15 Video Game Franchises That Tried Something Wildly Different (And Failed)

Ask anyone who owned a PlayStation in the early 2000s who Tony Hawk is, and you will invoke a sweeping sense of nostalgia that may see them dusting down an old skateboard from the garage. Such was the significance of this series, it had kids and adolescents taking to the streets trying (and failing) to replicate their in-game tricks.

After multiple successful sequels, the franchise went in a wild new direction with 2009's Tony Hawk: RIDE. The game came bundled with a skateboard peripheral, which was compulsory. This skateboard came equipped with infra-red sensors which detected motion and shifts in body weight, allowing players to actually feel like they are performing the on-screen tricks on their own skateboard.

On paper this was an incredibly cool concept. The problem was that in reality, it just didn't work how it was supposed to. Broadly, the skateboard itself was unresponsive, tricks were tough to perform, and even basic actions were made to be far more frustrating than they were supposed to be. A series that was known for its precise, tight controls had all of a sudden been flipped completely on its head.

Despite an ill-fated sequel titled Tony Hawk: Shred releasing a year later, the whole skateboard peripheral concept was quietly abandoned by the series' publisher, Activision, and the franchise returned to its tried-and-tested formula in subsequent entries.