Surprisingly Improved Sequel: Difference between revisions

See also [[More Popular Spinoff]], [[Sequel Displacement]].

== Anime ==

== Film ==

** The general pattern is summed up by the phrase "[[Spaced|Even-numbered ''Trek'' films don't suck]]", as ''[[Star Trek IV the Voyage Home (Film)|IV]]'' and ''[[Star Trek VI the Undiscovered Country (Film)|VI]]'' are generally considered good or at least decent, while ''[[Star Trek III the Search For Spock (Film)|III]]'' and especially ''[[Star Trek V the Final Frontier (Film)|V]]'' are generally considered...well...not so great. Comparatively, most fans consider ''[[Star Trek Generations (Film)|Generations]]'' (the seventh) to be an okay sci-fi movie, while ''[[Star Trek First Contact (Film)|First Contact]]'' (the eighth) is a solid action film. That said, ''[[Star Trek Nemesis (Film)|Nemesis]]'' doesn't have many fans, and the 2009 film ''[[Star Trek (Film)|Star Trek]]'' (which isn't so much as sequel as an [[Alternate Universe]] story) is mixed among Trekkies, but loved among general audiences.

*** More specifically, the films tend to alternate upward and downward trends in quality. Just look at the [http://i.imgur.com/fBoQy.png IMDB scores]. (Until Nemesis, which only barely beats Insurrection and is far worse than the 2009 reboot.)

* ''[[Scary Movie]] 3'' was generally considered a great improvement on ''2'', with the [[Gross Out Show|gross-out humor]] being replaced by more straightforward humor reminiscent of ''Airplane!'' and ''[[The Naked Gun (Film)|The Naked Gun]]''.

** Interesting mention of those movies, considering that [[Leslie Nielsen]], most famous for them, is also in ''Scary Movie 3''.

* There is this German teen comedy called ''Knallharte Jungs'' (''More Ants in the Pants'' in the English dub) about a boy whose penis can talk. It was actually brilliant and hilariously funny. Now, this movie was actually a sequel to another movie called ''Harte Jungs'' (''Ants in the Pants'' in the English release) And my god, was that one lame!

* Although not as well-regarded as the original trilogy, critics generally gave much better reviews to ''[[Star Wars]] Episode III: [[Revenge of the Sith]]'' when it was released in comparison to the first two prequels.

* The first ''[[Shannara]]'' book was largely a ripoff of ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. The later books found more solid footing. Brooks has stated that ''Elfstones'' (the second book) needed a lot of editorial work, but it's his favourite as a result.

* The first ''[[The Culture|Culture]]'' novel, ''Consider Phlebas'', is a passable science fiction novel. The next, ''The Player of Games'', is the first in which the whole impact of what the Culture is like can be felt, and is usually the one recommended to read first.

* Arguably, [[Dan Brown]]'s ''[[The Lost Symbol]]'', sequel to ''[[The Da Vinci Code]]'' - he breaks away from a lot of the cliches that had bogged down his earlier books (the formulaic opening sentence, the first good guy mentioned dying, a [[Token Romance]]) - and spins a thriller that ends up not postulating a likely incorrect view of history, but one that hinges on the idea that wisdom lives inside us.

* [[Nirvana]]'s ''Nevermind''. The band's first album ''Bleach'' is a muddy sounding and sporadically brilliant album (compare "Blew", "Negative Creep" and "About a Girl" with the less distinguished songs like "Big Cheese", "Swap Meet" and "Downer"). Few people at the time saw any reason why Nirvana were any more promising than other Seattle bands like Mudhoney, TAD, and Mother Love Bone.

** Ditto with [[The Smashing Pumpkins (Music)|The Smashing Pumpkins]]; their first album ''Gish'' was a weird mashup of pre-grunge, post-80s Hard rock. By comparison, ''Siamese Dream'' is considered on par with ''Nevermind'' when it comes to 90s alternative.

* The first two albums by [[Faith No More]], when it was in its original Chuck Mosely-headed incarnation, were uninspiring, if not utter crap. Then Mike Patton replaced Mosely and, starting with ''[[Crowning Music of Awesome|The Real Thing]]'', the band became one of the all-time greats.

* [[Kelly Clarkson]]'s first album ''Thankful'', made just off of her winning ''[[American Idol]]'', was a modest hit. Its success was credited to the popularity to the show more than to her. Her second album ''Breakaway'', featuring such hits as "Behind These Hazel Eyes", "Walk Away", "Since U Been Gone" and the title track, was ''huge'' and established her firmly as a pop star.

* Due to the ''[[Final Fantasy (Franchise)|Final Fantasy]]'' franchise and it's [[Broken Base]], ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'' received a lot of venom for fans for its [[No Sidepaths No Exploration No Freedom|linearity]]. Then came ''[[Final Fantasy XIII 2]]'', a game that not only doesn't feel like a narrow corridor, but has side-quests up the wazoo.

** The ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' prequel ''[[Crisis Core]]'', while repetitive, was considered a step above ''[[Dirge of Cerberus]]''. [[Final Fantasy VII Advent Children]] got a far superior extended cut called ''Advent Children Complete.''

** Whilst the second game's campaign consisted of mostly [[Stand Alone Episode|stand-alone missions]], the sequel's has a much stronger, inter-connected storyline that culminated in the reveal of the [[Big Bad|series villain]]. Whilst not quite as fast-paced and [[Crazy Awesome|insane]] as the previous entry and with arguably weaker multi-player, the faults of both games balance each other out and they're often considered on par with each other, with which is better depending largely on [[Broken Base|one's personal preferences]] (most fans do consider them both great games however).

* It certainly happens in ''[[Dungeon Siege]]''. In the first game, the characters you could hire for your party were a bunch of one-dimensional mercenaries that came out of nowhere. In ''Dungeon Siege II'', the characters were given their own personalities, conversations amongst each other, and even their own side quests.

* ''[[Zone of the Enders]]'' sold well [[Just Here for Godzilla|mostly because]] it came with a demo for ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2]]''. The game itself was decent enough but suffered from repetitive battles, criminal shortness and [[Wangst|whiny]] and cliched characters, leading to a somewhat mixed reaction. As such, many people who liked the original concept were happy to see the sequel tighten up the controls, give you twice as many options in battle and include a long and interesting plot to follow. They were even more surprised to see whiny and annoying characters in the first game return in style, having [[Took a Level In Badass|leveled in Bad Ass]] in the intervening time between games.

* ''[[Bloody Roar]]'' was an obscure, poorly-balanced mess of a game, with overly simple but awkward controls, poor AI, and a wannabe [[SNK Boss]], thus the only appeal of the game was its relative simplicity and novelty, and possible pandering to furries ([[Stripperific|or Alice]]). ''Bloody Roar 2'', however, was an elegant masterpiece, fixing the system into something much less cumbersome and very easy to play, yet empathizing mind games and strategies, and allowing the player (or Cpu) to easily counter fools who would try to button mash, the balance was much better (though still far from perfect..), Story mode was introduced, and the game's story improved tenfold, the AI was dramatically improved, the low levels still being fairly easy and welcoming to new players (you could button mash most of the opponents on setting 1 and 2, though if you tried it on the final boss you would be horribly beaten down) and the hard levels capable of challenging an experienced and intelligent player, and the Final Boss was extremely hard and clever, yet he was still balanced for VS play, and fought fairly (no reading your buttons, or moving at impossible speeds, or moves that take off half your life in one hit, though he could combo you painfully). Sadly the game only managed a small yet strong fanbase, possibly due to the first game, and the lack of a budget. The later games fell into [[Adaptation Decay]]; 3 and Primal Fury/Extreme are still fun, but 4 managed to kill the entire franchise.

** As a note, ''Dynasty Warriors 1'' is not part of the same series, which is why the Japanese series numbers are one less than the NA series numbers.

** The crossover series ''[[Warriors Orochi]]'' had a surprisingly improved third game. While it stays true to the ''Warriors'' formula of "kill as many bad guys as possible", it also added a level editor, cooperative and online play, a single overarching story arc in place of the usual faction-based approach, and a [[Loads and Loads of Characters|ginormous cast of characters]] from the series' history<ref>over 100 characters from both sides as of ''[[Dynasty Warriors]] 7'' and ''[[Samurai Warriors]] 3'', along with guest appearances from other famous Tecmo and Koei games such as ''[[Ninja Gaiden]]'', ''[[Dead or Alive]]'', and ''Bladestorm''</ref>.

* The original ''[[Star Control]]'' was a 2D space combat sim with hardly any story elements (at least not [[All There in the Manual|in the game.]]). ''[[Star Control]] 2'' kept the good parts (the space combat, aka Super Melee) and added a surprisingly complex and fun story mode.

* Think about this one for a second: the original NES ''[[Bomberman (Video Game)|Bomberman]]'' didn't have ''multiplayer''. Considering the multiplayer is often considered the backbone of the franchise's popularity...

* The original ''[[Killzone]]'' was a heavily hyped [[PS 2]] shooter that ended up falling quite short of expectations, though it wasn't bad at all, just mediocre. ''Killzone 2'', on the other hand, has been well received by both critics and gamers, and "lived up to the hype".

* The first two ''[[Wangan Midnight]]'' arcade games were basically just ''[[Tokyo Xtreme Racer]]'' with ''Wangan Midnight'' characters and stage-based gameplay, with few players remembering or thoroughly enjoying them. ''Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune'', on the other hand, gave ''[[Initial D Arcade Stage (Video Game)|Initial D Arcade Stage]]'' a run for its money.

** ''[[Sonic Generations (Video Game)|Sonic Generations]]'', being basically a love letter to the best levels of Sonic games past, is also excellent fun.

* The first ''[[Fable]]'' game had an infamous amount of hype during development. When it was finally released in 2004, it received mostly positive reviews, but it ultimately failed to live up to it's hype, as others were disappointed by the lack of many promised features, a somewhat small, restrictive game world and other flaws. Along comes ''Fable II'' in 2008, with more refined gameplay, a larger, more detailed world with more quests, and deeper sandbox gameplay that implemented many promised features from ''Fable''. It received better reviews from all.

* ''[[Harvest Moon Frantic Farming]]'' is a Surprisingly Improved Sequel to the confusing and disappointing earlier ''[[Harvest Moon]]'' [[Puzzle Game]], ''Puzzle de Harvest Moon''.

* ''[[Backyard Sports|Backyard Basketball]]'' on the [[PS 2]] improved on everything ''Backyard Basketball'' on the PC, released two years earlier, had. There were no glitches, the game never freezes, there are NBA teams, and there are 9 more playable characters (while removing 1). There are even unlockable powerups!

** And then, the relatively few flaws and lack of depth found in ''Legacy of Goku II'' were completely gone in ''Buu's Fury''.

* ''Astonishia Story'' was an RPG originally made for PCs in the mid-1990s and remained exclusively a Korean property until 2006, when the game was remade for the PSP and distributed worldwide. The port hadn't aged well at all, and the lackluster localization effort by [[Ubisoft]] didn't help. Three years later, ''Astonishia Story 2'' (titled ''[[Crimson Gem Saga]]'' in non-Asian countries) was released to a much warmer reception, with tighter character development, a retooled battle and skill system that emphasizes [[Combination Attack|combination attacks]], much less [[Forced Level Grinding]], and a better translation by the team at [[Atlus]].

* ''[[Thunder Force]] III'' was a huge improvement over its rather average predecessor ''[[Thunder Force]] II'', they got rid of the annoying overhead scrolling stages, improved the graphics and [[Awesome Music|music]], and made the gameplay a lot better. ''[[Thunder Force]] IV'' and ''[[Thunder Force]] V'' continued on the tradition of awesomeness and were pretty much the peak of the franchise. Unfortunately, [[Sequelitis]] took effect after that.

* ''[[Assassin's Creed I (Video Game)|Assassin's Creed I]]'' had really good [[Le Parkour]] gameplay and the beginnings of an interesting [[Ancient Conspiracy]] story, but was burdened with boring characters and levels, padding, and repetitive side quests and assassinations. ''[[Assassin's Creed II (Video Game)|Assassin's Creed II]]'' had a likable main character, levels that were memorable, and missions that were actually fun.

* The first ''[[Arcthe Lad]]'' is a fairly average SRPG: the battle system is fast-paced but flawed, while its characters are likeable but severely underdeveloped; and to top it off, the game is criminally short. The sequel, on the other hand, has a much more detailed (and [[Darker and Edgier|darker]]) plot, more characters with more interplay amongst themselves, a relatively revised battle system and a longer campaign. To this day, ''[[Arcthe Lad]] II'' is considered to be the apex of the series, and all games that came after are generally agreed to have failed to live up to it. As for the first, fans usually recommend it on the grounds of "well, it's the first in the series... also, it's a prequel to the second one".

* The original ''[[War Craft]]'' was an unimaginative [[Real Time Strategy]] with two cosmetically-different sides and little backstory. This is justified because the people at Blizzard had a contract with [[Games Workshop]] on making a ''[[Warhammer Fantasy]]'' game. When the contract fell through, they decided to release the game anyway under a slightly-different name (that's why ''Warcraft'' has green orcs). Then came ''Warcraft II'', still with very similar sides (except for mage spells and archer enhancements) but a fairly well-developed backstory. Along with ''[[Dune]] II'', ''Warcraft II'' is considered to be one of the progenitors of the [[Real Time Strategy]] genre. ''Warcraft III'' has 4 ''very'' different sides and an even richer backstory, the success of which prompted Blizzard to make [[World of Warcraft|the most successful MMORPG in history]].

== Western Animation ==

* The early proto-[[Bugs Bunny]] short "Elmer's Candid Camera" was a total disaster, suffering from poor characterization, mediocre gags and positively abysmal timing and pacing, and as such received such bashing from [[Chuck Jones]], the director of the short, in his autobiography. [[Tex Avery]] learned from Chuck's mistakes, and promptly remade the cartoon as the first real [[Bugs Bunny]] cartoon "[[A Wild Hare]]".

* All of the ''[[Tom and Jerry (Animation)|Tom and Jerry]]'' movies from ''The Magic Ring'' onwards.