Overlooked Games in Multiple-Entry Series

[Mido]

In a long-running game franchise, or at least one with multiple entries; there are games that receive strong acclaim and rise as the gold standard for the series it represents. These might take the form of your Ocarina of Time's or your Call of Duty 4's. As a result, although not necessarily the fault of these strongly-received entries, other series entries might fall under the shadow of such celebrations. These might range from your Borderlands 1's to your Xenoblade Chronicles X's. These titles fall into the shadows for a variety of reasons, which may include reasons such as limited exposure or mixed reception. With this all in mind, the score for today is as follows:

1. What are some games in your favorite franchises that are often overlooked?
2. What do you appreciate about them?
3. Why do you think these games are overlooked?

 

[Kirino]

The one that stands out to me is Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn for Wii. It didn't sell well and got pretty mixed reviews, for what I've always thought were silly reasons. It's also admittedly somewhat inaccessible due to being a sequel and having a fairly high difficulty. But it's probably my favorite game in the series and one of my favorite games ever, and I've always considered it somewhat of a hidden gem.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

this isn't always the case, but I feel that franchises that have had portable entries can get overlooked easily, especially if the series is known for their big console entries, if the next game is a handheld game then people would notice it for the time but when they look back, they're mainly going to remember the big console entries, I'm sure you've seen the Zelda oracles games or minish cap be described as "underrated" or "overlooked" around the internet

for this, I'll bring up GTA: Vice City Stories, admittedly even I don't remember it too much about it, I only played through it once back when it initially came out, though I did like the feature where you can acquire different businesses and have your own gang posted there, it was like a simplified version of the territory mechanic in San Andreas, granted the original Vice City had something like it too

why I don't think it's as well remembered is b/c it was the 5th big open world style GTA of the PS2 era, and released pretty late in that generation, and was probably more associated w/ the PSP even though there's a PS2 version, so I suppose all those factors would have this game be left to the wayside compared to everything else that came out around it

 

[Quin]

Metroid 2(gameboy). Or maybe I'm just one of the few that really like that game a lot. The atmosphere is perfect.

 

[Spirit]

There's only one that really comes to mind for me.

Project Zero 3: The Tormented (or Fatal Frame if you're Murican)

I really love this series but it had a thing happen to it where one game was so stellar that when the next game released, people were still celebrating the previous entry and didn't want anything that wasn't that particular game.

Project Zero 2: Crimson Butterfly is seen as the pinnacle of the series. It first released on the PS2 and was later ported to the Wii after Nintendo snapped up the publishing rights.

I was excited for Project Zero 3, I counted the days until it released, I played it and I really enjoyed it. It was another solid entry in a series that hadn't done anything wrong (and still hasn't), but no one seemed to give a flying ****.

People raved about the second game, they should have been looking forward to the next one, it should have at least been mentioned...

Nope. It came and went.

In fact, more people talked about the next game, because it was only ever released in Japan and people wanted to play it. These same people who didn't bother with the third game...

I don't know why nobody talks about the third game. It was good!

It was just lost in the shuffle, I suppose.

 

[MW7]

Super Mario Sunshine seems underappreciated. I've heard Super Mario 64 or Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2 called the greatest games ever before, but I don't see what the problem with Sunshine is. I think the gameplay is just as great as the games that came before and after. My guess is that the Gamecube wasn't as popular as the N64 or especially the Wii, and the Mario game subsequently got overlooked.