Is street fighter II the best sequel EVER?

[TheSonicRetard]

Final Fantasy IV. At the time, we knew it as Final Fantasy II, and it blew away its predecessor. Even considering the "real" II and III, IV was a massive improvement IMO.

Final Fantasy VI, which we knew as III, also was a massive improvement. I wouldn't call any of these the best sequels in terms of improvements, though.

[Hidden_Darkness]

I could name a few sequels that improved over the originals but most I can think of arn't the second games in each series except maybe streets of rage 2 and sonic 2, theres quite a few game series that didn't really improve until the 3rd or 4th game.

streets of rage 2: better visuals, better controls with more attacks
sonic 2: more fluid gameplay than sonic 1, the addition of a spindash, optional 2 player mode
final fight 3: improved almost everything from ff 1 and 2, a ton of new attacks, more combo possilities, addition of running, special meter with a ultimate attack.
phantasy star IV: a more indepth story than 2 or 3 offered
real bout fatal fury special: took everything from the previous fatal fury games and improved every aspect of the gameplay.

[DarkDragon]

Revenge of Shinobi

[StarMist]

Final Fantasy IV.

But I don't think this is what the OP had in mind. I think he meant best 2nd game to follow a poor 1st. Otherwise it allows for all sorts of scenarios such as Suikoden V after IV (or Tactics), Neo Contra or Shattered Soldier after whichever 32 bit version was latest, Sonic Advance after Sonic Adventure 2--whenever a series had fallen off there'd be another opportunity for a turnaround. I may be wrong but I think he had in mind a harder question.

[NeoZeedeater]

Super Mario Bros. is a good one, really, though. The first Mario Bros. is okay, I guess, but isn't anything too amazing. It was certainly no sign of what would happen next. However, Mario had previously starred in Donkey Kong too, so is SMB really the second game?

I'm one of the few people that did find the original Mario Bros. to be amazing. I think most people played it after SMB came out so it didn't have the same impact but it was one of the earliest co-op platformers. I played the hell out the arcade and C64 versions.

Just like there were fighting games prior to SF2, but all fighting games after took it's conventions, the same happened with SMB. there were platformers prior to it's inception, but they were crude and many of the conventions it brought to the table are now staples of the genre.

What conventions are these exactly? What staples of the genre did it introduce?

- It was obvious by that point that platformers were heading in the direction of scrolling games.

- Japanese-developed games were already fond of end of level bosses.

- Land/water levels were already in popular games like Jungle Hunt and Pitfall II.

Don't get me wrong, SMB was a very innovative game (and it was my favourite game at the time) but its innovations were more in ways that weren't highly imitated back in the day: sliding under bricks, the warp zones, stepping on shells and having they zoom off, its unique soundtrack, etc..

[TheEdge]

SUPER Street Fighter II was the best sequel of that franchise.

Resident Evil: Code Veronica / RE: 4 were the best sequel of that franchise

and

Daytona Racing 2001 on DC is the best sequel (I guess) of that franchise.

[sheath]

Pitfall and Pitfall 2 did not do what SMB did. It was a platformer, but that's like saying all platformers are alike. Aside from being able to jump over obsticals and slowly moving enemies, and the ability to scroll in pitfall 2, they share nothing that makes SMB different from any platformer that came before it.

Just like there were fighting games prior to SF2, but all fighting games after took it's conventions, the same happened with SMB. there were platformers prior to it's inception, but they were crude and many of the conventions it brought to the table are now staples of the genre.

Pitfall II shared all of the elements that made Super Mario Bros famous. Though I'd compare it more to Metroid, the fact that Pitfall II is a scrolling platformer, has levels, various enemies and challenges, and secrets makes it comparable. I don't want to run any of this to the absurd and say anything replaces anything else. I just wanted to point out that Super Mario Bros. didn't do anything new besides what is unique to itself. Even wikipedia mentions that Super Pitfall was considered a Super Mario clone.

[Soulis]

Well i agree with the TC.

Street Fighter 1 was a pretty mediocre game. It wasn't even well known. I don't even know if it was ported on enough machines, probably only on a few home computers but not on consoles.

Street Fighter 2 revolutionized the genre and took arcades (and then the world) by storm. Like Tetris it was ported on pretty much any machine back then, even those that didn't have the power to run it at all. Only the name was enough for someone to buy it.

I just can't remember a similar case where the sequel was so much better and so much more successful than the original. Sure Streets of Rage 2 was a big improvement but its not like the first was bad or unsuccessful...

[Kamahl]

I'm trying to come up with another such gigantic leap in quality like SF1 -> SF2 but I can't. I'd say the OP is right.

[Soulis]

I would probably add Grand Theft Auto 3 to the list but again... The first GTA was very popular and successful on PCs, its just that the 3rd game made it so well known to the rest of the gaming world and made it mainstream (that wasn't such a bad case back then). And its immerse, realistic 3D town was a VAST improvement.

[havok666]

No one cared about the first game, so no.

[NeoZeedeater]

Street Fighter 1 was a pretty mediocre game. It wasn't even well known. I don't even know if it was ported on enough machines, probably only on a few home computers but not on consoles

There was a console port on Turbo CD. The name was changed to Fighting Street but it was still an official port licensed from Capcom.

[Azathoth]

Best sequel ever?

The proper question is "Is Street Fighter II the best game ever?"

And the answer is yes.

[KnightWarrior]

How about the jump from Mario Bros to Super Mario Bros? Sure, the original wasn't bad, but the sequel is so much more. So, so much more. And it was more groundbreaking than SF2, with longer lasting, and broader effects.

Super Mario Bros. wasn't a sequel to Mario Bros. , Super Mario Bros. is a new game built for the NES,

[bpguimaraes23]

I think the combination of the improvements and the incredible success makes SFII the best sequel ever, no doubt.