10 Video Game Franchises With Only ONE Good Game

In 1998, Acquire released a ninja title for the PSOne called Tenchu: Stealth Assassins. In this game, the heroes are equipped with a wide range of weapons, including shurikens, smoke bombs, grenades, land mines, grappling hooks, and poison rice cakes. Since ninjas are meant to remain unseen, players need to be cautious and tactful, rather than maiming everyone in sight. 

Unfortunately, the stealth mechanics were overshadowed by Metal Gear Solid, which was released around the same time. Nevertheless, this underrated title had potential, so it was reassuring when Tenchu spawned a whopping nine sequels.

And every one of them was atrocious. In fact, they got progressively worse. The first few sequels were underwhelming. The last few entries, like Dark Secret and Shadow Assault, were borderline unplayable. (Weirdly, the abominable Shadow Assault was created by powerhouse developers, FromSoftware.)

Although 2008's Shadow Assassins was a slight improvement, it didn't matter since the franchise went into hiatus indefinitely immediately after.

Considering how promising Tenchu, it was a shame to see it fizzle out. With that said, it's a miracle Tenchu lasted as long as it did, since the series had a major drop in quality almost immediately.