9 Video Game Franchises That Never Beat Their First Instalment

The saying goes that across most creative outlets, "the original is the best". Early musicians are often at their most passionate; authors have the most essential thoughts to put on the page, but in video games, we have a medium of iteration.

It is SUPER rare that when you have game mechanics perfected over time or scores of developers becoming more proficient with technology - that subsequent instalments aren't fundamentally better in every respect.

Those anomalies do exist though, and often there's just no way to recreate that powerful original spark that birthed a fanbase in the first place.

Over time it's common for long-running IP to mine every remaining aspect of what went down well before, just to try and keep going.