10 Video Game Franchises That Never Got Better Than The First Instalment

5. Tetris

The Franchise: Erm... it's Tetris. No? Here's a free version. Enjoy it. Tetris at its heart is a stupidly simple game and has had numerous ports across all manner of early-generation consoles and online flash games. The version that really pushed it to be one of the most iconic game of all time was the copy bundled with the original Game Boy, although its appearance in almsot any format ensures a good chuck of the world's population have played it at one time or another. Why The First Was Best: When talking about the "original" game, created in Soviet Russia (the NES box came with the tagline "From Russia with fun!"), we're grouping all basic ports of the game under that umbrella. Because after those the series goes very silly. There are dozens of semi-official sequels, ranging from the logical (multiplayer and three dimensions) to the crazy (underwater versions, a puzzle/platforming twist) and some with just ridiculous titles (Tetris Party and Terror Instinct are real games in the series). And as you can guess, none could match the simplicity of just trying to get a full row.