10 Worst Attempts At Rebooting Video Game Franchises

Every property has a shelf-life. However well a classic video game franchise is regarded, the fact is that the medium will quite happily move on without it. One way to keep classic series relevant is to reinvent them, allowing them to grow and take advantage of new hardware, new trends, and new design philosophies. Sure, you could just make a sequel, but where’s the fun in that? The truly brave thing to do would be to stop the series dead in its tracks and start all over again. Of course, the existence of a list like this one makes clear that reboots are not always the critical and commercial success stories that developers intended them to be. In fact, sometimes they are rebooted so poorly that they end up having to be rebooted once more, several years later, just to save face. Here are the 10 Worst Attempts at Rebooting Video Game Franchises.
VO: Ben Potter (@Confused_Dude)
Script: Tyler Bramley (@TylerBramley3)
Video Editor: Alex Winters (@MrSteakFace)
#CrashBandicoot #Spyro #Sonic
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[@IAmAnEvilTaco]

Homefront did contain the full game of timesplitters 2, though. So it's worth the price for that alone.

[@Jesusluvz]

Really? Which one? And could it be played through the digital edition if bought through the ps store?

[@i.m.evilhomer5084]

While The Legend of Spyro is indeed a reboot. Crash of the Titans is surprisingly still a part of the main Crash series, they make references to the last few games, like Twinsanity. It's even more explicit in the "Mind Over Mutant" with N. Brio screaming "I WAS IN THE FIRST GAME!" & various other references to the OG trilogy. Nitro-Fueled would release costumes of the evil versions of Crunch & Coco from Mind over Mutant, & even Crash Bandicoot 4 suprisingly makes reference to Titans with a cameo of titan Scorporilla on a chalkboard, suggesting she's still being planned out in Cortex's Lab in 1996.

[@kieranstark7213]

Honestly, the #8 spots on this list are the only ones on this list that I actually think saved their franchises (before Mind Over Mutant disappointed us after the juggernaut of entertainment that was Crash of the Titans) while everything else I agree with (Sonic Next-Gen was this close to being a great game but because this is a Sega game, of course it was going to be problematic. Yet, it also has to be given credit where credit is due, which is more than can be said about Rose of Lyric which even by the low standards of video games reboots, is one of the worst).

[@kieranstark7213]

Also, I like your info!

[@CoraValentine1999]

Star Fox Zero feels like texting and driving.

[@Delaretro_]

Hoping for NBA live so I can hear him say SPORTS TIME!

[@Banquet42]

EA is there twice so that must count a bit?

[@AJ-xp7hw]

Crash of the titans was kinda tedious to play but instead i LOVE mind over mutant. that was glorious with it's multiplayer, and it was simply the best 3d metroidvania i have ever played

[@freddiejohnson6137]

Better than Metroid Prime?

[@AJ-xp7hw]

@@freddiejohnson6137 I don't want to lie, i enjoyed that more than metroid prime

[@Zeldarulah]

God... the fact that I instantly recognized 10:49 as a clip from Game Grumps from 8 years ago is wild. That first year of GG was really a special time, lol. Only LP channel that I watched 100% of the content of back then.

[@lewisjones9623]

Terrible since Jontron left

[@PowerSloth]

As soon as I saw that clip I went right to the comment to see if anyone else caught that lol

[@astro_afro]

LOVE the pettiness at 2:13

[@HotStormProductions]

I was definitely expecting Bionic commando to be on this list

[@mullinsgames1271]

his arm is his wife.

[@HotStormProductions]

@@mullinsgames1271 When you've been single as long as I have, it's easy to see why he began thinking this.

[@psychicfire8232]

I got worried that you would include the Titan Crash games. I have played both the original Crash games and these PS2 reboots, and honestly speaking, Crash of the Titans and Crash Mind Over Mutant are by far my favorite Crash games (including Twin Insanity as well). They're just fun as heck, everything works well, the villains are just as charismatic as they used to be, the gameplay is different, but still challanging, nothing inherently negative which I can see at last.

[@ukiuki3834]

I will defend Crash of the Titans until the day I die

[@prawncracka1268]

Me to, people need to stop bitching because 80% of crash games are decent, these games were well made and they didn’t seem to cash grabby it was all original ideas

[@tammid8423]

@@prawncracka1268 Yeah it's just really repetitive and brutal really

[@crashbash8549]

@@prawncracka1268 I think it was an okay game, just not a good crash game, it feels like they just used crash to get extra attention

[@jokerislife9522]

It's nice seeing footage of Nerdcubed for the Dungeon Keeper bit

[@Nbflowers1989]

Oh yeah, here we go! Honestly one of my fave channels on KZbin

[@leraya4356]

DELETE!

[@jefverstraete8574]

TRIPLEJUMP TIME ! I've watched a triplejump video before, but i haven't made one myself so im going to give this everyhing i got.

[@darren1020]

This is the perfect channel to binge watch lol

[@zukato4119]

If you complete Homefront Revolution the devs even apologized for the Game not being what everyone hoped for. Apparantly there were a lot of problems I loved the first game and was really disapointed

[@snowball9392]

I actually thought Golden Axe Beast Rider was alright.

[@ThatShyGuyMatt]

Didn't realize Crash and Spyro were not related game wise. I was to old when they came out so I never played them. Only seen them played on here.

[@cartergamegeek]

Hate for Star Fox Zero always bothered me because fans said make the game more like Star Fox 64 then attacked the game for being to much like 64. Nintendo tried to make fans happy and they hated getting what they asked for. And I like the combat in The Legend of Spyro games.

[@Randomark3087]

Yup. They complain when things change, and they complain when things DON'T change.

[@cartergamegeek]

@@Randomark3087 Fans can be really wild and flip at the drop of a hat. I think that game gets a bit to much hate because it's what people wanted and yet everybody got really upset.

[@X2011racer]

​@@cartergamegeek They got upset because it retconned Krystal.

[@MohandGamer7]

Crash of the titans is one my favorite games.

[@camharkness]

That's fine. You keep enjoying the game

[@vincentpistoia9034]

Twin sanity is better

[@DrownInLysergic]

You have bad taste then and you should feel shame

[@silverchord5790]

Ok, but, like, I actually liked The Legend of Spyro

[@bluegum6438]

They had a completely different approach, but perfectly good 3D platformers and with a lot to recommend them Can't say I played them more than once but I wasn't disappointed Certainly not anywhere near as bad as ETD, even as a kid I knew that was a stinker

[@Allofthenameshavegone]

Personal opinion, but you forgot the new Tomb Raider trilogy. The soft reboot between 2006-2009 was relatively good but I’d happily pay £100 for a remake of 1 to last revelation compared to what’s been put out since 2013.

[@danwalsh3163]

Most of nintendo games on the wii u are very good....that is why they are all being ported to switch

[@MINI_JasperJunior]

1:55 MILLER MOBILE POP! 🥳

[@Crow555]

I still haven't forgiven EA for rebooting Syndicate which bears no resemblance to the original series.

[@AnnDVine]

Oh, every game on this list is better than the original Homefront, geez.

[@ollie4354]

How people consistently gloss over Homefront being terrible is very weird to me. A dated, poorly paced, unchallenging, xenophobic pile of blandness.

[@jamarirobinson2305]

Well I like the original homefront if u didn’t oh well ig lmaooo

[@AnnDVine]

the best thing about Homefront is that it is very short

[@camharkness]

Thanks for my daily reminder that I'm actually the only person who liked the game.

[@Vanny_Dorito]

I enjoyed zero quite a bit but it was quite the struggle to really get a hang of the controls. Once you really get the hang of things it becomes a lot more fun but man it shouldn't have had to control like that. There are several other ways that the game could have utilized the gamepad screen and I can't believe that Nintendo felt that making you split your perspective and attention between screens in a game where you're trying to fly and take down enemies. It feels like trying to work the pedals in your car with your hands and steer with your feet while only being able to actually see by looking at a mirror.

[@Arcee720]

Some games I know that failed to reboot a franchise: - *Warcraft 3 Reforged* - Twisted Metal (2012) - Shenmue 3 - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD (RoboModo)

[@freddiejohnson6137]

Many 3D platform games could be on this list as they switched developers and publishers so much and they pretty much all but died out during the Wii/360/PS3 era because the ones in publishing them had no clue what to do with them. Crash and Spyro games were getting lackluster. I guess that is what happens when the genre seemed to have disappear for the most part as it wasn't the system seller it once was.

[@PURIPATHA]

I enjoyed crash of the titans it was fun I liked Land surfing and kicking everyone 😂

[@RealMusicHype]

00:53 Nice!

[@PhriekshoTV]

Star Fox Zero sucked, but the Wii U had some really fun titles. It was because it was treated poorly, not that it was actually a bad console

[@acmiguens]

2006 was the year Sonic got the worst reboot and one of the worst ports ever... That was a bad year :(

[@mechanomics2649]

I really, really want Nintendo to revisit StarFox Zero, or some of the ideas therein. I loved all of the different types of transformable Arwings and there were a lot of good ideas around that premise. I really hope they take that and do more with it.

[@matteste]

Can't belive that you forgot the music as another positive of Alone in the Dark.

[@VonDiesel3768]

If Bomberman Act Zero isn’t on this … oh, there it is. Well done.

[@aleronhawk]

Feels so good when you’re early...

[@levikahn719]

Except when you blow that baby batter early 👶

[@dougyreidmusic9152]

Not when you distribute the ole man mayo!

[@Dr170]

"Things women have never said"

[@bronco5591]

Okay so not a bad game, but the Ratchet and Clank remake is disappointing if you love the original game. It looks beautiful but they cut so much content and the story and characters are so lackluster in comparison.

[@MrBeardsley]

Another franchise EA ruined (not that it had a long history of great entries in the first place): The Simpsons. After they bought the exclusive rights to the franchise in 2005 they put out the not great but also not awful The Simpsons Game in 2007, then promptly cancelled the planned sequel and shifted focus solely to mobile games. To date the last Simpsons game they released (also their only mobile game still available) was the “freemium” world-builder Tapped Out in 2012. EA is also why we’re never getting a remake of Hit & Run, because that was published by Vivendi and there’s no way EA is ponying up the cash to secure the rights even though it would sell a million copies.

[@jwill7998]

Turok's reboot was sad.

[@yourgameisstupid]

That piece of crap sold over a million units :\

[@AndrewKuehler]

I legitimately enjoyed Homefront The Revolution. It's a great 7/10 game that was worth the $6 I paid for it.

[@DarthVader-qq8ci]

I feel like Homefront gets a lot more shit than it deserves

[@deeppurple6469]

The only thing good about home front revolution is the hidden timesplitters 2 game and that wasn’t found until years after the game release

[@Boogie_the_cat]

Wow. I didn't even know they tried and failed to reboot dungeon keeper in 2014. I'm glad I didn't, because otherwise I might have bought it and hated my life.

[@jimmya486]

Great video

[@BOABModels]

EA recently took over Codemasters (hooray...)

[@Sp1n1985]

F 😔

[@KatarnCrusader]

Didn`t you guys upload yesterday "Playing EVERY (original) Xbox Launch Game"? What happened to that? Copyright issues?

[@wyterabitt2149]

Or it wasn't meant to be released yet, that happens sometimes with channels.

[@roryk101]

I think it is meant to come out on friday

[@MartynAndStuff]

Top 10 existing or potential future Wha' Happun? video ideas.

[@Nbflowers1989]

Space Raiders actually looks kind of fun lol.

[@WeirdToYourMother]

Exactly, I want to play it now. Golden Axe didn't look too terrible either

[@Spacething7474]

Honestly half of these were kinda fun. Even stuff that got a singlular mention like Burnout Crash.

[@bobbymurphy5003]

Command and conquer rivals got me

[@njk3498]

I had Frogger 3d for the ps1 and it is, to this day, one of the hardest games I've ever played

[@Boogie_the_cat]

Gimmick shaming is fine with me, especially as far as Wii U is concerned. I find it hard enough to stomach $60 for a controller, why would anyone in their right mind pay $150 for a gamepad with a low resolution, non-multi touch screen, plus a few tacked-on features that might have seemed neat on a budget smartphone in 2008? Did I mention the battery life? And the terrible camera? Why put a camera in if it's so bad? Why put the camera in and NOT use it for motion tracking? Why waste valuable CPU power on a gamepad with a screen when you have to take your eyes off the TV to look at it?

[@Brodysseus]

Do you mean the 2000 Breakout game on PS One? I loved that game! Also I enjoyed Frogger's Adventures: Temple of the Frog at the time.

[@misterjersey5460]

Caddicarus reviewed that years ago.

[@Boogie_the_cat]

Yeah, nobody can "jack it" better than Crash Bandicoot. At summer camp we nicknamed him "The Jackanism" Bonus: I didn't know jacking gave you mojo.

[@leraya4356]

i believe legend of spyro at least was a bit better than crash of the titan. it could be me

[@lukeigi7261]

I’ve heard of legend spyro in ant dudes video of the trilogy and said they were all bad because of the combat being repetitive and boring and the 2nd game was too hard. There was even a movie planned but it never came out due to skylanders due to it including spyro

[@Burnape]

Okay here we go let's go here we go

[@zaturnneo]

The addition of Time Splitters 2 surely made up for Homefront.

[@NickBLeaveIt]

I’ve heard Crash Purple on GBA was actually pretty good, although the same was not said about Spyro Orange.

[@Resimaster]

The narrator probably hasn't played it. Or the writer, for that matter.

[@burnthetrolls5971]

I still will never understand how there are people who try to justify Sonic '06 it is not a cult classic, it is not a hidden gem, it is not misunderstood it's just a game made by a company who couldn't give a rats ass about the original games and just wanted to make money off of the Sonic name

[@matthewharris6113]

I really loved the Legends trilogy of Spyro games, they were flawed but there was sometjing there.

[@Jdeadevil]

I thought it was called Space Invaders: Invasion Day? It did get a little boring but I didn't think it that was bad.

[@Randomark3087]

Despite it's clunky controls, I loved Star Fox Zero. Golden Axe Beast Rider felt like such a mish mosh.

[@reallyhimongod]

I was bout to say there’s A LOT of Sonic games that can go on this list LMMAOOO

[@maguirre16]

To say Nintendo wasn't trying with their games during the WII U is really unfair. During its run they got: MK8, NSMBU, SM3DW, SSB4, SMM 1, CTTT, DKCTF, P3, and Splatoon. They got Xenoblade Chronicles X and Bayonetta 2 made. Even though it was late to the party Breath of the Wild came out on it. All those games within 4 years.

[@X2011racer]

There was also Yoshi's Woolly World, Nintendo Land, and Game & Wario. On the other hand, alongside Star Fox Zero, there was also Mario Party 10, Mario Tennis Ultra Smash, Paper Mario: Color Splash, and Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival.

[@funcoolfunfun]

Somehow I was expecting Sonic 06 to be on the list. Though not number one.

[@bloodrunsclear]

Max Payne 3 No noir elements, irritating nerfed abilities, and you can’t even play it anymore without making a Uplay account

[@wimberkers7579]

Number 8 was actually really cool in my eyes

[@8bittheologian]

Surprised to not see the dumpster fire that is Warcraft III: Reforged.

[@suryaramprakash5455]

Tony hawk Pro Skater HD (2012) & Pro Skater 5 Are the Worst Reboots they Attempted until Pro Skater 1+2

[@yourgameisstupid]

Thief 2014 (or Thief 4 if you want to get serious about this) was a pretty disappointing reboot.

[@DanielPerez-hh5sy]

Im surprised they didnt actually added that terrible Prince of Persia 2008 game. A quick way of killing an awesome franchise right after absolute gems like the Sands of Time trilogy. Good work.

[@H6ngman]

Home front was a lazy entry the first one wasn’t even that good lol

[@H6ngman]

How is homefront the revolution a remake in any way

[@RickyRicardo03]

Lol these games look so bad they’re good. And in Sonic ‘06, it’s GOLD! (Or Gold Rings, if you wanna get silly about this)

[@ThatShyGuyMatt]

Wait.... the vacuum (hoover for UK folks) from Teletubbies has a name? Mind blown!

[@jaysmith2858]

What will really blow your mind is the fact that it is named after a certain part of a woman's anatomy.

[@ThatShyGuyMatt]

@@jaysmith2858 lol. I'll never look at it the same now.

[@timothylewis2527]

Frogger for PS1. PS1 went a little crazy with the reboots. Some were good, like Pong. Some were frogger.

[@nerometalmkii2876]

Was "Space Raiders" really that bad? I think it looks good, at least for short spans at the time

[@wieldylattice3015]

You guys kinda forgot WipEout Rush, but I wouldn’t blame you considering it’s only a mobile game Glad Crash got the reboot it deserved though

[@mgproductions2007]

Silent Hill HD should be on this list.

[@mistermack4987]

Bomberman Zero was not a bad idea. If I try to sell you a video game where you snare and Imprison wild animals and make them fight to the death, you'd have torches and pitchforks ready. But if I made the animals and characters cartoonish and gave them nonsensical names, you'd call it Pokemon and say it was the best thing ever. Its all about context. Robots dueling to the death in an arena isn't cute, but anime bots doing it is. Humans Are Dumb

[@linedterror2]

Surprised dMc: Devil May Cry didn't make the list. While the game isn't exactly bad, it's not what anybody wanted from Devil May Cry. So much so that they went back to the original series

[@user-mk9eb6zc4r]

Alone in the dark 2008 gets too much hate

[@payperinvest]

Alone in the dark 2008 had great ideas but all of them are performed badly

[@whocares9033]

No Gauntlet Seven Sorrows?

[@pseudonymous6921]

im a huge crash bandicoot fan, its one of my top 5 favorite game franchises of all time. the saddest thing about the reboot wasn't because of the gameplay change or (lack of) quality, but it was the fact that they put crash in a non crash game for the sake of easy marketing. and its the same with banjo kazooie nuts and bolts. i mean, if they had put mario in a puzzle-vehicle builder-open world game or an action adventure beat em up one day, i feel like nobody (including mario fans) would mind, because they know a typical mario platforming game will come out sooner or later anyway, but when they do that with crash and banjo, 2 franchises that had an uncertain future at that point in time, of course everyone got mad because they wanted the same old familiar game, because for all we know it could've been their last one.

[@proevofan]

Star wars Battlefront reboot was awful and filled with hideous loot boxes. Medal of Honors last attempted reboot was bad compared to the earlier classics.

[@20buck06]

Why do they use the Simon miller picture when they do the "if you wanna get European about this"? I'm massively out the loop

[@evanhizon8112]

To be honest about the Legend of Spyro series. I only liked the music and the characters Cynder, Ignitus, Volteer, Terrador, and Cyril. Other than that, I didn't really enjoy the story and gameplay. It felt like a Lord of the Rings knockoff and the lore was very 2008-ish edgy. I preferred the original trilogy. I heard the Reignited Trilogy is good, but the original is better.

[@DOC_951]

Idc what people say about Sim City... I still spent 40 hours in that bad game lol

[@thesousa37]

Perfect dark zero....not sure if that’s considered a reboot...but it sure was different than the original....and now they are trying again...lol..

[@traceyrinaldi4759]

It's a prequel not a reboot. Might as well have been a reboot though as the Joana from 0 is nothing like the Joana from the original

[@charliehunt6336]

Homefront the revolution was a good game

[@TheMrfoxguy]

I know it's kinda give off a metro vibe.

[@yourgameisstupid]

I'm bored just thinking about it.

[@TheMrfoxguy]

@@yourgameisstupid and I'm bored just reading your comment

[@yourgameisstupid]

@@TheMrfoxguy Well that was fucking dumb.

[@charliehunt6336]

@@yourgameisstupid Go to prison.

[@PedroFerreira-sx2gd]

Beast rider is a ok game, although not as good as the original it is Pretty entertaining to play.

[@17peteclarke]

warcraft 3 reforged guys! this reboot was a unboot, making everything in the game worse, and making it impossible to play the original classic!

[@rikikage1689]

DMC?

[@Spacething7474]

The PS1 Frogger game ain't even on the list....

[@Zontar82]

because those were good

[@stingyringpiece]

i enjoyed space raiders :(

[@colingznetworkplus4618]

Nintendo tried very much (and succeeded) with a lot of the first party Wii U titles

[@JoeyD82288]

DMC reboot should be on here too that was an insult to Devil May Cry fans thank god we got Devil May Cry 5

[@brunixot1]

Crash of the titans was not terrible, it was different, I still play the PSP version from time to time

[@Casketkrusher_]

I actually liked the Crash of the Titans games.

[@ThatShyGuyMatt]

Burnout Crash. :( I died inside playing that.