10 Commodore 64 Sequels That Never Lived Up To The Original

[@Chilliconcarnage]

I think in the case of Op Thunderbolt it was rushed because some original programmers produced nothing and then Ocean's in-house team had to knock up a game in literally 3-4 weeks or something like that. Op Wolf was superb.

[@OperationPhantom]

Some screenshots of that "version" were leaked to magazines at the time I believe? Looked stunning! Still "weird" how Zzap! originally rated Operation Thunderbolt 92% Well... apparently they didn't REALLY play the game... at least on the Amiga Thunderbolt is great, unlike Wolf.

[@CraigGrannell]

CJ in the USA would be another for a list like this. The original CJ game went above and beyond for a budget title. Lovely intro. Bonkers bonus round. Proper ending. It has some rough edges (notably around collision) but was otherwise represented superb value. Then the sequel arrived, which as a ‘least possible’ game. No extra bits. Just a few new (and drab) maps. And what’s more, the audio didn’t work on the C128 either.

[@philipatkinson843]

Thanks for being true to your word to make this great video regarding my comment about how I did not like Star Rank Boxing 2 and adored Star Rank Boxing.

[@Asphodellife]

Yie ar Kung-Fu II was actually a sequel to the MSX version of YKF, which was a different take alltogether.

[@aleksazunjic9672]

Many of the sequels came at the time when 16-bit machines started taking over (late 80's and onwards) . Thus, game was often originally made for Amiga and then ported to C64. Developers were in dilemma - either you strip down everything to run good (but look bad) on C64, or you try to keep the spirit of original making the game run slow on C64 . There were of course also money grabs, which tried to get quick cash on the popular title as at that time you only had magazines that could potentially tell you is the game worth of money.

[@mattmyers9351]

Great video OSG!!

[@dace2150]

I had Mercs on the Amiga and I really loved it

[@oldstylegaming]

Its a great game on the Amiga

[@cubeflinger]

One of my fave arcade / megadrive.

[@pferdebert]

Archon 2 is a very polarizing sequel to Archon. Many people hate it but I absolutely love it. I think the haters don't really understand the game. Which is not a surprise since most of us had illegal copies of games back in the day and those typically did not include the manual and figuring out Archon 2 without manual takes some time ...

[@Halbared]

I was hoping Archon would come out on the Nes.

[@makeitsonumberone1358]

The vindigator, wow that takes me back, never seen AVGN do that one yet

[@Halbared]

Mercs looks great. I had a fair few of the first games these sequels followed on from. Commando (and Rambo2) were two of my faves. Graphics on GB2 looks decent too.Yeah, I played Blue Ma and Green Beret (Rush'n'Attack on the Nes) loads. Thrust 2 looks a tad like Solar Jetman.

[@clauscombat418]

Impossible Mission 2? Not on the list? Wait, what..?

[@Halbared]

IM2 was ace!

[@matslarsson5988]

The fact that no one really has taken Thrust to the modern era in a proper way is to me totally bizarre.

[@caeserromero3013]

Never even knew there was a Yie Ar Kung Fu sequel. I had Operation Thunderbolt and hated it. I also hated Barbarian 2 though I never played it till years later on download. Glad I didn't pay for it!

[@jasonz7788]

Thanks 👍

[@TheBerk01]

The first level of Vindicator wasn't too bad once you got some graph paper and mapped it out. The second level was an almost generic shoot em up, and i never managed to finish it...

[@mysticwandererful]

Thrust 2 is not that bad once to get used to I think.. I first played that game before original in 1988 and I'm almost finished it. I don't know maybe it's my softspot because one of my childhood memories:))

[@marcusmalone]

Yikes, bit controversial, the Barbarian 2 call! That was considered a Godfather 2 level sequel at the time (e.g. Zzap from memory)!

[@oldstylegaming]

Yeah i say its not a bad game but when you expect a fighter and get a ...lets face it ...complicated to control action adventure... not really what you want. I mean I dont hate the game but its defo not a pick up and have a quick game kind of game that Barbarian was

[@Codetapper]

@@oldstylegaming You're right on the money. Barbarian 2 was complete garbage. The fun from the original was the 1 on 1 fighting, and risking the head chopper. In this one, the enemies are endless and boring, and half the time you want to execute a move and your idiot character spins around so he's facing the wrong direction. The "play as the girl" gimmick was just that, a complete gimmick. The game was a huge letdown for me, and the original was even a single load. The original was better in every conceivable way.

[@gipgap4]

@@Codetapperagreed, it was slow and boring.

[@marcusmalone]

@@oldstylegaming guess it's a bit like nowadays, when devs turn everything 'open world' with sequels 🤣

[@videogamebookreviews]

It got some good reviews so I bought the C64 version. I didn't reckon much to it.

[@mike2410]

Barbarian 2 was great - though I had on the Amstrad GX4000 with a better colour pallet

[@theyamo7219]

Surprising enough, Victory Road was made by the same group that made the US Ikari Warriors.

[@vandammesque]

- Barb II was the same progression as Way of the Exploding Fist to Fist II! - Vindicator was awful, played this on 128k Speccy and after about 15 mins of loading it was a maze game, rumour is that the other levels get more action packed and are good?! - Mercs was OK on the Amiga, but too complex for the 8bits. Ditto for Victory Road. - Op thunderbolt, I bought this for the Speccy, way too hard! Never played it much after 10 mins of gaming, went back to op wolf, still great today on 128k!

[@20thcenturygamingc64]

Good shout on Thrust 2 for deffo. Tried to be like Solar Jetman imo, well, graphics anyway which were done by G. Penn.

[@oldstylegaming]

yeah dont understand why they did that, its nothing like the original at all

[@Vindicator18]

Wow, Barbarian 2 is on here but not Fist 2, that's a big call! I also have to say, after how good Last Ninja 2 was, LN3 was a let down too, especially the level 3 tree bug. I would have put Arnie 2 higher, that was just absolute shite.

[@oldstylegaming]

Yeah I was gonna put fist 2 on but one of my mates Hayesmaker64 is playing it on twitch at the moment and living it... But yeah it was such a change from the brilliant wotef

[@spectralsymphony]

​@@oldstylegamingFist 2 also came with a 'b-side' on the cassette, that included a full 1-on1 game in the style of the original Exploding Fist. The only difference was that you could take multiple hits and had a health meter, and you had an arena that was where your characters were half submerged in a river. It was mighty fun kicking friends up and down hearing multiple thwacks before they dropped!

[@videogamebookreviews]

Fist II was a disappointment. :-( It seemed a bit rushed.

[@nerdygeezer78]

Found i was nodding along to all your complaints about these games. Think Bombjack 2 should have been on here lol

[@lurkerrekrul]

Barbarian II - I first played this on the Amiga and hated it. The most annoying thing about it for me was that unlike the first game, you had to have the distance just right to hit the enemies. If you were too close, you could miss them, but they could still hit you. You also had to time the swings right, otherwise the strike would miss, and then they would just keep hitting you over and over. I also found it disorienting that all the screens were shown from the same perspective, even though in the game world, you were facing in different directions, as indicated by the compass. The Vindicator - I never had this one, but it looks like one I might have liked, simply for the 3D implementation of the corridors. I never really like Green Beret too much because it was too hard. Yie Are Kung-Fu II - Maybe I'm misremembering, but I sem to recall getting through 2-3 of the characters. I agree it wasn't as good as the first game, but my memory says it was playable. Ghostbusters II - BLECH!

[@planetxsurveillance.dinkwi5766]

Excellent video. Yes barbarian was a joke sequel. Try game over 2 sequel. My god

[@metalcoola]

Turrican 2, bad joke, i know 😅 Had no idea Vindicator was Green Beret sequel...

[@Simon0]

Oh yeah turrican two was brilliant. Loved it. Even had some shootemup levels which weren't too shabby

[@nythyhel]

I like Barbarian 2 but with you on the rest. Ghost Busters 2 was the only game I ever took back. Awful 😂

[@leehurst6922]

What game is your intro music from

[@Retro-gamer1984]

I really wanted to like Yie Ar Kung Fu 2, I got it for Xmas too for the Speccy so tried even harder ! The only good thing was the box art..!

[@theyamo7219]

Just to point out a mistake you made in the video, you said that Blue Max was ported from the 2600...it wasn't, it was ported from the Atari 8-bit computer.

[@oldstylegaming]

Yeah I've addressed that in another comment :-)

[@Edgel-in6bs]

Difficult to argue on any of these!

[@raggeragnar]

Although many of these are unknown to me , they all feel ”rushed”.

[@paulbennett2284]

It’s 2024 dammit! Where’s my flying car?

[@Stephen_Eee]

I'm overly pumped to watch C64 games not live up to their siblings 😊

[@youuuuuuuuuuutube]

Video would have been better if you had shown some footage of the original games too. Half of the time I didn't even know or remember what the original was like.

[@CraigGrannell]

I think with Vindicator and Barbarian II, I’m at least willing to admire a certain amount of ambition. I didn’t like B2 nearly as much as the original - limited moves; endless enemies to make the game feel bigger than it was - but at least it wasn’t just more of the same.

[@kee1haul]

I feel like ive been put in my place. I actually quite liked Ghostbusters 2 and Barbarian 2.

[@oldstylegaming]

Barbarian 2 I can accept... But Ghostbusters 2....

[@MEGAMIGA]

I had Barbarian II on my Atari ST and I thought it was a great sequel. Palace kept the character but introduced a new gameplay. And I completed it, conversely to Barbarian... As for Yi-Ar Kung-Fu II, I agree! The sequel could have been sooooo much better!

[@oldstylegaming]

Yeah as I said it's by no means a bad game it's just not what we expected

[@Lucasrainford]

Cash in sequels, be it games or films are often total shite, I made the mistake of buying a few of these back in the day :( Great idea for a vid, be nice to see the same on the Amiga, I can think of a few!

[@oldstylegaming]

Yeah ill defo do that

[@disasterincarnate]

For me it was Thing Bounces Back, the sequel to Thing on a Spring, the second just never clicked for me. Also if you want to include a game that didnt live up to the original where the original was also bad, then id say Predator > Predator 2.

[@Halbared]

Maria...sigh...

[@ChrisHopkinsBass]

Mercs....blocky graphics? brown palette? shit gameplay? It wasn't coded by Tiertex was it? EDIT - YES IT WAS :D

[@twankistevenson3884]

Op Thunderbolt was dreadful a massive let down

[@Emulous79]

There's actually a movie called The Vindicator released in 1986, two years before. The game must have copied it.

[@gumdeo]

Victory Road is so bad, it made me forget that Ikari Warriors had a sequel.

[@oldstylegaming]

Hahaha ..Victory Road had a sequel too that was even worse ......

[@MephProduction]

I really enjoyed Barbarian 2 while nothing like the first it was still a great game on it's own, I would add Dan Dare 2 to the list, that was trash. Ghostbusters 2 heartbreaking as the Oliver Twins didn't set out to make a bad game and they were fans. Best sequels next?

[@bjrnen8505]

Aww... But how would you have imagined Barbarian 2 play out ..

[@lurkerrekrul]

Maybe more of a Street Fighter 2/Mortal Kombat type game, with different characters to select from, each with a different weapon.

[@oldstylegaming]

Well I didn't expect what we got, same with Fist 2 I never ever bought a street fighter game where Ryu decided to go for a walk about with some fights in between

[@towerbridge04]

Dan Dare 2 was a departure from the original but certainly inferior. I liked Barbarian II and completed it earlier this year. It's not difficult to map. Can be frustrating, like many games, but people labelling it garbage is unfair! 77% on Lemon from 190 votes seems about right.

[@oldstylegaming]

Yeah it's defo not garbage barbarian 2

[@1stBlood]

Bomb jack 2 🎉 i thought it was so bad didnt know it was thundercats then either, rip off 😂

[@MaxSpender]

Strider 2 on the Spectrum was pretty poor compared to the original. Not sure what it was like on the C64 though…?

[@federicocatelli8785]

There are two different games know as Strider 2 the one I had the chance to try had 3d gfx (backgrounds) and was a late Psx game (nothing to write home😅)... I discovered there was one made ,in mid 90's ,for european home computers and megadrive by US Gold🤮stay away

[@robertmitchell5069]

I-Ball2 comes to mind, footballer of the year 2; decent but not as good as the original.

[@jnbloss]

Did I understand correctly that Blue Max was based on an Atari 2600 game? Which one? 😲

[@lurkerrekrul]

He misspoke. Blue Max was first a game for the Atari 8-bit computers, then it was ported to the C64. There was never a version for the Atari 2600.

[@oldstylegaming]

Yep I slipped... For some reason when I do these videos I always have a flashback to all the comments I got when I called the Atari the 2 thousand 6 hundred... So now when Atari enters my head it always comes with 26 hundred bolted on....

[@paulbennett2284]

@@oldstylegamingi will always call it the VCS!

[@videogamebookreviews]

@@paulbennett2284 That was its name for several years! You can always tell when someone's a youngster because they call it the 2600. ;-)

[@SeanONeill-ef5vb]

Enjoyed Renegade but hated Renegade 3

[@Halbared]

Be-ret, as the yanks say!

[@CondemnedToBeMe]

👍👍🕹🕹

[@vandammesque]

Other that didn't live upto expectations, Robocop 2! What a bore fest slog!

[@oldstylegaming]

Yeah far too busy looking that game too on the c64 , reminds me of an amstrad game

[@disasterincarnate]

i had that on cartridge back in the day and oh my god i tried to like it but the freaking inertia on movement was insane. it was weird, i hated the game but still tried to complete it out of hatred/spite.