Does temple of doom on nes not count?

There are a lot of second games that I think are better than the first game. But not many that I consider the best game in the franchise.
The mentioned Pokémon Gold/Silver/Crystal is still my favorite of the Pokémon games and I like Uncharted 2 best of the Uncharted games.

Warcraft 2 and Heroes of Might and Magic 2 are leaps better than the first games and still enjoyable today. But to me the third game are better.

SimCity 2000 is my favorite sim city. But I left the sim-games after I did not like SimCity 3000 so there might be a more charming game later.

Not even close Forza Horizon 2 is barely better than the first game and the first game was actually more fun online than the second game.  3, 4 and 5 are all clearly better than the second game.  Heck I would play Blizzard Mountain which is the first expansion from Forza Horizon 3 and still the best expansion in the series over Forza Horizon 2.

Games where the second entry is the best:

Galaga
Ms. Pac-Man
Mega Man 2
Shining Force 2
Curse of the Azure Bonds
Maniac Mansion 2 (Day of the Tentacle)
Heroes of Might and Magic 2
Dungeon Keeper 2
Rollercoaster Tycoon 2
Shadow of the Colossus
Wii Sports Resort
Dragon Quest Builders 2

Uncharted 2, Streets of Rage 2, Mega Man 2, Ghouls 'n Ghosts (sequel to Ghosts 'n Goblins)

I wonder if someone will make a third game is the best thread

FlatOut 2
Colin McRae's Dirt 2
Heroes of Might & Magic II
Max Payne 2

Earthbound
Mario Strikers Charged
Starfox 64
Tony Hawk 2
Halo 2
Uncharted 2
Street Fighter II

Why not make that one next?

Here's a couple of PC games:

The Settlers 2
Day of the Tentacle (Maniac Mansion 2)
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
Master of Orion 2
Diablo 2
Fallout 2
Drakensang: The River of Time
Gobliins 2
Jagged Alliance 2
Populous 2
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords
Wasteland 2
WarCraft 2
Command & Conquer: Red Alert
Theme Hospital (Theme park was the first in the series)
Magic carpet 2
Dungeon Siege 2
System Shock 2
Half-Life 2

And a few console titles:

Megaman 2
Earthbound
Super Metroid

Finally, probably very unpopular opinion: Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link. Still my favorite of the series.