Early Installment Weirdness/Video Games: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
* ''[[
** Early games described Cyrodiil as a [[Mayincatec]]-esque setting, with jungles, rivers, rice fields, tattoos, and stone cities. By ''Morrowind'', however, it had become cemented as a [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture]] of ancient Rome.
* The original ''[[The Legend of Zelda (
** The first and [[Zelda II:
** 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
** 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:
▲** 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 (Video Game)|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 T He Past (Video Game)|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 (Video Game)|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.
** The [[Metal Gear
▲* ''[[Metal Gear (Video Game)|Metal Gear]]'':
** Although it was a non-canon sequel made by a different team, ''[[
▲** The [[Metal Gear 1987 (Video Game)|first game]] for the MSX2 and NES had no crawling, no radar, and a simple straightforward plot. Guards could only see in straight lines and the stages were screen-based (think the original ''Zelda''), allowing the players to escape detection by moving to the next screen (at least in the NES version, which lacked the higher alert phase). It also featured a level-up system that increases your maximum health and item capacity for every five hostages you rescued (and demotes you if you killed one) and multiple cardkeys were needed to open different doors.
** ''[[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.
▲** Although it was a non-canon sequel made by a different team, ''[[Snakes Revenge (Video Game)|Snakes Revenge]]'' played pretty much like the first game, only with the addition of side-scrolling segments.
** Up until ''[[Metal Gear
* ''[[Dynasty Warriors]]'' is often mistaken as part of the trope outside Japan. In North America, Dynasty Warriors 1 is from a different series than Dynasty Warriors 2 and later. It's not an actual example of the trope because, while sharing a similar setting and even in Japan similar naming, they are still separate series.
* ''[[Jak and Daxter]]'': [[Jak and Daxter The Precursor Legacy|The first game]] is very different in tone from the later games in the series, although it was more in line with Naughty Dog's [own] ''[[Crash Bandicoot]]'' titles.
* ''[[
** Starting with ''Wario Land 2'', the series began to focus on exploration. The second game is radically different from the first, to the point where Wario ''[[Nigh Invulnerability|can't even die]]'', which could be considered [[Early Installment Weirdness]] on its own, since most games after the third one have a health meter. The time limit is only present in the first one; the closest the series has ever come to a time limit since that is ''Wario Land 4'' during the escape sequences.
* ''[[Kirby]]'': The first game doesn't let you absorb the powers of enemies, which was introduced in the second and became the series' trademark, at least until ''[[
* ''[[Donkey Kong]]'': The arcade games are very different from both the Mario and Donkey Kong platformers that came later, the first portraying Donkey Kong as a villain, the second being the only game ever to have Mario as a villain, and the third introducing Mario's cousin Stanley, who was [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome|never heard from again]]. None of the enemies were [[Goomba Stomp|stompable]]. These games also had a modern day setting, which is a big part of the reason why [[Fanon]] has the Mario Bros. as refugees from the real world (the other part of the reason being that [[Super Mario Bros. (
** Also, Mario was a ''carpenter'', not a plumber. This characterization carried over into ''[[Wrecking Crew]]''.
** Hell, in early versions of the game, Mario ''wasn't even named Mario'' - he was "Jumpman".
** Unlike in ''[[Mario Bros
* ''[[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.]]'':
** What we'd call "Small Mario" in later 2-D titles appears to be his normal height in [[Super Mario Bros. (
** In the original ''[[Mario Bros
** In ''Wrecking Crew'' (released 3 months before ''SMB''), Mario can't jump, and he also wears a hard hat.
** ''[[
** The early enemy designs were very different from the ones used today. For example. [[Big Bad|Bowser]] was originally drawn without any hair on his head (although he did have hair in the game's official artwork and in the SNES remake), Koopa Troopas were depicted as quadrupeds instead of bipeds (they inexplicably revert back into quarupeds in ''Galaxy'' and ''Galaxy 2''), Goombas were originally drawn without mouths, and whenever a Lakitu is killed, he will actually take his cloud with him instead of leaving it behind. And the Mario Bros. themselves were originally drawn without [[White Gloves]].
* This is also true with the ''Mario'' RPG games. While ''[[Super Mario RPG]]'' is the only game of its kind not to be part of a series, the first ''[[Paper Mario]]'' game is the only ''Mario'' RPG game to actually have Bowser as the main villain (later games, as well as the earlier ''RPG'', have the villain portrayed as someone else, while Bowser is just there for some other reason).
* ''[[Super Mario Kart]]'', the first ''[[
* Also, the [[Mario
* ''[[Tex Murphy]]'': The first game (Mean Streets) in the series had flight sim and run & gun sequences in addition to the adventure gameplay. All of its sequels (including its remake) are FMV point & click adventures.
** Not true. ''Martian Memorandum'', the second game, didn't feature FMV sequences, although it did show characters as video recordings in conversations, a step towards FMV. No flight sims or arcade sequences, though.
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* ''[[Grand Theft Auto]]'': The original game, and the London Expansion pack. All the excitement of a fully realized living city in glorious, er, two dimensional blocky graphics that look like something on an Amiga. In ''1997''.
* The first ''[[Touhou]]'' game for the [[PC 98]] was a strange sort of Breakout/Arkanoid game with gravity and lots of bullet dodging; from the second game onward the series was firmly in the [[Shoot'Em Up]] genre, but the [[Bullet Hell]] formula prevalent in the Windows series was not established until the fourth [[PC 98]] game (out of five), and the makings of the "spell card" system that would dominate the Windows Touhou games wasn't present until the fifth game. The overall tone and character designs are still fairly different.
* The [[Halo: Combat Evolved|first]] ''[[Halo]]'' had a lifebar separate from the regenerating shield, indestructible human vehicles, less-avian-looking Jackals, [[Fake Ultimate Mook|Hunters who went down with one pistol shot]], and other minor quirks not kept in the sequels.
** The lifebar seems to have made a return, being absent in ''[[Halo 2]]'' & ''[[Halo 3]]'', but back with ''[[Halo 3: ODST|ODST]]'' and ''[[Halo: Reach|Reach]]''. The remake of ''Halo: Combat Evolved'' still includes it, and of course the jury's out for ''[[Halo 4]]'' until we get some more information.
*** The lifebar disappeared because of the new armor Master Chief recieved at the start of Halo 2. It returned in Reach because it took place before 2 (and as a result, before the armor's production) and in ODST because it focused on an ODST, not a SPARTAN. As Master Cheif was still wearing this armor at the end of Halo 3, it's likely the lifebar will disappear again in Halo 4.
* The Spin Dash has become a staple of the ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' series since its introduction in the Genesis ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog 2]]''. Games developed or released before ''Sonic 2'' either lack this move or, like ''[[Sonic CD]]'', feature an unusual variation on it. The absence of the Spin Dash is noticeable enough that a few bundled rereleases of the original ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (
** ''[[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.
* The earliest ''[[
** The first game was also strange in that you could lose coins in the post-turn minigames.
* In the original ''[[Glider]]'', [[Ratchet Scrolling|you couldn't go back a screen]], and you kept drifting left or right if you released the keys, making it difficult to hover over vents. Electrical outlets also worked differently: they didn't give out zappy surges continually like in 4.0 and PRO, but set you on fire if you passed over them, like candles always did. There was also an option to play as a dart; darts only turned up in the later games as enemies.
* Before the ''SWAT'' series became Tactical [[First-Person Shooter|First Person Shooters]] [[Dueling Games|"rivaling"]] with ''[[Rainbow Six]]'' series by its third installment, we had a [[Real Time Strategy]] Game in the vein of ''[[X-COM]] Apocalypse's'' real-time mode. And before ''that'', we had a ''[[Full Motion Video|FMV Game]]'', which was a sequel/spin-off of an ''adventure game series'', Police Quest.
* The original ''[[Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney]]'' used a penalty system with a fixed number of allowed "strikes" instead of the lifebar system of all later games. The tone of the game was slightly less comical.
** Also, if you only count the Phoenix Wright games (the first three), the first one lacks the Magatama and profile presenting. The fourth game removed the latter and greatly reduced the presence of the former.
* The [[Resident Evil 1|original]] ''[[Resident Evil]]'' featured live-action scenes for its opening and ending sequences, whereas every subsequent installment in the series (including the GameCube version) were entirely computer generated.
** The first ''Resident Evil'' game also feels very basic compared to the later sequels. The original lacked an auto-aiming function (unless you were playing the [[Difficulty
* The first ''[[Diablo]]'' was markedly different from its sequel and the upcoming ''Diablo 3''. Aside from the expected differences in scope, lore, balance and gameplay features, the first game was much more survival oriented and featured several instances of ''[[Nethack]]''-style permanent character damage. Shrine effects were irreversible and not all were positive, and there was a monster that would permanently reduce your maximum life. When you died in multiplayer mode, all your gear would end up ''on the ground'' and would be lost forever if you were unable to recover it. This would be unthinkable in the sequels which revolve around [[Min-Maxing]] character builds and [[Item Farming]].
* In the very first ''[[Street Fighter (
* The first game of the [[Nancy Drew (
** ''Secrets Can Kill'' has since been re-released, in an updated version that sheds most of the original's [[Early Installment Weirdness]]. The fact that Nancy's investigating a murder instead of a robbery, haunting, or other non-lethal mystery is still rather jarring, but that probably couldn't be changed considering the game's title.
* The first ''[[
* Early ''[[
* ''[[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.)
* ''[[
* ''[[
** 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.
** It's not entirely clear if the discrepancies between the first game's supplementary materials and general franchise lore are a result of this or poor communication between the manual writers and the game makers. For one thing, the artwork of the [[Space Pirates]] don't portray them as humanoid arthropods, but as stock "shiver me timbers!" pirates complete with colonial era hats and peg-legs, while Kraid is portrayed with ''fur''. Also, the back of the box says that "left alone the Metroid[s] are harmless." Later games make it clear that Metroids are ''always'' dangerous; it's just that the Pirates' efforts to artificially multiply them and use them as bioweapons make them even ''more'' dangerous.
** In the first ''[[
* ''[[
** ''[[
* The original ''[[Twisted Metal]]'' was much different from the games that followed it. The setting was confined to Los Angeles instead of being all over the world (and began with a glorified tutorial level that had players going one-on-one with another competitor in a small arena, unlike later games), live-action photos were used for the characters profiles, the endings consisted of scrolling text over a still picture of Calypso (a remnant of the deleted live-action endings that went unused), there were no special moves, special attacks were collectable items (instead of regenerating after a set amount of time), Needles Kane lacked his trademark [[Flaming Hair]], the weapon pickups all have the same icon, Calypso is not such a [[Jackass Genie]], Minion is the final boss (unlike TM2, where he's a midgame boss and had a [[Retcon]] to his origin story) and the tone is a lot more down-to-earth and less humorous.
* ''[[Suikoden]]''. The army battles in the original were just [[Tactical Rock-Paper-Scissors|rock-paper-scissors choices]], while the later games had war strategy game style battles.
* The first and [[Persona 2|second]] ''[[Persona (
** ''[[Persona (
** The first game looks far more like the ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]'' series it's based off of, with first-person dungeon exploration and the series staple Megido having an element that ''isn't'' Almighty, this being the [[Shin Megami Tensei:
** There is a reason for this: [[Persona 3]] was released six years after [[Persona 2]]; it's arguably an [[Dolled-Up Installment|almost entirely different series.]]
** 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
* ''[[
** ''[[
** ''[[
** Both of the first two games also featured rivers which could only be crossed by canoe.
** The first two games lacked auto-retargeting; if an enemy is defeated but you commanded other characters to attack it, those other characters will do nothing. Most, if not all remakes have "fixed" this.
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** Cid is completely absent from the first game. Remakes add references to him in dialogue as a [[Posthumous Character]] of sorts.
** The first game is the only one of the series to have separate music on the menu.
** It wasn't until ''[[
* ''[[Dragon Quest]]'' went through a bit of this.
** Obviously, the first game was the only one where you had just one character, and could only battle a single enemy at once. It was also the only game where keys were expendable, and it forced the player to either use a spell or buy a torch to see in the game's several [[Blackout Basement|dark dungeons]] (which have been used much more sparingly since then).
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** In the second game, the hero is a purely physical fighter; in any other game in the series the hero fits the role of the [[Jack of All Stats]].
** You weren't allowed to choose a destination for Return until III. In the first game, it always returned you to Tantegel, and in the second, the last castle you visited.
** The menus were also quite clunky early on. In all of the NES ''DQ'' games, you had to go into your menu to do something as simple as talk to someone or open a door. it wasn't until ''[[
* The first ''[[
* The [[Ultima]] series had some bizarre quirks throughout.
** The first two games had only a single player character, customizable to some degree; the third game included a party of up to four, all intimately customizable; every game after that allows only small adjustments to the main character (the Avatar) during character creation.
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** [[Ultima II]] is the only game with dungeon-like "Towers" as well as dungeons - {{spoiler|and the only installment in the series where the dungeons play no useful part in furthering your quest.}}
** [[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.
* ''[[
* [[Pokémon]] has an odd variation: Each generation introduces a hundred or more new [[Mons]], but while ''[[
** 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 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.
* The first ''[[Worms (Video Game)|Worms]]'' game doesn't have the more cartoony style that every game in the series after it has.▼
*** Body Slam can't paralyze normal types in Generation One. Nobody knows why.
* 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. Jack--who underwent a facelift between the first and second games--reappeared in a subsequent canonical game, instead being replaced by the newest model in their line). Devil Kazuya is essentially Kazuya in a purple suit with wings, but he has all the same moves (meaning he can't fly). You also can't sidestep at all. ''Tekken'' was released at a time when its graphical capabilities and arcade perfect nature was all that was needed to impress people.▼
*** 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 ''[[
▲* 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 ''[[
* 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.
* Many elements of the ''[[Total War]]'' series such as dynasties being more important and a more fluid take on the [[Risk
** Both of those have been remade now in the style established by ''Rome''. ''Shogun II'' also has naval combat, albeit markedly different from the [[Age Of Sail]] fights in ''Empire'' and ''Napoleon'' in focusing more on boarding actions than cannon volleys.
** The dynasty mechanic was abandoned in ''Empire'' and ''Napoleon'', the former actually allowing you to switch governments types through revolution, and brought back in ''Shogun II''.
* The first ''[[Deception]]'' game was a first-person RPG which included typical item usage, merchants to buy/sell from, [[Summon Magic]], as many traps in each room as you could fit and have MP to fund, and the ability to redecorate your castle. From ''Kagero'' on, they shifted to third-person, removed almost all RPG elements except for [[Hit Points]], and you were limited to one ceiling, wall, and floor trap at a time, but you also received bonus points for [[Combos]]. However, the connection was far more tenuous between games in the original Japanese; the later titles are [[Dolled-Up Installment|Dolled Up Installments]] in the US.
* The pre-NES ''[[
* ''[[The Sims]]'' is very different from its descendants. It's more like a typical life simulator (many which started out as, or were, [[Follow the Leader|clones of said game)]] than the goofy Sims. Unlike the more recent games, there was no aging other than from baby to child, and the Create-A-Sim page was extremely limited.
* 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 (
* The first ''[[Age of Empires
* ''[[
* ''[[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.
* The first two ''[[Harvest Moon]]'' handheld games had no marriage in it and very little socialization, while the third game had marriage but only to your [[Distaff Counterpart]]. The first two games in the series to have a female protagonist had the game end after marriage, while later games in the series are notorious for giving the female versions more options.
* The original ''[[Rayman]]'' game featured almost an ''entirely'' different setting from the later games, with a different cast of characters, a more [[Wackyland]]-style world as opposed to the more [[Dream Land|dreamlike one]] of the later games, a different mythos, and even different ''collectables''. It wasn't until the second game that the modern cast of the ''Rayman'' series were introduced (most of them being [[Remember the New Guy?|old friends of Rayman's we'd never met before]]), along with the current version of its backstory. ''[[Rayman Origins]]'' tries to [[Arc Welding|fuse the two conflicting storylines]], but still skews a bit more heavily towards the ''Rayman 2'' version of things.
* ''[[Command
** The first Red Aler game also apparently takes place in the same universe as the Tiberian games, as Kane appears as a Soviet advisor. The second game obviosuly doesn't fit into the timeline of the Tiberian games, so at some point after the firts one, the timeline must have split.
* The first ''[[Summon Night]]'' has four possible protagonists with similar stat growth to choose from, sort of averts [[
* The differences between ''Koudelka'' and the "core" ''[[Shadow Hearts]]'' franchise are like night and day, with ''Koudelka'' playing as a strange hybrid of RPG and [[Survival Horror]] ([[Executive Meddling|which it was]]), and the ''SH'' games being straight-up RPG's with a heavy comedic bent.
** For that matter, the original ''[[Shadow Hearts]]'' is significantly heavier on the horror and lighter on the comedy than the later games.
* ''[[Super Robot Wars]]''. The first game (on the [[Game Boy]]) features an incredibly simple plot (unlike the greatly complex and interwoven stories of later games), only features the "Holy Trinity" of Mazinger, Getter, and Gundam; all robots are intelligent beings (not largely non-sentient constructs piloted by humans), and health is in the double digits (while later games give robots thousands of HP). If it weren't for the title, you'd never know it was part of the series.
* [[
* 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 (
* The first ''[[Violated Hero]]'' game is the only one to have human characters other than the main character.
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[[Category:Early Installment Weirdness]]
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