10 Video Game Sequels That DESTROY What Went Before

Game sequels so good, there's basically no point going back to the original.

Uncharted 2 Among Thieves
Naughty Dog

Starting a video game franchise might be a hard enough task all on its own, but the real miracle is keeping it going.

A good video game sequel has a ton of plates to keep spinning, arguably even more than when you're making a sequel to a film or book. Not only do the developers have to improve upon the story and characters of the previous entry, but video game sequels also have to improve on the gameplay that drew people in from the start, without being so unrecognizable in terms of design that it does away with what people liked to begin with.

Some game sequels are good, others are - well, we don't talk about the others. But then there are the game sequels that hit that perfect little sweet spot of being such an utter improvement, that it renders not only the original, but however many previous games that came before it, utterly obsolete.

Whether due to length of time or radical alterations to the dev team, these sequels are not only better than their predecessors, they make you cringe just a bit at the thought of going back to them.

10. Sonic 3 And Knuckles

Uncharted 2 Among Thieves
Sega

For as much as people praise the original Genesis Sonic games (usually as a means of bashing the modern releases as if they're the very first person to make such a revolutionary statement. Seriously guys it's been 14 years since '06, get new memes, please), the only one to really meet the astronomical hype is Sonic 3 and Knuckles.

And I'm specifically referring to the game you can only play by buying a Genesis, getting a copy of Sonic 3 with the "lock on technology" port on top, and slotting the Sonic and Knuckles cartridge on top of that. Pricey and needlessly complicated, but oh so worth it.

The problem with the first two Sonic games is that there was always something holding them back from what they were truly capable of. The first game didn't take advantage of Sonic's speed as much as you would think, with a lot of slow deliberate level design, and 2 mostly fixed that, but because the issue was only mostly gone, points where you had to very carefully climb up the Chemical Plant zone while water rose up beneath you were all the more whiplash-inducing.

Sonic 3 and Knuckles is the magnum opus of the Genesis era, building on everything that worked while streamlining the level design to make sure you felt like the fastest thing alive at all times.

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John Tibbetts is a novelist in theory, a Whatculture contributor in practice, and a nerd all around who loves talking about movies, TV, anime, and video games more than he loves breathing. Which might be a problem in the long term, but eh, who can think that far ahead?