Also apparently Castlevania? But im no expert
Also i can think of three movie franchises with the opposite perception of the second entry: The Godfather, Star Wars, and Shrek.
I feel like Gen II of Pokémon is strictly better than Gen I. Full color, more fleshed out world (day/night cycle, breeding, getting calls on the Pokégear), various quality of life improvements, has both the National Park and Ecruteak City music–oh, and it’s literally got the entire first game map crammed inside of it as endgame content. What’s not to love?
Yes this might be THE example of a franchise that isnt percieved to have had a sophmore slump.
I can think of a few that fit the billing; Doom 2, Diablo 2, Portal 2, L4D2, Civ2. I think those franchises all managed to take the original concept and actually improve upon it. There’s probably more but those are the ones I could think of
Crash 2
I found YouTube links in your comment. Here are links to the same videos on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
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Metroid 2 is also regarded as lesser
The transition from NES to GB probably didn’t help. The only franchise where I can think of the GB version having higher acclaim is (maybe) Link’s Awakening or Donkey Kong 94
Link’s Awakening got the DX GBC version which helped it a lot I think.
Those 2 were following up successes but not yet franchises with expectations and creativity stifling fanbases. Personally I like many of the poorly received 2s the most. Zelda 2, Zelda 64 2, Castlevania 2 and Dark Souls 2. They all have a clear lineage to the 1s without being repeats.
I dont think Majora’s Mask was poorly recieved? Its certainly very well regarded today.
I was under the impression that it was. Surely any game that old would only have positive discourse remaining today, because who else even cares?
The other ones mentioned in the title all still have negative discourse today so i wouldnt say that is so.
Tbh ive seen very little negative discourse around MM, and i was in the target demo when it came out, besides people like me who dont like the three day mechanic. But my experience is that we’re a minority who just get told to do reverse song of time.
When people talk about the worst game in the franchises in the title, the second games are very often the answer. Noone says MM is the worst Zelda. In fact its usually in contention for the best.
It received acclaim by critics, not as highly praised as OoT, but the magic of pulling off a perfect transition to 3D can only strike once.
It’s the same far Dragon Age, although there are only three games and most fans seem to think the first is the only good one. Most of them still hate the second one the most though.
Does Dragon Quest also have a bastard child made by another developer that fans don’t consider to be a part of the series like FF Mystic Quest or the Philips CD-i Zelda games?
I feel like with games, the pressure to increase sales beyond the first one makes developers feel like have to try reinventing what made the first one good (which often misses instead of hits). With film or lit, they can just continue the story.
It’s kinda an old meme that the second in a series of things is always the worst, to the point where people make a note of pointing out exceptions. It makes sense though, if you don’t change enough it feels pointless but if you change too much it won’t feel like a continuation of the same thing.
More good middles of trilogies: Mass Effect 2, The Dark Forest (Three Body Problem)
