In the arms race between console and PC gaming, it's hard to say which🐼 side really has the advantage. Console gaming can lay claim to an easy-to-pick-up control system, affordability, and a quicker turnover between installments of popular franchises. Not that a quicker turnover 🐠is always such a good thing. Many console gamers will tell stories of the wait for a new entry in their favorite series only to end up with a disappointing mess. Those are the sequels nobody likes to mention, the ones many would prefer to forget ever existed.

Not all bad sequels are created equal. While what makes a console sequel good is pretty universal, but what makes it bad is wholly individual. Some of the entries on this list were wild experiments that didn't pan out, while some of them junked what their series was best known for. Many are just quick cash-grabs made to wring money out of brand-name and still, others are just compromised ambitions. Some were so poorly made that they ended their franchises completely. The𝔍se ar꧙e the unloved.

For this list, we've dug through gaming history to find these disappointmen🌟ts and failed experiments. Some are now looked back on with fondness, while others leave us asking, "What were they thinking?" They are all here, those franchise installments destined for a life on the used shelf at the game store. The ones that make fans cringe at their mention.

Thꦦese are the 25 Console Game Sequels🅰 Fans Pretend Don't Exist.

25 The Legend Of Zelda 2: Link's Adventure ℱ

Nintendo seemed to make a habit of experimenting with the second installment of their NES franchises. Zelda 2 switched up the gameplay completely from the original. Gone was the top-down view an🥃d open map, replaced with side scrolling and RPG 🅠elements.

The difficulty went way up as well.

The use of experience points, random encounters, and the introduction of magic spells to the series were an interesting experiment but felt too out of place in a Zelda game. Though not a bad game, Zelda 2 just str🧸ayed way too far from the first. The game over screen with G🥂anon is still iconic though.

24 ꦬ Super Mario Bros. 2 🌃

What gamers must have thought when this came out. Instead of a traditional sequel to their landmark classic, Nintendo reskinned another game, Doki Doki Panic, with Mario characters and released that as a sequel in America. It was a str෴ange decision and the vegetable throwing gameplay mus🐠t have seemed odd to many.

In fairness, Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto worked on Doki Doki Panic, so it wasn't totally out of left field. Still, as a sequel, there's nothing like it. This game has been re-evaluated in recent years and elements from it, like Birdo and the Shy Guys, have transferred over into other Mario games.

23 ✤ Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest 🔥

While it did introduce nonlinear gameplay to the Castlevania series, thus adding the -vania to Metroidvania, that's one of the few things people liked about Simon's Quest. Even that comes with a caveat though, because that nonlinearity was responsible for the game's huge amounts of backtracking. Combined with controls that made attacking difficult, overly cryptic puzzles, and an unskippable day-to-night cutscene Simon's Quest drove even hardcore gamers mad. NES games were hard but this one was maybe too hrd. The game had some good ideas, but it would take the polish of later Castlevania titles to refine them.

22 🅰 Resident Evil 6 ꧋

Resident Evil 6 makes it onto this list for the simple reason that it doesn't even feel like a Resident Evil game. Resident Evil was one of the first survival horror games, it was supposed to be scary as well as thrilling. Players h༒ad to use strategy to make it t🍬hrough because ammo and weapons were rare.

That was all gone by Resident Evil 6.

By the time of this game, all𓆉 th𒆙e horror was gone and players could now just shoot their way through any obstacle. Even the zombies used guns for gosh sake. After this fiasco, no wonder Capcom rebooted.

21 Star Wars: ✃The Force Unleashed 2

The first Force Unleashed was actually a pleasant surprise to many. It let Star Wars fans do what they always wanted, go wild wi🦄th Force powers, wh﷽ile also telling an engaging story about Vader's secret apprentice.

A sequel wasn't necessary, but we got one anyway.

Immediately it angered fans by starring a clone of the first game's protagonist, gutting the emotional impact of the story. But if that weren't bad enough, the developers didn't even bother to innovate. Force Unleashed 2 used the exact same g🌟ameplಌay as the original, but with nicer graphics. Maybe it's good this is no longer canon.

20 🅠 Drago🌟n Age 2

The first Dragon Age was a huge hit for BioWare. Both a commercial and critical success, the game was praised for its in-depth character customization, complex narrative, and open world. So, of course, they threw all that out for the sequel. Dragon Age 2 was a disappointment for many reasons, but the two people kept coming back to were the lack of customization and open world. Instead, the action was confined to a single city and players could only choose their character's first name and gender. For a truly immersive role-playing experience like Dragon Age: Origins, this sequel felt like a betrayal.

19 𓂃 Knights Of The Old Republic 2: The Sith Lordꦦs

Following up on the first Knights of the Old Republic, arguably still the greatest Star Wars game of all time, would be a challenge for anybody. That BioWare handed development over to Obsidian Entertainment and gave them such a small window to finish the game didn't help. The company tried their best, but the final product was not up to snuff. Huge parts were unfinished upon release, leading to bugs that disrupted gameplay. Worse though, the story was underdeveloped and failed to live up to the first game. Only Kotor 2's villains, ✱Darth Nihilus and Darth Sion, are remember🦩ed fondly.

18 🐬 Epic Mickey: The Power Of Two

Epic Mickey was a weird idea to begin with. A loving homage to classic Disney cartoons made into a platform by Warren Spector, the guy behind Ultima? The fact that it𓆉 even worked for one gameও is surprising enough.

But getting lightning to strike twice wasn't in the cards.

The problem with Power of Two was that it didn't fix the first game's problems and didn't add anything new. As a result, the gameplay was repetitive and the camera was to annoying to use. The charm of the original had just faded. Can Disney do some🍬thing with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit now?

17 ꦺFinal Fantasy X-2

Oh boy, a sequel to a sequel! Final Fantasy games rarely get direct sequels, so it's all the more head-scratching that Final Fantasy X w🦩as one of the few that did. Dev🌼eloper Square Enix apparently decided to take the opportunity to experiment.

Unlike other games in the franchise, X-2 is non-linear and players can choose which storyline missions to do and when. Critics felt this muddied the narrative structure and also judged the shift in tone from Final Fantasy X. Fans we🅺re likewise angered that the c♍haracter of Yuna was turned from a thoughtful summoner to a bubbly pop idol.

16 𒊎 Bo𝔉mberman: Act Zero

Let's say you have a franchise known for its cartoony aesthetic and simple but effective gameplay. It comes time to make a new game in this franchise. What do you do? If your answer is junk the look everyone knows the series for in favor of a gritty reboot, congratulations! You just made Bomberman: Act Zero. But aside from ditching the classic cartoon designs for something out of a 90s comic book, the gameplay itself sucked too. Bad camera, no offline multiplayer, lack of different g🌌ame modes. No wonder Konami went right back to the classic Bomberman after this dud.