld is still the best Quake, at least in deathmatch. It is fast, furious, and has great small levels. The weapons are powerful, and the movement physics allow for lovely unrealistic Matrix-like acrobatic moves. THank god Id Software released the source code for Quake so that it could have its graphics slightly improved by the community, as well as the sound and other aspects such as adding a built-in server browser:
http://ezquake.sourceforge.net/gallery/

[§ Gideon §]

Chrono Trigger
Act Raiser (as mentioned)
Super Monkey Ball
1080 Snowboarding
Excitebike
X-Com: UFO Defense
Tetris

[mysteroiusgamer?]

i cannot remember a sequel that is better than the original
maybe suikoden compared to suikoden 2 but it all depends on what type of combat you like i guess

[The Plucky Little Ninja]

Tenchu! Tenchu! Tenchu!

The first one was just great. The second a travesty. 3 sequels later they still haven't gotten the music right.

3 and 4 were improvements over 2, but they still don't make up for how bad it was.

[Ruudos]

Definitely Super Mario Kart.
This game has the most challenge, and the most fair too. If you did very well, you could really drive away from your opponents. In MK64 they just come back, but if you go slow they will drive slow too.

[shoes23]

Secret of Mana > Legend of Mana.

The sequel wasn't anything like I expected and maybe that ruined it for me, but I found it confusing and boring. I hear that there is two more sequels in the works however, one for the DS the other for the PS2. Here's hoping.

[Jagasian]

Secret of Mana > Legend of Mana.

The sequel wasn't anything like I expected and maybe that ruined it for me, but I found it confusing and boring. I hear that there is two more sequels in the works however, one for the DS the other for the PS2. Here's hoping.

Seiken Densetsu 3 was the game that was released next in the "Mana" series. Of course, story-wise it is a prequal, but in many ways it is better than Secret of Mana. Personally, I love both. I still have yet to play the PSX sequal.

[shoes23]

Secret of Mana > Legend of Mana.

The sequel wasn't anything like I expected and maybe that ruined it for me, but I found it confusing and boring. I hear that there is two more sequels in the works however, one for the DS the other for the PS2. Here's hoping.

Seiken Densetsu 3 was the game that was released next in the "Mana" series. Of course, story-wise it is a prequal, but in many ways it is better than Secret of Mana. Personally, I love both. I still have yet to play the PSX sequal.

I've only played Seiken Densetsu 3 emulated so I can't say how much I would have enjoyed it had it been released domestically, but the PSX version played out like a twisted Dark Cloud, with no real "solid" storyline. I like my RPG's to have a concreate storyline, and in this game you plop down peices onto a map, travel to it, and perform whatever you need to do in it. Felt more like a bunch of side-quests to me rather than a full-bodied RPG.

[syd]

I'll have to agree with Actraiser. I loved that game, and then they put out such a crappy sequel for it. The action side of things was a lot worse, and they took out the whole building aspect of the game altogether.

I think Mario Party is a great example of bad sequels. There's like 6 of them now, and not much has really changed since the first one was released. They have a few different mini-games, but thats about it.

[Ulticron]

Daytona USA was great on the Sat, and so was CCE on the Sat, but Daytona on the DC was just blagh at best, same story goes for Sega Rally.

Mega Man 2 was a great improvement over the original MM. However after 2 they slowly went down hill. MMX got the same way it peaked out at MMX4 and then went down hill but at a faster pace than the original MM.

It's probably personal taste but I really hated Zelda 2 and I still don't care much for it.

[7th lutz]

Act Raiser
Blaster Master
Alundra