Sometimes, a great game series needs to take an extra year or two between sequels so its developers can replenish the creative juices that made their games so special in the first place. Other times, it seems, they need closer to about a decade or two. When the latter happens, the anticipation can be so high that no game could possibly match it, but occasionally fans get a masterpiece and all is forgiven.
RELATED:The Games With The Longest Waits Between Sequels
It’s not necessarily common that a big gap between sequels will yield a top flight game, but it does happen, and when it does, it’s something to behold for fans of the series. All the time they spent waiting for these games makes it that much sweeter that there was a pot of gold at the end of the long, long rainbow.
8Fallout 3
Fallout 2was successful enough that it wasn’t long at all before Interplay was planning on a follow-up for it, but then the company went under and so began a long, winding, and frankly dull (at least for anyone disinterested in the financial side of gaming) road toFallout 3.
It took about 10 years for this highly anticipated sequel to finally be released, and considering the fact that it holds a 93 on Metacritic compared to its predecessor’s still-impressive 86, it’s clear that the wait was well worth it. Inthe trusted hands of Bethesda, the franchise was reborn and now that full decade span between sequels is nothing but a distant, chilling memory.
7Pikmin 3
ThePikminseries is fairly beloved by Nintendo faithful, but unlike some of their other staple franchises, sequels have mostly been few and far between.Pikmin 2actually came out a reasonable three years after the original, but it would be nearly a decade until fans got another entry in the series.
While fans and critics may not have ratedPikmin 3quite as highly as its predecessor, it was still well-reviewed and well-liked. It’s now been about a decade without a main line release, but withthe recent Nintendo Directannouncing thatPikmin 4is set to drop this July, fans will get to see once again if Nintendo and Shigeru Miyamoto still have it where it counts.
6Kid Icarus: Uprising
Kid Icarusowns the somewhat dubious distinction of having one of the biggest gaps between sequels in gaming history. There was a 26 year gap between the original entry and 2012’sKid Icarus: Uprising. Even counting 1991’sKid Icarus: Of Myths and Monstersfor Game Boy, that’s still 21 years.
To be fair, the original game was never a massive hit, nor was it incredibly well-reviewed. However, it did become a cult classic, and with Pit’s return on theSuper Smash Bros.series, it gained enough traction to earn itself a highly rated sequel that now ranks in the top 50 best-selling 3DS games of all time.
5Streets of Rage 4
Anyone who got the Sega Genesis that came with the6-PakknowsStreets of Rageand likely loves it to this day. Thisworld class beat ‘emup came dressed in a super cool neo-noir aesthetic and armed with an awesome soundtrack. Playing this game (or either of its two original sequels) on multiplayer was a highlight of many Genesis owners’ childhoods.
RELATED:Sega Genesis Games That Need A Modern Remake
But while the original trilogy is highly regarded by those who were around for their releases, the series died with the 16-bit era and wouldn’t see the light of day for another 16 years. Fortunately,Streets of Rage 4didn’t miss a single beat (‘em up), and in fact it one-upped its predecessor in the eyes of some fans. Any newer gamers curious about the series should absolutely give it a shot.
4Metroid Dread
While fans have been gifted with two remakes worthy of their place in theMetroidcanon to hold them over, full on original entries in this franchise have almost always been few and far between. There was an eight year gap betweenSuper MetroidandMetroid Fusionand a whopping 19-year gap betweenFusionandMetroid Dread.
It’s somewhat dumbfounding that there aren’t more of these games, because every title has been more or less a complete masterpiece, but perhaps it’s better to let things keep going as they currently are becauseDreadwas amongthe most incredible entriesin this already fantastic series.
3Mega Man 9
Regardless of whetherMega Man 8orMega Man & Bassis considered the true predecessor toMega Man 9(it’sMega Man 8), fans still had to wait at least ten years to finally see the Blue Bomber back on a main line title. There were a ton of offshoots in between, but none of them quite scratched theMega Manitch the way this one did.
With its super retro-styled design made to look and feel like players had been transported back to the salad days of the original NES, all the way down to its ode to the blindingly ugly box art from the American versions of the earlyMega Mantitles, this game just absolutely nailed it all.
2Kingdom Hearts 3
For a series so beloved, it was something of a tragedy that the wait betweenKingdom Hearts 2andKingdom Hearts 3was so long. Fans were so dismayed by the 14-year gap between sequels that the game’s co-director Tai Yasue felt the need to explain himselfwhat in the world took so long.
However, as long as the wait may have been, fans were rewarded with a worthy follow up in the end.Kingdom Hearts 3may not have quite reached the impressive heights of its predecessor, but it was impressive in its own right, and there is certainly hope that the upcomingKingdom Hearts 4can continue that streak.
1New Pokemon Snap
The originalNintendo 64Pokemon Snapwas a massive fan favorite back in the day. It may have been somewhat limited, but it was a unique and incredibly well-executed game nonetheless, and the room it had to grow made it absolutely scream for a sequel. That sequel would eventually come…22 years later.
How there wasn’t aSnaptitle on the DS or 3DS where the handheld could have been its own camera is difficult to fathom, but at least fans finally got to return to the world of Pocket Monster photography all these years later.New Pokemon Snapwas a far bigger success than its predecessor, potentially opening the door for a sequel, hopefully this time with a far shorter waiting period…
