Examples of Milking a Franchise After It's Lifespan Ended

[Guest NYankees]

I have to go with The Mortal Kombat franichse and all of the different versions of Street Fighter 2.

[naiwf]

Everything related to Sonic the Hedgehog after the first couple of games.

 

Mega Man should have died a long time ago, yet games still keep coming out.

 

Dragonball Z's 100 games.

[2GOLD]

Mario. Say what you want about the games being good, but that sucker is being milked for all its worth.

[the max]

I might agree had you not contradicted yourself in the next sentence.

 

"After Its Lifespan Ended" (at least to me) means that the games aren't good anymore and the characters are being constantly beaten into the ground in the same rehashed crap. The games still feature Mario and the same cast of characters, but they're in new situations and genres and the games are still fresh and selling well. That's not an ended lifespan.

[2GOLD]

They put out bout five or six Mario type games a year it seems, from Mario party to Mario Paint to the one with the little mini Mario. Hell, some people can make an argument that MK games have new ideas and fresh situations with some goodness tossed in, doesn't mean the series isn't being milked. Your games can be fine and good and still milk a video game series.

 

If we want to go by series where the games just aren't fun and you aren't entirely sure why they are still releasing the games, only ones I can think of are Dynasty Warriors, TMNT, and Mega Man. I cannot see anyone arguing the Mega Man games are any good anymore.

[Der Kommissar]

Dynasty Warriors

 

Heck, you could probably just say Koei's use of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms story in general. They have the Dynasty Warrior games, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and Kessen II all being based on the same story and characters. It's too bad, too, as I have liked a lot of Koei's historical games(L'Empereur, Genghis Khan, Uncharted Waters and its sequel, and so on), but they keep on milking the Romance of the Three Kingdoms ad nauseum.

[MarvinisaLunatic]

Pokemon

[Guest NYankees]

Wow another Uncharted Waters fan. That was my favorite game on the SNES 10 years ago. I wish somebody would make a Pirates game just like that. 6 different playable characters who were all intertwined in their own stories.

[Guest Princess Leena]

They put out bout five or six Mario type games a year it seems, from Mario party to Mario Paint to the one with the little mini Mario. Hell, some people can make an argument that MK games have new ideas and fresh situations with some goodness tossed in, doesn't mean the series isn't being milked. Your games can be fine and good and still milk a video game series.

Indeed. I've loved the Mario Tennis and the Mario RPG's, but I really wish Nintendo would freaking move on.

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski]

Pokemon

 

Now with 500 Pokemon in 17 different games. Gotta catch them all.

 

Anyway, Donkey Kong and the Donkey Kong Country games. The 16 bit games were good and the 64 version wasn;t as good. I haven't played the other games on the DS or GBA.

WWF Smackdown. Particually, its engine. Yukes should build another engine.

[Epic Reine]

Has to be Tomb Raider and to an extent, Mortal Kombat.

[razazteca]

Mario. Say what you want about the games being good, but that sucker is being milked for all its worth.

Mario had no business being in EA sports games and I'm surprised that Mario/Wario Party for the Wii was not available at the launch.

[Rendclaw]

How do you move on from the face of the franchise, Leena? Tell me that. It is the same with Sega when they were more solvent.

[Guest Princess Leena]

Nintendo shouldn't kill off Mario, but just create one platform Mario game at a time. There's no need to have 100 sports games with those characters.

 

Plus, the over usage of the Mario characters is the biggest reason Nintendo carries the "kiddy" stigma with their consoles (which is bullshit considering Sony has a lot more "kiddy" genre games).

[DrVenkman PhD]

Who remembers "Army Men"?

[2GOLD]

Tony Hawk games should probably be on this list as well. They have made like what? 8 of those games and it's usually the same game only with worse collusion detection.

 

God I remember "Army Men". Did they make anymore of those after PS went away?

[MrRant]

Collusion detection? Skaters plotting against each other?

[AndrewTS]

I cannot see anyone arguing the Mega Man games are any good anymore.

 

Mega Man ZX is great stuff. It's from the Zero team, who had carved out a niche for themselves for high-quality but brutally-hard games that hardcore skilled players love. Fortunately, ZX is more accessible and fun.

 

I disagree with Mario, but Mario Party has definitely worn out it's welcome. New Super Mario Bros. tho---that thing is still a huge seller and it's been out since May.

 

Tomb Raider Legend was a great game, but all the previous TR games were definitely milks. Hopefully it wasn't a fluke.

 

The Sonic games all suck now but they make tons of money, sadly.

 

The MK games are 100% definites. Just look at MK Armageddon.

[MarvinisaLunatic]

I havent played any of the new games but the Need for Speed franchise probably should be up there.

[El Psycho Diablo]

Capcom anything? They're about the worst for beating the dead franchise horse I can think of.

 

As far as Uncharted Waters, there have been a few (up to the sixth installment, IIRC) since the release back on the SNES. Koei just hasn't translated any of them. Same with Nobunaga's Ambition, another Koei game I liked.

[ChrisMWaters]

For the person about the Mega Man games:

 

I have Mega Man: Powered Up for the PSP. I find it a fun game, plus it FINALLY gets an innovation for CLASSIC Mega Man, giving you a choice of 12 characters to play through as, challenge modes, and the create-a-level feature.

 

If they could keep making innovations like that to the Mega Man series (and personal preference, bring more stuff with classic Mega Man games into the fold) I'll always be a fan of that series.

[Black Lushus]

Final Fight...the arcade version (and the Sega CD version) should have been it.

[Guest NYankees]

The Legacy of Kain franchise. They come out with new games every couple of years and they are nowhere as good as Blood Omen.

[Wyld Cannon]

The Legacy of Kain franchise. They come out with new games every couple of years and they are nowhere as good as Blood Omen.

 

Thats hogwash! The storyline was tremendous throughout and Defiance was the best game of the series.

[In Credible]

NBA Live, they really hit it on the head in 2005 and since then it's been utter crap.

[Star Ocean 3]

Suikoden

[World's Worst Man]

Suikoden 5 was the best in the series. Unless you mean the interest in the game is dead, which I definitely agree with.

[naiwf]

I can't believe I forgot about Madden. They'll still be making those game in 2050 with Frank Caliendo or some other comedian doing the commentary as Madden.

[razazteca]

Is Squaresoft going to continue making 2 Final Fantasy games for consoles and 3 remakes for the portables every year?

[Der Kommissar]

Suikoden

I'd have to agree, unfortunately. The fact that they just did two prequels in a row doesn't exactly fill me with confidence that they will ever get around to wrapping up whatever story they were working towards in the first three games.

 

Suikoden 5 was the best in the series.

 

I wasn't a huge fan of 5 myself. I thought it was an okay game that had a lot of good points in it, but a lot of other things just felt tacked on to me. It was a step in the right direction for the series in terms of quality, but the series still just feels dead in the water to me.

 

As far as Uncharted Waters, there have been a few (up to the sixth installment, IIRC) since the release back on the SNES. Koei just hasn't translated any of them.

 

That's too bad. I remember playing the hell out of Uncharted Waters II, and it still remains one of my favourite video games to this day. It's nice to see that some more were made. Maybe if I get really bored, I'll try to see if I can find a rom of these untranslated games, then try to have at it.