Video Game Sequels More Disappointing Than The Last Jedi

Chris Snellgrove is an English Professor by day and a pop culture writer by night. You can read his thoughts on celebrities over on Instanthub, thoughts on games over on Gammicks, and thoughts on everything else over on Ebaum's World. And here are Chris' picks for Top 10 Worst Nintendo Video Game Peripherals.

The gaming industry and the movie industry have a lot in common. For example, Hollywood pumps out a ton of sequels (each one usually worse than the last) whenever there is a hit movie.

The game industry loves to drop sequels on us, and sometimes those sequels turn into beloved franchises. Other times, though, the sequel is so bad it nearly kills any love that players had for the previous title.

Don’t believe it? Well, we’ve rounded up the worst gaming sequels for your reading (and playing) displeasure!

Super Mario Bros. 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9s4fuOL3FM

“When is a sequel not a sequel?” Sure, it may sound like a question the Riddler would ask when he’s really phoning it in. But it’s a worthwhile question when it comes to Super Mario Bros. 2.

As many gamers know, this game was not originally meant to be a Mario game. Instead, it was created as an original title: Doki Doki Panic. But when Nintendo got nervous that the original sequel to Super Mario Bros. (later released as The Lost Levels) was too hard for American gamers, they basically reskinned Doki Doki Panic as a Mario title and called it a day.

Once you get over the fact that it’s an absolutely awful sequel to Super Mario Bros (due to the fact that it looks and plays nothing like the original), this game is pretty fun. But every time you throw veggies at disgruntled animals in this game, it’s because Japan thought you were too much of a noob to play the real sequel!

Duke Nukem Forever

https://www.2k.com/en-US/game/duke-nukem-forever/

Duke Nukem Forever is more than a terrible game sequel. It’s also the very embodiment of development hell for video games.

It seemed like this sequel to the successful Duke Nukem 3D would never come out. But after a staggering 15 years since Duke Nukem 3D came out, we got this insanely inferior sequel.

People liked Duke Nukem 3D back in the 90’s because everything from the transgressive humor to the violent gameplay seemed cool and innovative. Duke Nukem Forever, though, was a tired retread that looked and played like an outdated sketch of better modern shooters. Sadly, Duke phrases like “shake it, baby” will mostly apply to you shaking your head in disbelief that this garbage ever got released.

Halo 5

https://www.cbr.com/halo-5-guardians-better/

Pop quiz, Halo players: how long did it take you to give up on Halo 5?

The campaign was short and unremarkable, continuing the mediocre storyline of Halo 4. To make matters worse, you spent half your time playing as someone other than Master Chief (think of this as the worst possible Halo 2 homage). And the lack of couch co-op for the first time in the franchise meant you couldn’t sit there with a buddy and dunk on the boring narrative.

Multiplayer wasn’t much better, with many players decrying it as a “pay to win” system. Hilariously, the real nail in the coffin for this game was the release of the Master Chief Collection, proving that players overwhelmingly wanted to play the older titles instead of this hot turd dressed up in MJOLNIR armor.

Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link

https://legendsoflocalization.com/whats-up-with-the-i-am-error-guy-in-zelda-ii/

Over time, Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link has developed a real cult following of players that love it. But are you really going to take gaming advice from a cult?

This title is basically a Zelda game in name only. The switch from sweet top-down gameplay to sloggy sidescrolling is seriously disappointing. And the RPG elements are boring as hell, even when you aren’t dealing with insane translation errors.

It’s telling that the memes associated with this game are better than the game itself. We can all laugh at the villager saying “I am Error,” but do you really want to play this snoozer of a game for the occasional lulz? If I wanted to talk to someone who admits to being a terrible mistake, I’d just go back to talking to my damn mirror!

Chrono Cross

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/the-upcoming-big-playstation-remake-is-reportedly-chrono-cross/

This may be one of the more controversial items on this list. Because Chrono Cross is an amazing video game in terms of character design, graphics, gameplay, music, and more.

But, as with Super Mario Bros. 2 before it, this game is absolutely awful as a sequel. The connections and references to Chrono Trigger are tangential at best, and the whole thing would have been better as a standalone game.

At this very moment, someone is probably in the comments talking about how this story connects to the old Radical Dreamers game, how Guile is secretly Magus in disguise, and so on. But I’m here to tell you that if someone needs to read a library of Wikipedia articles to see how one game secretly connects to another, then that game has utterly failed as a sequel.

Mass Effect: Andromeda

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-YVmCROvV0

Mass Effect: Andromeda was an ambitious sequel to the Mass Effect trilogy. By setting this game far away in both time and space from those earlier titles, the devs gave themselves a chance to do almost anything with the characters and story.

Unfortunately, “almost anything” translated to “worse than ever before.” The characters were hollow sci-fi cliches, unlike the rich and complex characters of the original trilogy. And the story makes players feel like their real-life dialogue wheel is broken because all they can really do is scream “what the heck” while playing.

Finally, this game gained brief internet fame due to the hilarious glitches of things like facial animation. And when a sequel is mostly famous for how ugly it looks, you know that game is bad.

Devil May Cry 2

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0319285/

The original Devil May Cry was such a breath of fresh air. Dante is an irreverent character with a colorful wardrobe, and he was here to show gamers what a modern action hero could be. And it was so cool that we all agreed to not talk about him having the hots for a woman that looks 100% like his mother.

And then there’s Devil May Cry 2. They should have clarified “2” means that this game is just a huge dump that Capcom took on players. The colorful original game environments have been replaced by gloomy levels filled with enemies and even bosses that barely put up a fight.

So as a sequel, this game is awful. But if this was an attempt to make players feel like they are actually dealing with something that came from hell, it was a real success.

Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRTgKQDWJxU

“Pac-Man Fever” was more than a catchy song. It helped describe the national fever for more of the gaming icon Pac-Man. That was how a simple arcade game eventually spawned a bizarre cartoon, Pac-Man pasta, and other oddities. But none of it was quite as strange (or quite as bad) as Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures.

You’re no longer gobbling power pellets and dodging ghosts. In this game, you are navigating an insane point-and-click adventure where nothing makes sense. It really was the worst of all worlds: a crappy sidescroller that was worse than any of its peers combined with the worst point-and-click mechanics you have ever seen.

Regular Pac-Man fever seems easy enough to deal with. But we’re pretty convinced that too much exposure to this awful sequel may just kill you. Whether you choose to chase down Pac-Man as a ghost after that happens is completely up to you.

Star Fox Adventures

https://www.cbr.com/star-fox-adventures-revive-dinosaur-planet/

Do you ever think there must be something in the water at Nintendo headquarters? After all, the beloved company has cranked out many sequels where they basically change everything that we liked about the original.

For example, Star Fox Adventures was nominally a sequel to the beloved Star Fox 64. But whereas the N64 game featured intense sci-fi dogfighting, this game features Ocarina of Time style exploration. But it’s not nearly as good as a normal Zelda game. In fact, this is the gameplay you get after mom tells you that you don’t need to buy Breath of the Wild because “you already have Zelda at home.”

To be fair, this game was not designed as a Star Fox game. It was instead designed as a new IP called Dinosaur Planet, and Nintendo decided at the last minute to make it into a Star Fox game. Meanwhile, our hopes of actually getting a decent sequel to Star Fox 64 remain just as extinct as the dinosaurs on our own planet. 

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2

https://www.digitaltrends.com/game-reviews/star-wars-the-force-unleashed-2-review/

The worst video game sequels are rarely games that you can barely stand playing. Instead, they are games where the devs clearly phoned in a sequel to a great game. And that’s how you get titles like Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2.

The first game blended new characters and intense action with an awesome story that deepened our understanding of Star Wars lore. But the sequel simply recycled the old gameplay, made it worse with crappy level design, and created a story that seems worse than bad fanfiction.

So, as a sequel to the original title, Force Unleashed 2 is awful. But considering that this game was rushed out with no thought given to the story, lore, or characters, it served as the perfect warning sign for the future of the Star Wars franchise.