Early Installment Weirdness/Video Games: Difference between revisions
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* The original ''[[The Legend of Zelda (video game)|The Legend of Zelda]]'' lets you take keys between dungeons, which just feels completely un-''Zelda'' like, especially since most later games (presumably in response to it being possible in the first) remind you constantly that keys only work in the dungeon you find them in. Keys could also be bought from shopkeepers. Your bow also uses rupees to make arrows, which is bizarre even without contrast to other Zeldas.
** The first and [[Zelda II: The Adventure of Link|second games]] also had you find whole heart containers outside of dungeons instead of Pieces of Heart. This mechanic was resurrected in the DS installments.
** The second game was primarily a side-scroller with [[RPG Elements]], a style that hasn't been used since. The 8-bit [[Game Boy]] installments and ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures|The Legend of Zelda Four Swords Adventures]]'' did have some side-scrolling areas (the former were even complete with cross-series cameos from [[Super Mario Bros.|Goombas]], which of course ''originated'' in a side-scroller and in their Zelda appearances can even be defeated using a [[Goomba Stomp]] using the Roc's Feather and Roc's Cape items), but no RPG elements.
** This trope also applies in terms of aesthetics and plot. The Triforce for one originally had only two parts, with the Triforce of Courage and the appearance as flat, golden Sierpinski triangles not featured until ''Zelda II''; in fact, the artwork and the cartoon actually portrayed it as glowing, gem-like tetrahedrons. While the standard look for the Triforce was codified in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past|The Legend of Zelda a Link To T He Past]]'', it was portrayed as actually speaking to Link. Link and Zelda's hair were brown, the expanded Hyrule in ''[[Zelda II: The Adventure of Link|Zelda II the Adventure of Link]]'' (which had [[Death Mountain]] on the southern part of the [[World Map]] instead of the usual northern location and had eastern and western regions separated by water) is never heard of in any other game, and races that became iconic aspects of the series in later games (i.e. Gorons, friendly Zoras, the Sheikah) are completely absent in early games. And then, of course, the early games had zero hints to the eventual timeline issues that would develop in large part thanks to ''[[Ocarina of Time]]'', which would not be settled until Nintendo ''finally'' released an official timeline on the game's 25th anniversary.
* ''[[Metal Gear]]'':
** The [[Metal Gear (video game)
** Although it was a non-canon sequel made by a different team, ''[[Snake's Revenge]]'' played pretty much like the first game, only with the addition of side-scrolling segments.
** ''[[Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake]]'' is much closer to ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' than the other previous installments, although still limited by the same technical constraints as the first. It also had some of the oddest items and puzzles in the series, such as hideable buckets, poisonous hamsters, and egg hatching.
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** Unlike in ''[[Mario Bros.]]'' and subsequent Mario games, in ''[[Donkey Kong]]'' it's not possible to fall a long way without losing a life.
* ''[[Spyro the Dragon]]'': If not for the common title and character design, you'd hardly believe that the games of the ''three'' continuities were from the same series.
** This arguably happened within the original series; while the engine was mostly the same, in ''Spyro the Dragon'' (1998) there were no sidequests to collect the [[Plot Coupon
The first game plays with a somewhat melancholic 'Last man alive' feel and you're guided through the level by the dragons you have to rescue, which also function as save points (you can't save via the pause menu). The second introduces goofy cartoon characters who talk to you throughout the levels and the levels mostly consist of helping people out and getting orbs in return.
* ''[[Dune]]'' is an obscure Adventure/Strategy game, ''[[Dune II|Dune 2]]'' is the [[Trope Codifier]] for the [[Real Time Strategy]] genre.
* ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'':
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** ''[[Sonic 3 and Knuckles]]'' had the Master Emerald being kept in an ''underground'' shrine.
*** Also, it had the Super Emeralds - large grey emeralds found in the shrine with the Master Emerald, which are empowered by the regular Chaos Emeralds, and which gain colors after jumping on them and completing ''7 more'' Special Stages.
*** Plus, this is the only game in which we see Knuckles and Tails get their own [[Super Mode
** The original ''Sonic'' had only ''six'' chaos emeralds; subsequent games featured seven.
** And the first game's zones had three acts apiece, instead of two...
** ''[[Sonic Adventure]]'', while otherwise the beginning of "modern" Sonic (as ''[[Sonic Generations]]'' defines it) lacks Sonic's signature impatience and restlessness (indeed, his personality as a whole is less prominent), which is actually introduced into modern canon by ''[[Sonic Adventure 2]]''. This results in things like Sonic being told to wait, literally shrugging, ''and complying patiently''.
* The contrast between the first ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]'' and its sequels is astounding. While ''Melee'' and ''Brawl'' are notable for detailed environments and characters, as well as epic orchestral music, the original had [[Floating Continent
** The original was pretty much a budget [[Widget Series|Widget Title]], and [[Sleeper Hit|no one was expecting it to become so popular]]. It wasn't even supposed to be a cross-series game. It just goes to show you that sometimes, [[Executive Meddling]] is good.
** The original ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]'' also lacked a lot of moves and abilities that were introduced later, like air-dodging, and a side-B special move for example.
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* Early ''[[Tetris]]'' games: no hold, no lock delay (pieces lock into place as soon as they hit the floor or the top of another piece) unless it's a game made by Sega, slower sideways movement (again unless it's by Sega), a completely random randomizer notorious for I-piece droughts and consecutive S- and Z-pieces, and only counterclockwise rotation (in pre-Nintendo versions). So you've cleared 200 lines in ''Tetris DS'', and gotten GM rank in ''[[Tetris the Grand Master]]''; NES and Game Boy ''Tetris'''s Level 19 should feel like nothing...right?
* ''[[DJMAX]] Online'' (which [[Sequel Displacement|most newer fans don't know about]]): No Fever, hold notes only raise your combo by 1, equipment is very expensive, and currency earned per song is very little.
* There is an obscure Japanese [[PS 1]] game called [https://web.archive.org/web/20070930203345/http://www.konami.co.jp/press/1998/r.10.12.1.html "Dance! Dance! Dance!"]. If this reminds you of the DDR series, probably in name only, since the game is very much a JRPG, except that for some reason, you find people and you do dance battles with them, one on one. Each character has their own dance style (from Samba to Tap Dance to Hip-hop to Flamenco, etc), and you are supposed to memorize what each button does and what each button chains to, on which beat of the song. Only in "Trace" mode does the computer tell you which button to press next (and even then, it makes mistakes). Compare to the now more familiar DDR format of dispensing almost entirely with characters and using D-pad arrows (or buttons, if you're playing DDR-derivatives).
* The original ''[[Guild Wars]] Prophecies'' is almost unrecognizable from what later releases would make it. There was none of the dry, [[Shout-Out]] heavy humor that would later become a trademark, most of the game was designed for players below max level (reaching max level less then a quarter of the way through the game would later become a selling-point), and you got an over-all feeling that everything except [[PvP]] was a lead-up to [[PvP]]. [[Unpleasable Fanbase|depending on who you ask]] [[Jump the Shark|this was either the best]] [[Growing the Beard|or worst]] part of the game's life.
** It's worth noting that the the original [[Player Versus Environment|PvE]] actually WAS a prelude to [[PvP]]. The focus changed somewhere between the second and third game.
* The [[Fire Emblem Akaneia|first]] ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' games had odd quirks, such as Weapon Rank being a regular stat that went up with levels (Instead of depending of weapon usage), healers gaining no experience from healing and instead from ''getting hit'' (It's as counter-productive as it sounds, but abusable), magic and resistance (Magic defend) not going up with levels (So magic did fixed damage, pretty much), and many well-known trademarks of the series such as the Weapon Triangle or Suppport System hadn't been included by then. Oh, and classes' names were in Japanese instead of [[Gratuitous English]]. The [[Updated Rerelease]] for the DS modernized most of those things, but without changing the core game, [[Your Mileage May Vary|which for some felt awkward]].
** The [[Fire Emblem Jugdral|fifth game]] also introduced a bunch of new game mechanics. A few of them, such as [[Fog of War]] and the ability to rescue allied units, became staples of the series. The majority of them, however, were never seen again. This included fatigue meters, movement stars that randomly allowed units to get a [[Extra Turn|second action in a turn]], capturing enemies, and movement rate and build having growth rates just like all of the other stats. (Mounted units being forced to dismount while indoors, while introduced in the third game, was also never seen again after this game.)
* ''[[Tales of Phantasia]]'' (SNES version) lacked many of the things that became trademarks of the series - for example: cooking, the Dark Wings and especially the skits. The battle system also comes as a little odd for modern Tales players - [[
* ''[[Metroid]]'':
** The first ''Metroid'' game is frustrating in comparison to later ones due to no map display and [[Denial of Diagonal Attack]]. It's also the only ''Metroid'' game where you use passwords to save your progress (the [[Save Point]] wasn't introduced until ''Metroid II''). The designs of Ridley and Kraid were also rather different: Ridley was a completely stationary winged thing of some kind who was fairly easy to defeat, and Kraid was tiny, barely larger than Samus. ''Super Metroid'' codified their current designs: Ridley as a fiendlishly tough and agile Space Dragon and Kraid as a gigantic lizard monster.
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** While we're on the subject of [[Shin Megami Tensei]], the spinoff ''Devil Summoner'' is like this. The first two Devil Summoner titles were basically just like the main Megami Tensei series except without using the [[Karma Meter]] and more straight forward. The sequels, that were released in the West, are known as ''Raidou Kuzunoha'' might as well be a separate series since they are [[Action RPG|ActionRPGs]]. The only thing they have in common is they involve some detective agency and some guy named Kuzunoha.
* The original ''[[Darius]]'' is infamous for its three-screen-wide setup. ''Darius II'' carries on this feature, but also comes in a two-screen variant. Later games in the series simply use one screen.
* ''[[Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune]]'' only lets you drive in the Tokyo area and a small subset of the Wangan Expressway. Furthermore, to change your car's tuning, you don't do so before a race; you can only do so via a menu you can access only after inserting your card, versus races as well as stages
* The original ''[[Don Pachi]]'' has faster but less numerous bullets compared to its successors. It also lacks the crazy numbers of later games in the series: you're lucky to get more than a 20-hit combo, and you can only achieve scores as long as 8 digits, and that's if you're very good at the game; contrast ''Dodonpachi Daifukkatsu'' where a 200-hit combo is trivial and, on a decent run, you have a [[Pinball Scoring|nine-digit score by the end of]] ''[[Pinball Scoring|the first stage.]]'' Notably and entirely absent from ''[[Don Pachi]]'' (as well as its sequel ''[[Do Don Pachi]]'') are the [[Robot Girl
** The first game also averted [[Hitbox Dissonance]] and had a bit of [[Fake Difficulty]] in later levels
* ''[[Final Fantasy I]]'' has no [[Mana Meter|Magic Points]]. Instead, spells are divided into different levels of magic, characters must buy each spell individually at magic shops, and they can only cast spells of a given level a limited number of times before resting, with the amount increasing as the characters' experience levels increase (much like the Sorcerer from ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' Third Edition). The GBA and PSP remakes remove the "X uses per magic level" system for the traditional MP.<ref>Which arguably makes the game much easier, as you can spam magic, heralding cries of [[They Changed It, Now It Sucks]]</ref>
** ''[[Final Fantasy II]]'' introduced MP, but also featured a very primitive version of [[Stat Grinding]] rather than the [[Character Level]] system that most games in the series use. It had yet to be refined; attacking your own party members was the best way to develop.
** ''[[Final Fantasy III]]'' used the same spell levels/number of uses system as the first game (albeit the number of charges was much more plentiful). It wasn't until ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'' that MP became the standard.
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** [[Ultima III]] introduced a [[Wizard Needs Food Badly|starvation mechanic]], where characters suffer damage over time if they run out of food. [[Ultima II]] just kills you off if the food counter hits zero. This mechanic held on for two more games, until it was retired in [[Ultima VI]], which merely didn't allow you to recover hitpoints or magic while resting if you had no food.
* ''[[RuneScape]] Classic'', the game's original incarnation, is ''massively'' different from its current version. The player characters and NPCs are low-res sprites; the game lacked dialogue boxes, meaning all dialogue is displayed above characters' heads; there was no indication on your progress in a quest, or if you've even ''started'' it in the first place; the camera is more restricted; there is no barrier dividing the Wilderness from the rest of the map; there was no members game in its earliest years (meaning that all skills, features, and areas were open to all players). Jagex has opened this game to members twice, and it can still be played if you logged in during those periods.
* [[Pokémon]] has an odd variation: Each generation introduces a hundred or more new [[Mons]], but while ''[[Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire]]'' and ''[[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl]]'' show off the new Pokémon as much as possible and ''[[Pokémon Black and White]]'' has ''only'' new Pokémon until after the credits roll, ''[[Pokémon Gold and Silver]]'' mostly relies on the original 151 with the others hanging around. Mildly [[Justified]] in-plot because Gen 2 happens right next to the setting of Gen 1, which is actually visited later in the game (the only games with this feature released since Gen 2 are the Gen 4 remakes of those games), while the others are further away, with Gen 5 focusing on new Pokémon more so than usual due to being even further away (Unova is implied to be in a ''different country'', as the foreign Team Rocket Grunt in Gen 2 and their Gen 4 remakes is revealed to be from Unova, with the now-reformed Team Rocket Grunt residing in Unova's Icirrus City in ''Black'' and ''White''). Flipside, it also means Gen 2 has very few [[Expy|expies]] and [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute
** Don't forget some weirdness from Generation I, such as real-world locations being mentioned, the Pokémon League apparently being a new thing ([[The Rival|your rival]] apparently being the first trainer to ever beat the Elite Four) and all the crazy stuff that happens in the Pokémon Tower (namely, Pokémon, even non-Ghost-types like Cubone, disguising themselves as [[Nigh Invulnerable|utterly untouchable ghosts]] and the player fighting the ghost of a dead Marowak) which are [[
** And let's not forget, the first generation games have [[Olympus Mons|legendary Pokémon]] completely detached from the game's plot and there solely as extras. The second generation was the first to actually incorporate them into the story, and even then they weren't the main focus. From the third generation on, legendary Pokémon became the driving force behind the antagonists' motives. This can even be seen in the number of them introduced each generation, with the first having five, and the latest two having ''thirteen.'' '''''Each.'''''
** With ''[[Pokémon Red and Blue]]'', this interestingly also manifests in a couple of mon names, both in English and Japanese. On the English side, the name "Mr. Mime" as a particular standout example feels very out of place these days (especially so given that genders were introduced in the next generation, and yes, [[Sweet Polly Oliver|Mr. Mime can be female]]), and one gets the feeling the only reason Mime Jr. was called such was to keep up the pattern, no matter how strange it feels. On the Japanese side, one gets the feeling they weren't even trying with some of the Generation I names (such luminaries as "Lizard" and "Lucky" come to mind), and it was only from Gen II onward that this changed and effort consistently happened.
** ''Pokémon Blue'' doesn't have that many changes from the Japanese ''Red'' and ''Green''; most are simply aesthetic and the occasional glitch-fixing. ''Crystal'' began the trend of the revised version of the generation's main games having plot differences from the original, but even then it's near identical. ''Emerald'' is where the changes really began to happen.
** Generation 1's mechanics are often weird and random compared to later ones, even when glitches aren't considered.
*** Body Slam can't paralyze normal types in Generation One. Nobody knows why.
*** Critical Hits are based on the attacker's speed stats, and ignore the attacker's attack ''boosts''.
*** Freeze is permanent until cured by item (impossible in player vs. player) or the frozen Pokémon is hit with a non-Fire Spin fire attack.
*** Blizzard had 90% accuracy and (outside of ''Stadium'' and ''Yellow'' under "Stadium 2") 30% chance to freeze, making it absurdly good.
*** Bug is super effective against Poison instead of resisted by it, Fire is neutral to Ice, Ghost moves don't effect Psychics instead of being super effective.
*** Special Attack and Special Defense are one (absurdly powerful) stats called Special.
*** Wrap, Fire Spin, and Bind prevent the opponent from attacking.
*** Hyper Beam does not need to recharge if it KOs an opponent (outside of ''Stadium''). This makes the move ''very'' powerful when it is useless in later generations.
*** Burn and Poison only deal 1/16th of the victim's HP as damage every turn instead of 1/8th.
* The first ''[[Worms]]'' game doesn't have the more cartoony style that every game in the series after it has.
* The ''[[Tekken]]'' series begins with the eponymous ''Tekken'' which features only two game modes, Arcade and VS, as well as an Options mode. It also features crude graphics (albeit impressive at the time), half the characters that the games would usually have, levels based on world monuments rather than ones which suit the characters, a ''[[Galaga]]'' opening game, and the bizarre element of having to unlock characters by playing said ''Galaga'' game (Heihachi and Devil Kazuya). The music and stages are also very different, the name of the stage appearing on the screen during matches. The boss characters are more powerful clones of the starting characters, albeit with some unique special moves. P. Jack looks far more powerful than some of the later Jack (he has a drill, which he can't use), Yoshimitsu resembles a knight rather than a ninja, Heihachi is the [[Big Bad]], and Kazuya is the lead character despite being pushed into the background in every other appearance he's made. Kunimitsu appears male rather than female (and is not revealed to be female until the next game). It also features the first Jack who, whilst essentially the same as Jack-2, doesn't appear in any other game (it should be noted that none of the Jacks barring P.
** However, by the time of ''Tekken 2'', things had changed, and so the series started to become what it is today in its sequel, with all the usual modes such as Time Attack, Team Battle, Survival and Practise added. The Japanese version also features a Theatre Mode. All of these would become standard for the series. However, the characters were still quite crudely rendered, the AI of opponents somewhat too difficult (they tend to block far more than any other ''Tekken'' game), and some of the music, boss characters, and stages were a holdover from ''Tekken''. Kazuya, [[Bait the Dog|now the]] [[Big Bad]] of the game, is able to sidestep, albeit not as much as characters later can. You can also use cheats like big head mode, wire frame mode, and sky mode (where kicks launch your opponent much higher than normal), things which were never included in later games. By ''Tekken 3'', commonly regarded as the best in the main series (''[[Dream Match Game|Tekken Tag]]'' is considered the best overall), all of the flaws had been addressed and it set the stage for the series as we know it today.
* The ''[[Soul Series]]'' series of fighting games began with ''Soul Edge'' (and its updated revision ''Soul Blade''), which featured the Weapon Break meter (to prevent constant blocking) and a powerful string of attacks called the "Critical Edge" while it also lacked the 8-Way Run of its successors.
** The Weapon Break feature was somewhat revisited in ''Soulcalibur IV'' with the Soul Gauge, where blocking too much (indicated by a gem embedded in the player's lifebar changing colors before the entire lifebar itself began flashing red at critical levels) would cause your character to enter a state of vulnerability known as Soul Crush, which would also give the opponent the chance to end the round with an [[Finishing Move|instant deathblow]], a Critical Finish. Critical Edges returned in ''SCV'', although in name only, as they now functioned like your typical fighting game [[Limit Break|super]], with the enhanced specials (called Brave Edges) more closely (but not entirely) resembling the Critical Edges of the first game.
* The ''[[Warcraft]]'' series has some of this, especially if you go back and play the first and second games in the series. Humans talk about God (instead of The Light), and the lore mentions summoning demons from Hell (instead of the Twisting Nether). Orcs are [[Exclusively Evil]] because... well, the humans are the Good Guys.
* The very first ''[[Monster Rancher]]'' game does a number of strange things in comparison to other games in the series, such as having your monster's weight be visible in their model, having you earn money from basic training, and having death be a ''much'' more frequent occurrence if you play your cards wrong. To say nothing of the lack of Mocchis, one of the series' [[Mascot Mook
* The plotless gauntlets of the first ''[[Time Splitters]]'' game compared to the decent story of the second and complex, brilliant and humour-filled time-travel epic of the third.
** The first ''[[Time Splitters]]'' does make sense as part of the series plotline in retrospect, but at the time it was a series of disconnected gauntlets at various points in time with only the barest story connected to each one, and no over-arching plot. The only unifying factor was things getting ''really'' weird partway through each stage. In retrospect, it chronicles the initial emergence of the Time Splitters as they strike throughout human history and the people who managed to survive and even thwart them, but at the time it just seemed strange.
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* When ''[[Puyo Puyo]]'' was first released for the MSX and Famicom, it was a simple [[Falling Blocks]] game with a single field and the top of the screen as the only opponent; ''Madou Monogatari'' characters were limited to the Puyos and token appearances by Arle and Carbuncle. It was the arcade version that introduced versus play.
* ''[[Adventures of Lolo|Eggerland Mystery]]'' required you to collect Diamond Framers to open a door, while all other games in the ''Eggerland'' series have you collect Heart Framers to open a chest. ''Mystery'' was also the only game to include a "Type B" mode, in which each level has a time limit, or [[Scoring Points|points]].
* The first ''[[Wonder Boy (video game)|Wonder Boy]]'' game is nothing like the rest of the series. Whereas all the games from ''Wonder Boy in Monster Land'' and onward are side-scrolling [[
* The first ''[[Age of Empires (video game)
* ''[[Rhythm Heaven]]'' for the GBA is pretty different than its two sequels. For starters, the mini-games are arranged in eight columns of six instead of ten columns of five, and the [[Final Exam Boss|Final Exam Remix]] is Remix 6 instead of Remix 10. Also, the music for the sequels' mini-games are tailor-made for them while some of the GBA mini-games just have accompanying BGM with the same tempo. Not to mention the [[Unexpected Gameplay Change]] that Quiz brought, while the other games never radically change the rules. The Remixes of the GBA version also doesn't change the artistic theme of the mini-games and one stage actually remixes previous remixes, two things that the sequels don't dabble in.
* ''[[Pac-Man]] Championship Edition DX'' invokes this with Championship I, a [[Nostalgia Level]] based almost exactly on the Championship maze from the original ''PMCE''. No sleeping ghosts, let alone 30-ghost trains, and the dots are not laid out in an easy-to-follow path.
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* When you compare the first ''[[Animal Crossing]]'' games to the future ones you'll notice several differences. Ease-dropping on your neighbors conversations was implemented in ''Dobutsu No Mori e+'', players couldn't use emotions until ''Wild World'', Blathers couldn't identify fossils before, and Watering Cans didn't exist. Celeste, Brewster, and Harriet made their first appearances in ''Wild World'', you wouldn't get a friends picture, the villagers were less interactive. You can only get NES games in the original games, acres are less fluid in the original compared to its sequels, and several buildings were either scrapped or replaced.
* The original ''[[Gauntlet (1985 video game)|Gauntlet]]'' [[Arcade Game]], while it did say such things as "[[Wizard Needs Food Badly|Elf needs food badly]]," didn't say "Elf shot the food"; instead, it had a generic line for when food is destroyed: "Remember, don't shoot food." ''Gauntlet II'' (at least for the NES) and later do mention who shot the food.
* The first ''[[Violated Hero]]'' game is the only one to have human characters other than the main character.
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