Spinoffs are a fun avenue for an established game franchise to experiment with new designs and gameplay types, as well as expand on the stories of characters we know and love.
Many big franchises have some truly excellent spinoffs that have managed to secure a place for themselves just as prestigious as their sources.
10 Best Spinoff Games, Ranked
Mainline games get tons of praise, but there are plenty of successful spinoff titles. Here are the best games to jump into.
Of course, for every good, well-designed spinoff, there is an equal number of head-scratching, hair-pulling bizarre takes.
These spinoffs were born from half-baked ideas, ill-fated business partnerships, and some good old-fashioned trend-chasing.
Whatever their impetus, the fact of the matter is that these games’ impressive pedigrees couldn’t save them from the garbage heap.
10Mortal Kombat: Special Forces
A Super Spy, Jax Is Not
Part of what makesMortal Kombatgames fun is their emphasis onbrutal fightersgoing hand-to-hand with martial arts and superhuman abilities.
What if, however, we completely removed all of that and just pitted one fighter against a bunch of jobbers with guns?
Well, that would hardly be Mortal Kombat anymore, but it would sure beMortal Kombat: Special Forces.
This game had a notoriously turbulent design process, resulting in a rushed, fragmented end product that still remains a black sheep of the franchise to this day.
9Mario Is Missing!
Edutainment Still Needs To Be Entertaining
Mario is Missing!
Contrary to popular belief, it is entirely possible foreducational mediato be fun. They just have to be engaging and well-designed, and using established franchises likeSuper Mariocan be a good idea.
Mario is Missing, unfortunately, is neither engaging nor well-designed.
This is quite possibly one of the most obtuse games ever made, requiring far more reading and leaps of logic than a kid in 1993 would be willing to contribute.
It doesn’t help that it’s remarkably tedious, requiring you to manually lug Luigi all over various nearly identical cities just to solve a handful of trivia questions.
8Metal Gear Survive
What A Lack Of Kojima Gets You
Metal Gear Survive
Following the release of Metal Gear Solid 5,Hideo Kojimadeparted Konami to form Kojima Productions.
Of course, Konami still owned theMetal GearIP, and the very thing it decided to do with it post-Kojima was chase some trends.
Thus,Metal Gear Surviveshambled into existence.
This game has virtually nothing to do with Metal Gear beyond its name and some set dressing.
There’s no Big Boss, no Ocelot, no Miller; just some nameless yahoos from Mother Base trying to survive in an empty wasteland full of weird zombies.
Because when you think Metal Gear, you think zombie-themed survival crafting games. Of course.
7Sonic And The Secret Rings
Speed And Tilt Controls Don’t Mix
Sonic And The Secret Rings
For as much as we loveSonic the Hedgehogas a character, it’s a well-documented fact that his track record is… spotty.
You could throw a dart and hit apoorly-designed Sonic spinoff, really.
One in particular that’s worth highlighting is Sonic And The Secret Rings, originally released for the Nintendo Wii.
This was supposed to be the start of a storybook-themed Sonic sub-series, followed by Sonic and the Black Knight.
Unfortunately, nobody told Sonic Team that tight, speed-centric gameplay doesn’t really mesh with spotty tilt controls.
Sonic is best controlled with a joystick, not by trying to rev a Wii Remote like a motorcycle throttle.
6Castlevania Judgment
The Longest Super Moves In History
Castlevania Judgment
TheCastlevaniaseries hasa lot of cool characters, and it would be understandable to want to see them in an old-fashioned punch-up.
If it were a proper fighting game, that might be fun, but what we got instead was Castlevania Judgement on the Wii.
With an extremely disorienting arena view, tricky controls, and hilariously unbalanced movesets, this game could barely hack it as a party favor, let alone a proper fighting game.
It’s also infamous for its ridiculously long super-move cutscenes, some of which can last a good 20 seconds like an unskippable ad.
5Link: The Faces Of Evil
“Gee, It Sure Is Boring Around Here!”
Link: The Faces of Evil
TheLegend of Zeldagames released for the Phillips CD-I need no introduction.
Thanks to their off-putting animated cutscenes, both Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon remain firm parts of internet meme culture.
Honestly, though, the cutscenes are the good parts. To put it nicely, the actual games are a chore to play.
The overly-detailed backgrounds make levels hard to navigate, enemies have very poorly defined hitboxes, and you keep running out of vital items, just to list a few common gripes.
4Pokémon Channel
Less Game, More Commercials
Pokémon, as a franchise, is a merchandising juggernaut, regularly pulling in more dough than even Mickey Mouse-branded stuff.
Even so, the games have never been quite as naked in their advertising intent as in Pokémon Channel.
Pokémon: 10 Best Spinoff Games
The Pokémon franchise has an enormous fan base, but there is plenty to play outside of the mainline titles. These are the best spinoff games.
A pseudo-sequel to Hey You, Pikachu, Pokémon Channel consists of forcing you to watch the same few Pokémon-themed shorts over and over again while a Pikachu mugs at you.
Even on rare occasions, you get to leave your room; it’s just to find more shorts to unlock and watch on the TV.
3Metroid Prime: Federation Force
I’ll Have Some Metroid, Hold The Samus
Metroid Prime: Federation Force
Following the release of Metroid: Other M in 2010, theMetroidfranchise went largely dormant for several years.
Players had been long-waiting for a new 3D Prime game or a proper 2Dexploration game.
What we got in 2016 was neither of those. It was Metroid Prime: Federation Force.
The game, which places you in control of a squad of Federation randos, places more emphasis on shooting than exploration.
No Samus, no interesting story, no exploration; it’s barely even a Metroid game.
2Bomberman: Act Zero
Just Bomberman, But Edgy
Bombermanis an unofficial mascot for Konami. His bright, white mask and little pink puffball give him an unmistakable silhouette.
For some reason, though, Konami decided to scrap this recognizable iconography and replace it with, well, scrap.
Bomberman: Act Zero replaced the colorful vibes of Bomberman’s past with overly dark and gritty metal vibes.
The gameplay was mostly the same formula, but due to problems like bad collision and unbalanced AI, it was objectively worse than previous Bomberman games.
1Umbrella Corps
Who Wanted A Resident Evil Extraction Shooter?
Umbrella Corps
If we had a nickel for every time Capcom tried to make aResident Evil-themed squad shooter, we’d have two nickels. It’s not a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.
It’s especially weird that the second attempt, Umbrella Corps, was even worse than the first attempt, Operation Raccoon City.
It was a pretty bog-standard tactical team shooter with some zombies clumsily thrown about.
It didn’t do much to differentiate itself, which certainly didn’t help the fact that it was released right on the heels of the original Overwatch.
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Villains are the most important part of any good story and gaming requires them just as much as any other medium.
