Just Another Thought

You know, I was thinking lately. Video game titles are messed up. I mean, it seems like two different series of games are going on within the same franchise. Also, what is it with game designers skipping sequels. Take the Donkey Kong games for example. There’s Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Junior, and then along comes Donkey Kong 3. Uh, whatever happened to Donkey Kong 2? I mean, would it have been too hard to go and rename Donkey Kong Junior Donkey Kong 2? Or better yet, why didn’t they just call it Donkey Kong Junior: Donkey Kong 2?

A prime example of a awkward game series is the Street Fighter series. Nobody at the time had heard of Street Fighters when Street Fighters 2 came out on the SNES and in arcades. It would have been better if Capcom had edited the original Street Fighters and released that instead, or simply just called it Street Fighters. You could have called it Street Fighters 1 and that would be fine, because it would let you know that it was the first game, and a sequel was on the way. Another thing that baffles me is that there was never a Street Fighters 3 until many years later, and never an edited version of the original Street Fighters. Instead, we got many pointless variations of Street Fighters 2 (Street Fighters 2: Turbo, Super Street Fighters 2, Super Street Fighters 2 Turbo). It’s enough to make my head spin.

Another series from Capcom that got befuddled was the Mega Man series. There were 6 Mega Man games for the NES, and then along came Mega Man X for the SNES. Now, you would think that the X means 10, meaning that they had skipped 7,8,9, but later, there was a X2, X3, X4, and a lot more. So the games aren’t even part of the same series? There was also a Mega Man 7 released on the SNES, further getting the series wrapped in a realm of confusion.  Another series with the same kind of problem is the Adventure Island games. On the NES, there was 2 games for the series, and then, along came Super Adventure Island. Now, that’s okay, because it follows in the SNES tradition of putting Super in front of most of their titles, but then, along comes New Adventure Island. Now, we all thought, okay, it’s a remake of the first, like the fourth Castlevania game, but then, along comes Adventure Island 3 for the NES. So now, we are going back to the first series and the first console? If I wanted to put these games in chronological order, where would I start?

The following year, there was a Game Boy version of Adventure Island 3, but a typo caused the packaging to say Adventure Island 2, further sealing the franchise in befuddlement. And then came Super Adventure Island 2! It’s like some 4 year old kid was coming up with these titles!

Anyway, video games have a lot of messed up titles. It not only screws up the continuity, but the series that one is supposed to follow. But the games are still classic and all, I just wish they had hired the right person to come up with the titles.

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