Sequel Escalation: Difference between revisions

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* The ''[[Rambo]]'' series counts definitely, since [[Rambo|the first movie]]'s action was more about guerilla warfare, hunting and survival, while the sequels were pretty much just loads of machine gunning, shotgunning, bow-and-arrowing, explosive bow-and-arrowing and knife throwing with the occasional melee kill. All the strategy of the first movie is shrunk down to a single montage, and even then the kills are more flashy and improbable.

** The best way to measure it is to look at the kill count. Rambo kills one person in the first one (which barely counts since it was an accidental death in self-defense). He kills 58 men in [[Rambo First Blood Part II|the second film]].

* ''[[Crank]]'', [[Up to Eleven|big time]]. While ''Crank'' was already over-the-top, they pulled all stops on second one and included more [[Gorn|violence]], [[Fan Service|sex]], [[Squick]] and [[Refuge in Audacity|general absurdity]] in the second one.

* ''[[Home Alone]] II: Lost In New York'' is very [[Recycled In SPACE!]] in terms of plot, but the traps are much more brutal, one of them even ending in an explosion!

* You can tell from the opening disaster alone that the filmmakers intended to take ''[[Final Destination]] 2'' [[Up to Eleven]].

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== Video Games ==

* Arkham Asylam --> Arkham City

* [[Portal (series)|Portal]] started out as a simple proof of concept with some witty writing and some brand new game play. In other words a test. Now look at [[Portal 2]], the full length single player campaign is 3-4 time longer than the original, has a lot more areas to explore, a very well written story without telling us outright what happened, some very memorable characters, and some scenery that will make any other laboratory feel insecure (admit it, Lower Aperture Laboratories looked took quite a few elements from fictitious 1960s nuclear bunkers, the Modern Laboratories have bottomless pits (Still above the older labs) and the testing rooms where they might remind some people of the floating mountains from [[Avatar (film)|Avatar]].) Now this is just single player, the Co-op missions have two players with two portals of their own to shoot, and as a result, the puzzles are a lot more complicated.

* ''[[Resident Evil 2]]'' upped the scale from one mansion to the whole town.

** ''RE2'' mostly takes place in the city's police station, but ''RE3'' allows you to visit more places such as the Downtown and Uptown portions of the city, a Hospital, and a Park.

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* ''[[Grand Theft Auto]]'' started a Sequel Escalation after taking the jump to full 3D. ''GTA III'' and ''Liberty City Stories'' take place in a very small Liberty City, ''Vice City'' and ''Vice City Stories'' take place in a larger Vice City, and ''San Andreas'' finally upped the ante and placed the action in ''an entire state''. Then it seemed to have crossed something akin to the [[Bishonen Line]] and shrank back down to a [[Darker and Edgier]] version of the small Liberty City with ''[[Grand Theft Auto]] 4''.

** The GTA4 version of Liberty City was of comparable size (but not quite as big) as San Andreas, though, but with greater detail in the area depicted.

* [[Hideo Kojima]] did this semi-purposely in the ''[[Metal Gear]]'' series to keep it from getting stale. The villains in the games up to the original ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' were basically just extraordinary soldiers. In order to keep fans interested he gave the villains in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty|Sons of Liberty]]'' super-powers. In the next installment, ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater|Snake Eater]]'', the player fought World War legends, one of which [[Bee-Bee Gun|attacked the player with bees]]. This maybe an accidental subversion as well since in ''Snake Eater'' the player takes control of the future Big Boss, the antagonist of ''Metal Gear'' and ''Metal Gear 2'', meaning that Solid Snake already beaten the toughest character in the series all along.

* [[Hideo Kojima]] did this semi-purposely in the ''[[Metal Gear]]'' series to keep it from getting stale. The villains in the games up to the original ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' were basically just extraordinary soldiers. In order to keep fans interested he gave the villains in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty|Sons of Liberty]]'' super-powers. In the next installment, ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater|Snake Eater]]'', the player fought World War legends, one of which [[Bee-Bee Gun|attacked the player with bees]]. This maybe an accidental subversion as well since in ''Snake Eater'' the player takes control of the future Big Boss, the antagonist of ''Metal Gear'' and ''Metal Gear 2'', meaning that Solid Snake already beaten the toughest character in the series all along.

** There were super-soldiers in the first game too, in fact if anything FOXHOUND were more impressive than Dead Cell, as only Vamp had genuine super-abilities (and Fortune isn't technically a "boss fight" in any meaningful sense). In FOXHOUND, Vulcan Raven is a giant Shaman, Psycho Mantis is a powerful psychic, and Liquid is a literal super-soldier genetically engineered for the purpose (Soldidus, from the second game, is also a such a person but Liquid was designed to be the superior). You also have to take on a cyborg ninja version of another legendary soldier, whereas in the sequel a lesser version of this character actually helps you out. As far as the villains go, the first lot were superior to the second, in terms of supernatural abilities.

** Don't forget that the latest model of Metal Gear itself was always the penultimate boss in each game up until ''Metal Gear Solid''. In ''Metal Gear Solid 2'', Raiden fights not just one, but a whole bunch of them that were built to overpower the last model from the previous game. In ''Metal Gear Solid 4'', Old Snake fights a pseudo-Metal Gear model called Gekko as a common enemy in the very first level.

** In ''Metal Gear Solid'', Solid Snake fights a HIND helicopter piloted by Liquid Snake. In ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 2'', Raiden fights a ''Harrier Jet'' piloted by Solidus Snake.

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* ''[[Final Fight]] 2'', the [[Direct to Video|straight-to-Super NES]] sequel to the original ''[[Final Fight]]'', changed the setting from Metro City to various cities around the Eurasian continent. Despite this, the game is barely that different in terms of gameplay compared to the original game and was mostly made to make up for the lack of a 2-Player Mode in the original SNES port.

* In the first ''[[Double Dragon]]'', the player's mission is to [[Save the Princess|rescue]] [[Damsel in Distress|Marian]]; in the second game, the objective is to [[Revenge of the Sequel|avenge]] [[Disposable Woman|her]] [[Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome|death]].

* ''[[Mass Effect (video game)|Mass Effect 1]]'' features cool teammates, [[Cutscene Power to the Max|action cutscenes]], [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|epic]] [[Badass Crew|badassery]], [[Tear Jerker|emo]][[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|tion]] and [[One of Us|geek]] [[Crowning Moment of Funny|humor]]. ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'' features more teammates, more [[Cutscene Power to the Max|action cutscenes]], [[More Dakka]], more [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|epic]] [[Badass Crew|badassery]], [[Tear Jerker|more]] [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|emotion]] and more [[One of Us|geek]] [[Crowning Moment of Funny|humor]]. You may guess [[So Cool Its Awesome|the]] [[Even Better Sequel|results]]. ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'' is taking this [[Darkest Hour|even]] [[Apocalypse How|further]] by ''starting'' the game with the massive invasion of {{spoiler|a race of [[Eldritch Abomination]] [[Abusive Precursors]] by the thousands who have wiped out all galactic civilization countless times before}}, who are ''very'' angry with the player character.

* In ''[[Devil May Cry]] 1'', the Kick13 move was a single roundhouse and its [[Super Mode|Devil Triggered]] version was a punch-kick combo. In ''4'', the combo is now standard and the DT version has even more hits. In ''3'' the Drive move was a single, somewhat slow shockwave, while in ''4'' it comes out faster and Dante can use three in a row. In ''3'', the [[You Will Not Evade Me]] move was only available as a situational part of the [[Stance System]], while in ''4'' it becomes integral to the combat

* The "Meet the Team" videos in ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' become a lot more ambitious as they go. Compare [http://www.tf2.com/heavy.htm Meet the Heavy] and [http://www.tf2.com/spy.htm Meet the Spy] for the best example.

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** Not to mention the fact that {{spoiler|America}} gets invaded, you get to play as more people and the plot takes you to locations all around the world. And of course, the [[Twist Ending]].

* In the first ''[[Metal Slug]]'', basic enemies were limited to the usual Rebellion Army soldiers, the only Slug you used was the basic tank, and the final boss was Morden in a helicopter. By the time ''[[Metal Slug]] 3'' rolls around, that very same final boss and level are only the ''halfway'' point of the game, and you've already fought zombies, mummies, man-eating plants, and the Mars People. The final fight of ''3'' takes you to space to battle the Mars People mothership, and to even access the interior you have to fight ''[[Metal Slug]] 2'''s final boss again. The actual final battle is a free fall to Earth versus Rootmars, the alien commander.

* ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' drove this to an insane degree. In [[Final Fantasy I|the first game]], the main characters had about 30 HP to start, which grew to about 500-750 by the end. The final boss here had exactly 4000 HP. In ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'', the starting HP is about 500 and it's about 2500-3500 HP near the end. This game's final boss has [[Marathon Boss|over A QUARTER MILLION HP]], and you can only hit four digits of damage. And that's not even counting the latest release, Final Fantasy XIII - There are trash mobs with health in the millions.

** The magic and summon animations also have gotten flashier and longer as the series progressed. What used to take nothing more than a few seconds to watch Bahamut blast every enemy on the field in the earlier games evolved to an extended sequence showing Bahamut flying up high in the sky, charging his attack, and then watching the attack shoot down to the ground and explode on all enemies. Depending on the game, some players may find it easier and faster to level grind and just smash everything with swords than to use powerful magic that takes a while to finish its animations.

* ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' does this to a smaller extent than ''[[Final Fantasy]]''. The first game has bosses that have about 300-1500 HP (according to the Guide) which are represented by bars. A boss with ''four'' was considered a lot, and the [[Bonus Boss]] Sephiroth has about six. Meanwhile in ''[[Birth By Sleep]]''? There are enemies with a ''lot'' more than just four health bars, even if the health bars deplete faster after ''II''. (This includes Chain of Memories for the [[PlayStation 2]])

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* The ''[[Sim City]]'' series was originally developed with this in mind. While the games share a lot of the same core gameplay elements, the range of facilities that could be built and the size of land at the player's disposal grew exponentially, peaking in SimCity 4, where utterly large regions containing significant numbers of connected cities could be created. [[Will Wright]] would later comment that the series has ended up being inaccessible to new players due to its sheer complexity, which led to the reformulated but simplified SimCity Societies.

** In that vein, ''[[The Sims]]'' changes significantly with each sequel. Even customization options and the way the Sims can change themselves is dramatically different: in the first game, there are adult sims and child sims, and never the twain shall meet. In the second game, your sims age and die, and can also gain and lose weight in a "pop" effect. In the third game, your sims can age and die and changes due to weight gain and loss, muscle gain and loss, and pregnancy are subtle and incremental. And that's not even including the expansion pack options...

* ''[[~~Bioshock~~]]'' is an interesting case. The sequel has an equally good story, but the villain has the opposite philosophy as the first one. The combat, on the other hand, is so far escalated to be ridiculous. [[Dual-Wielding]], playing as a Big Daddy with equally scaled up weapons (from crossbow to speargun for instance), and the plasmids... The Incinerate alone goes from tossing fire, to tossing ''exploding fire'', to being able to shoot a solid stream of fire.

* ''[[BioShock (series)]]'' is an interesting case. The sequel has an equally good story, but the villain has the opposite philosophy as the first one. The combat, on the other hand, is so far escalated to be ridiculous. [[Dual-Wielding]], playing as a Big Daddy with equally scaled up weapons (from crossbow to speargun for instance), and the plasmids... The Incinerate alone goes from tossing fire, to tossing ''exploding fire'', to being able to shoot a solid stream of fire.

* ''[[We Cheer]] 2'' in terms of the [[Virtual Paper Doll]] and [[Character Customization]].

* ''[[Mega Man 2]]'' upped the number of bosses and special items, but also gave a massive increase in the size and variety of the regular enemies you fought. Compare the Mooks of [http://spriters-resource.com/nes/mm/sheet/32924 Mega Man 1] to [http://spriters-resource.com/nes/mm2/sheet/32920 Mega Man 2].

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* Generally speaking, [[Fighting Game]] sequels--especially those created within a couple of years of each other--like to increase the number of fighters from one game to another. ''[[Street Fighter Alpha]]'' is a perfect example. There ''are'' exceptions--the [[Soul Series]] seems pretty consistent at around 20 characters per game, and the [[Marvel vs. Capcom]] series stayed between 15 and 16 non-pallete swap characters for the first 3 games--but an increased headcount is usually on the menu for a sequel.

* Banjo-Tooie is this compared to its predecessor, [[Banjo-Kazooie]] - the latter was a kind of enhanced [[Super Mario 64]], with more transformations, more collectibles, the ability to shoot eggs, and some other moves ; then Banjo-Tooie retained (almost) all the old moves of the first game ''since the beginning'', introducing more new moves than the total number of moves in the previous game, five new types of eggs, transformations in ''every'' level, and these aren't even all the new gimmicks of the game.

* The second [[Devil Survivor]] game is this. While the first one started its gameplay with the protagonists suddenly being attacked by demons spawning out of their COMPs, the second one kicks off the main storyline by having a ''subway de-rail and nearly kill off the main characters'' (after showing them their horrific deaths before it happens). The second game also has FAR more on-screen deaths (one instance being the [[Eldritch Abomination]]-[[Monster of the Week|of-the-day]] ''incinerating'' four bystanders), a more epic scope (complete with a shadowy underground organization dealing with Japan's paranormal issues over the years and [[Eldritch Abominations]] wreaking havoc), [[Loads and Loads of Characters|more characters]], more locations (taking place in multiple cities as opposed to the first one's single place), more cursing, [[Nintendo Hard|more difficulty]], [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|and]] [[World of Buxom|bigger cup sizes]].

* The [[Super Mario]] series:Super Mario Bros.==>Super Mario World==>Super Mario Galaxy

* Present and accounted for in the ''[[Quest for Glory]]'' series: