Your 3 favorite developers and your 3 biggest disappointments by them

[Roufuss]

SNK
1. King of Fighter series: It's been bled to death. Anyone who complains (or has complained) about Capcom milking a said franchise but waits with baited breath for another KoF needs a swift kick.

2. The utter lack to move past the MVS/AES: Lame. Plain and simple. SNK gets tagged for 'best developer/2D gods evar' but they sure aren't smart when it comes to making hardware decisions. And business decisions. Think you're a hardcore SNK fan? Write em a letter and demand they work on next gen hardware. No more ports, no more games made on the Neo Geo. I mean, if you really cared about them, you'd want to see them succeed, and catering to such a small user-base will them bankrupt. Again.

3. Sengoku 2: I just didn't see what the big fuss was about. Blame hype...I was ready to play the end-all-be-all of beat em ups from what fanatics were saying, and I wound up with an 'ok' game.

Hero, they need to put you in charge of SNK.

[gamevet]

Originally posted by Hero
Nintendo


SNK


2. The utter lack to move past the MVS/AES: Lame. Plain and simple. SNK gets tagged for 'best developer/2D gods evar' but they sure aren't smart when it comes to making hardware decisions. And business decisions. Think you're a hardcore SNK fan? Write em a letter and demand they work on next gen hardware. No more ports, no more games made on the Neo Geo. I mean, if you really cared about them, you'd want to see them succeed, and catering to such a small user-base will them bankrupt. Again.

SNK did release 64-bit hardware and it flopped big time. I've only seen the hardware in one arcade. They really need to publish original 3rd party software for the current hardware on the market. I hear where you're coming from though.

[Captain Canuck]

Sega

1. Sega GT - I believe it's the first garbage racing game they ever made. Screw trying to be like GT. It should be known that the SegaGT team has never made a racing game before, I think.

2. Fighting Vipers - The game engine was fine and everything, but this is AM2. The engine should be better and the characters shouldn't take you out of the game. I think they were experimenting too much with the walled arenas and consider the game a VF3 test game instead of a real one.

3. SOR3 - Great game but it could have been the absolute bomb if the sound effects and music didn't take a dowturn from SOR2.SOR2 remains the pinnacle of one of the best series ever.

Capcom

1. Super Ghouls n ghosts - Why the hell did they take away shooting up and shooting down? It made the game a lot crappier than Ghouls n Ghosts. The huge amount of slowdown didn't help either.

2. Demons Crest - Being a huge G n G fan, I expected big things. What I got was some boring gameplay.

3. SF3 - SF2 was THE greatest game ever in it's prime. They ran it into the ground and SF3 didn't seem like a decent try at pulling it off again. I like Alpha 3 better.


Treasure

1. Alien soldier - looked way crazier than Gunstar Heroes. Turned out to be out of GH's league.

2. Bangoho - Totally not what I expected from treasure.

3. ronald Mcdonald's treasure land - I heard it was good but it wasn't.

[Yoshi]

Great topic as always, NZE.

Konami
1. Contra x 2(PS1) - 3D-ish Contra made 3D Castlevania look like Chi no Rondo.

2. Castlevania (N64) - As far as chronological release order goes, this was the encore to Symphony.

3. Policenauts (3DO/SS/PS1) - Kojima has time for Boktai but not for a Policenauts translation.

Sega
1. Phantasy Star Online (DC/GC/Xbox) - Takes Sega's best RPG series. Remove its gameplay, story, and interesting characters. Add monthly fees.

2. Sonic Adventure 2 (DC/GC) - Naka, if I ever have to play as anything furry that is not Sonic in one of your games again, you're going to have the ugly ass US NiGHTS case shoved up your ass sideways.

3. Shinobi (PS2) - Which is farther from the real series, the THQ-whored GBA version or this one? Only their proctologist knows for sure.

Capcom
1. Street Fighter EX (Arcade/PS1) - Similar to Yuji Naka above, if I ever see polygons in another Street Fighter game, each member of the guilty team is going to swallow a nice American copy of Street Fighter the Movie on Saturn.

2. Resident Evil: Survivor (PS1) - Through three games, you had an infalible series. Then, someone thought it would be a good idea to use the GunCon D-pad for something other than menu navigation. Good call.

3. Auto Modellista (PS2) - Making turning actually necessary when going around a corner is somewhat of a staple of the racing genre. Try it sometime.

Originally posted by Roufuss
Hero, they need to put you in charge of SNK.

Then they'd file for bankruptcy weekly, so that he had something to whine about.

[Hero]

Originally posted by Yoshi
Then they'd file for bankruptcy weekly, so that he had something to whine about.

omgninjas insults better.

[sleeve]

Konami:

1. Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (GBA): A real step down in quality from SotN. Horrific level design and unbalanced gameplay make it the least enjoyable of the Metroidvanias.

2. Metal Gear Solid 2 (PS2): I thought the game itself was great, but the plot just didn't come together. I had my doubts from the moment I heard the epilogue to the first MGS (The president is the true Solid Snake? Whaaaa?), and MGS2 did nothing to assuage them.

3. Salamander 2 (PCB/PSone/SAT): I was super-excited to finally play this game only to discover that it didn't have the magic of the original, much like Strider 2 lacks the magic of the first Strider.

Sega:

1. Jet Set Radio Future (XBOX): the music is still pretty good, but the game overall is just not very compelling.

2. Shinobi (PS2): I have yet to play the full version, but the demo left me cold.

3. Space Harrier 2 (GEN): this was a massive disappointment when I first played it. Fortunately the arcade-perfect 32X port of the original made up for it.

And since I haven't been disappointed by any of the Treasure games I've played (I've successfully avoided the ones people really seem to hate), I'll skip them and move to my next-favorite developer, Capcom:

1. Gunsmoke (NES): This game had little to do with the arcade; it's much shorter and added a bunch of unnecessary things, like shops.

2. Super Ghouls N' Ghosts (SNES): A serious step back in quality from the ingenious design of GnG, for the reasons Captain Canuck mentioned.

3. The Resident Evil Series (multiplatform): this is a series I might have actually enjoyed were it not for the terrible controls and cumbersome menu system. It frustrates me that I will not be able to enjoy these games until these problems are fixed.

[StriderKyo]

I'm gonna do 4:

Koei - Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII, IX

Okay guys, take a year off and make a new game already. Don't be afraid to add more complexity - those scared off by such things start running the second you say "historical strategy" anyway. And quit screwing up the battle system. It's stupid now - who wants to fight battles with no serious control?

Sega - Skies of Arcadia

They had the skills, budget, time, hardware and creative staff to make this the be all and end all of the genre. Instead it was a Final Fantasy ripoff with a simplistic story and shallow characters.

Capcom - Capcom vs. SNK 2

I still enjoy and play this game a ton, and it was a definite improvement on the first one, but it's still a step backwards in many ways from Alpha 2 or 3rd Strike. Update the visuals, fine-tune the engine, depower throws, and knock us dead with 3.

SNK - Everything on Neo Geo in the last 3 years

Kill it already. Mark of the Wolves should have been your swan song. Maybe you can get past registry issues, but who cares? All that talent and willingess to make 2D work in this century, and it's wasted on stone age hardware that's a noose around the company's neck.

[Joust Williams]

Ritual (PC dev)-not large enough gameography to have 3, but they did one of the Blair Witch games ;p

Nintendo-Zelda 2, Starfox 64

Sega-Super Monkey Ball 2's single player levels

[Roufuss]

I only did one, so I'm gonna go ahead and do another company.

SNK

1) Just like everyone else has mentioned, kill the damn Neo Geo already. Alot of people complain that on multi-platform games, ps2 holds back xbox and gamecube. Well, Neo Geo holds back pretty much everything in the way of 2d. SNK needs to step up to the next generation, and make games that play awesome, and look as good as Guilty Gear XX. It's ridiculous that they stick with this aging dinosaur, now that the next gen systems can do 2d even better than the Neo now.

2) Make some new franchises already!! Everything out of SNK is sequels, sequels, and more sequels. I'd like them to stick with their guns, but start making new franchises as well. In ten years, I hope we're all expecting more than King of Fighters 2013, and Metal Slug 15. Or at least add some MAJOR renevation, to make it seem brand new again.

3) Just do one and two, and I'll be fine.

[Cheebs]

4 votes for Skies of Arcadia!? You guys are insane.

Nintendo:
1. Yoshi's Story- Pretty self explanatory.
2. Mario 64- Coming off of Yoshi's Island and Super Mario 4, I was expecting big things for this game. I got a mediocre impossible to controll 3D mess.
3. Ummmm.... Those are pretty much the only Nintendo letdowns I can think of....that were released anyway. The non-release of any kind of orriginal GBA Mario is a huge letdown.

Konami-
1. PSX Contras- self explanatory.
2. N64 Castlevanias- ugh.
3. No PC Engine Dracula X on the US Turbo Duo. Ouch.

Sega
1. Sonic Adventure 2- WTF are those Knuckles Stages? I never even played long enough to pass the first one (and it was level 2, letting me enjoy a whole 1 stage of gameplay).
2. Shining Force III senarios 2 and 3. I really wanted them.
3. Shenmue- After all that hype, it just wasn't fun.