This generation of gaming has seen many great new IPs come to life, but what about those games that got left in the dust over the last few generations? There are plenty of games that had the potential of being great franchises, but either fell flat in sales or quality. If Knack can get a sequel, surely these games deserve one as well! Here is a list of games I’d love to see revived next generation:

PS1 games:

Croc

In the age of Crash and Spryo, Croc is a platforming game that generally seems to get forgotten. Croc wasn’t the best platforming game out there, but it held its own when it came out. It eventually did get a sequel a few years later in 1999, but that was the last time we saw Croc on consoles. Since Fox Interactive was bought out, I’d assume the IP now belongs to Activision Blizzard. I doubt they would want to revive this franchise, but it doesn’t seem like a bad idea to hand this IP to a smaller studio to make a 20-40 dollar single player experience. Croc was a game I cherished as a kid, and I’d love to see what current gen consoles can do for the little green guy.

Legend of Dragoon

Legend of Dragoon is a game that has quite the cult following. It was PlayStation’s attempt at making a JRPG, and it was met with mixed reviews. There was a sequel in pre-production, but it ended up being canned. RPGs have made quite the comeback this gen, and I would expect that trend to continue into the next generation. With PlayStation’s focus on single player experiences, it’s time to revive this title and make their own JRPG again.

Jet Moto

After disbanding Evolution Studios, PlayStation is relying solely on Polyphony Digital to feed our racing appetites. Jet Moto brought a different style to the racing genre with hover bikes and slingshot mechanics. These hover bikes were able to go over land or water, and it brought some fun environments with it that would rival a game as beautiful as MotorStorm. Jet Moto had 3 games released on the original PlayStation, but it hasn’t seen another release since 1999. PlayStation could do a remake of the original for a 20-40 dollar price range and find out if there is an audience left for this franchise.

Syphon Filter

With an abundance of fans eager to hear news about a new Splinter Cell, a new Syphon Filter could piggy back off of that excitement. Syphon Filter had its last original release on the PSP, and it made great use of the PSPs constraints. One of the problems with PlayStation’s earlier franchises is that they often released sequels fast and often, which led to people getting burnt out. This stealth shooter has been dormant long enough now to feel refreshing, and I believe a lot of the PlayStation faithful would encourage PlayStation to make another game in this series.

PS2 games:

Twisted Metal: Black

I understand that there was another Twisted Metal released on PS3 and the PSP, but I want a sequel to Black. Twisted Metal always had a dark tone to it, but Twisted Metal: Black took it to a whole new level. It brought some wonderful original characters to it, and it had some of the most entertaining storylines in the series. Twisted Metal was always considered one of the best vehicular combat games, and David Jaffe is one of the craziest creative developers out there. Bring him back to make a sequel to Black already and let’s all ride off into the sunset in an ice cream truck that transforms into a badass missile launcher.

Clock Tower

Another genre that has made quite the revival this generation is the survival horror genre. With so many classics like Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Parasite Eve, and Dino Crisis taking up most of people’s time, not a whole lot of people ended up playing a game called Clock Tower. Now, I must admit I only played the 3rd game in the series, but it was extremely fun and unique. Instead of grabbing guns and shooting monsters, you had to run away and hide for most of the game. The protagonist is sent to different times and places of serial killers and the objective is to solve puzzles, hide, and evade until you eventually have to confront them. I was always scared to death that the serial killer would find me, and I could only imagine how they can make it even more terrifying.

SOCOM U.S. Navy Seals

SOCOM was THE game to play back in the PS2 era. Whether you were playing the campaign or teaming up with friends to take down other online players, there was something for everyone with this franchise. SOCOM was pretty much the only reason to own a network adapter for PS2 and outside of Halo, there wasn’t another game that was as important for bringing online PvP to consoles. Ultimately, SOCOM did end up coming to PS3 twice with the online only SOCOM Confrontation and SOCOM 4, but they were both underwhelming and sold around a million copies. This is a franchise that people are begging for a remaster of the first 3, and it’s time Sony gave the people what they wanted and possibly followed it up with a new installment.

PS3 games:

Resistance

Insomniac decided to dabble in the FPS genre last generation and birthed the Resistance series. It was a phenomenal series and it held up to the Insomniac tradition of having a plethora of creative weaponry. The game also boasted a cool story that involves the Chimera invading Earth in the mid 1900’s. While Nathan Hale’s story is finished, we never got a true ending to the series. Much like a lot of games in the PS3 era, these games were pumped out in rather quick succession and I believe that made PlayStation supporters a little tired of the series by the time the 3rd entry came out. However, there aren’t many FPS games that Sony owns, and this would be a great series to get back into the FPS genre.

MotorStorm

MotorStorm was one of my favorite racers last generation, and it’s a shame that Evolution Studios decided to make Driveclub instead of another MotorStorm. It’s highly likely that the soft sales of MotorStorm Apocalypse was the driving factor behind that decision, but they also should have considered the circumstances. The game was delayed due to the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in 2011 and it didn’t receive help from the marketing department. I believe those factors contributed more to the low sales numbers rather than the quality of the game. Gran Turismo is a great racing game on its own right, but MotorStorm brought a fun refreshing arcade racer to the mix. Unlike most racing games where everyone wants to follow a similar path, Motorstorm made players figure out what their vehicles strength was and carve their own path to the finish line. This franchise should be racing back to Sony’s next generation console.

Puppeteer

I don’t think there are many people that understand just how great Puppeteer was/is. It came out at a terrible time and didn’t have any marketing to go with it. Puppeteer deserves another chance, and at minimum, a remaster. Puppeteer was a 2D side scrolling game like Mario and LittleBigPlanet, but it stood out in so many ways. It had some of the best presentation in a video game to this day. Puppeteer wanted you to think you were watching a play, and it did a fantastic job of doing it. The crowd would gasp and cheer to moves your character made. The story was fun, but didn’t take itself too seriously. You won’t find many games like this, and I will go on record with saying that this game deserved a sequel way more than LittleBigPlanet deserved a third iteration. It’s a shame Studio Japan came out with Knack 2 (which I liked) over making another Puppeteer, but that’s the world we live in.

Alan Wake

With the news of Microsoft giving Remedy the rights to the Alan Wake IP, it completely makes sense for Remedy to make a sequel to this game. I’ve seen a very mixed reception about this game, but I think Alan Wake ultimately was a great game. The gameplay was a little shallow compared to games this generation, but there was enough there for me to want more. I liked the idea of having to shine the flashlight at an enemy and shooting them. The only problem was that they didn’t really add to it from there. However, the story was interesting and kept me wanting more. It left off with quite the cliffhanger, and it seemed all but certain that it would make another appearance on an Xbox console. If I had to bring out the fortune teller in me, I’d say we get a remaster on the next generation consoles followed up by the sequel two years after. And who knows, this may end up being a PlayStation exclusive

Heavenly Sword

If you like hack and slash type games and haven’t played Heavenly Sword, then shame on you. It was an AWESOME game and it deserves your attention. It came out in the early years of PS3’s lifecycle, and it didn’t get the best of reviews or sell all that well. I remember a lot of reviewers docking it quite a bit for being too short. In my opinion, it was a great length and didn’t overstay its welcome. It had my favorite combat system for a hack and slash game until the new God of War came out. Nariko was also a total badass, and I’m fairly certain her and Kratos would make a cute couple after Kratos is done taking down the viking gods.

Sleeping Dogs

I hope you didn’t “sleep” on this game. Sleeping Dogs was a fantastic game that was similar to GTA, but it was set in China. It also had some of the better martial arts combat out there at the time. I enjoyed buying vehicles and clothing, driving around the city, and just kicking everyone’s butt. There was a lot of fun to be had in this game, but it did not have the best story. With the definitive version out on current gen systems, it seemed like Square Enix wanted to see if there was any interest in the franchise. VGChartz has the total sales as under half a million copies sold, so I think this game will slumber a lot longer.

Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale

PlayStation’s answer to Smash seems to be classified as a failure by Sony since we haven’t seen a sequel yet, but I think it’s time to give it another try. Sony wants to get back into the multiplayer arena, and this would be a great game to test the waters. The original game already had a solid cast of characters, but the next iteration has quite a bit more it can add to it. The next game will probably have to adopt a more smash style death system, since there were a lot of complaints about using a special to knock out opponents. I didn’t think it was the worst system in the world, but they should give us the option on the style of play. I can really see this game taking off if they do it right.

Lair

Okay I know this was not a good game when it released, but I still loved the ideas the game had. There are plenty of reasons Lair came out in the state it did, and that’s why it deserves a second chance. Sony forced the cell on publishers and six-axis motion controls. Due to this, Lair wasn’t very polished, and it had some of the worst controls in a video game at launch. They ended up patching it to let you control the dragon with the sticks, but it was too little too late. It definitely was more enjoyable after the patch, and I think that is a reason why Sony should look into reviving the property. I hated flying my dragon, but it was pretty sweet to land on the ground with it and destroy countless soldiers.

Fat Princess

I’m not sure the PC police would let another game like this come out. This beautiful cartoony game quickly turned into a blood bath on the battleground. Like PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, Fat Princess would be a great game for Sony to dip its feet in multiplayer again. It was a simple game of capture the flag with a twist. What’s the twist you ask? Well teams had to feed cake to the princess (the flag) to make her gain weight. This made it harder for teams to carry her and would make the person carrying the princess much slower. There was a spin-off to the series, but fans deserve a true sequel to this exhilarating action multiplayer game.

MAG

Another Zipper Interactive game rounds out my list for the PS3 generation. MAG wasn’t a terrible name for a shooter until you realized it was an acronym for Massive Action Game. This game pitted up to 256 people in online PvP. It truly was massive in numbers, but it never really felt that big. The maps were often too big and there really weren’t any pinch points where everyone would come to one area. The gunplay wasn’t very solid compared to a Call of Duty, and it lacked variety and content. I’d love to see Sony give this another shot, but it would need to change up a few things. I think it would be awesome if they did different time periods that reflected major battles. For instance, how cool would it be to have 200 people storm the beaches of Omaha, while 56 other people defended the beach with turrets in the bunkers. You can go to other wars like the Revolutionary war or Vietnam to help out with the variety as well.

B-B-B-BONUS ROUND PS4:

The Order 1886

Excluding Bloodborne, I’d say this might be the most wanted sequel from the PlayStation faithful, and it totally deserves a sequel. This is another game that I felt reviewers tore down for its short lenght. I’m sorry guys, but not all games need to be 50 hours long to be good. People also did not like that they couldn’t see when they were in cover, but why was that a bad move? I can’t see anything if I’m in cover if I go paintball or sneak around the house to scare my wife, so I thought it was cool that they limited the sight distance. The only thing I was slightly disappointed in was that it didn’t have any form of cooperative play. The reveal trailer made it look like it was going to have 4 player co-op with the different knights, but it stayed a single player only game. I’m not saying they ever promised co-op, but it seemed a little misleading from what they first revealed. PlayStation definitely could use an exclusive co-op game. Regardless if they add co-op or not, the story isn’t finished and we at least deserve to see how Ready at Dawn wanted the story to end.

Do you guys agree with the list? What other games would you want a sequel for?

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