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00:06Welcome to mojo plays and today we're looking at the worst first 3d entries in 2d series that we
00:12ever saw. Establishing a series as 2d in the 90s was the way to be but eventually everyone had to
00:17change. These are the 20 worst 3d transitions for 2d series. Let's go. Before we continue we publish
00:24content all week long so be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to get notified of our latest
00:29videos. Castlevania 64. Castlevania 64 had everything needed for a brilliant 3d debut.
00:44Gothic castles, monsters, platforming, decades of atmosphere. Unfortunately actually playing it
00:49could feel like fighting Dracula and the controls simultaneously. Combat was awkward, jumps were
00:54unreliable and the camera had a habit of making super platforming far more dangerous than intended.
00:59The series kept experimenting with 3d afterwards yet this first attempt proved something important.
01:05Adding another dimension does not automatically make exploring Dracula's castle any more enjoyable.
01:10And also the N64 needs a level of thinking outside the box. It's one analog stick. Work harder.
01:19Mortal Kombat 4.
01:20Mortal Kombat 1. Fight!
01:29After three enormously successful 2d arcade games, Mortal Kombat 4 finally pushed the series into genuine 3d. The problem was
01:37that the extra dimension didn't add much beyond sidestepping and some wonderfully chunky polygons. Digitized actors disappeared, replaced by blocky
01:45fighters whose animations lacked the nasty personality of the older games.
01:49Weapons were introduced, and the fatalities remained suitably ridiculous,
01:52so it was hardly unplayable.
01:55Still, compared with how confidently Mortal Kombat had dominated arcades,
01:58this felt like an experiment conducted in public.
02:01It didn't stick with them, they continued making great games,
02:03but this truly was an experiment that needed to happen, I guess.
02:08Live well, Liquid Warrior.
02:22The original Alundra combined beautiful 2D artwork, clever puzzles, and a surprisingly dark story.
02:28Alundra 2 responded by changing the protagonist, the tone, and basically the entire visual identity.
02:33Moving into polygonal 3D made platforming harder to judge,
02:37while combat and puzzles often felt clumsier than they needed to be.
02:40There's still a decent adventure buried underneath it all, so this isn't an outright disaster.
02:44The big issue is that it barely feels related to Alundra.
02:48Taking risks with a sequel is admirable,
02:50making players wonder whether somebody accidentally attached the wrong game's title screen is slightly less admirable.
03:00Fallout Brotherhood of Steel.
03:08Everyone often thinks Fallout 3 was the first 3D Fallout adventure,
03:12and that's probably because nobody actually wants to remember Fallout Brotherhood of Steel.
03:16The deep role-playing, branching choices, and freedom of the originals were pushed aside
03:20for a simpler action RPG focused on real-time fighting and collecting equipment.
03:24The Wasteland remained, but much of Fallout's personality didn't.
03:28Dialogue leaned heavily into crude humour,
03:30while the choices available to players felt dramatically reduced.
03:34You can certainly find some uncomplicated action game fun here,
03:37but as Fallout's first polygonal adventure,
03:40it misunderstood what made the series special.
03:50Altered Beast.
03:58Altered Beast already had an unbeatable concept.
04:01Punch monsters until you transform into an even bigger monster yourself.
04:04The PlayStation 2 revival brought that premise into three dimensions,
04:08added several grotesque beast forms,
04:10and somehow made the whole thing less exciting.
04:12Combat quickly became repetitive,
04:14the camera caused everybody trouble,
04:15and the darker presentation lost much of the arcade original's wonderful stupid charm.
04:20Turning into a werewolf or dragon should be the moment everything becomes awesome.
04:23Here, it eventually feels like selecting another ability from a menu.
04:33Splatterhouse.
04:36It is good to finally be free.
04:40Few franchises seem better suited to modern 3D than Splatterhouse.
04:44Give Rick larger environments, hundreds of monsters,
04:47and enough blood to concern several government departments.
04:50Turns out it's pretty damn average, actually.
04:52Combat became repetitive, platforming could be maddening,
04:55the camera regularly misbehaved,
04:56a familiar problem when people transition to 3D.
04:59And lengthy loading screens made every death feel like an additional punishment.
05:03There are flashes of ridiculous fun,
05:05and some locations look suitably disgusting.
05:08Unfortunately, the game also lets you unlock the original trilogy.
05:11Great for adding value to your game.
05:13Bad for proving to players that the newest entry is the best.
05:16Because it ain't.
05:22Paperboy.
05:31The arcade Paperboy made newspaper delivery wonderfully straightforward.
05:35Ride down the street, hit the correct houses,
05:37and avoid whatever insane obstacle the neighbourhood throws at you next.
05:40The Nintendo 64 game expanded everything into 3D,
05:44and accidentally made the job way harder.
05:46Larger environments sounded appealing,
05:48but aiming papers became really awkward.
05:51Positioning felt less intuitive,
05:52and the perspective really helped.
05:54Instead of relying on quick reactions,
05:56you spent more time lining yourself up.
05:58There were entertaining moments buried in there,
06:01but the elegant arcade rhythm largely disappeared.
06:04Screw newspapers, I don't need to know the news.
06:12Leisure Suit Larry, Magna C***n Loud.
06:22Hey baby, don't I know you from somewhere?
06:25Ledger Suit Larry was never exactly high culture,
06:28but the earlier games at least combined dirty jokes
06:30with genuine adventure game puzzles.
06:31This entry moved everything into 3D
06:34and decided the puzzles were apparently optional
06:36and the third dimension wouldn't make things seem way more icky.
06:38It did.
06:39Players control Larry LaVarge,
06:41the original protagonist's nephew,
06:43as he wanders around a college campus
06:45completing repetitive minigames to impress women.
06:47The humour becomes broader,
06:49the activities become simpler,
06:50and the novelty of exploring freely wears off pretty quickly.
06:53It's gross in all versions of the word.
06:55What is that?
06:55My ma.
06:57She wants me to come home this weekend
06:58so we can all go to a sanitation workers' awards dinner.
07:02Worms 3D.
07:10The original Worms formula was beautifully simple.
07:13Aim a ridiculous weapon,
07:15account for wind, fire,
07:16then immediately blame the game
07:17when everything goes horribly wrong.
07:18Worms 3D adds another dimension
07:20and made almost every part of that process more complicated.
07:23Judging distance becomes harder,
07:25aiming required extra precision,
07:27movement could feel awkward,
07:29and the camera occasionally turned into another opponent.
07:31The weapons and humour still work,
07:33so this wasn't some catastrophic failure.
07:35It simply demonstrated
07:36how much the 2D perspective had been helping.
07:39An exploding sheep doesn't necessarily need three dimensions,
07:41even if it seems like it would.
07:47Prince of Persia 3D.
07:59Years before,
08:00The Sands of Time demonstrated
08:01how naturally Prince of Persia could work in 3D,
08:04Prince of Persia 3D took a much shakier first attempt.
08:07The older games were famous
08:08for precise movement and fluid animation,
08:10but the prince suddenly felt stiff and unpredictable.
08:13Combat was clumsy,
08:14jumps became difficult to judge,
08:16and the camera could turn an ordinary ledge
08:17into a major threat.
08:19The environments weren't interesting enough
08:21to compensate either.
08:22It was just ambitious,
08:24but ambition doesn't make
08:25falling off the same platform
08:26six times more enjoyable.
08:373D Lemmings
08:44Guiding dozens of tiny idiots
08:46away from certain death
08:47was already stressful in two dimensions.
08:493D Lemmings decided players
08:51should also have to worry about camera angles.
08:53The extra dimension opened up
08:55some clever puzzle possibilities,
08:56but it made stages far harder
08:58to understand at a glance,
09:00whilst not really being that much different
09:01in terms of where Lemmings could go.
09:03You constantly rotate the view,
09:05inspect routes,
09:06and work out exactly
09:07where the little creatures are heading.
09:08Planning becomes as much
09:09about spatial awareness
09:10as solving the actual puzzle.
09:12There are genuinely great ideas here,
09:14but mostly genuinely bad execution.
09:23Mega Man X7
09:29Capcom had already proven
09:31with Mega Man Legends
09:32that Mega Man could survive in 3D.
09:34Somehow, Mega Man X7
09:36made the transition look difficult
09:37all over again.
09:38The game constantly switches
09:39between 2D and 3D sections,
09:41yet neither feel particularly polished.
09:44Axel and Zero are available early,
09:45while Axel himself
09:46must be unlocked later,
09:48which is a curious decision
09:49for something literally called
09:50Mega Man X7.
09:52Movement feels clumsy,
09:53the camera struggles with the action,
09:54and the English voice acting,
09:55whew, it became infamous
09:57for all the wrong reasons.
09:58Somehow, the 7th Axe game
10:00made playing as Axe
10:01feel like unlockable bonus content
10:03and also really ugly.
10:13Final Fight Streetwise
10:15Final Fight Streetwise
10:23arrived late enough
10:24to learn from years
10:26of 3D beat-em-ups,
10:27yet somehow assembled
10:28an entirely different collection
10:29of mistakes.
10:30The colourful arcade energy
10:31was replaced
10:32with an aggressively gritty story.
10:34The combat,
10:35would you guess,
10:37felt clunky,
10:38and even saving the game
10:39became unnecessarily restrictive.
10:41You can practically feel it
10:42desperately trying to convince teenagers
10:44that Metro City
10:45is extremely dark
10:46and serious now.
10:47Unfortunately,
10:48seriousness
10:48was never what made
10:50Final Fight enjoyable.
10:51Worse still,
10:52this became the franchise's
10:53final original release,
10:54which kind of makes sense.
11:03Escape from Monkey Island.
11:05It's hard to believe
11:06that it's only been a few years
11:07since I first washed up
11:08on the beaches of Melee Island,
11:09armed with nothing more
11:10than a goofy name
11:11and an overpowering urge
11:12to become a swashbuckling pirate.
11:14Pointing and clicking.
11:15That is the part
11:17that made classic
11:17Monkey Island adventures
11:19so effortless.
11:20Escape from Monkey Island
11:21abandoned that approach
11:22for direct keyboard
11:23or joystick movement,
11:24and suddenly,
11:25walking Guybrush around
11:26became an actual puzzle itself.
11:29The problem wasn't
11:30inherently the move into 3D,
11:32it was how awkwardly
11:33the game controlled
11:34once it got there.
11:35Later sections,
11:36such as Monkey Combat,
11:37only piled on more frustration.
11:39Critics were fairly positive
11:40at launch,
11:41but fans have become
11:41much less generous over time.
11:44Thankfully,
11:44the writing still delivers
11:45some great jokes,
11:46at least according to fans.
11:48I prefer laughing,
11:49but I guess the fans
11:49of this series enjoy
11:50a good nose exhale.
11:53I'm Guybrush Malt.
11:54The Reapwood.
11:55And I need a ship.
11:56How nice for you.
11:57And just what do you
11:58want me to do about it?
11:59King's Quest Mask of Eternity.
12:02By the virtues,
12:04what vile magic
12:05has invaded Daventry?
12:10And what is this?
12:14King's Quest Mask of Eternity
12:16didn't just add another dimension,
12:17it practically changed genres
12:18along the way.
12:20Traditional adventure game
12:21puzzling was pushed aside
12:22for something closer
12:23to an action RPG
12:24with greater emphasis
12:25on combat and exploration.
12:27It was understandable.
12:29Adventure games were
12:29struggling commercially
12:30and Sierra wanted
12:31to modernize the formula.
12:33The finished result
12:34actually sold pretty well,
12:35but long-time fans
12:36often found it slow,
12:37clunky,
12:38and strangely lifeless.
12:40Reinvention might have
12:41been necessary,
12:41but turning King's Quest
12:42into lonely medieval
12:44daggerfall
12:44probably wasn't the right call.
12:46Chaos reigns
12:47and the vile spirit
12:48to rule the elements
12:49are free to cause mayhem
12:51o'er the land.
12:52Dragon's Lair 3D
12:53Return to the Lair.
13:00The original Dragon's Lair
13:01looked almost impossible
13:03in 1983
13:04using gorgeous
13:05hand-drawn animation
13:06to resemble
13:07a playable cartoon.
13:08It made gaming
13:09seem really futuristic.
13:11Two decades later,
13:12Dirk finally received
13:13a proper 3D adventure
13:14and somehow advancing
13:16technology made
13:16everything worse.
13:18The fluid animated
13:19personality
13:20became stiff,
13:21cel-shaded characters
13:22wandering through
13:22surprisingly bland environments.
13:24Instead of quick reactions,
13:26players dealt with
13:26basic combat,
13:27awkward platforming
13:28and repetitive puzzles.
13:30Technically,
13:30you had much more control
13:32over Dirk than ever before,
13:33but that didn't automatically
13:34make things better.
13:35He waited 20 years
13:36for technology capable
13:37of building his world
13:39in 3D,
13:39but probably should have
13:40waited 40.
13:47Golden Axe Beast Rider
13:56A modern 3D Golden Axe
13:59practically sells itself.
14:01Swords,
14:01monsters,
14:02cooperative battles
14:02and enormous creatures
14:04you can ride.
14:05Beast Rider somehow
14:06kept only selected pieces
14:08of that fantasy.
14:09Cooperative play
14:10vanished,
14:11Tyrus Flair
14:11became the sole
14:12playable hero
14:13and most of the adventure
14:14revolved around
14:15repetitive fighting
14:15broken up by
14:16occasional beast riding.
14:17Even climbing onto
14:18giant fantasy creatures
14:19failed to inject
14:21enough variety.
14:22The original games
14:23were incredibly simple,
14:24but smashing through
14:24enemies beside another
14:26player was the whole appeal.
14:28Taking away your
14:29friend's ability to play
14:30as well was a bad move.
14:39Contra Legacy of War
14:47Legacy of War
14:48deserves some credit
14:49for not immediately
14:50shoving the series
14:51behind the character
14:51and hoping for the best.
14:53Much of the action
14:54keeps a top-down perspective,
14:55preserving at least
14:56some of the frantic
14:57shooting from the 2D games.
14:58Unfortunately,
14:59it also jumps between
15:00turret sequences,
15:01auto-scrolling sections
15:02and other gameplay styles
15:03without making any of them
15:04feel polished.
15:06Critics found it clunky
15:07and visually unimpressive,
15:09but with a banger of a soundtrack.
15:11So Contra's first 3D step
15:13wasn't a total disaster,
15:14but it certainly wasn't
15:15a raging success.
15:21Earthworm Jim 3D
15:31Other platform heroes
15:33moved into 3D
15:34and discovered
15:34exciting new possibilities.
15:36Earthworm Jim moved into 3D
15:37and discovered a camera
15:38that apparently hated him.
15:40Earthworm Jim 3D
15:40endured a troubled development
15:42before finally arriving
15:43on the N64,
15:44and the finished product
15:46lacked much of the
15:47bizarre personality
15:48that made the original special.
15:50Movement could be frustrating,
15:51environments felt less imaginative,
15:53and the characters
15:54lost some of their
15:54wonderful expressiveness.
15:56A later PC port
15:57introduced even more problems.
15:58Jim did make it
15:59into 3D technically,
16:01but I guess he probably
16:02wished he'd stayed
16:03underground doing...
16:04Wait, what the hell
16:05do worms do?
16:06Eat?
16:06Sleep?
16:07Should I know this?
16:09Blame!
16:12Bubsy 3D
16:25Bubsy 3D
16:26Done.
16:27Entry over.
16:28Fine, let's talk about it.
16:29Movement was painfully awkward,
16:31the environments were ugly,
16:33and basic navigation
16:33could feel like
16:34an advanced control exercise.
16:36Bubsy's transition into 3D
16:38was one of the worst examples
16:39in gaming history.
16:41Development began
16:42before games like
16:43Super Mario 64
16:44had established
16:45many of the rules
16:45developers would later follow.
16:47Bubsy 3D
16:48was in uncharted territory
16:49without the resources
16:50to make their first attempt
16:52worth it.
16:53Unfortunately,
16:54understanding why
16:54something failed
16:55doesn't magically
16:56make it enjoyable.
16:57Bubsy somehow survived
16:58his reputation
16:59and eventually
17:00returned decades later,
17:01proving that even
17:02decades-old corpses
17:04can be revived.
17:13Did you enjoy this video?
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17:16from Mojo Plays.
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