Black Sheep of Game Series

[Marc]

R-Type Leo.

[Ed Oscuro]

Some other ones that seem to be regarded as black sheep:

Metroid Fusion
Halo ODST
Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance
Quake 4

People have been warming up to Fusion in the years since its release, I think. When you get right down to it, it was just the obvious modern take of the series, for good and bad. Zero Mission, despite the name, followed a lot of the same conventions. If there's any game that is controversial it's probably the latest Ninja Team brawler.

Harmony of Dissonance also probably gets a better reception with some distance. Its only real fault is being the ugliest of the Metroidvania formula games, but it's still a member of the herd. It was disappointing at the time but you have to consider we were originally hoping for a PS2 release.

Quake 4...well, iD hasn't seemed able to get their shit together for some time now, especially with regards to that series. Is Quake III a Quake game? It's a decent game, but...As for the developer, all of Raven Software's "recent" (i.e., anything past and possibly including Return to Castle Wolfenstein) feels sort of off to me, in one way or another.

[BIL]

Prior to 2007, Silent Hill 4 was easily the least-loved of its series among fans, for a number of aesthetic and mechanical departures from SH1-3, trying design decisions, and simple unfinished-ness. But since the outsourced games and their unendearing combination of blatant rehashing and deeply flawed original contributions, even the KCET team's least successful effort tends to be regarded with approval.

I'm not sure I'd even consider outsourced games "black sheep" in the same sense as poorly-received in-house efforts. Legacy of War is a shitty Contra game alright, but what would you expect from the makers of Kolibri The Hummingbird Who's Not Been Taking His Anti-Parkinsons Medication?

Now if it'd been Contra: Undersea Adventures Of Bill Rizer And Squeaky His Cybernetic Dolphin Pal, it'd have stood a fighting chance. Appaloosa knows underwater action!

[KAI]

Sonic Wings Assault 64
Space Raiders
Rastan vs. Barbarian

LOL

[xris]

It really doesn't matter which Silent Hill game it is, the current one will always be the black sheep. It's just how the series is. Once 10 is released people will say that Downpour is awesome (it's pretty good).



I remember playing 2 for the first time when it was released and thinking it was underwhelming.

[BIL]

SH2 and SH3 didn't face anything even resembling the shunning SH4 did when they were new releases. I don't think any of the farmouts have either, since nobody really expects them to be great.

[Ed Oscuro]

SH2 and SH3 didn't face anything even resembling the shunning SH4 did when they were new releases. I don't think any of the farmouts have either, since nobody really expects them to be great.

The funny thing there is that SH4 is the only one I've played, still. Konami fans (or players of Konami games) are pretty fickle ickle.

[BIL]

SH4 did a lot of things very differently, and some fans definitely hated it on that alone. Not visiting the town, yet again, annoyed some, as did not exploring with a flashlight and radio, yet again. "It doesn't feel like SH" was usually the rationale. A horror adventure spent wandering through a manifestation of psychological trauma? "THAT DON'T FEEL LIKE SH."

On the other hand it does have a ton of legitimate design baggage. Monsters aren't suicidal to fight more than one at a time, in fact you spend the second half of the game regularly brawling with four or more. Less horror more beltscroll. The entire second half is an escort mission with a feisty AI that likes the brawling too much for its own good. The game recycles all its environments at the midway point. Important plot details were left out and available only in Japanese on the official site. The Biohazard-style inventory can leave you unable to pick up a key and forced to head back home to offload that extra peanut in The Big Friendly Storage Box.

I spent three years on various fansites battling the former camp while taking friendly fire from the latter. >_> I absolutely love the game now, but that's partially because after several plays I know all the layouts and little tricks that make it fast-paced and rewarding, not a constant series of roadblocks. I'd still prefer a new SH that was a nightmare to get to grips with like SH4, if it was also as original.

[Jonathan Ingram]

SH4 might have been a flawed game, but it brought some really interesting ideas to the table. I enjoyed it much more than part 3 which I thought felt stale and unoriginal. Also, one must bear in mind that SH4 wasn`t planned as a Silent Hill game initially. It was conceived to be a completely original new game, but Konami pushed for it to be included as part of the series.

[Hagane]

Strider II... early case of Capcom outsourcing their stuff to shitty Western companies.



Top notch cover art, too.

[Ed Oscuro]

I thought that one is almost entirely disavowed these days ("Capcom USA" by the way; not outsourced, per se). That leaves the FC/NES Strider...

[Hagane]

It was made by Tiertex and published by U.S. Gold according to Wikipedia, so I guess it counts as outsourcing.

Also, I wasn't aware of this hidden gem until I checked that article



Human Killing Machine, the sequel to Street Fighter! Perpetrated by that same duo.

[Ed Oscuro]

Ah, that's right. Outsourcing, but not offshoring

I think U.S. Gold's main contributions to gaming were the soundtracks they had composed for some personal computer releases of a few coin-op games. The Ghouls 'n' Ghosts score is pretty neat.

What's this about an "original" Mega Man title for Game Gear?

[Gespenst]

Wing Commander Prophecy and Privateer 2: The Darkening (although Origin supposed to make it as new title instead of Privateer sequel, but....).

Nevertheless, they're still better than that Wing Commander movie anyway.

[Obiwanshinobi]

If there's any game that is controversial it's probably the latest Ninja Team brawler.

Doesn't seem as controversial to me as it seems unplayed. The only (!) criticism I recall hinting that critics played past the opening FMV is no analogue stick support. I agree that omission makes no sense (it's not Super Monkey Ball Jr. for crying out loud), but frankly, I'm more disappointed with Prime's bosses at this point. As a matter of fact the longer I play Prime (Wii controls here), the more I think of Other M (and hope it wasn't the engine's last appearance).

[Drum]

Fuck you.

[Jonathan Ingram]

but frankly, I'm more disappointed with Prime's bosses at this point. As a matter of fact the longer I play Prime (Wii controls here), the more I think of Other M (and hope it wasn't the engine's last appearance).

Should be a bannable offense.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Let me know when Retro Studios learns how to make bossfights fun.

[Mortificator]

Strangely, Metroid Prime is the only FPS I've played where I actually liked the boss fights. Even otherwise great games in the genre have made bosses either buffed-up normal enemies (e.g. Doom) or puzzles (e.g. Half-Life) when not omitting them entirely (e.g. Halo).

Wing Commander Prophecy and Privateer 2: The Darkening (although Origin supposed to make it as new title instead of Privateer sequel, but....).

Aside from the four numbered games, the only title that really felt part of Wing Commander to me was the original Privateer.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Painkiller (the first one) on the PC had some fun bosses. Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (the PC version) had at least one sorta-fun bossfight (nothing to write home about, but it did the job). Dead Space: Extraction - not many and nothing really special, but above average, FPP-wise. I'm pretty sure the very first Serious Sam (PC) at least tried, but it's been a while...
To be fair, I liked two helicopter bossfights in two H-L2 (PC) episodes.

[SunJammer]

pretty much every NES sequel:
Final Fantasy II
Zelda II
Castlevania II
Snake's Revenge
Power Punch II (was planned as a sequel to Punch-Out)

I would include Mario 2 just because it's the least "Mario-esque" Mario game, but i don't want anyone to think it's a bad game. It's amazing.

[Ebbo]

Prime's bosses can be rather methodical ala Zelda but atleast they all have distinctive and solid designs. Other M's bosses on other hand feel pretty samey and are hardly a challenge as long you spam the dodge like there is no tomorrow (although that's more or less fault of Other M's overly lenient combat system).

[BulletMagnet]

I would include Mario 2 just because it's the least "Mario-esque" Mario game, but i don't want anyone to think it's a bad game. It's amazing.

In fairness that one wasn't even a Mario game to begin with (assuming you're not talking about Lost Levels here), though I agree it's not a bad game.

[SunJammer]

In fairness that one wasn't even a Mario game to begin with (assuming you're not talking about Lost Levels here), though I agree it's not a bad game.

yeah i was referring to Doki Doki Panic / Super Mario USA, not the glorified romhack that is the Lost Levels. BUT i would argue that it's possible Nintendo always intended to release Doki Doki Panic as a Mario game, given that they put their A-team on the project, and that they knew the rights to use the Fuji TV characters would eventually expire - which would lead to Nintendo re-releasing it in Japan as Super Mario USA.

[Gespenst]

This.
This, too.

[Jonathan Ingram]

This, too.

Such a shame the original game never came out on Amiga.

[Marc]

It was made by Tiertex and published by U.S. Gold according to Wikipedia, so I guess it counts as outsourcing.

Also, I wasn't aware of this hidden gem until I checked that article



Human Killing Machine, the sequel to Street Fighter! Perpetrated by that same duo.

I bought this on Spectrum. At full price. There was a lot of shit like this though - see also Target: Renegade for a decent example of a non coin-op sequel done really well, or Renegade 3 for, well, the opposite.

[null1024]

Guilty Gear Isuka
KOF 2003

You could have picked a worse KOF than 2003 [and hell, 11 continues and improves its system].
Like 2001 [which I like because of the large roster, but even in low-mid level play it feels a bit whacked out, and it's the only KOF with a ratio system, and the only time I've ever seen a 1v4 match ever, which feels completely wrong]. It's also the worst regarded KOF game.
Or Neowave, in which they didn't care and that was pretty much just a warmup for 11.

2003 is a bit of a mess sure, but it's still damn fun. 01 is the jankiest game in the series. Even 96 is more of a black sheep than 2003 -- it's the only one with rolling and ABC charge at the same time, lots of bugs [hello Leona!], etc.

And yeah, Isuka is terrible. Even at $5, I felt ripped off after getting it. The beat-em-up mode is pretty fun at least, but still, it's hampered by the turn button. Adjust the damn moveset to fit this kind of game, don't just try to shoehorn GGXX into a 4 player format. Instead of some of the best fighting around [see: GGXX and its revisions, etc], we got that contrived mess.

[mesh control]

GG Isuka

POT PARTY!!!1!!!111

[gameoverDude]

Double Dragon 3: Specifically the arcade version, and the Mega Drive/Amiga/ST port. The Japanese version is a little better (no coining up to buy weapons), but that's like the difference between falling 70 or 30 stories.

Street Fighter 1: It was necessary if we wanted to see SF2 & 3, but it sure hasn't aged well.

Street Fighter EX 3: Deviates a little too much from the SF formula. I do love the soundtrack though- thanks to Megaten, Aya, J99, and Yack. They should've been the ones called in to do SFIV's music.

Crime Fighters: Vendetta and Violent Storm improve on it massively, much like what happened with Street Fighter I. The US version of CF is shit, thanks to that time-draining health meter which makes a 1CC impossible.

Strider II: What Hagane said.

Commando 3: Ho hum. The cartoonish character design is a nail in the coffin. This is supposed to be the sequel to Mercs?

Contra Legacy of War: More like the XBLA/PSN Commando 3 than a real Contra. Bleah.

Ys III: Wanderers from Ys - Very easy compared to the others, but its retelling Oath in Felghana is awesome.

Thunder Force V- A 3DG Thunder Force should've been saved for Dreamcast. The game's intensity suffered compared to TF IV. I guess that's because the 3D graphics ate up a lot of processing power. What I really wanted was a 4M RAM cart game to show off the Saturn's 2D abilities.

Super Turrican 2 - While a good game in its own right, it's lacking quite a bit of what makes a Turrican game. There are too many vehicle levels and the stages are too linear. Gunlord does the Turrican thing better.

King of Fighters '95 (PS1) - Computer AI suffers a major dumbdown ala Super SFII Turbo on 3DO.
King of Fighters '97 (Saturn port)- Lots of cuts made to voices and animation because SNK cheaped out and wouldn't use a 4M RAM cart.