Soulja BoG Tells 'Em: Top 5 Spin-offs that deserve another spin

So, yesterday saw the premiere of my "Soulja BoG Tells 'Em" series of lists. Today, I'll make the case for spin-offs of games that did it all right, and should return in some form or another. For most of these, I really don't care HOW they come back, simply that they do. 

MGA was a launch game for the PSP, and the first game for the system that I purchased. A whole lot of people didn't like the idea of Solid Snake Strategy action, but it turned into an awesome tactical strategy game, with loads of unique concepts and moves built in. They really made this one awesome with some great maps, great teamplay, and a unique card based attack system that really altered how you moved about and attacked enemies. In addition, it provided tons of unorthodox and surprisingly fun stealth gameplay through the strategy. I had as much fun with this game as I did the original FFT, and it stands among the best turn based strategy titles out there. It had one sequel, which was excellenet, but I want more.

4. Star Fox Adventures

Love it or hate it, SFA was one of the most successful Zelda clones ever. I'd say that among "games that are like Zelda," this one is second only to Zelda. The game had tons of unique puzzles, fun characters, great environments, and lots of secrets. The dinosaur planet was fun to explore, and the game was pakced with unique gameplay. I don't think anyone will argue that the third person gameplay in SFA is 100% better than that of the OTHER SFA, Assault.  If they were to make another Adventures game, I'd love to see them tie some more space shooting gameplay into the whole picture. Run around X location, do stuff, defend the planet from incoming ships, run around some more, and have fun. Whatever the case, SFA was a fun game that deserves a sequel.

Oh, and Tricky was the illest.

I never thought a Mortal Kombat spin-off could be so awesome after Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero, but Midway went ahead and made one with the beat 'em up known as Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks. The game puts you in control of Liu Kang and Kung Lao in an arcade style brawling romp reminiscent of arcade games like Turtles in Time and Battletoads. You and a friend could take control of the two protagonists, and beat the crap out of dudes. There were tons of secret areas, and a plethora of items to collect, and it was a ton of fun alone or with a friend. Additionally, the developers nailed the gameplay, with great gameplay, tons of cool fatalities and such. Honestly, whoever has control of the franchise needs to make something of Shaolin Monks. It was the illest.

We're not talking about lousy games like  Mario Tennis for the N64 and Mario Power Tennis. We're talking good Tennis RPG gameplay of the amazing GBC game. I got 

the game for my birthday just after it was released, and was hooked from the beginning. The Japanese are weird with their sports themed RPGs, but I now know why, having played Mario Tennis. You take control of a character who has just begun taking classes at a school for tennis players. You can browse the campus, eat in the cafeteria, do drills, hit on chicks, and smack balls with rackets. You get to build your character's game how you please, and learn the ins and outs of the game as you go. There is a simple little story to go along with it all, and eventually, you'll be the tennis champ.  All this sorrounds a brilliant game of tennis. It lacks the characters of the N64 counterpart, but it has all the intricacies, and even more depth than it's beefier brother. This is the best tennis game EVER. I don't care if they make it Mario tennis, we just need some more tennis themed RPGs. Sports RPGs are the illest.

To date, Canvas Curse remains among the most unique, fun, and awesome games on the Nintendo DS. It used the DS in a way that couldn't have been done on any system before it, and it was a freaking blast from start to finish. Few games can stand up to Kirby Canvas Curse when it comes to utiizing the DS' unique features, and the only one that I can think of at the moment is The World Ends With You. The Kirby franchise is known for charm and personality, and when you combine that with the brilliant gameplay of Canvas Curse, you have a winner on your hands.

So, yesterday saw the premiere of my "Soulja BoG Tells 'Em" series of lists. Today, I'll make the case for spin-offs of games that did it all right, and should return in some form or another. For most of these, I really don't care HOW they come back, simply that they do. 

MGA was a launch game for the PSP, and the first game for the system that I purchased. A whole lot of people didn't like the idea of Solid Snake Strategy action, but it turned into an awesome tactical strategy game, with loads of unique concepts and moves built in. They really made this one awesome with some great maps, great teamplay, and a unique card based attack system that really altered how you moved about and attacked enemies. In addition, it provided tons of unorthodox and surprisingly fun stealth gameplay through the strategy. I had as much fun with this game as I did the original FFT, and it stands among the best turn based strategy titles out there. It had one sequel, which was excellenet, but I want more.

4. Star Fox Adventures

Love it or hate it, SFA was one of the most successful Zelda clones ever. I'd say that among "games that are like Zelda," this one is second only to Zelda. The game had tons of unique puzzles, fun characters, great environments, and lots of secrets. The dinosaur planet was fun to explore, and the game was pakced with unique gameplay. I don't think anyone will argue that the third person gameplay in SFA is 100% better than that of the OTHER SFA, Assault.  If they were to make another Adventures game, I'd love to see them tie some more space shooting gameplay into the whole picture. Run around X location, do stuff, defend the planet from incoming ships, run around some more, and have fun. Whatever the case, SFA was a fun game that deserves a sequel.

Oh, and Tricky was the illest.

I never thought a Mortal Kombat spin-off could be so awesome after Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero, but Midway went ahead and made one with the beat 'em up known as Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks. The game puts you in control of Liu Kang and Kung Lao in an arcade style brawling romp reminiscent of arcade games like Turtles in Time and Battletoads. You and a friend could take control of the two protagonists, and beat the crap out of dudes. There were tons of secret areas, and a plethora of items to collect, and it was a ton of fun alone or with a friend. Additionally, the developers nailed the gameplay, with great gameplay, tons of cool fatalities and such. Honestly, whoever has control of the franchise needs to make something of Shaolin Monks. It was the illest.

We're not talking about lousy games like  Mario Tennis for the N64 and Mario Power Tennis. We're talking good Tennis RPG gameplay of the amazing GBC game. I got 

the game for my birthday just after it was released, and was hooked from the beginning. The Japanese are weird with their sports themed RPGs, but I now know why, having played Mario Tennis. You take control of a character who has just begun taking classes at a school for tennis players. You can browse the campus, eat in the cafeteria, do drills, hit on chicks, and smack balls with rackets. You get to build your character's game how you please, and learn the ins and outs of the game as you go. There is a simple little story to go along with it all, and eventually, you'll be the tennis champ.  All this sorrounds a brilliant game of tennis. It lacks the characters of the N64 counterpart, but it has all the intricacies, and even more depth than it's beefier brother. This is the best tennis game EVER. I don't care if they make it Mario tennis, we just need some more tennis themed RPGs. Sports RPGs are the illest.

To date, Canvas Curse remains among the most unique, fun, and awesome games on the Nintendo DS. It used the DS in a way that couldn't have been done on any system before it, and it was a freaking blast from start to finish. Few games can stand up to Kirby Canvas Curse when it comes to utiizing the DS' unique features, and the only one that I can think of at the moment is The World Ends With You. The Kirby franchise is known for charm and personality, and when you combine that with the brilliant gameplay of Canvas Curse, you have a winner on your hands.

YES to all of these. I really loved that mortal kombat game. Me and a buddy went through that on all diffuculties with both lu kang and kung lao  and then with Scorpian and Sub zero and tried to find everything. I love that damn game. Also wouldnt mind another Kirbys Canvas Curse.

Next up: spin offs that need less spin. #1: Sonic Labyrinth. Yes, ONE spin off was too much.

I loved the old Star Fox games so of course i HATED SFA.

Shaolin Monks was pretty sweet tho

Well, I don't totally agree with you on all of the points on this list. I personally believe that Starfox should have just stuck to his Arwing so I would much more welcome a return to the traditional flight only Starfox than continuation of the spinoff series. I also happened to love Mario Tennis for the 64, why you hatin?
Anyway, I like most of the rest of the list. It's ill.

Sure on Kirby Kanvas Kurse (see what I did there?) but i cant say id be stoked for the other 4.

I did play a shitload of Mario Tennis on GBC. In fact, I've still got it here, and still have the extra characters that you could only get by connecting the GBC version with the N64 version.

But BoG, you've got to stop calling yourself Soulja BoG!

Am I wrong, or was there already another Metal Gear Acid? I could've sworn that there was...

"Video_Game_King said:

"Next up: spin offs that need less spin. #1: Sonic Labyrinth. Yes, ONE spin off was too much."

2. Sonic R."

I remember that Mortal Combat game, that was awesome! Sadly I don't think we will ever see a sequel.

I really did enjoy Star Fox Adventures. It was one of the best looking games for the GameCube when it was released. I would play a sequel, but sadly no Rare. Who would make it?

Ugh, I hated Star Fox Adventures. Still, Kirby Canvas Curse was great so i would recommend another one of those. Same with Mario Tennis and MK: Shaolin Monks.

I agree on all of those, methinks.

I'll comment on the two games I've played; Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, and Star Fox Adventures. Firstly, I'd like to say that I'm a huge fan of Mortal Kombat. It's among my favorite game series. With Shaolin Monks, I was very disappointed. I was fine with the concept of it, but I thought the execution was pretty poor and the overall game was rather mediocre. I enjoyed MK Mythologies: Sub-Zero quite a bit, however, though I don't even want to get started on how truly terrible MK: Special Forces was. I think Shaolin Monks could have been great, but I don't think it was made particularly well. I only played it for a few hours before I decided that I couldn't stand playing it anymore. I'm not against seeing more similar games like that in the series, but I'm not really sure where they could take it now that Liu and Sub-Zero have been used as primary characters. I don't think many other characters in the series could generate enough attention and sales, except for Scorpion of course, but given his story I am skeptical about how it could work as a trulky great beat-em-up.

Star Fox Adventures is a pretty great game. I thought the ending twist was probably one of the dumbest design choices I've ever seen in a game, however. It's true it's basically a Zelda clone with some old-school Star Fox pilot action between levels, but I think it still panned out pretty well. It was incredibly heavy on item collecting, from what I remember, and the flying portions felt rather disconnected from the rest of the game. I definitely can't say I prefer this style of Star Fox game, though, especially considering that Star Fox 64 is among my all-time favorite games. Perhaps if they could work more Arwing combat into it and keep it more integrated and feel less like it was tacked on. I certainly wouldn't want to ditch that part altogether. Still, exploring as Fox and seeing his mad-crazy on-foot skills in action was pretty cool.

"Am I wrong, or was there already another Metal Gear Acid? I could've sworn that there was..."

"Star Fox Adventures was pretty awesome.... am I the only one who thinks that?  Oh well....
"

Yes! Another Ac!d! They were way too short IMO. I don't care if it isn't even MGS related, there aren't games like it in the world, which makes me sad.

I have to agree with you about Metal Gear Ac!d. We need another one of those games. Come to think of it, the format would probably lend itself pretty well to the iPhone...

"I have to agree with you about Metal Gear Ac!d. We need another one of those games. Come to think of it, the format would probably lend itself pretty well to the iPhone... "

Man, I haven't played any of those games. Spinoffs I'd like to see more of are Mega Man Zero and Mega Man Battle Network. Star Force and ZX just don't compare to them...

I loved Star Fox Adventures. It was actually kind of the inspiration for my username.

I think that if any kirby game came out to speak of, that would be nice

I never played the original Mario Tennis GBC, but I loved the hell out of Mario Power Tennis for the GBA, which had a similar RPG style. And I never played it, but I'm fairly sure that the Mario Golf for the GBA was also an RPG/Sports Hybrid too. We totally need DS sequels. Heck, I'd like to see full console versions on the wii.