Gaming franchises you feel should be major, but aren't.

[electricmastro]

Franchises that you figure would be big by now, but ultimately feel like they aren't for one reason or another. One example I think of is Bomberman. After lasting for so long and releasing as many games, it boggles me why the series doesn't get much more fanfare beyond the occasional passing mention.

 

[JamesC]

Bomberman is great but it's scope is fairly limited. There's not a huge amount you can say about it realy. It's a winning formula but can sit alongside games like Puzzle Bobble as something that will probably last forever but won't really innovate a huge amount.

 

The big one for me is Sonic. I can't quite fathom why it took so long to nail Sonic as a 3D game. I think Frontiers has managed it and I think (hope) sequels will improve on the formula. If SEGA were a bit better at quality control, new Sonic games should have been AAA releases over the last 30 years.

[AK Bell]

A modern Bomberman was a hard sell after 9/11 and the war against terror 

 

I'm surprised EA haven't dusted off Desert Strike or Road Rash 

[fragglerock]

Shogo: Mobile Armor Division!

 

 

Though I suppose one game does not make a franchise!

 

[gone fishin]

F Zero springs to mind, there were 7 games released and the last one was nearly 20 (!!) years ago in 2004. Sure, some people still talk about the games in high regard, but they clearly didn’t sell well enough for Nintendo to make a new one.

[gone fishin]

Another Nintendo sort of franchise, the “Extreme Sports Franchise featuring Ricky Winterborn, Rob Haywood and Atari Hyami”.

 

Or the 1080 and Waverace games.

 

They could have done so many more games with those characters, maybe expanded them into another Nintendo franchise that’s not really mentioned much, the Excite series of games. Excitebike 64, Excitetruck were amazing, Excitebots was also good, but the bots mechanic let it down. They should have got Rob Haywood driving a massive 4x4 monster truck instead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

But the games feel a bit forgotten about now, which is a shame. 

[Qazimod]

I kind of feel like Sony should just buy Bishi Bashi from Konami and invest in localisations and/or new games - just give some money to competent studios and let them get on with things - then they'd kind of sort of have their own Wario Ware that they could periodically refresh to stand out from the SRS BSNS games.

 

There was one European version of Special or something, and since then it's just disappeared down an abyss of mobile titles that nobody knows about.

[Gabe]

I always wish Shining Force could've continued in the SRPG world, rather than turning into rubbish ARPGs.

 

They were tactics games without being horribly layered with systems and complexity and were bright, cheerful and accessible.

[Wiper]

It feels like these are too "big", as they have dedicated but niche fanbases, but five series spring to mind; four by Sega, which probably says something about their handling of their properties: 

 

Panzer Dragoon

Three ever-improving shooters and one fantastic RPG, all tied to an evocative world and gorgeous aesthetic. But the latter was only ever released in the last days of a dying console, the most recent entry is decades old and was barely marketed, and a recent remake dramatically underserved its source material. They deserve better.

 

Little Big Adventure

The best Zelda-likes of the 90s, packed with quirky charm, died after the (brilliant) PC-only second game failed to sell well enough. There's a remake of the original on its way, at least! 

 

Phantasy Star

Sega's pre-eminent RPG, and by far and away the best, most important sci-fi RPG of the 8- and 16-bit consoles. So naturally, as Final Fantasy finally "broke" the West and provided a market for this type of RPG, Sega pivoted the series to an action MMO and never looked back

 

Shining Force

I guess this could read Shining series, but it was always the SRPGs that really stood out more than the dungeon crawlers. And we don't talk about the later ARPGs. Two magnificent Mega Drive games, a great few Game Gear entries (and Mega CD version), a lovely (but unfinished in the West) Saturn game. And then Sega killed the golden goose by pushing Camelot out of the window.

 

Valkyria Chronicles

It's okay though, with the coming of the PS3 Sega brought out a new, brilliant SRPG series! And solidly failed to market it it in the West. Four games ranging from brilliant to merely very good, and yet they've made not even a hint of a ripple in the market outside of Japan. Meanwhile, the Fire Emblem juggernaut trundles ever onward.

[electricmastro]

9 hours ago, JamesC said:

Bomberman is great but it's scope is fairly limited. There's not a huge amount you can say about it realy. It's a winning formula but can sit alongside games like Puzzle Bobble as something that will probably last forever but won't really innovate a huge amount.

Bomberman did start branching out more into platformers, adventure games, racing games, etc. in the late 90s, but I suppose Hudson going defunct in 2012 and Konami largely sticking with the maze formula really halted this momentum.

[WibbleWorldGiddy]

I'm surprised Kid Chameleon never received a sequel. The different masks were a great idea that provided variety in how you played through each level - it's like a Mr Benn origin story. It's just a pity that the level design was so monotonous, particularly given there's 103 levels (with no password system or battery save).

 

Ecco the dolphin also feels like a series that never reached its potential. I disliked the 2D games, but the 3D edition on Dreamcast/PS2 felt like the start of a new series that would have got better over time. Wikipedia suggests there were plans for a Switch release at one stage, but a VR update would be fantastic.

[electricmastro]

11 hours ago, Wiper said:

Phantasy Star

Sega's pre-eminent RPG, and by far and away the best, most important sci-fi RPG of the 8- and 16-bit consoles. So naturally, as Final Fantasy finally "broke" the West and provided a market for this type of RPG, Sega pivoted the series to an action MMO and never looked back

 

Shining Force

I guess this could read Shining series, but it was always the SRPGs that really stood out more than the dungeon crawlers. And we don't talk about the later ARPGs. Two magnificent Mega Drive games, a great few Game Gear entries (and Mega CD version), a lovely (but unfinished in the West) Saturn game. And then Sega killed the golden goose by pushing Camelot out of the window.

 

Shining Resonance Refrain and Phantasy Star Online pretty much show how they've abandoned turn-based RPG styles in favor of either Action RPGs or MMOs, similar to Final Fantasy, unless it's the occasional deliberate throwback.

 

[beakbeak]

Secret of mana. What happened here? The third game was incredible then a few lacklustre entries on ps1 and ps2 and that was it. The world, character design and music were so unique and it’s so fondly remembered, I never really understood why they didn’t give this franchise a better shot. Just keep flogging that final fantasy horse.

 

a lot of incredible ps1 games by square needed more of a chance in my opinion:

 

vagrant story

einhander

(proper) final fantasy tactics

 

[Protocol Penguin]

(Well, perhaps not major major, but this series deserved better than being forgotten about by its publishers back in 2005.)

[Yasawas]

Does Mother count? People love them only in retrospect and nobody seems interested in reviving them beyond token Smash Bros. appearances. 40+ years on JRPGs are still dominated by fantasy settings starring amnesiac protagonists and yet the three Mother games all have a proper sense of style, humour and interesting combat systems. And talking monkeys! Save frogs! Etc!

[Gabe]

21 hours ago, Wiper said:

Valkyria Chronicles

It's okay though, with the coming of the PS3 Sega brought out a new, brilliant SRPG series! And solidly failed to market it it in the West. Four games ranging from brilliant to merely very good, and yet they've made not even a hint of a ripple in the market outside of Japan. Meanwhile, the Fire Emblem juggernaut trundles ever onward.

I really disliked VC and certainly wouldn't think of it as a good alternative to either Shining Force or Fire Emblem.

 

I only played a handful of missions of the first game, but didn't it have turn limits? And you were always being shot at (and damaged) when you weren't in cover? Those things alone took it away from being an SRPG for me.

 

 

[Wiper]

The game is heavily tied to a line of sight mechanic where you have to directly control your characters and move them into position while spending as little time out of cover in front of enemies, yes. Which mostly means planning your movements to get speedier characters to flank opponents, distract them with fire then make your frontal assault while their back is turned; using your tank(s) as mobile cover (albeit at the cost of spending multiple orders to move them); and very occasionally making a heroic rush from the front with a stormtrooper to take a position that absolutely must be held.

 

The direct control aspect does add an action element to the game, but it's still primarily a game about troop positioning and resource/order management, combined with Fire Emblem style permadeath on characters who both level and have unique quirks beyond their character class. If anything I guess it's an ASRPG, but as the only major example of its genre I don't know if that's a viable term!

[Gabe]

23 minutes ago, Wiper said:

The game is heavily tied to a line of sight mechanic where you have to directly control your characters and move them into position while spending as little time out of cover in front of enemies, yes. Which mostly means planning your movements to get speedier characters to flank opponents, distract them with fire then make your frontal assault while their back is turned; using your tank(s) as mobile cover (albeit at the cost of spending multiple orders to move them); and very occasionally making a heroic rush from the front with a stormtrooper to take a position that absolutely must be held.

 

The direct control aspect does add an action element to the game, but it's still primarily a game about troop positioning and resource/order management, combined with Fire Emblem style permadeath on characters who both level and have unique quirks beyond their character class. If anything I guess it's an ASRPG, but as the only major example of its genre I don't know if that's a viable term!

Yeah, it was certainly a different slant on the genre, it just didn't gel with me at the time - I remember renting it from Lovefilm (ahh, those were the days), not getting on with it, then buying it many years later and I'm not even sure if I ever even bothered to boot it up. Still have it somewhere.

 

I may give it another go, perhaps in my older age I might appreciate it a bit more. The time limits will still bug me, mind.

[Yasawas]

2 hours ago, Gabe said:

Yeah, it was certainly a different slant on the genre, it just didn't gel with me at the time - I remember renting it from Lovefilm (ahh, those were the days), not getting on with it, then buying it many years later and I'm not even sure if I ever even bothered to boot it up. Still have it somewhere.

 

I may give it another go, perhaps in my older age I might appreciate it a bit more. The time limits will still bug me, mind.

 

I had a similar experience to you with the original but loved VC4 if you have access to that. I suspect they're very similar in terms of how they play, just shinier, and it's me who changed in the interim, but definitely a series that's worth another go.

 

I do love the way it handles turns in giving your team a number of moves between them so you can move the same dude multiple times, albeit with a stamina penalty.

[electricmastro]

7 hours ago, beakbeak said:

Secret of mana. What happened here? The third game was incredible then a few lacklustre entries on ps1 and ps2 and that was it. The world, character design and music were so unique and it’s so fondly remembered, I never really understood why they didn’t give this franchise a better shot. Just keep flogging that final fantasy horse.

 

a lot of incredible ps1 games by square needed more of a chance in my opinion:

 

vagrant story

einhander

(proper) final fantasy tactics

 

I hear Legend of Mana is celebrated quite a bit, but the new games after that, not so much.

[Yobo Ahoy]

3 hours ago, Gabe said:

The time limits will still bug me, mind.

 

I only ever got close to troubling the 20 turn limit on a couple of occasions, it's quite generous considering you have about 10 soldiers at your disposal each turn. I found it much more oppressive in Advance Wars. 

 

But yeah, agree with @Wiper, VC was one of the first series I thought of when I saw the thread title. One of my all time favourites. 

[electricmastro]

Are Space Invaders and Pac-Man considered major franchises? They release new games every so often, but I get the feeling they've never really escape the fame of their first games and thus lead to later entries being ignored more. I suppose that could be said for many franchises actually.

[dumpster]

On 24/03/2023 at 08:28, AK Bell said:

A modern Bomberman was a hard sell after 9/11 and the war against terror 

 

I'm surprised EA haven't dusted off Desert Strike or Road Rash 

The War Against Terror (or T.W.A.T) 

 

The EDF games are all fantastic but you appear to have to be a forumite or gaming nerd to have heard of them. Definitely some of the most fun I've ever had gaming and not even close to being well known.

 

[bplus]

On 24/03/2023 at 09:51, gone fishin said:

Another Nintendo sort of franchise, the “Extreme Sports Franchise featuring Ricky Winterborn, Rob Haywood and Atari Hyami”.

 

Or the 1080 and Waverace games.

 

They could have done so many more games with those characters, maybe expanded them into another Nintendo franchise that’s not really mentioned much, the Excite series of games. Excitebike 64, Excitetruck were amazing, Excitebots was also good, but the bots mechanic let it down. They should have got Rob Haywood driving a massive 4x4 monster truck instead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

But the games feel a bit forgotten about now, which is a shame. 

Waverace and 1080 are my two favourite Nintendo games. I think that no one makes games like this anymore (or every will).

[electricmastro]

Just for fun, as a refresher, Nintendo franchises that haven't received new games in over five years, and thus aren't as big:

 

Wave Race - 2001
F-Zero - 2004
Custom Robo - 2006
Magical Vacation - 2006
Balloon Fight - 2007
Elite Beat Agents - 2007
Starfy - 2008
Excite - 2009
Punch-Out!! - 2009
Puzzle League - 2009
Sin and Punishment - 2009
Golden Sun - 2010
Kyle Hyde - 2010
Pilotwings - 2011
Steel Diver - 2014
Chibi-Robo! - 2015
Pushmo - 2015
Rhythm Heaven - 2015
Cruis'n - 2017
Star Fox - 2017

[Dig Dug]

Elite Beat Agents you can’t really fault Nintendo for. Osu! has a gigantic following and it’d be a fools errand to release a console exclusive version of it now.

 

That said we are well overdue a new version of Puzzle League but I’d imagine putting the Pokémon versions on switch online has killed such a notion dead.

[Pob]

I thought Singstar would go on forever. Just seems like an evergreen concept so I was really surprised when it died out. 

[Dig Dug]

Karaoke apps on phones will do that.

[Pob]

8 minutes ago, Dig Dug said:

Karaoke apps on phones will do that.

I don’t get the appeal. Singing into a phone instead of a mic, no communal screen, presumably the music coming from the puny phone speaker. How is that comparable? 

[Corranga]

On 29/03/2023 at 21:59, electricmastro said:

Cruis'n - 2017

Cruis’n Blast (2021) says hi