It seems to me that what’s true in Hollywood, isn’t really that true in video games; that is, where making a good sequel in Hollywood is sort of hit-or-miss, very rarely is a bad video game sequel made. In fact, off the top of my head, I can’t think of any game sequels which were really bad…only extremely good ones
Example: Grand Theft Auto just keeps getting better with each incarnation, Hitman 2 was one of the funnest games I’ve ever played, Sierra made several sequels (Space Quest 1-6, Leisure Suit Larry 1-3, and 5-7 (there was no 4), Kings Quest…I don’t remember how far they went, and several others), Monkey Island had several great sequels…so was there any game sequels that WEREN’T good?
Many people will tell you that Final Fantasy 3 was the best of the entire series.
I wouldn’t know. I’ve only played the newest ones.
Tomb Raider 3 really bit the big weenie, figuratively speaking.
I seem to remember Stargate, the sequel to Defender, being a flop. Defender was already one of the toughest games out there, due to its complicated controls. Stargate made it faster and harder. Whee.
If we’re not going to limit this to console games, I’d like to point out that while the arcade’s Spy Hunter was cool, Spy Hunter 2 sucked incredibly.
Similarly, Pac-Man had one successful sequel, Ms. Pac-Man and numerous flops.
I loved the frist Elder Scroll game Arena but DaggerFall just sucked it was released just to earl it had some many bugs. WIch was a shame becuse dagger fall was a huge game so many place pepole, quest, dungeons and cites. Not to mention that you could join just about any organization in the game, you could even become a werewolf or vampire. But the world may have been to big (or mabey to random all NPC were genertated not planned) but combine the size and bugs togester made for a very hard game come to think about i may have stared a 6 difrrent charicters but a never realy got any where in the story (i think i got hung up on getting my rank in the mage guild up so i could make my own magic items…come thing of it that rank system with the guilds wasn’t that good of an idea) any way…Dagerfall had some big and i dare say great ideas but was lacking in exicution of those (did i meantion how many bugs it had?)
Star Control 3 was a mediocre sequel to the nigh perfect Star Control II.
I’ve played all of the English versions starting with the first “Final Fantasy” on the Nintendo Entertainment System.
I too felt that FF3 was the best of the series. Until I played FF7! Both games had it all: Characters that you really cared about, an engrossing story, and wall-to-wall action. What made FF7 the king of the mountain for me were the graphics. Even on my lowly Playstation they were mouth watering. Especially the “Summon” animations.
I tried to play FF8, but found it rather boring and never finished it. :o
Certainly a flop for me.
As for actual sequel flops, I’d have to say that the “Blair Witch” sequels were all pretty big flops. But then so was the first one.
So I guess the real question is: Does a sequel’s flop count as a flop if the game it’s based on was a flop as well? 
FF7, FF8, and FF9 were all very subpar after the excellent FF4, FF5, and FF6 on the SNES.
Well I always thought that the N64 game “Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask” never even came close to “Ocarina of Time”…
I’d agree that *Majora’s Mask[i/] couldn’t touch Ocarina of Time, but really, did you expect it to?
There are plenty of video game sequels that were horrible, and many more that weren’t as good as the original:
Donkey Kong 64
Star Fox Adventures
Perfect Dark(not really a sequel, but definitely based off of Goldeneye)
Warcraft III
Mechwarrior 3 and 4
Simcity 3000
Monkey Island 4 wasn’t nearly as good as it’s predecessors.
Same for Space Quest 6.
Ditto for Quest for Glory 5.
Journeyman project 3 was disappointing.
Gaberial Knight 3 was dissapointing compared the the first 2. It was good, but not great.
Wing Commander Prophecy wasn’t as good as 4.
The Twisted Metal series peaked at #2.
I was never fond of the third installment in the Donkey Kong Country series.
As for most of the other series I’ve followed, I generally prefer the second to the third more for nostalgia than actual gameplay issues. Examples - Sim City 2000 over 3000, Civ II over Civ III, Warcraft II over Warcraft III.
Crash Bandicoot 4 (the PS2 version)
Mortal Kombat 3
C&C: Tiberian Sun
Silent Hill 2…Dont get me wrong, I liked it…But SH1 was far more scary and fun to play.
I just finished MM. While OoT was amazing MM is nothing to sneeze at. The graphics were much better, the bosses were a lot more difficult and on par with previous Zeldas (come on. The ultimate evil sealed by the Sheikah was a big handed bongo player?), and the fairy didn’t annoy the heck out of me. Actually Tatl was great. She was allowed to say the things Link can’t, but we are thinking (questioning the giants during the FMVs, for example). I admit some things were weird (the cow stealing alien side-quest, the very easy fight between giant Link and the giant worms), but still if OoT was a 9 MM would be an 8. I do wish the creators had been a bit more creative though. Other than the masks were there any new items?
I can’t think of any sequels I played that I didn’t like, then again, I’m picky with my games. I never played them, but I think Megaman went downhill starting with 4 and didn’t come up again until X on SNES.
:Strolls away humming the Oath to the Order.: Damn, I just got that song out of my head.
Master of Orion 3 was a total disapointment after the hundreds of hours i killed on MoO 2.
Oh don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t saying that Majora’s Mask was a bad game, I was just saying that it couldn’t really compare to Ocarina of Time. I think I just expected too much from it since OoT was so awesome. But I really did like MM too.
I love VI, and V’s class system is good (sadly the plot lacked), but IMO, IV is probably the second worst in the series (second to II). Mediocre system, more cliched story than is usual in the series (and I ain’t kidding myself - the whole series is full of cliches - I has the least only because of it’s very thin story.)
III, VI, and IX are probably my favourites in the series. (Something about pregnant 3s…WC III’s also my favourite in that series, Dragon Quest/Warrior III and VI…)
nooooo iv is the best! ::sulk::