You' ve played the original, absolutely loved it and quite possibly a sequel came along that was either just as good if not better than the original. But somewhere down the road a sequel is released that almost ruins the legacy of its predecessors. Have you ever experienced such disappointments? If so, what were their names???

1. HANG-ON GP 1995 (Saturn)
Yu Suzuki' s original Hang-On was a very cool motorcycle racin/cruisin game in arcades and as kool as it was, Super Hang-On eventually leaped onto the scene and totally smoked it in every department. In my eyes Super Hang-On is without a doubt the greatest motorcycle racing game ever created. So when Hang-On GP 1995 was finally released on the Saturn I couldn' t wait to get my grubby little paws on it. I was literally floored by how awful the experience was. The game' s controls are horrendous. They are beyond sensitive, one little tap to either direction of the control pad and the bike quickly leans all the way to the left or right, making it hard to make turns properly without ramming into walls or spinning out of control.
Some of the music was OK and the course designs were average but the touchy controls ruined the whole experience.

2. SHIN SHINOBI DEN (Saturn)
We had the glory of Sega' s original Shinobi, then later were blessed with very cool sequels like Revenge of Shinobi and Shinobi III. But when the 32-bit era came around, Joe Musashi was caught with his pants around his ankles and no ninja magic to save his life as he embarked on his most mediocre mission yet in Shin Shinobi Den which was known in the U.S. as Shinobi Legions and oddly enough published by Vic Tokai Sega must' ve been thinking: " OH damm, those new guys screwed up, this Shinobi Sucks! Umm Vic Tokai, YOU publish it!" . In Europe I believe the Saturn Shinobi game was known as Shinobi X? I' d love to get my hands on the soundtrack of Shinobi X as I heard Richard Jacques did the music for it.

Also, I know the Saturn was hard to develop for but I just don' t think that Team Shinobi had anything to do with this game, I could be wrong but I refuse to believe that they developed this borefest.

Shinobi for the PS2 didn' t blow me away neither. I was soo disappointed when I saw that they fed Shinobi the 3D pill.

3. GOLDEN AXE: THE DUEL (Saturn/ST-V board)
I' ve always had mixed feelings for the Golden Axe series. I thought the original was above average, Death Adder' s Revenge was OK, but Golden Axe: The Duel was just incredibly disappointing as they changed the dynamics of the game and turned it into a poor fighting game. And speaking of turning a respectable franchise into a piss poor fighting game, the next game is a prime example.

4. DOUBLE DRAGON V (Genesis/SNES)
Double Dragon V was one of those ultra disappointments that hurt more than most.
I LOVED all four of the Double Dragon side scrollers and when I played Double Dragon V I really thought that I was in hell being punished. This game was a disgrace to the legacy of the series. Like Golden Axe: The Duel, the developers took a highly respectable side scrolling beat em up series and turned it into a lousy fighting game.

The awful Neo-Geo Double Dragon fighting game didn' t help matters none neither.

5. PLANET HARRIERS (Arcade)
Here' s another one that hurt. I consider the original arcade Space Harrier game to be one of the top 10 greatest games of all time. Space Harrier 2 was OK but didn' t have the magic of the original. Planet Harriers on the other hand was incredibly disappointing. Outside of having cool graphics I found nothing enjoyable about the game. Yu Suzuki SHOULD have handled and should handle any and all Space Harrier sequels. Planet Harriers was slow paced, boring, and the environments didn' t scroll the way part 1 and 2 did. Easily forgettable experience.

6. AFTER BURNER III (Sega CD)
WTF happened here?? After Burner 2 was soo bad-ass! So with part 3 on the Sega CD I was hoping for more of the same. But noooooooo, that' s not what I got! Cool music though, but not enough.

7. 32-Bit CONTRA GAMES
Nuff said
I thought Konami had redeemed themselves somewhat with the PS2' s Contra: Shattered Soldier, but after playing Neo Contra, I take that back. I see they are Determined to phase out the side scrolling Contra gameplay.

8. PAPERBOY 2 (SNES)
This is no joke but this was the first game to literally put me to sleep while playing. I actually nodded off one afternoon with the controller in my hand. I woke up shortly after and went for a walk around the neighborhood to wake me up.
Such a shame as I loved the original arcade version of Paperboy with the bicycle handlebar controller.

9. GRADIUS GALAXIES (GBA)
I had a feeling this game would suck since Konami let Mobile 21 handle the development duties. This was the EASIEST Gradius game ever released and the whole game felt like it was just going through the motions of trying to be a 2D shooter. Its heart was never really into it. The series has always had great music but the Gradius Galaxies soundtrack was very lackluster.

10. ALTERED BEAST: GUARDIAN OF THE REALM (GBA)
This was my pick for WORST game at E3 during a previous show. This game had the LONGEST first level I' ve ever suffered through in any game. I must' ve spent almost 20+ minutes on it. Then you factor in the boring-ultra repetitiveness of it and you have yourselves a zinga! I know Sega didn' t develop it, the game was outsourced to some low key company working from their garage, but when the company sent a work in progress to Sega, why didn' t they just dump it in the trash instead of forwarding it to THQ???

11. SUPER MARIO SUNSHINE (GameCube)
It' s kind of sad that an entire GameCube generation is about to go by without a real Mario adventure appearing on the console. I think Miyamoto was probably working on a real Mario game when a group of Environmentalists started putting pressure on Nintendo to make a contribution to the environment. And as a result, Mario Sunshine was born!

NExt Mario game, I see him running around different levels with a garbage bag in hand, collecting as much garbage as he can within the allotted time.

12. R-TYPE FINAL (PS2)
The word " easy" has never been one that could be associated with the R-type series, but with R-type Final came the easiest R-type game ever. Hell, it' s one of the easiest shooters ever! The fact that I completed it without dying is a testament to how disappointingly easy it is. With the exception of 2 tracks, the music was pretty disappointing. About the only great things I noticed in the game were the graphics and some of the nostalgic elements.

I' ll just go with the obvious... Devil May Cry 2. I liked it more than most people but it was still a huge let down.

Im with you on the contra. I hope your listening devs! Why not just use 16-bit style contra graphics and with todays tech you could make more than say..... 50 or so levels. And don' t say that is stupid, just look at Metal Slug 3 releasing on the XBox.

Metal Gear Solid 2
I loved the first game, but this one let me down real quick and got boring once blondie boy took over. Just couldn' t keep my intrest. I wonder why Konami decided to keep Snake out of the majority of the game?

Annette Again (Annette Futatabi) Mega CD
El Viento was a fun game for the Sega Genesis with mediocre music by Motoi Sakuraba. Lot' s o' fun, in fact. Then came Earnest Evans for the Mega CD with some really cool music by Motoi Sakuraba. The controls and graphics were weird as hell, but the game still managed to be somewhat enjoyable. Then comes Annette Again for the Mega CD with fairly decent music by Motoi Sakuraba. They turned it into a Streets of Rage wannabe style of game. Man it was bad. And repetitive. Geez.

Road Rash 3D (Playstation)
The genesis original was awesome, the 3DO version kicked ass (and it was better than either the PS and Saturn ports of the same game). But then came Road rash 3D. Can someone tell me exactly what this p.o.s. is supposed to be?

Y' s III: Wanderers from Y' s (PC Engine CD/Turbografx-16 CD)
Wha...?? I don' t get it. Why is this a super-jerky side scrolling adventure? Yuzo Koshiro didn' t do the music this time around, but he wasn' t missed as Ryo Yomenitsu spun his usual magic in the audio department.

Hmmm, Devil may cry 2 for sure, that was a huge disappointment. I can;t think of others right now, to late.

Final Fantasy X
I loved Final Fantasy IX and hence had high hopes for the next installment in the series. While FFX isn' t a bad game I personally felt it paled in comparison to FFIX.

Sega Rally 2
It' s not a patch on the original.

Crazy Taxi 2
I loved the original. It was simple, had a load of depth and great level design. The sequel unfortunately overcomplicated the game with the addition of multiple fares and the crazy hop, skill seemingly became less of a factor and New York was never as good a setting as San Francisco.

Phantasy Star II
I loved Phantasy Star II, but the graphics just didn' t stack up to the original (which was on a lesser system). The dungeons were in 2D and had CRAP scrolling over them that blocked your view. The monsters seemed small and undetailed in comparison to the original Phantasy Star. And every single battle took place on a generic blue grid, wheras Phantasy Star 1 had lush landscapes.

Phantasy Star Online
What the hell is this? This game should not be allowed to have the " Phantasy Star" name!

Phantasy Star Universe
It' s gonna be an MMORPG. So therefore it sucks. I want a real Phantasy Star game, dammit!

Just to clarify, the only sequel in the FF series is FF X-2. FF X is most certainly not a sequel to FF IX; they' re two entirely different games.

As for me, DMC 2, obviously. Beyond that, I think that, unlike movies, most sequels are better than the original. That' s not the case all the time, but many times I think it is.

Super Mario Bros 2 is meant to be pants as well right?

Also: Fighting Vipers 2

Funny thing about super mario bros. 2 is that it wasnt origionally a mario game at all but comegame clalled poki poki somin. featuring some arabian dude. they just figured U.S. and Europe wouldn' t care much for the character so for the International release they just changed the playable chracters and slapped on a new name.

Doki Doki Panic I believe. Oh well!

I loved mario 2, but then again I was like 8 when it came out.

and although it' s been pointed out that this game isn' t truly a sequel,
Final Fantasy X is the worst iteration in a series of games. I played through it twice trying so hard to like it, yet just couldn' t.

Devil May Cry 2 was the same way, hopefully the 3rd one won' t be so terrible.

could Counter-strike: Condition Zero be considered a sequel? Well, for now let' s assume it can. What a waste of money

How can I forget Street Fighter 3: New Generation and Street Fighter 3: 2nd Impact, the worst of the series in my opinion...

I have yet to play Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike but have heard lots of people claim it to be a great game. However I' m very doubtful that the game can be THAT much improved over New Generation and 2nd Impact in the gameplay department. I just hated the fighting engine.
Having too many animation frames didn' t seem to help the game out much neither.

Almost forgot:

Almost ANY R-Type game
No R-Type game has ever managed to live up to the great designs, intriguing music, and overall coolness of the first game.