When it comes to retrogaming, we only think of “glory”, as witnessed by The Legend of Zelda or by MediEvil, but what happens when the sequels disappoint fans? Well, let’s find out together
Like when it comes to movies, one of the best things, paradoxically, is to talk about the bad ones and the same can also be said for video games. Together we will therefore try to remove only a few specks of gold from the Olympus of retrogaming demonstrating how, even legendary sagas like Zelda or MediEvil, have made missteps in their path.
Ah, if you were wondering, no, sometimes it is not enough even to produce a pinball version, as in the case of Metroid Prime Pinball, to make a more than “lucky” hit like Kirby’s Dream Course for SNES. So leave with us discovering the sequels that you may not want to recover!
Let’s start with Zelda
That’s right, you read that right, it is strange to note how the adventures of Link & Co have messed it up, right? Yet it is so, but rest assured because these are rather sporadic episodes that do not in any way affect the greatness of this saga. So let’s start from the beginning, and here it is precisely the case to say it, that is with Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (present in the NES mini catalog) first landed on Famicom Disk System in 1987 and then on NES the following year.
Set shortly after the events narrated in the first exceptional chapter, this chapter turned out to be a sort of half misstep, as admitted by Shigeru Miyamoto himself, which greatly puzzled the players of the time given the exploratory phase with a view from above is that side scrolling action. Anyway it was not such a complete failure since, strangely, many newspapers at the time spoke enthusiastically about it. This is thanks to the fact that the dialogues with the characters and the development of them, like the villages, were much more complete than in the first historical adventure and then it was also possible to level statistics such as attack, life and magic.
But rest assured why the “legend” is not over yet. Be the first Wii version of Skyward Sword was not the best due to bugs and excessive simplicity, today brought back to luster with the HD edition for Nintendo Switch, the real corner of shame belongs to the chapters released for Philips CD-i. Chapters that have become practically a meme and that they were repudiated by Nintendo itself who only granted the brand license without directly intervening in their creation.
Most likely, if he did, you play as Link: The Faces of Evil, Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon e Zelda’s Adventure they would never have existed. We also remember that these titles, published towards the end of the first half of the nineties, were not in the least comparable to another giant that had come out for SNES in 1991. That is A Link to the Past!
Super Mario – Retrogaming: from Zelda to MediEvil
Even for our favorite plumber adventures in the Mushroom Kingdom didn’t always go well. Arrived in the West towards the end of the Eighties and in Japan only a few years later (who knows why) Super Mario Bros. 2 (also present within the NES mini) should have represented the sequel to the first exceptional chapter.
In fact, that “two” was rather misleading mainly because the real sequel is The Lost Levels while this chapter was nothing more than a Mariesque re-proposition of another game with the title Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic. As particular as it was, too much, the title was anyway pretty well valued within the collectible market and a certain American owner of the cartridge knows this well.
Another half misstep – in truth there would be more than one – was then Dr. Mario 64 which was heavily criticized by both newspapers and gamers from the time. The title simply took the mechanics of the chapter seen on SNES and translated them on the Nintendo 64, this makes us understand how to put the number 64 in front of a title is not always synonymous with success insured. This was obviously not the case with Super Mario 64!
Castlevania – Retrogaming: da Zelda a MediEvil
Another great example of the above also applies to Castlevania, in this case Akuma jō Dracula: Mokushiroku, and its launch on the Nintendo 64 in 1999. We understand perfectly well that these were the last years of that console, but “celebrating” them with a title like that was a bit too much.
This title, by many fans of the saga renamed Castlevania 64, was a half disappointment for the fans given the two characters not overly inspired as opposed to the four announced, a classic hero and a girl with psychic powers, the banal story and the inaccurate and really uncomfortable mechanics.
A similar thing happened to the prequel as well Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness which, despite some improvements, proved once again how the Castlevania series was able to give its best on the two dimensions rather than the three.
Sonic – Retrogaming: da Zelda a MediEvil
If Nintendo hasn’t always made the right moves, the same can be said for the SEGA and, above all, for its standard bearer par excellence. The riccio blu SonicIn fact, he found himself in spite of himself in titles where his iconic speed seemed a distant memory as well as fluid, colorful and well-studied game environments.
Therefore, a couple of really badly aimed blows demonstrate this Sonic Labyrinth 1995 for Game Gear e Sonic 3D: Flickies’ Island for Mega Drive (1996) and Saturn (1996, 1997 and 1998). In such environments our dear hedgehog has found himself more than lost and i numerosi bug of the game, combined with the woodiness of the controls, certainly did not help in any way!
Unfortunately, the Sonic saga does not lack other really disappointing chapters that, in addition to the protagonist, they literally have also ridiculed the other historical figures like Tails, Knuckles and even Amy. The title of this mess of bugs and conversion to three dimensions really bad? Sonic Boom: The Rise of Lyric (2014) for Wii U, just to give Nintendo the ball again.
Pokémon – Retrogaming: da Zelda a MediEvil
Small interlude just to let you breathe for a moment. Unfortunately, there have been many infamies of video games in the Pokémon series against the glories of the good old days, to the blockbuster of Pokémon Go and to the most recent and appreciated remastered.
Seen both on official consoles and on other decidedly more “tarot”, the medal for one of the lowest places can be awarded in no uncertain terms to Hey You, Pikachu! for Nintendo 64 released in Japan in 1998 and by us in 2000 during the most intense years of the so-called Pokémania!
Then think that there was even a “branded” Nintendone, really bad taste, to play this title where you had to speak directly into the microphone to give commands to your smiling wild Pikachu. Other similar experiments were then committed on Nintendo Wii. Although it was appreciated by the little ones, who in any case after a while forgot it, the title was mercilessly slaughtered although there is someone who speculated how this would be a good game for 3DS as well Nintendogs. But even the worst is limited.
Crash Bandicoot – Retrogaming: da Zelda a MediEvil
Another pass of the ball that ends this time between Sony’s feet with one of its most famous mascots. After the wonders seen in the first three chapters of Crash Bandicoot, our favorite marsupial isn’t that he had such an easy life.
If the title Crash Bash of 2000, just a tad bit inspired by the Mario Party series, had “so and so” opinions and Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex however, he found some positive sides, however small, the same cannot be said of Crash of the Titans e Crash: The domination of mutants.
Two titles that represented the lowest point reached by the entire series and that, in addition to totally upset the gameplay by making the players forget that they were in a platformer, even the appearance of the protagonist was upset. In an attempt to make it more “captivating”, gods have also been applied to it tribal tattoos really kitschy which, when put together with the full figure, they only have made things even worse also from a purely aesthetic point of view.
Spyro – Retrogaming: da Zelda a MediEvil
It is not easy to bring a series from two dimensions to three, but the same is also true for the reverse. Especially if you want to gamble with a handheld console! To pay the price, in this case, was another “colleague” of Crash Bandicoot, or the Spyro dragon.
Spyro: Season of Ice, Spyro 2: Season of Flame e Spyro Fusion released in the early 2000s for Game Boy Advance are therefore the most obvious cases. A truly embarrassing gameplay, really sparse environments and ignoble mechanics have made you forget all the beauty of the Spyro of the early days on PlayStation.
Monkey Island – Retrogaming: da Zelda a MediEvil
After i first two exceptional, and pixellated, chapters that kicked off the 1990s, the series played its further “revolution card” with The Curse of Monkey Island (released for PC in 1997) by showing us a Guybrush Threepwood in much more cartoon sauce. Some “diehards” have denigrated him because it was an overly comic graphic adventure that no longer left much room for the environments and atmospheres born from the mind of Ron Gilbert, but both they and his “redeemers” agreed on one point.
And this is that Fuga da Monkey Island (2000) represents the low point of the series and is another example of how 3D is not enough to save a game if it doesn’t work at all. The next one went slightly better Tales of Monkey Island (2009) also thanks to the presence of the historian Ron Gilbert who gave his contribution, albeit limited, to the development of the title, but now this pirate vessel was no longer the same.
Staying on the subject of graphic adventures we hope that Syberia: The World Before, despite the postponement on PC, can be another game really worthy of the name. For the rest, Watch out for the three-headed monkeys!
And we close with Medievil
You know when you try to “rejuvenate” an icon of any type? Well, most often such a move it doesn’t work at all and MediEvil Resurrection demonstrates how there can never really be peace for dear old Sir Daniel Fortesque. Landed on the now defunct PSP in 2005, the title tried to show the more comical side of Gallowmere’s hero by failing miserably. The help of other characters such as the elf was useless Al – Zalam which has taken up residence in the skull of our skeletal knight. Fortunately, few remember it!
It should be remembered, however, that even the recent remastered for PS4 has left quite a few players rather “dumbfounded” about the revival of the adventures of Sir Daniel Fortesque. An advice? Do yourself a favor and recover the first two chapters and, death to Zarok!
We have therefore arrived at …