How the Mighty Have Fallen what happend to our favorite franchises...

Over in the Wii thread I was talking about Mega man pretty much being a shadow of it's former self all it is now is a Stratagy game.

ZX is a fine game yes but it's not a mega man game.

I really think the last great Mega Man was X8 though I think the consensus is X5 was the last great one. I kinda dug X7 but it didn't get better than X4.

I'm pretty jaded that mega man 8 was the final original series game and there's alot of things unresolved it was hinted that Mega was going to have a showdown with Zero in the power fighters series.....never happend.

Sonic has been crap since Adventure 2 When things are 2d again Sonic is at his best like advance and Rush (Hate rivals) I think next gen is a good and all but it's not an all time classic. I think it's time for sega to do a 3d remake of 1-3k

Guilty Gear keeps getting upgraded and upgraded and now that they're at accent core just blowing on it will shatter the great sculpture that was XX.
I'm just glad they're trying something new with GG2Overture.

I miss linear Castlevania they don't HAVE TO make every Castlevania SOTN do they?

 

Two problems: lack of moderation, and different market views then what the consumer expects.

You want to know why franchises fizzle out? They keep making the same games over and over without a break, or without major change so it isn't too stale. The Battle Network series is to the point where once hardcore fans are getting fed up (Seriously, 3 fucking versions? Capcom has gone over what is acceptable). That, and horrible storylines that feel forced (Mega Man X and Sonic are whored out to the point where it damaged the feel).

Sonic's problem is Sega being in fairly bad shape. They had issues back in the 90s, but it has sort of ballooned into a bigger problem now. Its to the point where every product they make is rushed (Maybe because of Sammy's partnership?), and has no time for testing. From what I understand, the 360 Sonic the Hedgehog was rushed out for the Christmas holiday with the designers well aware of glitches and unfinished content. I'm curious about how the structure of Sega is when compared to early 2000...

Moderation works, since gamers don't get sick of a franchise as quick and helps hype up the next big game. Mario has been doing this for years (One major mario game on every platform since the SNES days), and Zelda to some extend. Metal Gear has gotten away with it due to the story and steady evolution of new features. Resident Evil is a prime example of a dying franchise that was being rehashed with little evolution, yet RE4 and 5 have given new interest in a series that was stuck in Raccoon city for so long.

 

Guess you havent played Maverick Hunter X, the last MX game. It may be a remake, but it puts the series in good shape compared to what it was.

 

I love Mavrick hunter X but it's too easy I beat it in like 2 days.

The thing with Sonic Next Gen is it's not that it's a horrible game It's way better than Sonic Heroes but it's still plagued by the same problems that Sonic Adventure 2 had and Heroes and even Shadow (which was actually Good IMO)

If they could just turn Sonic on his side again and make a next gen 2d platformer out of him again then Sonic would be back to his roots on Consoles. He's doing fine in Rush.

 

I don't know... I even found the original Sonic games to be quite confusing sometimes. The first two are great, and I really like "chaos" on Game Gear, but I just get lost... Always have.
Now... Adventure 2, on Dreamcast, would have been awesome without that unbeatable space level with the little white bat. It even ran at 60fps, and looked seriously next-gen for its time.

Now about RockMan... I wish they'd make another 2D one, now that retro is hip and all...
Yeah, he sounded like a pre-pubescent girl on MegaMan 8... maybe that's part of his charm.

 

The only problem I had with Sonic next-gen was the horrible load times...


If that wasn't an issue I'd be perfectly happy with it.

 

"How the mighty have fallen"... my god is that a depressing title. Very epic...

But, seriously the mighty have not all fallen. Yes Sega has screwed up a good deal, but other then a couple mascots who are just wrong now (Sypro, Crash, Frogger).

There's still quality in a good chunk of are old favorites that still have manganed great games in the last few years

Zelda, Mario, Kirby, Donkey Kong, Street Fighter, Metroid, Resident Evil, Fire Emblem Earthbound (Mother 3 did just come out like recently), Metal Gear, Ghosts 'n Goblin (Ultimate ghosts and goblins was awesome), Pacman, F-Zero, Ninja Gaiden, Bomberman, Final Fantasy, Secret of Mana, Dragon Quest, Virtua Fighter, Sega Rally, Colin McRae Rally series, OutRun,

and don't argue about these franchises. Yes you have your opions, but majority rules and these franchises still garner top reviews.


Yes Starfox had a bad time on the cube, but SFA was not really horrible, because really it was dinosaur planet. I think its reasonable for a franchise to struggle a little bit. I mean Nintendo does have to deal with the fact that rare won't be handling the series anymore. I also loved Starfox command.

Yes bomberman, kirby has been hit or miss. But, companies have been pimping since pacman. Heck, I'll even say that megaman is hit or miss. Yes I no longer follow the series. But, no one yells at Madden or NHL for having so many game releases.


PS: I say Pacman because recently Pacman Vs. and Pacman Championchip Edition have wowed me. And because the Pacman franchise has always been the "sell out franchise" it never was known to really innovate between each game.

 

with VERY few games being execeptions I say Bomberman is the 1 whored out franchise that's remained consistant and fun through out it's whole existance.

Street fighter was whored out alot too but it remained constantly playable and fun even the mistake games like Champion edition and alpha 2 were great.

 

MegaMan Maverick Hunter X was superb. And MegaMan Powered Up was very nice too. It's a shame we will never see the remakes continue (atleast on PSP) thanks to shitty japanese sales apparently.

Resident Evil certainly improved drastically. After RE4, can't go back to the others.

 

I want something all new from the Mega Man Series not remakes.

The X series is over I accept that but the original series never had a proper ending.

 

Another problem with a lot of these franchises is that what worked in 2D doesn't necessarily work in 3D. Sonic does NOT work in 3D unless you make it more "explorative" like Mario, IMO.

As for the franchises that have remained largely in 2D, one has to accept that there may come a point where they've just tried more or less everything they can do with the medium in that franchise.

Additionally, the dev studios aren't pouring tens of millions of dollars into these games, as they know they aren't going to be 2-3 million copy sellers. I am generally of the mind that you can't "buy" good gameplay, that it isn't really a budget issue, but at the same time these franchises may not be getting the top talent that some feel they might deserve on their dev teams.

 

on the subject of Sonic it depends WHICH sonic you want to translate into 3D really. Sonic 1 into 3D would be a similar game (albeit faster) to Mario 64/Sonic X-treme.

 

I'd love to see sonic 1, 2 and CD in 3d.

man I love CD......I might just have to boot up the old cube and give it ago later.

 

too bad you ll be playing it with a hori controller at best.

Sonic is ment to be enjoyed with a Saturn pad imo.

 

I'm going to get a PSX to Cube converter

 

..and a PS2-Saturn controller i suppose=)

 

if I can find one yeah oh wait......I have the SF controllers.......

 

I think Sonic would be best in 2.5D, somewhat like Nights.

 

Yeah that'd rule

 

well sonic should have never spoken. I liked him with his "Shorter" legs and when he was silent. Sonic Adventure was a nice experiment - something fresh to my eyes and very exciting - but unless they re willing to expand on the exact same formula, I can't see myself committed to a new Sonic game.

The DS sonic games are 2.5 actually FYI. Those and Sonic Advance were OK, but emphasized a bit too much on speed and the music/levels weren't as memorable as the MegaDrive games.