In part one of this series, we look at five very different games that need sequels.

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Games in Need of Sequels Part I

March 25, 2007

Bionic Commando

Swinging from things can be immensely fun. Maybe it’s what remains in our genetic code from times when we still didn’t walk upright, but there is no denying that swinging about can make for a good time. Capcom recognized this, and made it a key feature in one of their most fondly remembered NES action games, Bionic Commando. Taking control a cybernetically augmented commando named Ladd, players would navigate levels by launching his cyborg arm at ledges, spotlights, and so forth to pull themselves up, swing across ledges, and even knock back advancing enemies, all while slowly acquiring new weapons that could help in blasting the bad guys to bits.

The thing about Bionic Commando is that it could go in a lot of different directions with a sequel. Capcom could stick with a full-on 2D game that remains true to the original game, and makes fans wax nostalgic, or, conversely, they could make the game totally 3D and completely retool how the bionic arm and weapons in the game work. The tough thing with going the three dimensional route, though, would likely come in 1) establishing a viable targeting system for the Super Joe’s bionic arm so that players could latch onto something quickly, and easily in the middle of a fire fight, and 2) ensuring top notch cameras because with all of the swinging around that would inevitably be in the game, the constant movement would necessitate being able to see one’s surrounds very clearly.

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Up to this point, the closest thing we’ve seen to a Bionic Commando sequel has been on the Gameboy with a psuedo-sequel in the early 1990s, followed by a Nintendo-developed second pseudo-sequel in 1999, both of which stayed true to the original game, telling the same story, while tweaking the gameplay. Seeing a completely new game come to the series would be most welcome.

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NiGHTS

Ed. - We all knew this game was coming, so lets just get it out of the way!

Sonic Team’s high-speed, airborne hero, NiGHTS wowed the hell out of Saturn owners when it came out a decade ago. It’s a game that has been mentioned countless times by just about any gamer out there as a title that desperately needs a sequel, and that fact remains right up to this day. Given the success that the game received upon release, one has to wonder why Sega hasn’t made a new NiGHTS game in all these years.

One could argue that Sonic is the far more recognizable of the two characters when it comes to Sega platformers, thus making him the logical mascot to go with when Sonic Team decides to make a new game in the genre. However, with the little blue hedgehog constantly showing up in new games from the Dreamcast to the Gamecube to the PlayStation 2, isn’t this all a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy? Of course Sonic and friends will be more recognizable than NiGHTS if Sonic Team focuses 95% of their time making sequels to the series. If NiGHTS fades into obscurity it will be Sega’s fault for neglecting it so long that even the most ardent of fans have given up on a sequel.

A new NiGHTS game would have a lot going for it too, since it is one of very few titles that could get away with being very similar to its predecessor, and not raise any complaints for not trying to be different. At this point fans are hurting so bad for a new NiGHTS that they would likely be pretty forgiving if a sequel was predominantly a graphical upgrade. One of the greatest draws of NiGHTS was the speed the game could play at, and while this is still something that Sonic has going for itself, NiGHTS has the added bonus of allowing players to soar through the air. It was these two features, and how they were put into a very good platformer, all with some wonderful visuals sprinkled on top, that made the game so popular. Sonic Team could make a new NiGHTS that holds very true to the original, with top-notch visuals thrown in, and the game would sell like hotcakes. A new NiGHTS doesn’t need to try and re-invent the wheel to be popular, it just needs to recapture what made the first game a success to begin with. It simply has to be a well-crafted piece of fan service.

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