List idea: Top Ten overdone series

An overdone series is simply one in which the creators chose to keep giving us game after game following the same basic theme or plot.

Actually, a better way to define the term is by listing some of the series that I feel have been overdone.

Pokemon (I almost threw up typing that word - so darn many Pokemon games have been made, all following the same style.)

The Mario games (I've made a joke about Nintendo eventually releasing Super Mario 97 - you play as an older Mario with a cane; half the game is saving Peach and defeating Bowser, the other half is making sure Mario remembers who to save and who to defeat.)

The Sims (I know there are only five Sims games I consider canon - The Sims, The Sims 2, The Sims Bustin' Out, The Sims 3, and The Sims 4 - none of the MySims games belong in the same line) After playing one for about ten minutes, you know precisely what to expect in all future Sims games.

I know there are plenty of other candidates: Mortal Kombat, Dragon Warrior, Final Fantasy, and Mega Man just to name a few.

I'd also like to avoid bashing any of these series (except Pokemon, maybe.)

Assassins Creed for me

guitar hero - Activision churned out so many versions so quickly and over saturated the market and everyone was sick of the gimmick in less than a year. Talk about ruining your franchise

TylerDurden101 posted...

guitar hero - Activision churned out so many versions so quickly and over saturated the market and everyone was sick of the gimmick in less than a year. Talk about ruining your franchise

So true. Probably the most rapid rise and fall in terms of popularity and sales for a series.

And now you see piles of plastic GH guitars collecting dust in used game stores.

CoD perhaps? It makes so much money that there's no reason not to churn it out every year.

I guess the annual sports games too...

I know you mentioned it, but Final Fantasy is a big one so much so that they are butchering FF7 with Remake. I say FF also because of the myriad of spin off games.

Resident Evil is another one that comes to mind off hand mostly because the games are vastly different from each other to where it is just a name slapped onto an idea to sell it. Also the story has become a bit more wonky as the years have gone on.

TylerDurden101 posted...

guitar hero - Activision churned out so many versions so quickly and over saturated the market and everyone was sick of the gimmick in less than a year. Talk about ruining your franchise

I'd say it's more the music rhythm genre in general, because while Guitar Hero is often blamed for oversaturating the market, Rock Band were just as much to blame if you look at it.

In the space of 3 years Activision put out: Guitar Hero 3, World Tour, Aerosmith, On Tour, On Tour: Decades, Metallica, Smash Hits, Guitar Hero 5, DJ Hero, Band Hero, Van Halen, On Tour: Modern Hits, Warriors of Rock, DJ Hero 2

That's a lot of games.

But look at what Harmonix put out in the same span of a few years: Rock Band, Rock Band 2, The Beatles, Lego Rock Band, Rock Band Unplugged, Rock Band 3, Green Day, Rock Band Reloaded and a bunch of track packs that could be played as standalone games Vol. 1, Vol. 2, AC/DC Live, Classic Rock, Metal, Country 1 and Country 2.

Aerosmith co-made the second-best video of 1986, and made the third-best video of 1990 and the second-best video of 1993.

Metallica made the best video of 1989 and the fifth-best video of 1998.

Van Halen made the third-best videos of 1984 and 1992.

Green Day made the fourth-best video of 1994 and the second-best video of 1997.

AC/DC made the fifth-best video of 1990.