The Yakuza series has been slowly gaining popularity in the West, going from a niche oddity to a more mainstream series. Up until the seventh entry, the games were brawlers with RPG elements and tons of side quests. The most recent entry, Yakuza: Like A Dragon, changes things up significantly, turning the combat into a turn-based RPG while retaining the bevy of side activities and trademark dramatic narrative for which the series is known.
This move has been received with extreme warmth, with many drawing comparisons to quirky RPGs like Earthbound. This is not the first time an established franchise has taken a complete genre turn to great acclaim, as the ten examples below show.
10 Resident Evil
Up until Resident Evil 4, the mainline entries in this survival horror franchise had utilized fixed camera angles with gameplay focused on puzzle-solving and conserving resources. Resident Evil 4 is still terrifying, but it eschews head-scratching puzzles in favor of a more action-packed story. The fear comes not from running out of bullets, but instead from being overrun by countless hordes of enemies as they assault Leon with pitchforks.
9 Super Mario RPG
To be fair, this is more of a spin-off than a mainline entry, but it is still such a dramatic departure from what gamers were used to at the time for Mario. Super Mario RPG is a full-fledged RPG on par with the likes of Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger. The gameplay utilizes platforming and the combat has timing mechanics to give the player an opportunity for more powerful attacks. Not only is this a great Mario game, but it stands as one of the finest RPGs for the SNES.
8 Metroid
Samus took a break after Super Metroid and did not show up on the Nintendo 64. Once the GameCube came out, Retro Studios found a way to translate the classic Metroid gameplay loop into 3D gaming; they turned it into a first-person shooter. Despite the change in perspective, Metroid Prime remains instantly recognizable as a part of Nintendo’s classic science fiction franchise.
7 Dune
The first Dune game is a run of the mill adventure game. The sequel was tackled by Westwood Studios and left everything about the first game behind, becoming an RTS.
Dune 2 is not just any RTS, however, it is often seen as one of the most influential games in the genre. The studio would eventually go on to make the Command and Conquer franchise, another influential RTS.
6 Red Faction
Released in 2001, Red Faction is a first-person shooter which distinguished itself by including impressively destructible environments. After one direct sequel, the series took a small break before reemerging in 2009 with Red Faction: Guerilla, a third-person open-world game. It still takes place on Mars, only the gameplay puts almost all the focus on destructible environments. 11 years after release and the ways buildings fall apart is still majestic to behold. Unfortunately, the sequel, Red Faction: Armageddon, did not bode as well among fans and critics.
5 Fallout
Interplay moved on from the Wasteland franchise to Fallout, an isometric RPG where player choice has a huge affect on the narrative. After Bethesda took over the property, they moved the action to a first-person perspective in the vein of the studio’s popular Elder Scrolls franchise. While the move saw mainstream success for Fallout, many veteran fans felt it betrayed what the series was all about. Fallout 4 and Fallout 76, while having positive traits in their own right, stray even further from the series’ roots.
4 Duke Nukem
Duke Nukem 3D did not earn its name simply from the 3D graphics. It is also the third entry in the franchise. The first two Duke Nukem games are side-scrolling shooters. They also lack voice acting, so it feel weird controlling the character without Jon St. John spouting out the classic one liners. While solid PC games, the series would find mainstream success until Duke Nukem 3D. Unfortunately, the streak did not continue, because Duke Nukem Forever took 15 years to make.
3 Dynasty Warriors
Dynasty Warriors is known for popularizing the Musou genre. Instead of typical action games, players control one character in a battlefield as they mow down countless hordes of soldiers. This format would eventually be taken to other franchises like the Legend of Zelda. The style would only start with Dynasty Warriors 2, since the first game on the original PlayStation was a one on one fighter bearing more resemblance to Tekken than the sequels.
2 Castlevania
Castlevania has transformed several times, but only twice has significant reimagining brought huge success to the series. Firstly, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night removed the linearity to encourage more exploration.
Then, Lords of Shadow revived the series by becoming a bigger 3D action-adventure game. Fans are currently awaiting yet another reimagining or return to form since the franchise has been dormant for over half a decade.
1 Wolfenstein
The original Castle Wolfenstein is a 2D stealth game resembling the original Metal Gear games more than the first-person shooter it would become two games later. It also lacked any supernatural elements future games would include. Wolfenstein 3D by Id was the studio’s predecessor to Doom, establishing many precedents of 90s FPS games. While it is quaint by today’s standards, it would eventually lead to modern classics like Wolfenstein: The New Order and other notable games like Return to Castle Wolfenstein.
