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{{trope}}
[[File:g22917adr62.jpg|link=Metroid Prime
Some media, such as ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' or ''[[Gundam]]'', are known for being long-running series with multiple incarnations. Within these series, there is always at least one
The reasons for this vary, the most common generally being [[Genre Shift]] and [[Art Shift]].
▲Some media, such as ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' or ''[[Gundam]]'', are known for being long-running series with multiple incarnations. Within these series, there is always at least one game that is considered the [[Black Sheep]] of the group.
Will often happen specifically with the second incarnation of the series, often because the creators, not having realized the exact blend of their successful formula, will change it in such a way that [[Unpleasable Fanbase|many of
▲The reasons for this vary, the most common generally being [[Genre Shift]] and [[Art Shift]]. Games which acquire this status are different enough that it's hard to coherently compare them to other counterparts in the series. Many a [[Flame War]] is likely to ensue over the relative quality of the title compared to its counterparts with the same license branding.
▲Will often happen specifically with the second incarnation of the series, often because the creators, not having realized the exact blend of their successful formula, will change it in such a way that many of the fans' favorite parts are removed. As a result, later sequels will take more influence from the first title than the second. [[Early Installment Weirdness]] can ensue if the first one is the oddball.
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[The Castle of Cagliostro]]'' is notable as the first film (as opposed to TV series) that [[Hayao Miyazaki]] directed. If it wasn't your first exposure to ''[[Lupin III]]'', you'll wonder what's going on with the characters - but it stands on its own as a good story.
* ''[[Digimon Tamers]]'' is the only sci-fi continuity in what's normally a [[Science Fantasy]] multiverse, and the only installment to avoid broad, archetypal character types in favor of more subtle personalities (or ''boring'' personalities, depending on what side of the [[Broken Base]] you fall on.) It also makes adult characters more prominent than usual, and, most famously, it's much ''much'' darker in tone.▼
* Several ''[[Pokémon]]'' manga come off as this, such as ''How I Became A Pokemon Card'' or ''[[Magical Pokémon Journey]]'' due to the fact they don't focus on the same dynamics as most titles in the series but are a [[Slice of Life]] and Shojo set in the Pokemon world.
* In a case of both [[Tropes Are Not Bad]] and [[Tropes Are Not Good]], there's the ''[[Macross]]'' franchise. ''[[Macross II]]'' is so poorly-received that even the ''Macross'' creators [[Old Shame|pretend it doesn't exist]], while ''[[Macross Plus]]'' is widely seen as one of the best (if not the best) story in the setting despite being a [[Love Triangle]] side-story in a [[Humongous Mecha]] world.
== Film ==
* Strangely, away from video games completely, the ''[[Halloween (
** Many Horror Franchises have these. ''[[Friday the 13th (
== Video Games ==
* ''[[
** After a fashion, the 'real' Japan-only Mario 2 also fits this
** Another oddball in the Mario series is ''[[
** ''[[Super Mario Land]]'' is also another odd one out from the main Mario platformer series. Instead of taking place in the Mushroom Kingdom or some other similar locale, the game takes place in some real world lookalike locations, such as Egypt and China. On top of this, all the enemies are quite new, except the famous Goomba and the Koopa Troopa, (although he had his shell explode when stomped on), the Fire Flower makes Mario throw Superballs (which bounce off surfaces at 90 degree angles) instead of fireballs, the invincibility theme taking a nod to the Can-Can, and two levels experiencing an [[Unexpected Shmup Level]]. This is also the first time Princess Daisy makes an appearance and she wasn't seen again until Mario Tennis for the Nintendo 64. Despite the changes, the game still plays as a typical Mario game and it has been well liked by most fans.
* ''[[Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles]]'' is considered to be the oddball in the ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' series. Since it plays more like an action/hack and slash RPG instead of the usual turn based one, many fans either hated it or loved it.
** Within the main series, there's ''[[
** Then there is ''[[
*** ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]'' also falls under this to some degree. Mainly focused as a strategy game where you raise up to 16 members in the party, have tons of customizations for abilities, reading the layout of the terrain to plan your attacks, etc. Quite different from your standard ''[[Final Fantasy]]''. It got popular enough to spawn two more spin offs of the same style and an enhanced remake.
** Not to even mention games like ''Final Fantasy Legend'' and its sequels (actually ''[[SaGa]]'' games [[Dolled-Up Installment|in disguise]]) and ''[[Final Fantasy Mystic Quest]]'', a far simpler and much easier exploration-focused game.
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**** The DS remake of ''[[SaGa 3]]'' is no longer an oddball; it was changed to use mechanics much more like the first two games.
*** Note that ''[[SaGa 3]]'' was developed by the same team as ''[[Final Fantasy Mystic Quest]]''.
* ''[[
** To a lesser extent, ''[[The Legend of Zelda:
** ''[[The Legend of Zelda Four Swords
** And let's not forget those ''[[Sarcasm Mode|wonderful]]'' [[Snark Bait|breakout hit]] [[The Legend of Zelda
* Depending on who you ask in the ''[[Harvest Moon]]'' fandom, it's either ''Save The Homeland'' (with its lack of marriage and emphasis on horse breeding) or ''A Wonderful Life'' (with its ramped-up difficulty, episodic format, and overall emphasis on your child's ultimate fate).
** And then there's ''[[Rune Factory]]'' and ''Innocent Life'', the former a fantasy game with monsters and an ongoing plot and the latter taking place in the future with the player character a cyborg. The former was significantly more successful, and has been spun off into its own sub-series.
* ''[[Metroid]]'' has ''[[Metroid Prime]]: Hunters'', which eschewed the exploratory single-player nature of the series for a multiplayer-driven fast-paced [[First-Person Shooter]] (with a tacked-on single-player mode). ''[[Metroid Prime]] Pinball'', on the other hand, is usually just ignored outright, since, as a [[Spin-Off]], it's ''expected'' to be quite different.
** The fandom still apparently hasn't ''decided'' what ''[[Metroid: Other M]]'' IS. One way to look at it is as the long-awaited third-person/2.5D ''[[Super Metroid]]'' successor, which is more or less what Yoshio Sakamoto intended. And yet its emphasis on intense melee combat, cut-scenes and exposition make it a different beast compared to the more shooting-focused, non-verbally plotted sidescrollers. It's also considerably more linear than the rest of the series, arguably going against the main attribute the Metroid series is known for.
* ''[[Ultima II]]: Revenge of the Enchantress'' is the black sheep of that franchise, being, for reasons poorly explained in the manual, set on several time-shifted versions of Earth instead of in Sosaria/Britannia.
** Ultima IX is considered an even worse case by many fans, both due to the heavy liberties it took with Ultima canon and for being an [[Obvious Beta]].
* ''[[Heroes of Might and Magic]] IV''. It has several differences between it and other entries, including heroes that participate in combat, 4 levels of units as opposed to the previous 6-7, a distance-based rather than grid-based combat system, the removal of creature upgrades, and an overhaul of both the attack/defense and hero skill systems.
** Similarly, the ninth installment of the main series falls under this trope, and much for the same reason. Both Heroes 4 and M&M 9 were meant to serve as story reboots by moving the series to a new universe, just as Heroes 3 and M&M 6 had done. Unfortunately, an acute case of [[Author Existence Failure]] prevented this from happening. The main series died a sadly unspectacular death, while the Heroes series attempted to hearken back to the glory days of its third installment.
* ''[[
* ''[[Ecco the Dolphin]]'' is famous for bizarre plotlines and [[Nintendo Hard]] gameplay. Perfect series to slot in a strange edutainment title where you can't die, then! Kids love dolphins, right?!
** Maybe it was their way of apologizing to the kids for making so many of them cry with the [[Surprise Difficulty]] of the main series.
* ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]'' is mainly a bunch of turn-based, [[Nintendo Hard]] RPGs. Then you have ''[[Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army]]'', which has an action-based battle system.
** There was also a [[Virtual Boy]] spinoff titled Jack Bros, which was a top-down action game.
* ''[[Command
** There's also ''Renegade''. Because what RTS series doesn't need an overwhelmingly generic FPS?
** And ''[[Command
* ''[[
** ''[[
** ''[[
* Most ''[[Legacy of Kain]]'' fans chalk up ''Blood Omen 2'' as pure [[Fanon Discontinuity]], thanks to its awkward gameplay and somewhat alarmingly badly written script (how in the hell is Vorador still alive?!), which was a stark contrast to the previous games. This was mostly because the game was originally developed as a sequel to ''Chakan: The Forever Man'', but was later [[Dolled-Up Installment|retooled to squeeze it into the LoK franchise]].
* [[Phantasy Star]] III is the black sheep of its series, with an unrelated plotline to the rest of the series, decidedly weak mechanics, and visibly less effort put into it overall.
* ''[[Aero Fighters]]'' (Know as ''Sonic Wings'' in Japan) is a series of wacky arcade [[Shoot
* When it comes to [[Sonic the Hedgehog|the Sonic series]] it's famous for the fact that the main lead is ''"[[Bragging Theme Tune|the fastest thing alive]]"''. So the games where he [[Go-Karting
** Sonic is ''full'' of these things. There's ''Sonic and the Black Knight'', which gave Sonic a sword. There's ''[[Shadow the Hedgehog]]'', a [[Darker and Edgier]] spinoff where gunplay is a major element, and ''[[
** Out of the 2D Sonic games released in the early 1990s, the least known is ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog CD
* ''[[
* ''[[Castlevania Judgment]]'', the series' first (and, given its limited success, possibly only) [[Fighting Game]].
** And long before that, there was ''[[Castlevania II:
** ''Vampire Killer'' on the [[MSX|MSX2]] is a similar case, using nonlinear stages that require you to find keys to progress from one stage to the next. And like ''Simon's Quest'', Simon can buy upgrades with hearts.
** The game is also [[Nintendo Hard|ridiculously hard]].
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* ''Redguard'' is the last thing anyone thinks of when someone mentions "[[The Elder Scrolls]]" series.
** Don't forget ''Battlespire''. Truely oddball in its try for multi-player gaming which failed considerably in getting popular.
* ''[[Silent Hill:
** In the regular series, ''[[Silent Hill 4]]'' sticks out. It features a much heavier emphasis on melee weapons as opposed to guns, first-person segments, almost no boss battles, and unkillable ghost enemies that attacked you through the levels. It wasn't well received.
*** It was originally developed as an unconnected game before the developers decided to work it into the [[Silent Hill]] mythos, hence the variation from the norm. Not well received is an overstatement, there was certainly some fan backlash but it reviewed pretty well.
** ''[[Silent Hill: Shattered Memories]]'' is different from the other games in the series in that you have pretty much no offense. There's only one type of monster that you can't defeat and can only throw off of yourself and ward off with inexplicable flares. The characters are all different. Michael Kauffman, who you may know from the other games to be a [[Complete Monster]] psychiatrist and Dahlia, who is a creepy old woman, are a normal shrink and a slutty young girl respectively.
* The original ''[[Thunder Force]]'' is a retroactive example ([[Sequel Displacement|to the few people who have heard of it and even fewer people who have played it]]), being entirely an overhead shooter, while ''Thunder Force II'' alternates between this format and side-scrolling, and the rest of the series is entirely side-scrolling.
** ''Thunder Spirits'' is the only game in the series to appear on [[Super Nintendo|a Nintendo system]]. However, it's not an original game; it's a port of ''Thunder Force AC'' (the only arcade release), which in turn is a port of ''Thunder Force III'' on the [[Sega Genesis]] / [[Mega Drive]].
* ''[[Tetris the Grand Master]] ACE'' pretty much takes the "The Grand Master" out of ''Tetris: The Grand Master'' courtesy of [[Executive Meddling]], being more in line with traditional ''[[
* The arcade game ''DJMAX Technika'', unlike other ''DJMAX'' games that <s>[[Follow the Leader|copy]]</s> follow the ''[[Beatmania]]'' formula, plays more like a [[X Meets Y|cross]] between ''[[Elite Beat Agents]]'' and ''[[Lumines]]''. It's very popular in areas where arcades have it, in some cases even being [[More Popular Spinoff|more popular than DJMAX Portable]].
* ''[[The
* The ''[[
** Zork Nemesis was a serious, [[Darker and Edgier]], Myst-style puzzler. And pretty damn creepy. That was follwed by Zork Grand Inquisitor, which went back to the comedy of the earlier games but stuck with the Myst-style gameplay.
* ''Backyard Skateboarding'', unlike the rest of the [[Backyard Sports]] series, is an adventure game with tons of [[Fetch Quest
* ''[[Halo]] Wars'', a [[Real Time Strategy]] game amongst a family of first person shooters. Also made by a different developer. It's oddball nature is ironic, because ''Halo'' was ''originally'' conceived of as an RTS.
* ''[[Parodius|Paro]] Wars'', a Turn-Based Strategy Game amongst a family of completely silly shmups. Yes, it is a fairly serious and difficult military strategy game not unlike the Nintendo Wars series, with all the goofy Parodius characters such as Moai heads, penguins, octopi and dogs in business suits! [https://web.archive.org/web/20131125171010/http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/parodius/parodius4.htm What were they thinking]?
* Oddly enough, the [[Early Installment Weirdness|''first'' installment]] of ''[[Touhou Project|Touhou]]'', ''Highly Responsive to Prayers''. It's a weird ''Breakout''-like in what would become a [[Bullet Hell]] series. [[Word of God]] says it was actually a "study product."
** Also the ''Phantasmagoria'' games, which are versus shooters.
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* ''[[Resident Evil 4]]'' was considered this for quite some time. The transition from a 3D adventure game to your typical action game gave it a much different feel than the past few, but considering the success (and ''[[Resident Evil 5]]'') it seems that this new style is here to stay.
** A better example would be the ''Gun Survivor'' spinoffs, which play like 1st-person light gun games yet rarely have light gun support in all territories. Reception to these has been... [[Your Mileage May Vary|mixed]].
* ''Parasol Stars'' is the oddball in the ''[[
* ''[[King's Quest: Mask of Eternity
* ''[[Quest for Glory V]]'' played like an RPG with Adventure elements, rather than vice-versa as the other four games in the series. It also ran smack into the [[Polygon Ceiling]] and didn't have as much input from the series' creators. Fans tend to be kinder, mainly because they still tried to make it a ''[[Quest for Glory]]'' game, retaining the franchise's trademark sense of humor and fantastical elements.
* ''[[Fire Emblem]] Gaiden'' holds this distinction. While the others are completely linear games where you go from one chapter to another, this one has a map you move around on, which wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't because of the [[Forced Level Grinding]] you need to do every often in a while (On a series that usually has no [[Level Grinding]] at all). Furthermore, [[Unbreakable Weapons]] is NOT [[Averted]] (When the series does) and magic is [[Cast
** While generally much better received than ''Gaiden'' and ''[[Fire Emblem:
* [[Pac-Man World]] 3, which was developed by Blitz Games rather than Namco, is often seen as this by fans compared to the previous two games due to the increased emphasis on combat over platforming.
* The ''[[Star Fox (
** Which also started life as a totally unrelated game from Rare, an N64 game known as ''Dinosaur Planet'' which was to star two [[Funny Animal
* The ''[[Monster Rancher]]'' series of monster-raising simulation games has ''[[Monster Rancher Evo]],'' a traditional RPG with dungeons and a party-based battle style that happens to use the ''[[Monster Rancher]]'' series monsters. Oh, and stat-raising and money-gaining are now based on your performance in a rhythm mini-game. While not necessarily a ''bad'' game, the fact that so little of it is traditionally ''[[Monster Rancher]]'' makes it very divisive for fans.
* [[Devil May Cry|Devil May Cry 2]] - so much of an oddball even the producers generally try to ignore its existence. Namely by making all games made after the second game set chronologically before it. Between a lowered difficulty and the protagonists personality change from [[Memetic Badass|Badass]] [[Trash Talk|Trash-Talker]] to an [[Narm|unintentionally-and-hilariously-cringe-worthy]] guy. The fanbase was largely disappointed.
* ''[[Lunar]]: Dragon Song'' is, like the rest of the ''Lunar'' series, an [[Eastern RPG]]...but it adds a bunch of experimental (i.e. [[Scrappy Mechanic|scrappy]]) gameplay mechanics paired with a rudimentary plot and shallow characters. The other games in the series are known for old-school gameplay with well developed stories and characters.
* The ''[[Jak and Daxter]]'' series has two, depending on if you look at overall tone or gameplay type. By tone, it's the [[Lighter and Softer]] [[Jak and Daxter The Precursor Legacy|original]]. But by gameplay, it's the fourth, ''Jak X: Combat Racing'', which turns the emphasis to [[Vehicular Combat]] in what is normally a platformer series with a large collection of other elements - it was present in the other games, but to nowhere near the same degree.
* As mentioned in the article, ''[[
** [[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]] [[Weasel Words|can be thought of as this]] by the end of the second season and movie, given the [[Game Breaker|Game Breaking]] abilities of the 00 Gundam and the living metal aliens.
▲* Strangely, away from video games completely, the ''[[Halloween (Film)|Halloween]]'' franchise had ''[[Halloween III Season of the Witch]]'', which had nothing to do with any of the other movies. Where every other movie is a slasher flick about Michael Myers, the third installment is inexplicably about a crazy Halloween mask maker who wanted to use [[Noodle Implements|magically bombing masks]] and ''Stonehenge'' to kill children. The original intent was to make different ''Halloween'' movies, but Myers was popular enough to take over the franchise.
▲** Many Horror Franchises have these. ''[[Friday the 13th (Film)|Friday the 13 th]]'' has ''[[Jason Goes to Hell]]'', where instead of a hockey masked killer and/or a Crystal Lake Locale, Jason becomes a shape-shifting demon... thing. ''[[A Nightmare On Elm Street]]'' has the second one, where Freddy is not quite the horrific figure of the original, or the quipster he would become in ''3'', and instead attacks people in broad daylight, rather than in dreams, and manipulates the protagonist to do his bidding
* ''[[Tony Hawks Pro Skater]]'' 4 is considered to be this because it combines the gameplay of the first three games with the goal system that would later appear in Tony Hawks' Underground, but doesn't allow you to get off your board to talk to people, so you have to slow down and brake, which can often be difficult. [[Tony Hawks]] Downhill Jam, Ride and Shred are also considered to be the series oddballs mainly because they are considered terrible (in the case of the latter two, rely on a peripheral that rarely works and makes them nearly impossible to play).
*
** Out of the other spinoffs, Colosseum and XD might qualify. While they play the most like the main games compared to Mystery Dungeon, Ranger, and the various other spinoffs, ''unlike'' the main games, ''all'' battles are in Double Battle format. Also, while they're [[Spiritual Successor
* [[Nihon Falcom]]'s ''[[
* ''[[R-Type]] Leo'' had no Force pod and no charge shot.
* ''Monty is Innocent'' is an isometric 3D adventure game, rather than a platformer like the other ''Monty Mole'' games.
* ''[[Fallout]]'' and ''[[Fallout 2]]'' are turn-based, isometric computer RPGs made by Black Isle. While there is some grumbling about Microforte's ''Fallout Tactics,'' it is generally regarded to be a competent game that is hampered by some rather glaring continuity issues, but is still a turned-based tactical RPG using ''Fallout's'' signature SPECIAL system (though slightly modified). ''[[Fallout 3]]'' and ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'' are fully 3D RPG/FPS games available on PC and consoles, that use a heavily modified version of SPECIAL with significant changes to the system between the two games (armor, for example, works completely differently in each). Despite all of these differences, the obvious Oddball is ''[[Fallout Brotherhood of Steel]]," a top-down, 3D action game with almost noRPG elements, continuity issues that make Tactics look immaculate, and no involvement of any Black Isle or Bethesda staff.
* ''[[Donkey Kong]] 3'' is more or less a [[Shoot'Em Up]]. Neither of the previous two ''Donkey Kong'' games featured shooting, and scarcely any of the later ones do.
* [[
▲* ''[[Digimon Tamers]]'' is the only sci-fi continuity in what's normally a [[Science Fantasy]] multiverse, and the only installment to avoid broad, archetypal character types in favor of more subtle personalities (or ''boring'' personalities, depending on what side of the [[Broken Base]] you fall on.) It also makes adult characters more prominent than usual, and, most famously, it's much ''much'' darker in tone.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Series Tropes]]
[[Category:Videogame Culture]]
[[Category:
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