10 Video Game Franchises With The BEST Spin-Offs
Because some franchises contain too much greatness to be constrained by a single series.
If there's one thing pop culture loves, it's the thrill of the new. But if there's one thing pop culture also loves, it's the comfort of the familiar. Which is why, on the eighth day, God created the spin-off ("and lo, God manufactured the moon - a similar concept to his breakout hit Earth, but with smaller mass, lighter gravity, and just 'out-there' enough to intrigue its target audience without alienating them entirely. Unlike Saturn - very much the Kid A of His creations").
Sure, making a spin-off doesn't always go right, but when it does the results can meet, or even surpass, the standards set by the original series. It's the latter bunch this article will be focusing on, as it takes a look at franchises that managed to keep the good times rolling with an array of delightful spin-offs that cover everything from photography simulators to world-saving dance-offs.
And as that last sentence indicated, the best spin-offs aren't afraid of taking their respective series to pretty strange places - a feat that takes some doing with a franchise as weird as our first entry...
10. Metal Gear Solid
The Metal Gear Solid universe is one of gaming's more quixotic creations - a place where 15-minute monologues on global politics are juxtaposed with fist-fights between half-naked clones, and where covering yourself in bees gets you a spot in an elite commando unit (as opposed to a psychiatric institution).
Thankfully, that anything-goes attitude extends to MGS' delightfully daft spin-offs.
Take the non-canon Metal Gear Ac!d games (yes, it really is spelt like that). These PSP exclusives transform the stealth-action gameplay the series is known for into a turn-based card game, where you control Solid Snake exclusively via your custom-built deck. Even further upending of the tea table can be found in the Digital Graphic Novel, a comic-book retelling of the original Metal Gear Solid that asks players to scan each panel for MGS-related trivia. It sounds dull, but for Metal Gearheads it's an utterly absorbing experience and a darn fine retelling of one of the series' better stories.
But of course, the tubthumping pinnacle of MGS spin-offs is the one whose photo adorns this very entry - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, a game so good even an ESL teacher can forgive its heinous assault on the English Language. After all, it's hard to stay mad at a game that starts has you chopping a giant robot in half within 10 minutes of starting, and culminates in a fight against a half-naked US Senator who pauses the fighting to - yes! - monologue on global politics.
Because even in spin-off land, there are some tropes Metal Gear can't bring itself to shake.