"One Hit Wonder" Games You Wish Spawned A Series

Agreed. I absolutely detest the survival/horror genre (poor gameplay != "suspense" and/or "immersion"), but Eternal Darkness was both 1) playable and 2) genuinely disconcerting, in a campy and not-entirely-serious kind of way. The whole package is very solid, but the storytelling in particular was standout.

For anyone interested in trying it:

Don't go into it expecting it to be like Repetitive Evil/Silent Hill/whatever other S/H games have become popular in the last 20 years. It's a completely different beast. And keep your Sanity as low as you safely can at all times. Trust me.

Actually part of a pretty large series in Japan (Metal Max/Metal Saga), with at least 6 core games and several remakes and spinoffs... but the PS2 Metal Saga is the only game in the series that got released outside of Japan.


Great game. While there was never a "Landstalker 2", the game does have a pretty rich legacy of an official sequel (Japan only) and several related games or "spiritual sequels" by the developer, Climax Entertainment. All of the below except Lady Stalker got US releases too.

- Lady Stalker (Super Famicom, Japan only): this is officially a sequel to Landstalker, but some pretty substantial gameplay changes and it's nowhere near as good as Landstalker.

- Dark Savior (Sega Saturn): a "spiritual sequel" and a phenomenally weird game that I kinda love. 3D isometric mine cart stages are a killer though. And there are some really bizarre 1-on-1 fighting game style battles.

- Time Stalkers (Dreamcast, aka "Climax Landers" in Japan): A strange and not very well received rogue-like that's a crossover of a lot of games that Climax worked on. Includes the main characters from Landstalker and Lady Stalker, as well as characters from Shining in the Darkness (Climax co-developed it) and several cameos from other games.

- Alundra (PSX): Probably the most similar game to Landstalker, and widely regarded as the best of the offshoots. Many of the team members who worked on Landstalker at Climax went on to found Matrix Software. This was their first game, and it's a Landstalker sequel in all but name (because they didn't have the rights to it). FF connection: fans probably now know Matrix best as the developer of the 3D remakes of Final Fantasy III and IV.

- Steal Princess (DS): Another Climax developed spiritual sequel. Even starts out in an isometric temple theft scene very reminiscent of the Landstalker intro. Similar graphics and feel, but it's a much more puzzle oriented game with short self-contained levels as opposed to an adventure in a large world.

this is my problem with so many "sequels"...
this game is nothing like the first one, it's completely different. the only thing in common is the title. in a sequel I expect an expanded/continued version of the previous game, not an imposter game using the same name. this would be like getting FFXI-2 and it actually being Tetris with a moogle to cheer you on, instead of an actual continuation of the FFXI we all know.

Or like if they took the characters you know and were interested in and instead of telling a compelling story or relating the gameplay to the original game, they instead let you place dress-up with them for several hours.

*ahem*

That aside, that was a big problem with a lot of the old SNES/Genesis > Playstation transitions. Making the leap from one generation to another (or 2D/3D isometric to true 3D) was awfully problematic for many devs, it seems.

Also, I thought of another!

Lost Kingdoms got a sequel (I played both of them, absolutely loved both of them) but they ended the LK franchise at LK2. ; _; To this day, it bothers the piss out of me because of how deep the story was; and the unanswered mysteries that hinted at future games. Badass battle system too- still waiting for LK3 . _.

my contributions for games that immediately spring to mind:

How could we forget this masterpiece that if any game deserves to be made into a series it's this!



Which spawned the best character in gaming history.
The Milkman

"I am The Milkman, my milk is delicious."
"It's fortified with what the world wants. What the world deserves." "My employer has commissioned me to deliver this milk, to whitewash what went on here. I cannot rest until I have made my final delivery."
[hurls the milk bottle into the asylum, where it explodes] "The milkman has completed his route. You guys wanna split a cab?"

Seconded. Both are among my favorite games of all time.
Dark Cloud got the same treatment, 1 sequel then... nothing.

As for true one-hits... I don't know, is Muramasa old enough to count? I don't think SMRPG counts, even though none of the Mario RPG's since have been anything like it.

Dark Savior was decent but I didn't like the 1 on 1 fighting. Depending on how fast you got to certain events changing the game events was interesting. Loved Alundra although I didn't like Alundra 2 as much.

I still own this game. Very good game other than it was a bit too easy.

Many good games listed in the thread, not going to dispute any, just adding one.

I still remember the difficulty in choosing at the end of the game. Was solid 3D game play for it's day, and I really liked how the Scepter played a major role in not only fights, but exploration and the story as well.

Wow, I was literally seconds away from posting this. Had a whole post ready to go, haha. I can't remember too much of the story, but I remember the gameplay being pretty fun. As for the choice at the end:


Hm, isn't P4R a satire news site?

Screw a sequel. I wish they would have actually manufactured physical copies of the original. I found one copy, once, and they were asking something exorbitant for it (I think $75, which at the time was approaching Neo Geo levels of ridiculousness). Couldn't convince my parents to spring for it, and I'll never convince myself to spring for what they're going for now. Not that my NES works anymore anyways...

Chrono Cross


JSRF


Metal Arms


Vexx


Gotcha Force


Tatsunoko vs Capcom

Really wanted a sequel to these games, the latter especially.

I think we can all agree...



And because it was so good and hand drawn

I refer you to my post on the first page sir!

I miss my TurboGrafx 16. Was a cool little system.


I fail at posting pictures apparently.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Courage_in_Alpha_Zones

I still own a Turbo Duo but don't have many games left. I have no idea where most of my games went. Ootake is a good free Turbografx-16 emulator.

The original Metroid, I know there was a series but they all sucked after the original

Too soon? :D
Yooka Laylee




Also damn people are quick I thought of this idea when I first saw them but someone beat me to it ; ;

... Exactly which metroid game did you play? metroid 2 was a nightmare to navigate due to monochromatic world ill give ya that but, seriously most of the other side scroller metriods are solid games (cept other m...)

and the metriod prime collectors edition with Wii controls makes for solid game play.

I have a copy, sadly it was a rental so they cut one side off the box to put it into a case, but I paid something like $5-10 for it over a decade ago.

Super Metroid sucked? Ok.