Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Sequels, Please! - New Installments We'd Love to See

Similar to other segments such as Localizations, Please! and Remakes, Please!, Sequels, Please! is another segment at SuperPhillip Central where we more often than not fruitlessly beg for games that we desire. Although we do not get what we want most of the time, we've gotten what we begged for several times, such as a new Donkey Kong Country or localization of games like Bravely Default, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, and Tales of Xillia. Obviously we had nothing to do with these games being released, but we'll take what we can get.

Sequels, Please! delves into individual games or franchises that we would absolutely love to see new installments for. From a Smash Bros. inspired fighting game to an intense stroll through the zombie apocalypse, these games are ones we'd greatly enjoy seeing sequels for. After you've read our picks (we have plenty more in mind, but we gotta make this a series of segments somehow!), please let us know what sequels you've always been dreaming of. The wilder, the better!

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale


We start off with a game that we cannot believe didn't do as well as we (and Sony) were hoping. PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale was without any question the PlayStation brand's answer to Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. series. While the games did have their obvious similarities, PlayStation All-Stars altered how points were made. We realize that this caused much criticism, but we can't help but be thankful that SuperBot Entertainment tried something different to distinguish this party fighter from its point of inspiration. With some fine-tuning of the formula and better roster choices, we'd love to see Sony return to this series with a title and cast that definitely are worthy of the PlayStation name.

LEGO City Undercover


Here comes a game that we had no problems declaring it as the best LEGO game yet. It's not even a close race. LEGO City Undercover introduced Wii U owners to a sprawling city with myriad activities to take part in, things to collect, and tasks to complete. While the Nintendo 3DS saw a prequel to its Wii U bigger brother, that game was a technological mess and did not possess even half the charm and wit of the Wii U game. We would absolutely love to see Tt Games return to Chase McCain's world and deliver yet another hilarious and addicting LEGO City game for Wii U. Heck, it doesn't even have to take place in LEGO City!

The Wonderful 101


Give thanks to Nintendo's horrible handling of this game commercially, which funnily enough is a prime reason why the Wii U is a sales disgrace, as to why The Wonderful 101 did not do gangbusters at stores. Quite the opposite actually. The demo, with its lack of a real tutorial, infuriated and turned off many players. However, those of us who have played the final version of the game experienced an increasingly escalating game that continued to dial up the crazy from start to finish. Oh, that ending sequence! On his Twitter (if you don't know the handle, ask your mom), Hideki Kamiya has expressed interest in a possible Wonderful 102, but that's up to Nintendo. Seeing how risk-adverse and safe they have been with their game announcements lately, we're less than hopeful. Still, we'd love for our pessimism to be unfounded.

3D Dot Game Heroes


For a series that is so popular, The Legend of Zelda series has seen very few imitators, much less ones that can hold a candle to any installment. However, the PlayStation 3's 3D Dot Game Heroes is an homage to the classic game, The Legend of Zelda proper, offering an abundance of NES-related game references and a nostalgic take on the action/adventure genre. The game used blocks for characters, enemies, and settings, delivering a world that was as fun to look at as it was to explore. While 3D Dot Game Heroes sold poorly in Japan (less than 20,000 its first week), U.S. sales were more than admirable, exceeding Atlus USA's (the publisher) expectations by six times. We'd be grateful for another trip down memory lane in an adventure that blends old and new with another 3D Dot Game Heroes.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles


In our review yesterday, we gave a relatively glowing review of the GameCube's Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. Since the original 2003 release, the Crystal Chronicles sub-series has spawned new iterations, two similar dungeons crawlers on the Nintendo DS, a duo of city-building games on Nintendo's WiiWare service, and a completely different take on the series with the Wii's Crystal Bearers. However, we'd be most interested in seeing Square Enix return the Crystal Chronicles line of games back to basics with the enjoyable dungeon crawling, treasure finding, monster defeating, boss beating, multiplayer action that games like the original GameCube Crystal Chronicles and the DS games contained. We don't care if it's on Wii U or Nintendo 3DS-- we just want our dungeon crawling thirst quenched! Plus, it would take the bad taste out of our mouths from the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy. Couldn't hurt, right?

ZombiU


The Wii U launch title, ZombiU, sold poorly. As a result, Ubisoft opted to delay Rayman Legends and port it to multiple platforms. That's a shame, not just the Rayman game being sent to die in September, but because ZombiU is still one of those Wii U games that makes the greatest use of the GamePad, something that Nintendo can hardly design creative ideas for. It's safe to say that without the GamePad ZombiU wouldn't be the same, wouldn't be as scary, and wouldn't be as much of an experience. Using the GamePad in real time to check your backpack's inventory while making you vulnerable to zombie attacks made things all the tenser. Solving puzzles with the controller and doing so much more made ZombiU more than just another shooter. Add in permanent death, and you have an original and criminally overlooked Wii U exclusive that should have gotten more attention. The hope of a followup is pretty low, but even if Ubisoft needs to make a sequel multiplatform, we'll take it. We need our zombie fix!

Puppeteer


Severely overlooked by PlayStation 3 audiences, the insanely charming and whimsical platforming adventure known as Puppeteer was a game that released to no pomp, no circumstance, not even a little "hey!" Instead, Puppeteer was relegated to bargain bin status quite quickly. We are of the minds that Kutaro and the rest of the gang deserve another chance; this time for redemption. Whether it be on PlayStation 4 or PlayStation Vita as a retail or downloadable title, we don't want to see the immensely interesting world of Puppeteer vanish when there's so much potential to it.

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