Games (and threads) that have been made obsolete by their sequels

[Unkillable Cat]

With the inevitable march of technology, cat memes and the of people's ability to write proper grammar, I see a need to create a sequel to a thread before it's even had its first DLC announced.

Sadly, games that receive sequels tend to fall by the wayside once their newer sibling emerges into the harsh, cruel world of gaming, so I'd like to take a moment to give them the recognition that they deserve; a proper farewell of sorts.

Based on the contents of the feeble prequel to this thread, I can attest that the following games have become nothing but irrelevant cobblestones on the road of progress.

King's Bounty (a.k.a. HoMM 0) -> Heroes of Might & Magic 1
Heroes of Might & Magic 1 -> Heroes of Might & Magic 2
SimCity - > Simcity 2000
Warcraft 1 -> Warcraft 2
Worms 1 -> Worms 2
Worms 2 -> Worms: Armageddon

What some might call some "obvious" steps in the above examples have purposefully been avoided, as strong cases have been made where the prequels in particular were not invalidated by their sequels. I also do not bring up examples where I'm unfamiliar with the titles in question.

This list may be updated at a later date.

But what about you, dear readers? What prequels do you know of that are now less relevant than fidget spinners?

 

[sullynathan]

Dark Souls

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

Civilization 2
Street Fighter 2 (it's biggest step in entire history of gaming from utter shit to ultimate perfection)
REmake (comparing strictly to Resident Evil 1)
Virtua Figher 2 (it should be called VF 2.0)
Tekken 1 -> Tekken 2
Tekken 2 -> Tekken 3

And I second Warcraft 2.

 

[Siveon]

Dark Souls

Demon's Souls and King's Field are still pretty great though. I'd have to disagree here.

The first Fire Emblem game for the NES. Both remakes are better than the original in terms of presentation and level design. The sequels on the SNES blow it out of the water frankly.

Fire Emblem (NES) -> Fire Emblem Mystery of the Emblem (SNES)
Fire Emblem (NES) -> Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon (DS)

I also agree with the Worms notion. Armageddon is the pinnacle and has made the prequels and most of the sequels irrelevant. Just play Armageddon.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Close Combat ->Close Combat II: A Bridge Too Far

 

[Min-Max Phipps]

Hearts of Iron => Hearts of Iron II
Europa Universalis => Europa Universalis II

I would say these are the only steps in both franchises that are almost unanimously considered as all-around improvements.

 

[DraQ]

Like Doom's shotgun was an embodiment of perfection and therefore fit to pass into the sequel completely unaltered, so is my post*:

Worms => Worms 2

Not if you, for example, preferred the pixely visual style over cartoony visual style.

Elite -> Frontier: Elite 2.
Oblivion -> Skyrim (obviously)
Arguably Arena -> later TES games (other than Oblivion).
Arguably early Wizardries -> final Wizardry trilogy

if not limiting yourself strictly to one series, then Wolfenstein 3D -> Doom

Unreal Tournament 2003

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Unreal Tournament 2004

Although I would like to read an expert opinion explaining what happened with UT2k3, was it actually that bad?

Well, it was essentially half baked 2k4 so it kinda became obsolete by default.

*

 

[deuxhero]

THPS and THPS2

 

[sser]

Hitman 1 and 2 are like night and day.

 

[Great Deceiver]

Styx: Master of Shadows -> Styx: Shards of Darkness
Warlock -> Warlock 2: The Exiled
Samurai Shodown -> Samurai Shodown 2
Dota -> Dota 2

 

[baturinsky]

Arena, King's Bounty and Homm1 are all very unique and different from it's "sequels".
Arena in particular has the best dungeons in series and classes that are actually different.

 

[baturinsky]

Hitman 1 and 2 are like night and day.

Thankfully, best missions from first two were remastered in later games.

Hitman 2 has some memorable missions, but can be skipped too, imho.

 

[Jick Magger]

Grand Theft Auto III -> Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Age of Empires -> Age of Empires II
Assassins Creed -> Assassins Creed II (regardless of what you think about how the series ultimately turned out, it's pretty obvious that ACII is leaps and bounds a superior game to AC)
Bayonetta -> Bayonetta II
Fallout 3 -> Fallout New Vegas

 

[AArmanFV]

Games that have been superfluous by their sequels --------->Games (and threads) that have been made obsolete by their sequels

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Realms of Arkania HD

Also Silent Storm Sentinels for Silent Storm.

 

[Siveon]

Bayonetta -> Bayonetta II

Doesn't really fit, imo. Since the notion of the OP was essentially that the prequels have fallen in popularity and are sorely poorer games when you go back to them compared to the sequel. Bayonetta 1 is more popular and still relevant compared to its sequel, especially considering the game is on more platforms. With the lack of titles in the genre, playing both would be a necessity for a fan.

 

[baturinsky]

Grand Theft Auto III -> Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

Gameplay-wise, GTA:SA "obsoletes" both. But I like both III and VC for unique atmosphere. I can nearly feel an ocean breeze and the smell of wet leaves when I play III. And I like it's crazy characters.

Also, while 80s music is objectively superior, Jah radio is epic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJFEPhQsSrs&index=3&list=PL785BA970970004CA

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Populous (1989) --> Populous II (1991)
SimCity (1989) --> SimCity 2000 (1993)
Warlords (1990) --> Warlords II (1993)
Civilization (1990) --> Civilization II (1996) --> Alpha Centauri (1999)

 

[Jick Magger]

Bayonetta -> Bayonetta II

Doesn't really fit, imo. Since the notion of the OP was essentially that the prequels have fallen in popularity and are sorely poorer games when you go back to them compared to the sequel. Bayonetta 1 is more popular and still relevant compared to its sequel, especially considering the game is on more platforms. With the lack of titles in the genre, playing both would be a necessity for a fan.

In that vein, you're correct. I'm primarily referring to how Bayonetta 2 improves on Bayonetta 1 mechanically in pretty much every way, but I'll concede that Bayonetta 1 remains far more popular simply on the virtue that not only was it released on multiple platforms, but it wasn't an exclusive to the WiiU, which was a commercial failure.

Grand Theft Auto III -> Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

Gameplay-wise, GTA:SA "obsoletes" both. But I like both III and VC for unique atmosphere. I can nearly feel an ocean breeze and the smell of wet leaves when I play III. And I like it's crazy characters.

Also, while 80s music is objectively superior, Jah radio is epic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJFEPhQsSrs&index=3&list=PL785BA970970004CA

I was tempted to put San Andreas there, but the faux-RPG and simulationist mechanics that they tacked on along with the half-baked gang wars mechanic kills replayability for me. Vice City is a lot more of a straight improvement from what GTAIII had to offer gameplay-wise.

 

[Zenith]

Hitman 2 has some memorable missions, but can be skipped too, imho.

H2's soundtrack will never be obsolete though.

 

[PrettyDeadman]

Fallout 3 -> Fallout New Vegas

 

[Edward The Mediocre]

Fallout New Vegas -> Fallout 4

Spoiler

 

[Snorkack]

AoE -> AoE 2
Any Civilization before -> Civilization 4 BTS <- Any Civilization after
Disgaea -> Disgaea 2 -> Disgaea 3

 

[PrettyDeadman]

Fallout New Vegas -> Fallout 4

Spoiler

Fallouts came full circle and now they cancel each other so that nothing is true and everything is allowed:

 

[Snorkack]

Fallout New Vegas -> Fallout 4

Spoiler

Fallouts came full circle and now they cancel each other so that nothing is true and everything is allowed:

There is a truth, though.

Spoiler