14 Abandoned Franchises that Need to Make a Comeback

• By Patrick Shaw and McKinley Noble
• December 30, 2008 07:31 AM PST
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From Double Dragon to Tomba!, GamePro names 14 long-gone video game franchises that we want to see brought back!

Popular video game franchises are rarely abandoned. Usually a series that sells well is milked until gamers finally refuses to give a damn after the twenty-third sequel. This feature is dedicated to game franchises that, for various reasons, didn't manage to stick around. Here are GamePro's picks of 14 game franchises that died way before their time.

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#14: Battletoads

Last Seen: Super Battletoads - Arcade (1996)
If you owned a Nintendo, you probably had a copy of Battletoads stacked with your NES cartridges. This series was meant to be Rare's answer to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, complete with super-violent combat, insane difficulty and huge boss battles. In fact, the original Battletoads regularly ranks among Contra and Ghosts 'N Goblins as one of the hardest games of all time.

Where'd It Go: The Battletoads haven't been seen in action since the mid-1990s, making their over-the-top arcade title, Super Battletoads, their de facto swan song.

#13: Primal Rage

Last Seen: Primal Rage II (Never Released)
Primal Rage has the rare distinction of having a hotly-anticipated sequel that never saw the light of day. This fighting game was as gory as Mortal Kombat, and every aspect of the brutality was meant to shock and gross out anyone within eyesight of your TV set. Actually, it's more honest to say that it was Mortal Kombat with dinosaurs and urine-related fatalities.

Where'd It Go: After Atari canceled production of Primal Rage II due to a perceived risk in sales (what the hell where they thinking?), no mention was ever made of the series again -- lame.

#12: Killer Instinct

Last Seen: Killer Instinct Gold - Arcade (1996)
Most fighting games pride themselves on their eccentric rosters, but in the 1990s, few casts could claim to be as wacky as Killer Instinct. With a scantily-clad Amazon, a genetically engineered velociraptor-human hybrid and a possessed skeleton rounding out the group, Killer Instinct games are immediately recognizable at first glance. Of course, this series is also responsible for one of gaming's greatest battle cries: "Ultra Combooooooooo!"

Where'd It Go: Aside from a small cameo in Viva Pinata, the KI cast is still long overdue for a next-gen appearance, something that Rare studio manager Mark Betteridge says he would like to fix.

#11: Double Dragon

Last Seen: Double Dragon Advance - GBA (2003)
It's no doubt that Double Dragon was one of the series that defined the early Nintendo. Despite its other embarrassing releases on the Super Nintendo, Double Dragon's crossover game with the Battletoads still ranks as one of the most memorable SNES titles ever. However, like the Battletoads, Billy and Jimmy haven't been seen in a new game since the 1990s.

Where'd It Go: Technos, the original developer behind the series, went bankrupt in 1996, dropping some of their properties to the now-defunct Tradewest and Acclaim -- Dragon Dragon may be permanently dead.

#10: Hexen/Heretic

Last Seen: Heretic II - PC (1998)
id Software isn't a company that gives up on its franchises (even the ones that it only produces). New games in the Doom, Quake, and even Wolfenstein series are still being made and they're not going away any time soon. So why hasn't there been another game in their demon-filled, fantasy-infused FPS game in ten years?

Where'd It Go: Heretic, Heretic II, Hexen, and Hexen II were never anywhere as popular as say a Doom or a Quake, but they were still pretty badass in their own right.

#9: Dino Crisis

Last Seen: Dino Crisis 3 - Xbox (2003)
Capcom's other gruesome survival horror franchise, Dino Crisis, may have failed to quite reach the success of their renowned zombie-smashing series, Resident Evil, but it didn't really get much of a chance. Dino Crisis and the first sequel Dino Crisis 2 had you slaughtering your way through man-chomping velociraptors as a latex-clad Asian babe with red hair (there was a dude you could play as too in part 2 too). The two games were the next best thing to Resident Evil that added their own unique twist to the genre.

Where'd It Go: Fans of Dino Crisis have been screaming for number 4 for quite some time now. Dino Crisis 3 was a failure on many levels and pretty much put the nail in the coffin of the series. And based on the countless franchises Capcom has in its arsenal that are already still going strong, we don't know how realistic Dino Crisis 4 is.

#8: Bushido Blade

Last Seen: Bushido Blade 2 - PlayStation (1998)
Around the same time Soul Edge was released in arcades, another weapon-based fighting game was released on the PlayStation, Square's Bushido Blade. In the game you could pick from an assortment of pointy-weapons, from katana to rapier. Bushido Blade was unique from other fighting titles in that the concepts of a health bar and timer were scrapped for a damage system where you could actually kill your opponent in a single blow.

Where'd It Go: Work on a third installment in the Bushido Blade series dissolved as the team behind the games went on to work on Kengo, a game said to be an unofficial sequel to Bushido Blade 2, but in fact turned out to be a poor man's version of the game.

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