9 Video Game Franchises That Never Beat Their First Instalment

7. Sonic The Hedgehog

Sonic, Sonic, Sonic...

The more the years go by, the more even hardcore fans like me whose childhoods you defined have to admit the best of your work came in that original title.

It's not that Sonic 2 and 3 aren't enjoyable enough extensions of the base formula, but you just can't argue with reality:

Sonic was made in a marketing think-tank, to beat Mario. He was more "radical, brah" because Mario was a moustachioed man in overalls, programmed to speed through levels because the NES just couldn't handle fast platforming whatsoever. Sega originally had him in a rock band with a hourglass girlfriend called Madonna, and even his shoes came from Michael Jackson's video for "Bad".

So laser targeted was Sega's attempt to dominate the West... it worked.

The original Sonic the Hedgehog was - and still is - glorious. Everything I just mentioned absolutely clicked with a core demographic of gaming teens, and to this day Sega have never topped the Blue Blur's debut.

They've arguably never came close.