Maybe “suck” is not the right word here but I still ask myself how come so many sequels don`t quite reach the quality of their predecessors?

I guess we`ve seen the scenario too many times – a company takes the time and effort to make an amazing game, the cash is more than good and in no time they suddenly want to dip their greedy little hands in the Leprechaun`s bag of gold again. The developer is being rushed to create a sequel as fast as possible and they usually take one of the following routes:

• change too little and serve us more of the same “dish” garnished with some uninspired story which the screenwriter made up in about 5 minutes while sitting on the pooper;
• change too much and create something that, if not outright bad, simply isn`t what the players expect from this particular game;

This is, of course, true for books and movies, too, but I would like to focus on the most interactive form of entertainment here.

Some examples from the Industry`s ever growing reserve of garbage:

My first ever encounter with a bad sequel was at the fragile age of 9. An innocent 3rd grader who goes to his friend`s house for some cookies and Nintendo-fun… After my classmate inserted the cartridge and assured me that I will be playing not just any sequel but Super Mario Bros, I still remember my reaction which was the closest thing to “WTF is that piece of crap” a kid is capable of. Well, I know kids are pretty extreme nowadays and I realize how absurdly it sounds when a young person speaks about “the good old times” but times really were different.

Now I know that Nintendo just re-skinned one of their other titles (Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic) and offered it as Mario 2 because they felt the real sequel (Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels) was beyond the skill level of their non-slanted-eyed brothers from the West. Now that seems like a good marketing move from Nintendo but back then you can imagine my disappointment.

Anyway, the most recent major disappointing sequel that I can think of right now is KOTOR II (“Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords”). Not that the game was bad or something like that, it simply did get anywhere near the greatness of its predecessor and that in itself was a disappointment for me. Some of my friends loved the game and coincidentally those guys haven`t played the first one.

I am sure that there are better examples of crappy sequels and new ones join the collection every year but I actually tend to avoid games that are obviously bad so I don`t get too much exposed to “low quality gaming”. Feel free to add as many as you can think of in the comments!

Now, is it so difficult to make a descent successor to your already good game?

I assume some steps in the right direction would be to:

1. research the opinion of the community about your previous game, I mean really take the time to read comments at least in the major gaming forums;
2. analyze the whole gathered data and figure out what elements the gamers LIKED and which were DISLIKED;
3. build your sequel with the focus layed on fixing the problematic areas and only MINOR tweaks of the good elements (“we know you’re creative and have plenty of new ideas but if something isn’t broken don’t fix it, please”);
4. think about what new gameplay mechanics can be added while taking into acount the gamers’ feedback on the old ones;
5. alpha-beta-and-gamma-test the s**t out of your new infant game WITH fans of your previous game as well and not only some middle-age-unemployed men who last time played Super Mario Bros. on the original NES;

What similar games were you disappointed from and what other steps do you think developers can undertake to make better sequels?

Next time I will write about the games that not only nail the sweet spot but surpass their predecessors and I have one particular title in mind. Can you guess which (hint: not yet released!)?