2. Sonic - Going 3D
One needn't waste time praising the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise; it's widely recognised how iconic these superb platforming titles are, yet even a series as flawless as Sonic had to finally change one day. 1998 saw the release of the first 3D, free-roaming Sonic game, Sonic Adventure, and though it made a palpable effort to show off the Dreamcast's technical prowess, it also suffered from laughably awful voice acting, and paved the way for a series of uninspired 3D efforts. These included Sonic Heroes, Shadow the Hedgehog, 2006's Sonic the Hedgehog, and Sonic Unleashed. With the release of 2011's Sonic Generations, it seemed that Sega finally realised that Sonic fans don't really need free-roaming, and instead the game focused on a mix of old-school 2D side-scrolling and linear 3D platforming. Still, the series' reputation has pretty much been irrevocably damaged.