well there is a PS2 port that has a few extra things(like TMLost)

I forgot Final Fantasy! 10 was the last one I played and loved, and even at that it was such a different Final Fantasy experience than I had grown up with (learning spells from stones, levelling up etc). Once X-2 came out, I realised the franchise was dead. They took a great story with great characters, and introduced fucking DRESS SPHERES! I mean I'm a gay man who loves clothes and even I thought this was over the fucking top.

"Hold on a second Vegnagun, I just need to change outfit from being a Songstress to a Gun Mage!" o.O

I cringe at the idea of it.

12 was the last Final Fantasy I played and I only really latched on to that game because I loved the Viera Race and the Espers in the game. I still to this day don't know the story or emphasis with any of the characters though, which goes to show how bad the story was. I can remember every character story from 7 up till 10 because they were good games. 12 had excellent visuals but lacked in story. I refuse to touch off 13, Shiva should never be a Motorbike nor should Bahamut ever become a Jet Plane.

Fallout - After the second, although Tactics was barely passable.

Oh, forgot an important one: Quake.

What happened?! The first game is one of the best FPS of all time, as well as one of the greatest games of all time. No joke. Listen to the theme song!

You fought through futuristic bunkers, medieval castles, nightmarish crypts and dungeons, and ended up killing Shub Niggurath of Lovecraftian horror. In fact, the enemy line-up was quite diverse and fearsome. Grunts, hyped up on endorphins, vicious rottweilers, the bloody fiend, the knight, the limb-tossing and moaning zombie, and the grenade-tossing and chainsaw-wielding Ogre are only a few members of the bestiary. Most fearsome of all was the Shambler. You had an arsenal of bitchin' weapons like shotguns, nail guns, bloody axes, lightning guns, rocket launchers, and grenade launchers.

The game had a unique feel of a horror and mythological-based first-person shooter. Each environment had a distinct and dark feel, and the soundtrack by Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor is kick-ass. Look at this game. It inspired some insane speedruns, and introduced rocket-jumping.

Then, they turned it into all futuristic, bland-looking environments full of stupid-ass cyborgs (the strogg (think MK: Rebirth trailer Sub-Zero)) and robots. Seriously, just look at these enemies. They all fuckin' look the same! Just cyborgs covered in blood and rust. No more was the mystical and ominous atmosphere of the first game. Just bright, futuristic hangars and such. All horror was lost as well.
This game completely ruined the series. (Quake III: Arena doesn't count because it's pretty much just a side-game, great for multiplayer.) Quake IV follows Quake 2, and sucks even harder. This game sucks. It ruined Quake.

*Sigh* Never will there be a true sequel to Quake I, I'm afraid.

Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong 2 : Diddy's Quest
Donkey Kong 3 : Double Trouble

- Three of the best games of all time. There was no flaw to any of these games.

Donkey Kong : 64.
Donkey Kong : Jungle Beat.
Donkey Kong Returns.

- Lost it's essence, it's originality, it's play, the excellent original music was lost, it doesn't feel the same.

Turned too childish, Jungle Beat was the stupidest thing invented. DKC Returns is the closest it's ever gotten to returning to its roots, but even then (I have not played it, judging of videos and reviews) that it doesn't capture the original feel. Backgrounds have way too much going on, camara is zoomed out way too much, should have been closer so that you do not see the entire level. Camara should have been closer to see the character models, like the original 3 did. The fun thing about the original 3, is that you would not see secret items or you would not know, for example, if the hill you see ahead of you, has a secret upper level, or if you go backwards in the stage there is a secret door/escape, etc.

Donkey Kong, Rest. In. Peace. along with RARE. You will forever be in my hearts and a big part of my childhood.

I just wish they would leave this series alone, unless done correctly to revive it. But by the looks of it, it will not be possible.

DeLaGeezy, as a hardcore Donkey Kong fan, let me assure you that DKC Returns is absolutely, 100% pure, unadulterated Donkey Kong in its purest form, and if you love the franchise then you're doing yourself a disservice by not giving the game a shot.

And let me also assure you that the levels in DKC Returns are enormous and FILLED with secrets. I'm insanely OCD when it comes to collectibles and secrets, and I scour every nook and cranny for hidden levels and tokens when I can find them, and I ALWAYS miss a few secrets, Kong letters, and more when I play the game, no matter how thorough I think I'm being. The game is loaded with depth, loaded with hidden surprises, loaded with rock-solid gameplay and old-school appeal, including, yes, classic Donkey Kong music.

Give it a shot.


Now, to answer the topic, I'll only mention a few games I love that I think went downhill, rather than games I don't care about and KNOW went downhill (like Sonic).

Silent Hill - I am a HUGE Silent Hill fan. Silent Hill 1 & 2 remain two of my favorite horror games ever created. I listen to the soundtracks. I was hyped for the movie. I LOVE those games. I even enjoyed SH4, as frustrating as it could be. But after that? Wow. I've never seen a series just totally lose sight of what made it a success in the first place.

For starters, the original team that created Silent Hill was disbanded by Konami and the franchise was placed in the hands of American developers. And you could do a textbook comparison between effective Japanese horror (subtle, subdued, atmospheric, psychological) and American horror (gore! monsters! guns!), because Silent Hill morphed into everything I really can't stand about the horror genre and forget everything that made me love it (hint: it wasn't Pyramid Head's look, it was Pyramid Head's PURPOSE). The movie was a disappointment, the games ever since have been underwhelming, and even though Shattered Memories was actually quite decent, it was still no where near the caliber of the prior games. The series is in a slump and I don't know if it can ever recover.

Perfect Dark - What's one of my favorite N64 games? Perfect Dark. What's my personal least favorite Xbox 360 game? Perfect Dark Zero. Never have I seen such a promising franchise stumble after such a fantastic beginning. But Perfect Dark Zero ensured that Joanna Dark would NEVER become a staple of gaming icons, comparable to Lara Croft or Mario, even though the first game made massive strides to do so. The prequel/sequel is ugly, clumsy, sloppy, poorly executed, hilariously voiced, and pretty big insult of a game... and it was given high scores when it came out, which made many (like myself) buy it. And years later we look back and go "wow, that game sucked... and Rare is too busy doing Wii Sports knock-offs to ever give Miss Dark another shot."

Final Fantasy - I played Final Fantasy religiously. I adored FFIV, VI, and IX like the masterpieces they are. I was thrilled by FFVII and was even excited by FFVIII and FFX and everything prior. But then X-2 came out, the first "sequel", and I was shocked how it completely and utterly destroyed the incredibly powerful message of sacrifice and the realistic ending dealing with loss and love that FFX boldly gave us by opting for a super-generic happy ending and making pop music the cure-all for all life's problems. It was such an insult to such a great predecessor. But that was only the beginning. Sequels galore poured out for FFVII, neutering the original, perfectly constructed and ambiguous ending the original had while also throwing Aeris at us over and over, making her "loss" in FFVII meaningless (why is it sad she dies if she's now been in more games than most FF heroes)? FFXII left me hugely underwhelmed, and then FFXIII was just the most terrible, strict, confined, boring, beautiful looking mess of a game I've played in ages. The soul of the series is gone. Dead. If you loved Final Fantasy at some point, play Lost Odyssey on Xbox 360 instead. It looks, plays, feels, and satisfies more as a Final Fantasy game than the last dozen Final Fantasy games and spin-offs.

Resident Evil - Ten years ago, the Gamecube got the super-amazing Resident Evil remake. It was one of the best-looking, tightly constructed, and effective horror games ever made. Ten years later, the 360 and PS3 get Resident Evil 5, one of the best looking, loosely constructed, and least effective "horror" games ever made. All that game did was make me hate Sheva immensely and make my roommates and I laugh at how un-scary the franchise had become. And then they released "Lost in Nightmares", which proved they COULD have made a really effective horror game that still played well... but didn't. And I hate Capcom immensely for that.

Metroid - This is an odd one. Why? Because with the exception of one game, the series was and remains perfect. Metroid, Metroid 2, Fusion, Zero Mission, Super Metroid, Metroid Prime Trilogy, and even Hunters and Pinball were amazing Metroid games. And then came Team Ninja's "Other M", a walking abomination of a Metroid game that curiously seemed to go out of its way to NOT give the fans any of the things that made the entire franchise such a big hit, and to show Samus in a light that was so unflattering you'd think they secretly hated her. So our fearless hero is now a moping imbecile with daddy issues that whines and cries and has breakdowns and needs big, strong men to save her and tell her what to do. The game decides scripted cutscenes and QTE combat is better than intelligent puzzles, exploration, and satisfying upgrades. It was the very anti-thesis of Metroid's award-winning formula, and I shudder to think if this is the new direction the franchise is heading toward.

Parasite Eve - Just like Metroid, the original was a great, moody, suspenseful bit of science fiction with a genre-defying heroine that broke new grounds for female empowerment, being strong, confident, and sexy without stripping down to her underwear. Enter "The 3rd Birthday", a game that takes likable characters from the series and turns them into sniveling perverts, a game that utterly changes the tone and gameplay of the originals, a game that contradicts the canon of the first two games, and a game that turns Aya Brea, strong heroine, into a walking sex-object without even the slightest hint of a backbone. The plot is confusing, enraging, and disrespectful to most of its fans, while it panders to the lowest common denominator with her gratuitous shower scenes, fetish outfits, and clothes that dissolve like tissue paper, just to make sure her ass cheeks are seen for 90% of the game. It's sickening, embarrassing, and it makes me want to punch those responsible in the face. Rarely does a game make me this upset, not because the "game" sucks, but because of just how slimy and disgusted the game made me feel experiencing it.

Crash Bandicoot: I remember playing the first 3 games and Wrath of Cortex, which were awesome. They combined good cartoonish fun with excellent levels and platforming. When Naughty Dog stopped making the games, it all went downhill. Crash now looks as though he just spent 10 years in the sewer, the gameplay is NOTHING like the originals, and the games don't capture your attention like the original games did. It's such a shame to see such a great series "crash" down.

Spyro: Ah Spyro, how I missed you're sense of adventure and fun. I loved how your levels were vast yet fun, your multitude of fun playable characters, and your great gameplay. When Insomniac stopped working on Spyro and the new story began, I just lost it since it didn't have the same fun as the originals did, along with characters I don't care about and very shoddy gameplay. R.I.P. Spyro

Dragon Age: When I first played Dragon Age: Origins, I was mesmerized instantly. I remember the Baldur's Gate series and this just reminded me of those fond memories. The memorable characters, the excellent story, the tactical gameplay, and the rich background information made it a great RPG that deserves praise for the choices you make. Dragon Age 2 was none of these. Instead of focusing on story, this game instead tried to appeal to the hardcore FPS gamers but in the end appealed to none. The ridiculous amount of game-breaking glitches, the CONSTANT re-use of the same background over and over, and the lack of any memorable development with each character makes this one of the worst games I've ever seen. I should have noticed with the increasing lack of quality and repeated areas in the DLC's. Doesn't help that Bioware had to package a free game if you bought it, they refused reviews before release, the MULTITUDE of Day 1 DLC is just ridiculous (Dead Space armor in Medieval RPG'S?!) and how rude the devs were to any kind of criticism. At first I was made when I was unjustly banned but now I realize that the ban opened my eyes to how greedy Bioware has become. Congratulations Bioware, you've just lost a loyal customer who has supported you since the end for killing a great new IP.

What's sad is that i tried begging my parents and my brother to go out and buy the Xbox just for this game. After hearing from my brother's friend, who played the game, that it sucked I didn't want to believe it.

But after watching several Youtube walkthrough videos on what the game really looks like, I was stunned to see that this was not the Perfect Dark I still play since I still have my Nintendo64. I couldn't believe my eyes that they destroyed this game.

What's even sadder is that Goldeneye on the Wii isn't even remotely interesting to get, I'm afraid to know what happens when there's talk that they might be bringing this game back.

Killer Instinct: Very fun series but it sadly didn't have the strength to last against popular series.
Call of Duty: Let me first point out that I DESPISE 1st person shooters and that most of them bore the bejeezus outta me. But I couldn't help but notice this series is now the "Guitar Hero" of the genre.