Welcome… to my lair!
The games industry, like the movie industry and apparently the television industry, is one that thrives on sequels. Just look at the list ofupcoming games for 2017. You can barely swing a cat without hitting some follow-up. Some of these games look to improve upon the first entry, others exist solely to continue the story and some basically start from scratch, going back to the drawing board to give players something completely new. Every sequel has a chance of outshining the original, but let’s be honest: no sequel will ever shine a bright asPortal 2.
I didn’t play the originalPortaluntil just before the release of the sequel. As a Mac owner, the game came free for me with the download of the Steam client. I fell hard forPortal, both figuratively and literally. I literally fell out of my chair in midst of celebrating my triumph over GLaDOS and hit my head on the floor. That brain injury did nothing to temper my anticipation for the follow-up.
There is always the worry a sequel will be a letdown, that our experiences with the original create unjustifiably high expectations for anything that follows it.Portal 2took exactly 10 minutes for that worry, the fear of the overfamiliar, to melt away. It did exactly what I believe a good sequel should do: take what worked with the original, get rid of what didn’t, and make worthwhile additions.
It’s tough for me to say which additionPortal 2is the best. The story, and yes stories can make video games better, helped build the world around Aperture Science and create motivation for its characters. New physics concepts intensified the puzzles standing between Chell and Wheatley, and the co-op mode provided some of the most fun I’ve had working together with a friend. Oh, and I can’t forget the beautiful mod support for the game. All of this bundled created a package far more complete and engaging than the original. That’s why it’s a clear, inarguable fact thatPortal 2is the gold standard for sequels in this industry.
Chris Carter
I can’t think of a bigger night and day jump than theShenmueseries. I was into the first one, butShenmue IIdrew me in like no other game at the time. It came at a perfect era in my life when I was going through some big family troubles, and I would retreat to its incredible world constantly, just to be a part of it. Whether it was arm wrestling dudes in a hangar, playing arcade games, or being a part time carny (“would you like to try a game of Lucky Hit?”), there was just so much more to do.
I also really connected with some of the monologues dealing with the martial arts principles. It sounds silly but I took some basic Tai Chi classes in the months following, and the game as a whole did an amazing job of chilling me out during that rough period. Imagine my surprise when I heard thatShenmue IIIwasn’t happening, and that over a decade later, that it was back on.
Even if it doesn’t deliver in the slightest though, I’ll always haveShenmue II.
Peter Glagowski
There was a little confusion on my part for this question as CJ specifically mentioned the “second” entry in a series. This led to a discussion about whether theCapcom Vs. series has proper numbering and what not, but I also was just trying to figure out what constitutes a “second” game. Then it hit me; there is one game that is both the “second” entry and the absolute best of its franchise. That game isStar Fox 64.
While there were plenty of fans ofStar Foxon SNES back when it released, even just a few years after its ’93 release date the game felt old. It had awful performance and anything on the PlayStation made the game look positively archaic by comparison. It’s one thing to be old, but it’s another when newer 3D games just play better.
So it was a pretty huge deal with64launched and basically aped everything about the original game. It had a story that essentially retconned the first game, rebooting the series while also providing players with hidden paths, different difficulties based on those paths and a lightning fast frame rate. Oh, and rumble pak support, I guess.
Honestly, every other game in theStar Foxfranchise hasn’t topped64in terms of pacing, content or quality. Yeah,Zeromight look HD andAssaulthas on-foot segments, but both of those games attempt to get away from the one thing that makesStar Foxwork: tight controls and quick levels.Star Foxis an arcade shooter at its heart and nothing does it better than64.
In a lot of ways,64may also be seen as the worst thing to happen toStar Foxsince Nintendo can’t get away from it. Every game that has followed it has been compared to the classic, but can you blame fans? Nintendo really did do everything right with this game and it’s crazy how they keep trying to shoehorn in different concepts when they should just be refining the action. Really, don’t let the series die withZero, Nintendo!
Jonathan Holmes
When Peter says “This led to a discussion about whether theCapcom Vs.series has proper numbering and what not”, what he means is “Like a raging, sugar mad baby, Holmes kept babbling about howMarvel Vs. Capcom 2qualifies as the second game in theMvCseries, despite my reminders about how smart, attractive people all agree that it’s actually the fourth game in Capcom’s larger superhero rave crossover franchise.”
I see Peter’s point, I’m sticking to my guns. WhileX-Men Vs. Street FighterandMarvel Super Heroes Vs. Street Fighterhad mostly recycled sprites and kept their respective rosters contained to specific franchises,Marvel Vs. Capcomopened things up to the entirety of two fictional universes. It felt like nothing I’d ever seen before. Putting company icons like Mega Man, Strider, Captain Commando, Morrigan together with oddballs like Jin fromCyberbotsall in one game was a watershed moment for Capcom, and for video game crossovers in general. The fact that Venom and Onslaught from the Marvel Universe showed up too was… fine, but the real magic here came from seeing Capcom finally pull their own Smash Bros. together.
With the sequel, Capcom maxed out on the “anything goes school of martial arts” concept to a degree they may never be able to top. Mega Man and Strider were joined by Jill fromResident Evil(who attacks with semi-cute cartoon zombies), Tron fromMega Man Legends(along with curry rice loving Servebots), a reinvention of the classic arcade character Son Son, and even all new characters like the swashbuckling Ruby Heart, the Latino cactus man Amingo, and final boss Abyss.
All that combined with a bizarre Synth Jazz soundtrack, beautiful graphics, triple tag teams, and a roster large enough to house two or three regular sized fighters made for pure pandemonium. Capcom had never been so confidently, brazenly manic, and from the looks of theMarvel Vs. Capcomseries now, they probably never will be again. When it comes to sequels that go balls out, there’s fewer bolder thanMarvel Vs. Capcom 2.
Tian Ma
Quake IItakes the top spot for me. To say the originalQuakemade a splash is a massive understatement. That game was the standard by which first-person shooters were judged. Every shooter that came out wanted to be the definitiveQuake-killer. Just the fact of it being a sequel toQuakemadeQuake IIautomatically significant. Following upQuakewould be like following upStar Wars. So what did id Software end up releasing? Well, it turned out to be a mostly unrelated game about killer cyborgs in space…
The thing is,Quake IIdidn’t become one of my all-time favorites for being a great sequel or a great game. It was both those things, but more importantly, it defined the modern PC gaming experience. In an era when game engines were as important as the actual product,Quake IIhad the most technologically advanced one ever. Its built-in OpenGL support gave gamers a reason to invest in 3D accelerators and paved the way for 3DFX and Nvidia to become industry juggernauts. TheQuake IIengine (now called id Tech 2) was also highly moddable. Devoted fans could make the game nearly unrecognizable as they did withAction Quake II, or even add in new game modes like capture the flag. Modding wasn’t a new thing at the time, but id Software made the wise decision to embrace the modding scene instead of trying to shut it down.
Then there was the multiplayer. Though I had played plenty ofDoomandQuake(and was probably way too young to be doing so),Quake IIwas the game that got me hooked on deathmatch. It only took one map to do so, and that was q2dm1: “The Edge.” To me, it’s as iconic as any FPS multiplayer map since – on the level ofCounter-Strike‘s de_dust,Unreal Tournament‘s Facing Worlds, andHalo‘s Blood Gulch. Its design was so simple but played perfectly into whatQuake IIdeathmatch was all about: aim, timing, traversal, and that Megahealth.
I won’t argue thatQuake IIis a better game than the others on this list, but I can’t think of another one that was so influential in the nascence of modern PC gaming. It made technology, modding, and multiplayer integral parts of the experience. It was the reason I dreamed about dual Voodoo2 builds before I could drive. From the seedsQuake IIplanted, you got other iconic FPS cornerstones:Half-Life,Unreal, and of courseQuake III. IfQuake IIhad flopped, I’m not sure anything in the PC gaming landscape would be the way it is now.
ShadeOfLight
It turned out to be surprisingly difficult to name my favorite sequel, althoughPortal 2is already a damn strong contender. Nintendo series usually only getreallygreat at their third entry.Mario,Zelda,Metroid, arguablyPokémon,Pikmin; the number two tends to get lost in the mix at Nintendo. Then you get into the games that may or may not count as the “second” entry:Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze,Super Mario Galaxy 2,Super Mario 3D World, and some others as well. But after what seemed like a thousand years, I found the perfect entry.
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Dooris the pinnacle of Mario RPGs, and one of my favorite RPGs ever made. While it is very different from traditional JRPGs, it easily stands withXenoblade ChroniclesandFinal Fantasy VIin my Top 3 of all time.
More so than even the originalPaper Mario,The Thousand Year Doorsimply exudes ‘fun’. It is incredibly colorful with some nice art direction, it has wonderfully written characters, and the battle system is more engaging than ever. All of this combined with a fairly brisk pace makes this a game that is a blast to play every single time. There’s no game I’ve re-played more than this one.
Whether it’s beating a huge paper dragon with the sound of cricket noises, transforming into a paper airplane, playing aSuper Mario Bros.level as Bowser, stomping a pirate ghost, or simply feeling the RAAAAWWWK, this game is fun throughout.
And while the series has taken some twists and turns after this entry, I’ll always find some time to come back to Rogueport.
Josh Tolentino
Portal 2? Really? Come now. If we’re talking overall influence on game design, it’sHalf-Life 2we have to mention. Sure, it’s notasinfluential as the original, all things considered, but the second step in Gordon Freeman’s saga took things forward in virtually every way. Valve’s follow-up to their seminal shooter brought physics puzzles, lengthy vehicle sections, and advanced the craft of first-person storytelling in the most significant fashion sinceMedal of HonorandCall of Dutybuilt onHalf-Life‘s pioneering steps. The Source Engine continues to power some of the most popular games around today.
And of course, let’s not forget thatHalf-Life 2was the Trojan Horse for Steam, which changed the way games are sold pretty much forever. It’s no wonder that Valve has been so tight-lipped about how things are going withHalf-Life 3, the sequel tothissequel. Could anything they do at this point possibly live up to the monolithic legacy of the franchise? Perhaps it’s better that this saga be left unfinished.
Patrick Hancock
Man, I still remember buying the firstGod of Wargame. This was before I obsessively checked online for gaming news and reviews, and I had pretty much no idea about what to expect as I picked up the game on a whim. I went to my buddy’s house with it (I’m not sure exactly why, but whatever) and we played through the first hour or so and were blown away. Imagine my surprise then whenGod of War 2turned out to be better in just about every way.
The sequel cemented the series as one of the best of all time for me, even before the third came and tried to muck it up.God of War IIjust took everything I loved from the first game and turned it up to eleven. Boss fights were more common and spectacular, there were new and interesting weapons to experiment with, and the puzzles just kept on coming. Plus, you can wear a fish suit and play as the Cod of War and that’s just about the best thing ever.
Pixie
I’m someone who always likes to mock the notion of “proper sequels” requiring a number or being on a home platform. It tends to play into the “real games” nonsense. Developers didn’t even value the idea when I was growing up with NES, SNES, Game Boy and the Genesis. We had two differentSuper Mario Bros. 2games and now there a “new” one.Final Fantasy IIandIIIwere reallyIVandVI.Final Fantasy Legendwas the firstSaGagame.
So when I’m thinking of the best direct sequel, I’m forced to question reality itself.Kingdom Hearts IIis chronologically the third game in the series. It’s also not a good game at all, despite what anyone tells you.Chain of Memories,however, is the actual second game in the series and requires brain power to play, unlike its PS2 brethren.
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha XIV vs. King Abaddonis the fourth game in theDevil Summonerspin-off series (the second game wasSoul Hackers). If that game was second in anything, it’s lengthy subtitles because its predecessor isShin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha XIV vs. The Soulless Army.
Some of my favorite “2s” are the fourth and thirteenth entries to their respective franchises,Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of LibertyandFinal Fantasy X-2(which released afterFFXI, which is a properFinal Fantasygame I played for half a decade to verify its realness). I love them both for their gameplay, disruption of expectations and because they still trigger insecure fanboys who need their “badass” man card punched.
There’s alsoMega Man II– the Game Boy one, not the NES one. AndNinja Gaiden II, which is either the third or fourthNinja Gaidenif we factor in the arcade original and Game Boy. I don’t believe in the ones Team Ninja made and placed in theDoAuniverse, just like I don’t believe inDevil May Cry2.
There wasDMC, Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, DMC3, DMC4and then that gritty reboot I can only accept as canon if I listen to it in Spanish.
Then there’sThe Goonies II, which is either the sequel to the arcade game, the movie or both. It’s a shame it doesn’t get re-licenced for eShop because it’s one of the first games I played that couldn’t decide what genre it was in, meaning it likely influenced the work of Yoko Taro. People today would dub it a “Metroidvania,” but it also had aspects of PC first person dungeon crawlers of the time.
You had to access new paths by smashing walls with hammers, finding keys to open vaults and helped mystical bald men in robes. Presumably, that had something to do with stopping the Fratelli family of mobsters from finding pirate treasure, all while enjoying Cindi Lauper’s “Good Enough” in 8-bit MIDI.
SoGoonies II. Let’s go with that. It’s the least convoluted answer I have.
I tried to think of something witty to end this with, but that description ofThe Goonies IIpretty much broke my brain.
