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00:00 [MUSIC]
00:08 Welcome to Mojo Plays, and today we're looking at video game franchises that tried to make a comeback, but ultimately failed.
00:15 You sure haven't lost your touch.
00:17 [GIGGLES]
00:18 Before we begin, we publish new content all week long, so be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
00:25 [DING]
00:26 Final Fight Series
00:29 [MUSIC]
00:35 Throughout the 90s, Final Fight was another heavyweight under Capcom's umbrella.
00:39 The beat 'em up franchise flourished with several entries, both in arcades and through home ports.
00:44 However, it was left behind at the turn of the century.
00:47 Capcom attempted to bring it into the new era with 2006's Final Fight Streetwise, and it was so poorly received, we've yet to ever get another one.
00:55 [MUSIC]
01:04 The most it could offer was a few distracting minutes of fun before you grew bored.
01:08 Gameplay and mechanics were simplistic and repetitive, which may have been fine during the days of 2D and two buttons, but not here.
01:15 It also looked pretty poor even by mid-2000s standards, and the camera and enemy AI combined for a frustrating experience, to say the least.
01:24 [MUSIC]
01:30 Thief series
01:32 [MUSIC]
01:38 1998's Thief The Dark Project is one of the best action stealth games ever made, full stop.
01:44 Both of its sequels, while not quite as strong, were still plenty of fun.
01:48 However, lower sales of the third game put the series on ice for a time, until Square Enix brought it back with a self-titled entry in 2014, ten years after the previous game.
01:59 [MUSIC]
02:05 Stealth was still solid, but the revival did little else to make Thief stand out to players.
02:10 In all honesty, it was a totally average and, clearly, fairly forgettable game.
02:15 Despite quick, warm reviews and sales, it's no surprise Thief failed to make a comeback.
02:20 [MUSIC]
02:26 Golden Axe series
02:28 [MUSIC]
02:35 Another fantastic beat-em-up of the 90s era, Golden Axe stood out with its fantastical setting, enemies, and combat.
02:42 It got several sequels and spin-offs, but disappeared towards the end of the decade.
02:46 Like Capcom with Final Fight, Sega attempted to revive the series in the 2000s with Golden Axe Beast Rider, and it was just about as bad as Streetwise.
02:55 It was a dull, messy hack and slash, with the main draw of riding beasts brought down by poor controls.
03:01 [MUSIC]
03:09 It didn't even have multiplayer, one of the biggest draws of the older games.
03:13 It's worth noting that at the 2023 Game Awards, Sega announced plans to revive several Dormex franchises, Golden Axe among them.
03:21 Well, at least they already know what not to do.
03:24 [MUSIC]
03:32 Banjo-Kazooie series
03:34 [MUSIC]
03:40 Fans of Banjo-Kazooie have kept the bear and bird relevant through sheer force of will, but those same fans were adamantly against the one time they tried to come back.
03:50 The duo starred in two of the most beloved platformers on the N64, with Banjo-Tooie releasing in 2000.
03:57 While a couple of handheld spin-offs were released afterwards, fans waited with bated breath for what a new home release would look like after Microsoft purchased Rare.
04:06 What they got was 2008's Nuts and Bolts, which many hated due to a change in art style and gameplay.
04:12 [MUSIC]
04:19 Re-evaluation has since improved its reputation, but at the time, it was enough to kill the franchise dead.
04:25 Fans may have thought a guest appearance in Smash would drum up interest for another comeback, but no such luck.
04:31 [MUSIC]
04:36 Dead Space series
04:38 [MUSIC]
04:43 As it's one of the more recent failed comebacks, the death of Dead Space stings a little bit more.
04:48 The first two games are paragons of survival horror, but the third was criticized for leaning too heavily into action.
04:55 As a result, sales were lower than desired, with publisher Electronic Arts eventually choosing to close developer Visceral Games.
05:02 However, EA tried to breathe new life into the series with a remake of the first game in 2023.
05:08 [MUSIC]
05:14 Developer Motive did a fantastic job, but that sadly doesn't mean it was a financially viable comeback.
05:21 Sales were reportedly low, causing Motive to scrap plans on its sequel and killing the franchise once again.
05:28 [MUSIC]
05:33 Turok series
05:35 [MUSIC]
05:41 Released mere months before the iconic GoldenEye, 1997's Turok Dinosaur Hunter kicked off an era of surprisingly great shooters on the N64.
05:51 The series continued through strong sequels until the original publisher Acclaim went bankrupt in 2004.
05:57 Disney picked up the rights via its Touchstone Interactive branch and attempted to bring it back with a self-titled reboot in 2008.
06:04 [MUSIC]
06:08 Remind me not to get on your bad side.
06:11 Clearly, time had left Turok behind, as this reboot was utterly bland, from its gameplay and level design to its lead character.
06:18 While reviews were lukewarm, sales were decent enough to begin work on a sequel, but it was canceled when Disney closed developer Propaganda Games,
06:26 and we haven't heard from the Dinosaur Hunter since.
06:29 [MUSIC]
06:37 Star Fox series
06:39 [MUSIC]
06:45 Star Fox may still be a favorite among certain Nintendo fans, but that doesn't change the fact that it absolutely failed to make a comeback with 2016's Star Fox Zero.
06:55 It was the first new entry in 10 years, not counting the 3DS remake of Star Fox 64 in 2011.
07:01 It faced a lot of criticism, namely for its control scheme that heavily relied on the Wii U GamePad.
07:07 That console was already a sales low for Nintendo, which means even fewer players tried it than they normally would have.
07:13 [MUSIC]
07:20 Since then, we've gotten a re-release of the canceled Star Fox 2, and the characters showed up in the Switch version of Ubisoft's Starlink.
07:28 But the financial and critical failure of Zero has led Star Fox back into a life of dormancy.
07:34 "You got that right."
07:36 [MUSIC]
07:39 Tony Hawk series
07:41 [MUSIC]
07:48 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and its sequels provided players with hours of fun, regardless of whether you were into skating or not.
07:55 However, in the late 2000s, the series grew to rely on gimmicks and peripherals, selling and reviewing worse in the process.
08:02 Fans may have thought a return to roots was coming with 2015's Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5, but boy, were they wrong.
08:10 [MUSIC]
08:17 The buggy, poorly controlled mess masquerading as a game was the result of publisher Activision trying to retain the license, and producing something quickly.
08:26 Vicarious Visions did develop an excellent remake package of the first two games in 2020, but the studio was then folded into Blizzard,
08:34 killing plans of a second remake bundle of Pro Skater 3 and 4.
08:38 [MUSIC]
08:44 Shin Mu series
08:46 "I need to ask you something."
08:48 "Forget it!"
08:49 "Um..."
08:50 "Who the hell do you think you're talking to? You fighting with me?"
08:54 Shin Mu is the very definition of a cult classic.
08:57 Released on the Sega Dreamcast in 1999, it reviewed and sold well, but was such an expensive endeavor that it was still a commercial failure.
09:05 It got a sequel two years later, which ended on a huge cliffhanger, and then nothing for nearly two decades.
09:13 To be fair, the passionate fanbase supported creator Yu Suzuki's desire to continue for years.
09:19 But by the time he finally got it funded and released in 2019, Shin Mu 3 was a tad disappointing.
09:25 "You will start from the lowest rank."
09:28 "Rank?"
09:30 "Yes. You must fight and defeat someone above your rank in order to move up."
09:35 Most felt it was outdated in both the visuals and gameplay departments.
09:39 Since it had been such a long time, and since it was already pretty niche, sales weren't very high either.
09:44 Unless Suzuki gets a fourth funded in another 20 years, this may be the end of Shin Mu.
09:50 "Beat me and I'll tell ya."
09:53 "Let's do this."
09:56 Duke Nukem series
10:04 Franchise comebacks fail all the time, but not many are as spectacularly mismanaged as Duke Nukem.
10:11 The FPS series blew up in the 90s thanks to Duke's violent and sexually explicit jump to 3D.
10:18 Gamers of the time thought he was the coolest dude around, which is why 3D Realms announced a sequel in 1997, Duke Nukem Forever.
10:27 With a development period that lasted around 14 years, anything that could go wrong basically did.
10:34 "Your new successor is waiting."
10:37 A lack of a plan from studio heads, severe understaffing, engine changes,
10:43 it got to a point where different studios signed on to finish the work just so it could release.
10:48 When that finally happened in 2011, Forever was seen as a relic, outdated in every aspect, and outshone by most other FPSes.
10:57 Naturally, that has so far been the end of Duke.
11:00 "Duke, you're a relic from a different era. This is a new age for humanity."
11:05 Sadly, these aren't the only franchises that failed to come back. What others were you sad to see go?
11:11 Let us know in the comments, and be sure to subscribe to Mojo Plays for more great gaming videos every day.
11:16 "Come on, it'll be just like old times."
11:19 Thanks for watching. If you enjoyed the video, there's more where that came from.
11:23 [outro music]