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The good ol' Number 2

By dusanvf February 25, 2009 1 Comments

"Number 2" games that ruled!, because sometimes the sequel is so much better!

- Double Dragon 2 [NES]

Yeah, the NES Version, the arcade one had the worst slowdowns ever!. Although i like Double Dragon a lot, i like the sequel better because one thing...it had a cooperative mode! not like that DD crap where you had to take turns to play, this games are meant to be played with a buddy, and that's where DD2 shines, pure cooperative-beat'em up-80's style action . Also the game was much easier on 2P mode (not if you selected mode B, that way it's pretty hard hitting the other player all the time, but that way you can take his lifes). The only downside of this game are the platforming parts, which are hard! and also i didn't like the controller setup where the direction you where facing changed the A and B buttons, what the hell is with that!?; while on the subject, i don't know any other game that does that, besides Renegade, well, i think that's for the best.

- Mortal Kombat 2 [Multi]

There's no much to say here, because everybody knows that MK2 kicks the shit out of any other MK game. It was so revolutionary, so much violent and powerful than the first one; i still remember when the game came to the arcades here, i was little and i couldn't see it because of all the people around the machine! First off, now you had 3 stage fatalities, 2 fatalities per character (and some with 3), friendships and babalities (although i always thought that they where there to calm down the angry parents and politicians) and many more stages, characters, etc.
MK paved the road for gory games, but MK2 really toke it to the next level, and the game suited fine with blood thirsty kids and angry Generation X'ers.

- Doom 2 [PC]

Doom was an awesome game, but Doom 2 really took more advantages of the engine. Doom 2 had you going trough hordes and hordes of demons this time on Earth!, where apparently all population got killed (what was he trying to save?), every tree or plant got burned and every building was an abandoned factory full of colored keys and levers, . It was simple, fast, and fun, key elements that many of today games seems to have forgotten.
This is one of those cases where the 2º part feels more like an expansion pack than anything, but back in the day that was normal, and they added little things here and there to keep it fresh, and stills kicks ass today and it should be taken as an example on how to make a good FPS.

- Half-Life 2 [PC]

I can't be really fair here because i played Half-Life 2 before Half-Life so it took all my wow factor. given that, Half-Life it's a very good game, but Half-Life 2 took it to the next level, from the graphics, gameplay, story, characters, animation, and so on, it raised the bar to the sky for every FPS out there, and it really took it to another direction. I love the fact that you're never out of the view of Gordon Freeman, it really immerses you in the game. Well, the game it's so good that has 2 sequels and one more coming! I cannot wait for Half-Life 3.

- Ninja Gaiden 2 [NES]

Talk about frustrating games, but fun! Ninja Gaiden is known for it's punishing difficulty, re-spawning enemies, and that freaking hawk that hits you every damn time!. Besides that, the games are great example of 8-bit hardcore gaming, specially the second one, it took everything that was great about the first one, and added a lot more. Now you can move up or down while climbing a wall, you have more power-ups, the music is much better, graphics too, and of course the shadows! you feel all powered up when you have the three of them (i don't know why they removed them from Ninja Gaiden 3, but meh, that game kinda sucks anyway).
If you're gonna give this classic series a chance, skip to the best and play Ninja Gaiden 2.

- Mega Man 2 [NES]

This game represents my childhood (alongside SMB3), and the intro still gives me chills, the image of Mega Man standing on top of that building and of course the awesome music.
Mega Man 2 really took it forward dropping the point system of the first game, adding more bosses, power-ups, better graphics, better music, and in the end a much more fun game to play. For me Mega Man 2 really sums up what a sequel should be, maintaining the spirit of the predecessor but improving it in almost any way.

Oddballs:

- Zelda 2: Adventure Of Link [NES]

Many people don't like this game because it's so much different to every other Zelda game, but i like it. Maybe i'm a little biased because my cousin had this game and we would play it for hours!,and because it was so much different to the first Zelda, and much more difficult, it had a "mystery" thing going for it, we never could pass death mountain, so the big world that Zelda 2 had compared to the first Zelda, remained unexplored and mysterious, which encouraged us to play it even more!

I'd love to see a sequel to this game, retaining the side-scrolling parts, the level up and all that, and of course the towns with the chicks that recover your health! (not the old lady, ugh).

- Castlevania 2 [NES]

The first Castlevania was a groundbreaking game, it was the first "horror" game per say, and it was an instant hit, so obviously a sequel was on it's way, but this time they took chances.

This case is similar to Zelda 2, because both games added towns and more RPG elements and where very different from their predecessor. Castlevania 2 had a open ended design, shops and equipment upgrades; well it wasn't very well implemented, with those freaking day to night transition boxes, and instant deaths that shouldn't be in that kind of game.
I have to give it credit to take a chance and serve as the blueprint of what would become one of the best games ever Castlevania: Symphony of the night.

- Super Mario Bros 2. [NES]

I remember getting this game fro Christmas and thinking that it was misplaces, it was "WTF is this, Mario stomps on his enemies, he doesn't ride them!".
This is one of the most famous sequels that completely changed from the first game. I think now everybody knows that this game was based on Doki-Doki panic!, a japanese game that Miyamoto helped develop, and it was skinned with Super Mario brothers characters and send to the Americas as Super Mario Bros 2., because the true sequel (Super Mario Bros 2. the lost levels in America) was too difficult and similar to the first game according to our Japanese overlords (maybe they where right). The black sheep of the Mario series, but maybe that isn't a bad thing.

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