Who would like a spin-off or prequel game instead of a sequel?

[G78]

Many people on forums express their desire for sequels to their favorite games, but how many of you would love to see a spin-off or a prequel? For example, a story that reveals more about the game world before the main events or focuses on secondary characters and their adventures.
Personally, I think that in some cases, spin-offs can be even more interesting than sequels. For example, if we were shown how the story of an important character began or how events unfolded before the main game started - it could add more depth to the world and fresh gameplay experiences.
Which games, in your opinion, deserve spin-offs or prequels?

 

[ciro64]

I've always wanted a Megaman game that closes the gap between Classic Megaman and Megaman X.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

I'd love to, but those are extremely hard to get right... I mean, look at the Deus Ex series: the sequel made no sense and the prequel somehow added more advanced technology than what we saw in the original.

NOW... Resident Evil: Zero was about the perfect prequel in every sense of the word.

I need whatever studio that handles it to bring their A game to it.

 

[CheelaCheela's icon]

I need a Castlevania of the War of 1999. My boy Julius deserve more spotlight.

 

[RetroLaw]

I want a Blazblue beat em up spinoff with Makoto on her joyfull adventures.

 

[anle]

a DMC prequel where you can play as the mighty sparda himself would be so insane

 

[RustySK]

I would almost always prefer spin-offs/prequels over sequels!

I generally hate how no franchise or even story ever truly just ends anymore these days and while in an ideal world I'd want people to make completely original one-offs all the time with sequels as a rare treat only, a spin-off is at least potentially something close to that ideal and a prequel at least has more creative breathing room.

Almost all Mega Man spin-offs/subseries ended up being fantastic, so another one of those would always be welcome, I'll second that idea.

 

[Potapota]

YES
I like a good end to a story. Spin-offs are a great way to expand the franchise and I wish studios made use of this more. It's just probably hard to justify the risk of confusing the consumer and their wallets with Game, The Spin-off instead of a simple Game 2: The sequel.
I know I had a great idea for the best spin-off ever just the other day but I just can't remember what it was.

 

[G78]

I would like to see a prequel or spin-off of The Last of Us, set almost immediately after the outbreak. This period is interesting because it would show how society and the world descend into chaos. We could learn more about the start of the epidemic, how people tried to survive in the first few months, and how civilization collapsed. This is a time full of uncertainty, fear, and struggle for survival. Such stories could add depth to The Last of Us world, introducing new characters, stories, and issues that would be just as captivating as the main game’s plot.

 

[Strategist's iconStrategist]

Prequels have problems sometimes because the story is so contrived. Every plot development has to lead the story from point A to point B so it is painfully predictable. Having said that, it has been done successfully a couple times. Lufia 2 is the main example that comes to mind of a prequel that is better than the original, but I'm sure there are others.

I also liked what Valkyrie Profile did with their take on prequels. It was a prequel to the story of VP1 that became disconnected to the original story due to time travel shenanigans. That way it wasn't forced to end at the same point as VP1.

 

[rexfenix]

I like the idea of spin-offs because there are lots of games out there that have really fleshed out worlds and lore but sometimes we don't get to explore much outside of the scope that the "main gameplay" offers.
One great example I can think of is "Brave Arms", a cancelled spin-off to the Ace Combat series that takes place during a revolution that was a response to a coup d'etat. It's interesting because instead of being a flight combat game like usual, it's an action game where you play as a soldier using a prototype exosuit.

They canned it to avoid plagiarism claims because it was 2008 and the aesthetics were getting too close to MGS4 for comfort. It's funny because other than the aesthetic, it's got nothing to do with MGS. It takes place in the AC universe, during an event that actually happened in the lore.
I'm still upset because this could have been not only a great action game, but also a good way to branch out the series and see what's happening on the ground for a change.

 

[jankusanagi]

NOW... Resident Evil: Zero was about the perfect prequel in every sense of the word.

It really was!

 

[Cu-Neo]

A Ys prequel about the many adventures of Adol's Father

 

[TheWanderer]

A Ys prequel about the many adventures of Adol's Father View attachment 11967

That would be freaking cool
But I really want a YS game where they bring back Dana
I don't care how
They can't just make a goated charcater and leave her to oblivion

 

[Naho]

Yeeeees, like Dragon Quest Builders, where you can see an alternate timeline in which the hero joined the bad guys and how the descendants suffer the consequences with a completely different gameplay.
Or the Megami Tensei saga, where they're all connected but work independently and change the gameplay in certain aspects.

I don't know why companies don't exploit spin-offs, it's sad.

 

[MasterEn]

Prequels have problems sometimes because the story is so contrived. Every plot development has to lead the story from point A to point B so it is painfully predictable. Having said that, it has been done successfully a couple times. Lufia 2 is the main example that comes to mind of a prequel that is better than the original, but I'm sure there are others.

I also liked what Valkyrie Profile did with their take on prequels. It was a prequel to the story of VP1 that became disconnected to the original story due to time travel shenanigans. That way it wasn't forced to end at the same point as VP1.

Dissidia Final Fantasy/012 is a pretty good prequel to Final Fantasy I.

 

[Ian Naxieas]

I think spin-offs are better than sequels in many cases. I agree wholeheartedly that stories need to fucking end and not be forced to continue on forever and just get more contrived as time goes on. I'm looking at you Resident Evil. 7 did sort of a soft reboot on the story, but Chris still punched a boulder in a volcano and whatever the fuck happened in 6 still happened in the canon.

Hmm, let's keep using RE as an example. Outbreak 1&2 were excellent spin-offs. Seeing the Raccoon City outbreak through the eyes of a bunch of random people was a great idea! Then there's Operation Raccoon City and Umbrella Corps. Oh no, chat. ORC's story was just a mess that added nothing but bullshit and UC... did it even have a real story? Looking it up I guess there was something but it was a whole lotta nothing. x) Then there's canon spin-offs like the Resident Evil: Revelations games, or I suppose they can just be called side stories, which I think is what some of us actually mean when we say spin-offs. The plots were kinda dumb and convoluted, but that's a complaint that you might as well just gloss over with the whole series because it goes without saying. Still, they were rather good, we need more like that.

Aight, still looking at you Resident Evil. Prequels. I know a couple people above said Zero was a great prequel and that's awesome, I'm glad you guys enjoyed it, I'm just going to have to respectfully disagree. Marcus was a terrible villain that feels like he should have been in an anime, not a RE game. Wesker and Birkin just kinda comment about stuff MST3K style until they're given random things to do. And finally Rebecca and Billy just kinda go places, solve the Marcus problem and then bye bye Billy! Forever, apparently. Then Rebecca and the other surviving Bravo Team members go to the mansion and promptly forget every single thing that just happened. It did add a bit of background lore on the virus and Marcus was kinda added to the overall lore, but is quickly forgotten because Spencer exists. Ultimately, it just really didn't add much to the overall story or characters or anything. Suikoden 4&5 and Silent Hill: Origins similarly added nothing to their respective series. Anyway! To counter that, we have some incredible prequels, Like Metal Gear Solid 3, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 1&2, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay and Shadow of the Colossus.

In the end, both spin-offs and prequels can be great additions to their respective series and spin-offs/side stories are the way to go when your plot reaches it's natural conclusion but you want more money. Just don't hire Resident Evil's writers to do it.