Game series that jumped the shark

For those not familiar with the term it means:

Quote:

A defining moment when you know that your favorite television program has reached its peak. That instant that you know from now on...it's all downhill. Some call it the climax. We call it "Jumping the Shark." From that moment on, the program will simply never be the same.

http://www.jumptheshark.com/

So which of your favorite game series have "jumped the shark" and when?

A few of mine:

-Mortal Kombat - MKIII: I played the first two games like crazy in college. Then I saw the third and realized it was over. Suddenly it was filled with Killer Instinct style "combos" and cheesy "animalities".

-Pac-Man - Pac-Land: I like Pac-Man but there's only so much you can do with the character. Pac-Land was the first attempt to expand the series beyond the maze and it was awful. They tried to revert back with Pac-Mania but it was too late, they should have let him die with dignity years prior.

-Sonic the Hedgehog - Sonic Adventure 2 Battle: I thought Knuckles Chaotix was a low point for the series but was impressed with how Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast turned out. It looked like the series had a second life. "Regular" Sonic Adventure 2 was kind of a letdown but the Gamecube version (which I bought new for $5 if that's a sign) was horrible. The gameplay was dreadful and "plot" even worse. Maybe the series will recover again, but I think it's done.

hugues wrote:

-Mortal Kombat - MKIII: I played the first two games like crazy in college. Then I saw the third and realized it was over. Suddenly it was filled with Killer Instinct style "combos" and cheesy "animalities".

Mortal Kombat has always been a horrible, broken, un-playable, sloppy mess of a game. 3 was just where people stopped giving a crap about blood in games, since most games now have it. The novelty of the MK series wore off, and people were left with a horribly un-balanced piece of crap that the MK developers called a fighting engine.

KI sucks too.

As for game series that have jumped the shark. my number 1 offender would have to be the "Mana" series of RPGs.

Secret of Mana was fantastic. Sword of Mana for GBA was okay. Legend of Mana for PS was good in small doses. Children of Mana was a sub-par dungeon crawler. Dawn of Mana was total crap. Anyone see a pattern there?

I'll try to think of some more.

Mario games, Zelda games, Metroid, Mega Man, etc. The originals were tremendous but how many times can you try to outdo what you have already done fabulously? Give it up already.

The Jak and Daxter series, loved the first, so peaceful, second was good and they added weapons of destruction, 3rd topped it off with triple the guns before and some new powers, then they all of a sudden went to JakX and killed it, its not a racing game.

I don't know if Age of mythology would work because theres only one and an expansion, but the first was fantastic, then the xpack destroyed it all, everyone pretty much got a lot more pathetic

Wait for it.

...

Final Fantasy!

It was fun in the beginning and worked its way up as the series grew, but after FFVI, it has't been nearly as good (though FFVII wasn't too bad, it still doesn't come close to FFVI!). Of course, this is just my opinion on the matter.

Spyro the cute lil' purple dragon also jumped the shark. Hasn't been the same after the 3rd game.

Breath of Fire, after 2. Beginning with 3, it started to drastically change to the point that it is hardly the same series any longer.

Thoul wrote:

Breath of Fire, after 2. Beginning with 3, it started to drastically change to the point that it is hardly the same series any longer.

I thought the 3rd was a great game. I can understand why the 5th was bad (after reading reviews and getting opinions from people), but I really enjoyed BoF3.

Jump the shark.. wow, there's a term I haven't heard in a while.

How about Shining Force? SF2 was so good that they have never been able to top it and just gave up entirely!

Neithird wrote:

How about Shining Force? SF2 was so good that they have never been able to top it and just gave up entirely!

I'm assuming that you have never played Shining Force III?
It's an incredible game that's in dire need of a re-make with the content from all 3 scenarios.

Since it was never finished in English, I wasn't able to play it. It might have been good if they had finished it. As they left it, it was part of the downhill slope for the Shining series.