10 Famous Video Game Franchises That Haven't Made Anything Good In Years

5. Duke Nukem

Duke Nukem is one of those franchises where the main character is more iconic than the games they actually starred in. The first two titles were side-scrollers that pretty much nobody played, but Duke was catapulted to success in Duke Nukem 3D, which was the kind of first-person shooter that only the 90s could produce.

Tragedy struck after that first real taste of success though, as developers 3D Realms struggled to produce a follow up that eventually turned into the infamous Duke Nukem Forever, a game which clawed its way out of development hell after 15 years to terrible reviews.

The character wasn't totally idle in the meantime though, and lived on in a variety of third-person spin-offs. Time to Kill was first and was decent enough, but by the time Land of the Babes came along, Duke's schtick was starting to wear thin.

Considering he was very much a product of the 90s, it probably makes sense that devs have struggled to reinvent Duke for the modern age. He's still out there spouting "hail to the King", but the monarchy was abolished long ago.