Dead video game series I miss the most
These are all series that haven't had a (worthwhile/substantial) new entry in many, many years. Successful spinoffs and reboots "in name only" don't count. Each series will be represented by the last good entry in each respective series, so you can see how long it's been dead. (not in any order yet)
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- DirectorYutaka HirataAzusa TajimaStarsDavid VenturaF-Zero Climax is a futuristic racing video game released for the Game Boy Advance, It was released exclusively in Japan and Is is the seventh and last F-Zero game before the F-Zero franchise went on hiatus after its release.Status: Dead for now?
Next year it'll be 20 years since the last F-Zero game was released. Fingers crossed that 2024 is the year F-Zero returns.
This isn't one of the best entries, but it was still damn good and fun. F-Zero GX, F-Zero X, F-Zero, and any of the GBA games were all great. - DirectorMasahide MiyataSequel to Lufia and the Fortress of Doom. A descendant of Maxim, Wain goes on a journey to defeat the four Sinistrals in the random generated dungeon RPG.Status: 100% Dead.
Not counting the remake of Lufia 2 that came out a decade later or Ruins of Lore on GBA, this is the last good, true Lufia game and it looks like it's gonna stay that way forever as the developers, Neverland, are now defunct. I would have even loved a whole new IP from them or a new Cima (Frontier Stories) game.
This is my favorite RPG series of all time and it's dead, woohoo....
Best we can ever hope for is a collection from Taito and/or Square Enix. - DirectorKenji FukuyaStarsRob NaritaRumiko VarnesRaj RamayyaIt's the fifth installment of the Bloody Roar series and first installment to receive a Mature Rating for realistic blood and violence and the first to utilize voice acting in cutscenes.Status: 100% Dead.
The love and desperation of Bloody Roar fans to see it return is immeasurable. Bloody Roar 1 and 2 are probably the most beloved, still, but Primal Fury might be my favorite. 4 was also good. Unfortunately there's no one left at Konami to push for this to happen, let alone anyone left who has the skills to make an acceptable game in the series. Most Konami games these days are outsourced, and I can't even think of modern indie developer who could make a new Bloody Roar of any quality. - DirectorMamoru OhhashiNaoto ÔtaStarsShôzô ÎzukaTetsuya IwanagaYûji UedaThe third in the Alpha series with a total of 31 fighters, the addition of three selectable fighting styles, new stages, and new theme music for all the returning characters.The Alpha/Zero series was my favorite SF series. It's unlikely we'll ever see Capcom do a 2D sequel to an old subseries in the SF franchise, so we'll never see anything new like these games ever again. The style and atmosphere in this series is a million times more cool than anything since SF4.
- DirectorAkira NishitaniStarsKatashi IshizukaTetsuya IwanagaYûko MiyamuraChoose from 16 characters and try your hand at new battle modes, even go against 1 against 3 in this newest Street Fighter game.Status: 100% Dead but with a spiritual successor.
This technically did finally get a sequel from Arika (the actual original developers) in the form of Fighting EX Layer, which is great, but still not as good and fun as SFEX+A or SFEX2 was. Not even as enjoyable as SFEX3... I have fond memories of 4 player tag battles with the fam, once I got the multitap to work right, lol. The character designs and style are better than anything in the "real" SF series, I would argue. - DirectorHideaki ItsunoStarsHiroaki AsaiTakeshi AonoToshimitsu AraiCapcom vs. SNK 2 combines characters and gameplay elements from various Capcom and SNK fighting games, mainly the Street Fighter and The King of Fighters series.Status: Dead for now? Possible revival soon?
Of all the franchises in this list, this one actually might have the best chance of see a true, real sequel, finally. It was being planned after the 2nd game and got scrapped, but the devs are vocal about reviving it some day. It finally happened for the Marvel vs Capcom series with MvC3 (before the next game killed it again), so I think it's possible. - DirectorToshiyasu KamikoAkihiro MinakataCastlevania: The Adventure ReBirth is a remake of the 1989 Game Boy title Castlevania: The Adventure and is the third game in M2's ReBirth series.Status: Dead?
The last true, classic Castlevania platformer. One of my favorites in the series. The music is amazing and I played the hell out of it. I'd love just to see a remastered rerelease of the game on modern platforms, as it's one of the few games that forces me to hook up my Wii again on occasion (usually October) and I'd love to see those colours pop as they should on my 4K TV.
The only hope I have for the future of this series is the existence of the wonderful devs at M2. They're the ones who made this game, they could make another one, or at least remaster and rerelease this one since they're experts at doing that. I can't believe that Konami aren't at least doing that much since the series has new popularity these days. - DirectorAkihiro MinakataMoriemonStarsHouko KuwashimaToshihiko SekiKôji IshiiIn the 18th century, in the absence of the Belmonts, the Order of Ecclesia is formed to combat against Dracula. The young woman Shanoa has been chosen to be the bearer of Dominus, a Glyph that was developed as a weapon against Dracula.Status: 100% Dead but with a spiritual successor.
The last "Igavania" in the Castlevania series. Thankfully a successful spiritual successor exists in the form of Bloodstained, at least, but we fans will never get the story about 1999 that we always wanted... - DirectorEiro ShirahamaStarsMark GathaLucas GilbertsonJeffrey WatsonHumans have began migrating to the moon thanks to The Jakob Project & The New Generation Reploids. However, Vile has been resurrected & kidnapped Lumine (the director) & The New Generation Reploids go berserk.Status: Dead. But maybe...
Technically, this series should have ended at Mega Man X5, and that honestly would have been fine, but I liked X6, hated X7, and liked X8. Also technically, this series continued with the Mega Man Zero and then ZX series. But I do really just want a true, new X style game. Seeing how classic Mega Man eventually got MM9 and MM10 and then more recently MM11, maybe they could do the same with MMX9? - DirectorYoshinori KawanoStarsSusan RomanMayumi TanakaTracy RyanIn a world covered by endless water, Mega Man Volnutt and Roll Caskett find themselves closer than ever to finding the Mother Lode. As they approach the Forbidden Island, they risk unlocking the world's most dangerous secret.Status: Dead.
This is a painful one because I was one of the many fans who witness the infamous saga of the development and cancelation of Mega Man Legends 3. It was shaping up to be an amazing game and Capcom messed up everything Inafune was working on. Who knows if Capcom will ever revisit the series, maybe even bring back Inafune and make amends so that they can finally release a game that deserves to be released. - DirectorShuyo MurataStarsPeter BartoCynthia MarcucciRoger JacksonTwo years after the events of Zone of the Enders (2001), Dingo Egret, a former member from Mars' military organization BAHRAM takes control of an abandoned battle robot Jehuty to destroy any plans the BAHRAM still has.Status: 100% Dead.
I can't imagine we'll ever see a new game in this series, and if we ever do there's no way it could be an honest sequel anymore. Kojima and all the other devs who worked on this game are no longer with Konami, afaik, and Konami has only recently decided it was wrong to scrap their gaming division, which has lead to only some outsourcing developments for a few IPs.
Both ZoE games were incredible for me and blew my mind, both are among my favorite games of all time. We may never see anything like them ever again. - DirectorHideaki ItsunoStarsSayaka AidaYôsuke AkimotoCharles GloverPower Stone 2 adds heaps of new characters and environments to the already established crew, however there are now 4 players doing battle at a time in both single and multiplayer modes. This time, the top 2 from every round (in other words the two that survive each fight of 4 players) progress to the next round. And after a few rounds, you will battle it out with huge Bosses that take up most of the screen. There are plenty of new power-ups that litter each arena (including guns, hammers, extra power stones and plenty more). You can also hop into a gun turret for extra blasting fun. And of course, the Power Stones are available to use.Status: Dead.
Hard to believe that this series even had an anime that aired in North America at one point. Great game and great characters for a fighting game that has arguably never been faithfully matched. Capcom hardly gave it a fair shake by releasing a collection just for the PSP and leaving it at that. Hard to say if we'll ever see the series return as Capcom is notorious for leaving most of their classic IPs dead for decades and only focusing on milking their most popular IPs. - StarsJonell ElliottKerry ShaleCharo SoriaFollowing the events of "Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation (1999)", Lara Croft is presumed dead. At Lara's home, Lara's butler Winston, the priest Father Patrick Dunstan and Lara's history teacher Charles Kane reminisce over some of Lara's early exploits.Status: Dead to me.
The fifth and final game in the original, tank-controls, Classic Cool Lara Croft, legendary series that started it all. All 5 of the first games in the series were great, with the only complaint coming from reviewers who, despite giving the games good reviews, argued that the series was getting stale and running out of ideas (but that is probably why the series was selling less with each release). The sixth game, Angel of Darkness, was great in its own way but marked too much of a departure from the first 5 for me to list it instead.
I'd love to see new game that's directly a successor to these original games, still the best games in the series and the true Tomb Raiding games. This was the Lara Croft who became the first video game or digital character in the world to get paid for advertising products! She was an actual celebrity! - StarsKeeley HawesKath SoucieGrey GriffinLara Croft continues in her search for her long lost mother in the legendary land of Avalon.Status: Dead to me.
The final game in its generation's trilogy of Tomb Raiders. These games had a healthy balance of keeping classic Tomb Raider alive while bringing the series into a more modern look with modern gameplay and fresh ideas. Good games. The last game before the 2013 Reboot killed classic Cool Lara Croft off and replaced her with the "realistic" Bow/Survival Lara forever. - DirectorKei YamamotoStarsMonster MaetsukaBunsyu ShinoyaIain GibbAsh Crimson has absorbed power from the two descendants of the clans that locked away the Orochi 1800 years ago. His former ally, Elisabeth Blanctorche, prepares to prevent him from using these powers at The King of Fighters tournament.Status: Dead to me.
This game marked an end of so many things. After this, SNK ditched their tried and true 2D visuals and majestic pixel art forever, and became the property of various foreign corporations under dictatorship governments. SNK effectively died for me after this. I rather support devs who left SNK to start their own indie teams who make spiritual successors, like former Nazca and Metal Slug devs at Kohachi Studios and Yatagarasu's dev team.
For some of the games on this list, I can't even hope for them to come out of dead-status. The irony here is that this series isn't actually dead, it got a KoF XIV and recently a KoFXV. The series and SNK as a whole are dead to me. It died when MBS bought them. If I worked at SNK, I would have left by now. I'm ready and willing to support any and all former SNK devs, but SNK's IPs can't do that. - Set a year after the events of Rival Schools, the story involves a new series of unprovoked attacks on school students (some of which is believed to have been done by series protagonist Batsu).Status: Dead.
The first game, Rival Schools, was one of the greatest fighting games that most people never played, and this sequel was played by even less because it was exclusive to the Dreamcast (which, as a kid, I also didn't have the luxury of owning). At the very least, Capcom needs to look back at its classic catalogue and realize that a lot of their gems didn't get a fair chance and deserve to be rerelease and given a chance to be played by more people. - DirectorKoji KenjoStatus: Dead for now.
- StarsMakoto AwaneJun HashimotoKyôko HikamiLong before humanity existed, death was an unknown, equally distant concept. When death first came to the world, the "Messenger from Afar" was born. With time, the Sealing Rite was held to seal Death behind Hell's Gate. At that time, two worlds, one near and one far, were born, beginning the history of life and death. Half a year has passed since Suzaku's madness, and the underworld is still linked by a great portal. Our world has been called upon. Legends of long ago told of the sealing of the boundary between the two worlds. The Sealing Rite would be necessary to hold back the spirits of that far away world.Status: Dead.
It's hard to ask for a sequel to this because of the current state of SNK. While I may never buy it, I would love to still see SNK revive this series as it deserves more love. The first two games are masterworks among fighting games, like works of art. The style and atmosphere is amazing... every battle feels epic and decisive thanks to the animations, character designs, voice acting, music, backgrounds, and the stories connecting everything. - Status: Dead.
It took me so many years to realize this was a Square series. The same Square that is known for the most popular JRPGs of all time, Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest/Warrior. I always thought that the first Rad Racer was one of NES's most popular games, it was even in a classic and iconic scene from the cult classic movie, The Wizard (it was the game being played with the power glove "it's so bad!"). The 2nd game was great too, but it just felt like more of the same and didn't bring anything new to the table.
It may make me seem weird, but I actually want to see Square-Enix make a Rad Racer 3! The same old 2D gameplay and visuals but in widescreen HD, new arranges to the soundtrack, maybe cameos from other SE games (maybe on billboards or areas inspired by those games with music to boot). Just a small, fun, low budget but fanservicey game. The original Rad Racer is actually close to Parasite Eve as my favorite Square game ever, lol. I just honestly want Square to acknowledge that the series existed. - DirectorKenichi IwaoStarsKathy SokolAlexander O. SmithJohn HulatonAya Brea, now with a formed FBI division called MIST (Mitochondrion Investigations and Suppression Team), has tracked the last of the neo-mitochondrion creatures to the Mojave Desert where she is about to discover a terrible new secret.Status: Dead?
The first game in the series is one of my top 10 favorite games of all time. The style, gameplay, and atmosphere of these games is unmatched and has been unreproduced since. I'd dying for a new entry in this series. Something, anything... except something like whatever 3rd Birthday was. It's gotta be faithful the first two games.
This series name keeps popping up here and there once in a while though, so you never know... maybe a remake or remaster could happen or something. - DirectorYohei ShimboriRyuji KitauraYoshiko KoyamaStarsHouko KuwashimaWakana YamazakiHikaru MidorikawaThe fifth Dead or Alive title featuring guest characters from Sega's Virtua Fighter series and new gameplay mechanics. Its plot is set two years after the events of Dead or Alive 4.Status: Dead (again) for now.
This game was supported by 2 more releases, DOA5 Ultimate and DOA5 Last Round, but I listed the original release because that was the last entirely new game in the series. Even DOA6 feels more like DOA5 with new glossy paint thrown over it (laterally, in the most shoddy way possible) and most of the content torn out.
Personally, for me it was at its peak with the content released with DOA5 Ultimate, then it started showing signs of going downhill as Koei Tecmo decided to just use the series as a cashcow to milk, culminating with the release of
the spinoff Xtreme Venus Vacation. They had such a great thing going for them... DOA5 was the sequel most fans had been waiting for 6 years after 2006's DOA4.... they got so much right, satisfying both competitive and non-competitive fans. They got greedy and moved their best Team Ninja devs on to other projects while outsourcing for upkeep of DoA until the greed finally went too far, caused a fan backlash, and lead to them ceasing further support.
This is one of the more recently deceased series on here, but it's literally my favorite 3D fighting game series and 2nd favorite fighting game series over all after KoF. I'm already crossing my fingers that Koei Tecmo will see the light and remember what they did right with the series to try again. - DirectorToshiharu UraStatus: Dead. But maybe...
- StarsKaoru MorotaKonami YoshidaRio NatsukiAiAi and his friends take a journey to retrieve the bananas snatched by the evil scientist, Dr. BAD-Boon.Status: 100% Dead.
Since they already did collections and remasters, and even those weren't faithful to the originals enough, the only hope for the future of this series are with the weak gameplay of the likes of Banana Blitz and everything else in the series after SMB2. Actually, the I really loved the DS game too. - DirectorTakashi TakedaStarsTakahiro YoshimizuMoriya EndoYasunori MasutaniIn 1479, following Dracula's defeat in "Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (1989)", his curse continues to ravage Europe. Hector, a Devil Forgemaster who betrayed Dracula, tries to take revenge on his rival Isaac who orchestrated the execution of Hector's fiancée.Status: 100% Dead.
I'm still sour about what happened to the next 3D Castlevania game that Koji Igarashi was working on. I may have been one of the few people who was hyped for it, as I loved his first two 3D Castlevania games, and then the horrible day came when his projects were scrapped, he left Konami, and Konami (with Kojima) decided to announce that some random outsourced Spanish game would be turned into the next Castlevania... the beginning of the end of Castlevania as a video game franchise.
If we ever see a new 3D Castlevania game it'll most likely be outsourced again like Lord of Shadows was, so I have no hope of seeing a new Castlevania like Lament of Innocence of Curse of Darkness ever again. - StarsKae ArakiYûji UedaJûrôta KosugiThe demon lord Jedah Dohma is resurrected. He creates a pocket dimension to recreate the demon world and invites the souls of the Darkstalkers to join him. Alongside the classic roster are newcomers Lilith, Q-Bee and Bulleta/B.B.Hood.Status: Dead.