Series that "start" with a sequel?

What are some game series where the first entry didn't get off the ground, gain widespread popularity, or implement features that the series became known for? The game that inspired this topic in the first place was Street Fighter 2, but I feel like arguments could be made for Far Cry 3 and Saints Row the Third. I'm torn on whether Symphony of the Night counts in this, because while it is the "vania" in Metroidvania, the earlier games were very successful in their own rights.

What are some series that, to you, didn't really "start" until a sequel?

Street Fighter

The current Persona games sort of start at 3(FES or P3P) for most people. You'll rarely see anyone suggesting for you to go back and play Persona 1 or 2.

The Elder Scrolls was popular enough for them to keep making games but I feel like it didn't really hit widespread popularity until Oblivion. I've had so many conversations with people who love Oblivion and Skyrim but never heard or played any of the three games before that. My start into that series was Morrowind. I tried to go back and play Daggerfall and Arena but found them too old to get into.

Fallout 3 was a landmark for the Fallout series. Sure 1 and 2 are popular among an older crowd of PC gamers but it wasn't until 3 that people with consoles really gave a shit about the series.

call of duty 4 mw, warcraft 2, final fantasy 2 aka 4(snes), uh.... and super mario bros(nes), mario bros the arcade game came out before it and stuff..

Oh man, Super Mario Bros is SUCH a perfect example that I completely forgot it WASN'T the first game.

Hey man, Black Flag was pretty dope.

People already brought up Persona, which starts at 3 and 4 for a lot of people and Elder Scrolls that either starts at Morrowind or Oblivion for the majority of people. I tried to play Morrowind first but couldn't get into it. Oblivion was my first real jab at the series.

I'd argue that the Capcom Marvel fighters are this. Before the Marvel Vs Capcom shenanigans there was X-Men : Children of the Atom and a Marvel Super Heros fighting game. The series really went nuts when they started throwing Street Fighter characters in there.

Metal Gear Solid? If you count it as a sequel to Metal Gear 2.

Oh, I thought you meant like Star Wars (BTW, I can't think of any game that's done that).

Anyway:

• Maniac Mansion - I know there are people that love the original, but DotT is really something else.
• System Shock - I have not played the original, but SS2 is one of my all time favourite games. Not only that, SS2 has gone on to heavily influence a bunch of other games (and not just BioShock).
• Commander Keen - The first three Commander Keen games are passable; but 4, 5, and 6 are great.
• Duke Nukem - The majority of people will say that Duke Nukem 3D is the best, I would say DN2; I can't imagine anyone saying DN1.
• Mega Man - The first Mega Man feels very rough compared to the other NES MMs. The pieces are all there in the original game, but Mega Man 2 is where it all really came together.

Prey 2

Mother. Mother 2 (Earthbound) is the one everyone loves.

I think you might have started the show with the showstopper. Street Fighter 2 kind of blows my mind, because it's such an early fighting game that they were basically building the genre from scratch and somehow they created something that is a) arguably still one of the best games in the genre (Super Turbo) b) still incredibly relevant, as most fighting games use the foundation that it created.

Saints Row is an interesting pick, although I'd call SR2 my starting point rather than The Third. Persona 3 is a good one too. I haven't played either of the Personas with a 2 in the title, but I seem to recall the original game being much closer to traditional Shin Megami Tensei and JRPG trappings in general.

Other examples... hm...

GTAIII. I enjoyed the 2D entries, but GTAIII blew the doors off, it was a revelation.

I guess Red Dead Redemption, but since there hasn't been anything since, it's not a great example.

I'm going to say Burnout and I would personally say that Burnout 3 is when they nailed it, but I would accept anything from Burnout 2 to Paradise.

As for a cheekier example, I will say Devil May Cry, because that project was originally Resident Evil 4 until they decided it should be its own thing and started fresh on Resident Evil 4. Resident Evil 4 should probably also be on this list.

Mother 3*

Call of Duty

The series didn't really blow up until Modern Warfare.

Jedi Knight

Dark Forces did some revolutionary stuff when it came out. But, since it didn't have light sabers, it was kinda forgotten. Hell, I don't even remember Jedi Knight being called Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight.

@damodar: I agree with GTA III. That has to be what most people associate with a GTA game now right?

This question could be interpreted differently depending on what generation you grew up in I guess. 3D Zelda was pretty much all I knew until Link Between Worlds came out, so Ocarina is when that series started for me.
Metal Gear Solid 2 is where that series begins for me. I love that series but have never finished Metal Gear Solid.

Did Need for Speed take some time to become successful?

I grew up starting with the PS One so maybe I am not best equipped for this question.

Smash Bros?

Most people I know started with Melee.

Handheld Warios?

I feel like 1 isn't as popular as the later 3 games.

The game of the generation, Red Dead Redemption

• Mega man 2
• Dynasty Warriors 2
• GTA III
• Metal Gear Solid (MGS 1 &2 weren't nearly as big)
• DOTA 2
• Warcraft II
• Street Fighter II
• Shadow Hearts (Koudelka was not exactly a smash hit)
• Persona 3
• Saints Row the Third
• Madden (didn't feel like it got huge until well into the series)
• Jak II (jak & daxter was pretty generic)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (the first one for the NES was bad)
• Dark Souls (if you count Demon Souls)
• you could probably make a decent case for Super Metroid as well.

@beachthunder: Mother 3 is the best one, Mother 2 is the popular one. Big difference ;)

Goonies II?

You're pretty far off base with Far Cry 3 I think. Far Cry 1 was a really big deal to the PC when it came out. Blew me the fuck away probably more than any game ever has. The jungle based stealth and just specific moments and the technical achievements. I still remember the awe I had on the sequence where you are boating down the river, blowing up a chopper and seeing bits of it break apart and react realistically with physics. And 2 I didn't like but some did.

This is also way off base. Call of Duty 1 was a huge fucking deal when it came out. 2 was the best campaign in the series for my money and was also awesome.

Maybe some console only gamers in here? No insult meant at all by that, just I feel like you guys were maybe catching the console releases and you didn't see the PC starts to these series that were a huge deal. Call of Duty and Far Cry were GOTY type releases on PCs. They sold less I'm sure since they were for PCs only but regardless. Comparing them to say Street Fighter I is crazy.

EDIT: @slag 's call of Dynasty Warriors 2 is about as good of an example as you could find for this idea. I never even heard of the first game before 2 and 2 was wildly different.

Wolfenstein is sorely missing from this list. Going from Castle Wolfenstein to Wolfenstein 3D?

Conker's ( Pocket Tales... not really a series though)
Super Mario Bros. (Mario Bros.)
Fable 2
SimCity 2000
Sonic 2 (I mean it added the spin attack)

Just to back up points from my post, check these out for Far Cry and Call of Duty.

I know the games evolved and now follow formula's from more recent editions (Far Cry 4 following 3, CoD being more like 4 since that) but these originals were laying the groundwork and were also absolute classic games that had a huge impact, if not the same huge sales as the later ones. And both absolutely set the groundwork for their series. The stealth, freedom, and locales that define Far Cry were there in the first game and so was the intensity, snappy control, and setpiece stuff that define CoD.

@zelyre: Such an odd name process if you list out all the names of that series and expansions

Dark Forces is followed by Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2 which the expansion was Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith followed by Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast which is followed by Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy.

@jabbawocky: Yeah I always thought it was hilarious how the sequel to Dark Forces 2 was Jedi Knight 2. Also for Dark Forces 2, having your sequel have the name of the previous game kind of as a subtitle. Just odd!

Great series though.

I loved Far Cry 2. that game was awesome! how dare you!

That ending though, atrocious.

Super Mario Bros. is probably the best example, even better than Street Fighter 2, considering how few people even knew Mario Bros. was ever a thing.

The third game in any activision published series, it's the point where the sales have allowed them to make way more copies and advertise.(GH3 THPS3 COD3 etc)

Rocksmith 2014

Super Smash Brothers (Gamecube version)

Fifa World/Euro Cup 2006 (I'd never bothered purchasing a cup fifa game until that point, same with mates)

Advance Wars

Super Metroid

Link to the Past

Sniper Elite 2

Forza 3

Soul Calibur

Harvest Moon, Animal Crossing most people didn't get these games in the original format.

Witcher 2 :(

Thought I love Witcher 1 far more than 2

The topic isn't "first games in a series that sold a ton of copies" guys.

@artisanbreads: Call of Duty was huge on the PC. Same with Medal of Honor. While all my console only buddies were playing the fog simulator Turok and Perfect Dark, I was playing the first Medal of Honor. Or Aliens vs. Predator. Or Half Life Opposing Force. I was rocking the PC gamer's processor of choice, the Celerson 300a, overclocked to 450mhz.

But, I took the "widespread popularity" to mean "went mainstream" which, to me means, "went big on the console."

Both Call of Duty and Medal Of Honor weren't really household names until the 360 came out. The console releases before the 360 were real bad, and I think everyone was already burnt out on WW2 when the 360 launched.

I don't think Call of Duty pre-MW had all the things players want from a CoD game, such as paid maps, progression, ranks, unlocks, etc until Modern Warfare.

I didn't really like Call of Duty 2. It looked good and all but 3/4ths of the way through it just wore me out. Call of Duty 1 was brilliant though.

Red Alert, Fire Emblem

Well, I guess we're in agreement then. Maybe it'll be the most popular if it got a real English release.

That is a great example, especially since most people don't even know about the original Wolfensteins. Although, I will say that Castle Wolfenstein has its own claim to fame for quite possibly being the first ever stealth game.

It had great moddingcommunity and private servers though.

The original Lufia is the sequel to Lufia 2.

A proper Mother 3 release outside of Japan would be amazing. I've never understood Nintendo's complete disregard for the franchise. A Mother collection on 3ds would be fucking great.

I'll give you that most peoples' responses haven't actually fit the topic at hand, but consider the people saying Persona 3 & 4 one more time. Those are games that exist in a timeline which discreetly exists because of Persona 2, complete with several fundamental changes to how the world and setting functioned. Hell, Persona 1 and 2 only exist because of certain events within the SMT overarching mythology. In some sense, the entire Persona series began as a sequel, and every further iteration seems to add to that notion, with the notable exception of 4 (and, potentially, 5).

You're drunk... people were sucking Forza 1 and 2 dry lol

Jak II was my first game as well, but Jak and Daxter was pretty darn good, with what they did with the elements mechanic.

I wasn't really a gamer around the time of GTA 1 and 2, so someone correct me if I'm wrong when I say:

• Grand Theft Auto 3
• Madden 06... for obvious reasons... haha

@beachthunder: I thought so too. The Professor Layton series did that, it's 2 trilogies & the newer trilogy is a prequel to the older one so the series started at game 4 chronology-wise.

As for the OP I think all the ones I can think of have been said already..

Red Dead Redemption. Few people knew about Revolver at the time of the game, and even fewer people played it.

Red Dead Redemption is a great answer.

I'd also like to nominate Skyrim and GTA 3.

GTA3 is the submission with, arguably, the strongest effect on the gaming world as it exists today.

@crembaw: I don't mean to hate on everyone's answer. There are good ones above. It's just people saying like Far Cry 3 or CoD 4 are pretty wrong, to me. I played those series from the start and the DNA and acclaim was there in the first game, even if the giant sales were not. And even if they did evolve as they went. Obviously, 4 added the multiplayer progression and that was huge, but CoD 1 and 2 online were not so different at their core besides that they were WWII.

A lot of this seems PC based. Someone up above said no one gave a shit about Fallout until Fallout 3.... this is one of the most praised RPG series of all time BEFORE Fallout 3 (which was great in its own right, just saying that's major bullshit).

Persona is an interesting one, given the franchise it belongs in.

Also it's nothing like Redemption. So this would be a good one. Not because Revolver didn't sell as well, either.

Ace Combat 4

Uncharted 2. I never heard anyone mention Uncharted 1 but once that sequel dropped, it became the best series ever to some.

RDR and GTA 3 I can agree with but Morrowind and Oblivion were best sellers in their own right. And the gameplay didn't change dramatically between the three.

In the case of Red Dead Redemption: Two games do not make a series. GTA 1 and 2 (and GTA: London) were incredibly well known at the time.

This is a really perfect list.

WITH ONE ULTRA EXCEPTION :D

Jak & Dakter was *mind-boggling* when it came out and I will hear no rebukes! The world was huge and there was no loading and I swear that was still pretty new then!

Medal of Honor was a Steven Spielberg produced game Day 1 and was a huuuuuuge name as soon as it came out. The PS1 games were lauded for their realism. Call of Duty 2 was also ultra gigantic, and very influential. Kind of the First/Last/Only WW2 shooter. I totally agree CoD became bigger after MW vs CoD2, but for the sake of this thread I wouldn't compare it to the difference between RDR and Revolver or GTAIII and GTA2 which nearly negate the existence of their precursors.