As a follow up to my "The Most Disappointing Video Game Sequels" thread, I ask you the opposite question this time around: Which were the greatest video game sequels?

Here's some of my choices:

- Pokemon Gold/Silver (GB) -

These sequels were improved in just about every possibly way they could, given the hardware limitations. These improvements include: New Pokémon to catch(duh), all Pokémon now being able to carry items and maybe most importantly; an almost twice as large map to re-/explore. And who doesn't still consider the battle against Red to be the most epic Pokémon battle ever?

- Banjo-Tooie (N64) -

"Bear & Bird are Back!" And this time it was more than twice as fun! You now had the possibility to split them (that's actually a good thing) which resulted in many more moves and abilities, you had maybe twice as many trabsformations to try out (including one awesome big ass dinosaur), you had 400% more egg types to mess around with but most imporantly: You could play as Mumbo. Oh, and there was also multiplayer...

Jk, the multiplayer was definitely one of the best parts of this game and offered an incredible replay value!

- Grand Theft Auto III (PS2) -

This is a pretty special choice of mine as I never actually owned the game myself. Even though I did/do own GTA 2 and have many fond memories of it, this game blew away all my expectations as I even went over to my friends houses on a near-daily basis just to play it! Truly an ideal sequel from every possible angle if you ask me, especially considering that every single gameplay aspect (and obviously graphics) were vastly improved. One of the greatest games ever? I'd say so, given how many great sandbox games it inspired.

- Super Smash Bros Melee (GC) -

The true master of improvements! Having more than twice as many characters (and god knows how many more maps) compared to its prequel. One of my favorite features, the tournament mode, was also introduced, resulting in frequent 8 player tournaments with everyone in my neighbourhood. And with all the other new features (event mode, adventure mode, all-star mode, home run contest, trophies etc) one might wonder how Nintendo possibly could have done a better job improving the franchise. The replay value of this diamond goes beyond almost every game I've played.

Now, how about you?

- Crash Bandicoot 2/3
- GTA 3 or Vice/San Andreas
- Uncharted 2
- Fallout 3
- Gran Turismo 3
-

Wow, I guess buying an Xbox 360 was a greater step for you than I thought? :P

- Mass Effect 2
- Uncharted 2
- Final Fantasy XII
- GTA 3
- Banjo Tooie
- Super Mario Bros. 3

Assassins's Creed II
GTAIV!
Burnout Revenge

Paper Mario: the Thousand year door

Metal Gear Solid 3

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Haha you mean because I didn't list any Xbox series? I'm not a huge fan of Halo (I like it but I suck at it), and I really don't like Gears. Forza is really fun though. 

There's so many video game sequels that I love... so I'll just leave it to sequels who (imo of course ) surpassed the original:

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn: Radiant Dawn both improves upon its direct predecessor, Path of Radiance, and all other Fire Emblems before it. In my eyes, it is still the Fire Emblem to beat.

Resident Evil 4: While the original Resident Evil/REmake is an amazing game that deserves every ounce of praise it gets, Resident Evil 4 was truly a game changer. Far superior controls and a much beefier and engaging adventure made this one of the greatest games of all time.

Super Smash Bros. Melee/Brawl: Each of these games are amazing, and despite how much fun the original is, Melee and [especially] Brawl up the ante quite a bit.

Pokemon Gold/Silver & Black/White: Both of these Pokemon sequels get my seal of approval because of the "newness" they present the player with. In Gold/Silver, it was your first time out of the Kanto region, and everything seemed so grand and expansive. In Black/White, you never encountered a single old Pokemon during your initial 40 hours playing the game. Both were immensley fresh while still staying true to their roots.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2/Sonic & Knuckles: Both of these games are among my favorite of all time, and each improves itself over its predecessor, the original Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic 2 introduced the Sonic Spin (crucial), Tails the Fox, and an awesome bonus stage. Sonic & Knuckles (and by virtue Sonic 3) introduced elemental shields (Electric Shields for the win!) and Lock-On Technology.

WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos/The Frozen Throne: Heroes, a much more engaging single player, and an incredible online community made WarCraft III my favorite RTS game ever. It still hasn't been topped in my humble view. Hopefully World of WarCraft can crash and burn so they can get to work on WarCraft IV.

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest: Dixie Kong. 'Nuff said.

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door: A more robust world, awesome partners (Love ya Vivian!), awesome humor, and a better shine of polish made the second Paper Mario one of my favorite RPGs.

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia: I love all of the Iga-vania's... but what sets Order of Eccesia apart from the pack is the protagonist Shanoa. *le sigh*

Super Scribblenauts: Adjectives!!! Oh, and far superior character movement didn't hurt either.

Super Mario Galaxy 2: How could you possibly improve on the incredible Super Mario Galaxy? Make a sequel of course!

Sonic Colors: Sonic finally broke the Sonic Cycle barrier wth this one. *Salutes*

Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins: The first Super Mario Land, with its very un-Mario-like physics (they can drive me crazy!) and exploding turtle shells, is quite the oddity. Thankfully we got a return to Mario form in the sequel.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword: As amazing as Wind Waker and Twilight Princess are (and they are amazing), there's no going back after Skyward Sword. Kew kew kew...

Heh, guess we're pretty much on the same track then as I bought my 360 because of Halo and third party titles.

(Maybe I should've added Wii in my disappointment thread )

Haha yeah dude we're the exact same! I originally bought it in 2007 to play Call of Duty 4 with all my 360 only friends, but then I re-bought it in a year or so ago for Halo Reach. Sounds like we both just love the 3rd party games/Halo. 

And yeah I'm disappointed with the Wii as well. My parents have one, it was fun for a while but really didn't hold my interest.