SEQUELS

I've been thinking about this for a bit, so please be patient with me cause I'm sure I'll ramble.

In general a sequel to a great movie will not be that good. It will be a cash grab or a story that is just tacked on and doesn't really make sense or seem planned from the beginning. (Empire Strikes Back is the exception to the rule, but then the sequel trilogy really supports this)

Albums are the same deal often, the first one represents years of the artist's struggles and song writing and perfecting a small group of songs. Then suddenly they have a year to write the follow up while sitting on, potentially, millions of dollars.

In games the trend seems to be the opposite, the sequel will often RULE. I think this mostly holds true for fighting games actually.... and I think I know why. The first game seems to be more of a proof of concept type of thing. I suppose it has a low budget, smaller team and shorter development cycle.

Then something happens in the 3rd and subsequent versions where they loose sight of what made the second so awesome, it's a shame.

Now, I'm open to being in the minority here but check this out:

Street Fighter 2 > Street Fighter
Street Fighter Alpha 2 > Street Fighter Alpha
Virtua Fighter 2 > Virtua Fighter
Dead or Alive 2 > Deal or Alive
Samurai Shodown 2 > Samurai Shodown
Tobal 2 > Tobal No.1
Capcom vs SNK 2 > Capcom vs SNK

I think it's a significant trend....

In other news....
Virtual On: Oratorio Tengram is not yet up and running... but I have no given up.