10 Video Game Reboots That Buried Franchises ENTIRELY

In the mid-2000s, numerous video game franchises opted for a grim and gritty approach and anything otherwise was deemed for kids.

Final Fight, a sister franchise to the Street Fighter games, fell prey to this trend as they attempted to revive the series with 2006's Final Fight: Streetwise.

In an attempt to cater to the Grand Theft Auto crowd, the game was a gritty reimagining of the typically more colorful Final Fight games, with characters swearing left and right and mature elements being thrown around.

From a gameplay perspective, Streetwise also seems to take cues from the then-emerging Yakuza series with its beat-em-up gameplay mixed in with RPG elements but to lesser results. Combat works decently when it's one-on-one, but when facing multiple enemies, the game's terrible camera can turn fighting into a nightmare. Upgrading your character does not reward the player with incentives while exploration is tedious due to the poor design and unappealing color palette.

And so just like most franchises that went for the grim and gritty reboot, Final Fight lost what made the series special in the first place and Streetwise became the final game in the series.