What the subject says..What are your favorite video game sequels? I will discuss 5 of them.

         1- Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door- This game improved upon Paper Mario in every way possible. The super guard was introduced for the gamer that wants to see how good his/her timing is during battles. The music overall was improved ( I mean how can you not love Rawk Hawk's theme?! Or Macho Grubba's?), the characters ( including  the party members) feel  like they are more  alive than the  characters in the original: there is drama, there is humor, there  are serious moments, there is  everything.

          There is a lot more to do in general. There is the Pit of 100 trials which is hard as  nails if you don't use the right badges, there are many badges to get,  many star pieces, shine sprites, etc... There are some paper based gimmicks which are pretty unique.. TTYD is what a sequel supposed to be. A better version of the original game.

         2- Super Castlevania IV- I have one word to say regarding this: ....controls.. Simply put.. The controls are so much better than in the original trilogy.. You can moonwalk, you have more control  during jumps, you can whip in eight directions, you can move while crouching.. The controls  simply recieved a 180 and the end result  is very pretty. While that would make the game easier than the NES games, that doesn't mean that it doesn't have its moments where it wants to remind you that you are playing a Castlevania game.

        It's easier, but offers a fair challenge which what I am looking for in a video game. Super Castlevania IV remains my favorite classic-style Castlevania game and my 3rd overall Castlevania game behind Symphony of the Night and Dawn of Sorrow.

        3- Resident Evil 4- Oh boy. I know fanboys of the classic RE games are going to despise me for this, but whatever. The game has a very creepy atmosphere ( something recent RE games don't have) and the audio is simply the icing on the cake which adds more tension. The gameplay got improved in my opinion. The controls are much smooter, but they are not smooth to the point where they simply make RE4 an action game. They are  still  pretty limited and I am OK with that since RE4 is supposed to be a mix between  horror and action.

       The over the shoulder camera works pretty well, too and I  like it much more than the fixed camera that the older RE games offered. The only gripe I have with RE4 are QTEs. They fucking suck and RE4 would have been a much better experience without them.

       4- Red Dead Redemption- This game is so damn cool. The world is very huge and there is a huge variety of things to do ( hunting is so much fun). The game controls very well even if the horse controls aren't particulary spectacular, they still work and they don't piss off the player at all. Also, the overall Wild West feel  of Red Dead Redemption is so damn charming that it makes you feel like you are in the Wild West .  You can even play poker for Christ's sake! That is simply cool.

       It's not perfect by any means, but it's as fun as a Wild West video game will probably ever get..........until a new Red Dead comes out.

       5- Final Fantasy IX- After the disappointing Final Fantasy VIII, it's great  that this game happened. The medieval locations are  more charming and unique  than the locations VIII  ( or VII) had to offer. The characters are also very charming and even more than what VII and VIII  had to offer ( Vivi master race, bitches). Also, this is the first FF game since VI to have a real villan. I mean, VII had Sephiroth which is not really a solid villan and VIII? Yeah...

        The art-style is very colorful and simplistic  and even after 14 years I am totally pleased to look at IX, something I can't really say for VII and VIII ( specially VII. Ugh). The music is the best  the Final Fantasy franchise had ever offered and I highly doubt it will ever be topped in my opinion. The game uses a turn based battle system which miles better than VIII's flawed Junction system and character classes also return which means each character has a role in battles.

        Sure, it's kinda easy, but other that there is really nothing with IX. It's fun, simplistic, beautiful and charming.

        I am done.. What are your favorite video game sequels?

     

      

I was about to make a thread about this.
I'd say Uncharted 2. I've just been playing it recently and it's staggering how much was improved from the already enjoyable Drakes Fortune

I'll just name the best FIRST sequels:

Melee

Gold & Silver

Rogue Squadron II

Assassin's Creed 2

Half Life 2

Mass Effect 2

Earth Defense Force 2017. Which was surprising because I didn't think the first 2,016 EDF games were that good.

Super Metroid.

Uncharted 2, Assassins Creed 2, Resident Evil 4, Forza 4, Forza 3, Gran Turismo 2, Gran Turismo 4, Gran Turismo 5, Dead Rising 3, Dead Rising 2: Off the Record, Red Dead Redemption, All the metroid clone Castlevanias, Saints Row 2 there are many more but I don't want this list to go on forever.

Assassin's Creed 2- I love the first AC game but the second one was one of the best games I have ever played. Great historical setting and characters along with some of the best mix of stealth and adventure gameplay.

Halo 2- This game had a lot of hype to live up to and for me it hit it right on the head. The story continued the grand epic and further established the universes as one of the best. More importantly though, Halo 2 brought competitive multiplayer to a new level on home consoles.

Sonic Adventure 2- whether the Dreamcast version or the advanced Gamecube version, this was a great game. Not traditional Sonic but Sega found a way to take Sonic past the fast paced platforming to a game with a lot more depth.

Super Mario Galaxy 2- Talk about having to live up to expectations. Super Mario Galaxy may be the best platformer ever created and to be a sequel to that is stressful. But Galaxy 2 brought new and exciting levels that offered different challenges to the already well-established style of the original. That is why Galaxy 2 might be the second greatest platformer ever created.

Now for some non-traditional sequels:

Red Dead Redemption- this took the open world sandbox genre to an entirely new level as it was able to provide great characters and great story without sacrificing the freedom found in sandbox games.

Resident Evil 4- Shinji Mikami brought video games into the modern age with RE4 and gave survivial horror games the update they required. A good mix of action, puzzles, suspense, and horror along with a control scheme that actually worked took survivial horrors from cheap scares to intense moments of survival. And to me there is only one game better than this one haha. (hope my avatar didn't give this one away haha)

Zelda 2

Hexen

Heh. Most of time when I see a Resident Evil-related topic ( specially if RE4 is a strong focus) I actually expect you to appear for some reason. Great list, btw.