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

3. Bubsy

Bubsy is such a notorious franchise that you might not even know that, at one point anyway, it was actually rather good. The bobcat's first outing, which boasts the groan-inducing title Bubsy in Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind, was a stellar (if a touch derivative) 2D platformer, as was the sequel, which dropped the puns for the cleaner title of Bubsy 2.

That was the last time the words "Bubsy" and "stellar" were ever in the same sentence though, as the third platformer came out to diminishing returns, with critics in agreement that the series was in need of a creative kick up the bum.

Those same critics probably cursed their own words when they had to review the next game, which did indeed attempt to revolutionise the series in glorious 3D. The transition was not elegant, and the sequel was like a LSD trip, with ugly, garish textures making up the environment, unresponsive controls and nightmarish enemies defining the release.

It might have gotten away with being so rough considering it was an early attempt at 3D, but it releasing in the same year as Mario 64 rendered it a total embarrassment.

The series never recovered, and it took until 2017 before the old Bobcat received another shot at the big time. As you can probably guess, it didn't turn out well.