The Benefits of Spritual Successors
June 12, 2016
By Ryan Porzl
Through out the decades, the world of video games have had many classic games, lovable characters, and amazing franchises. Of these characters and franchise, many have become iconic and household names. Unfortunately, certain franchises have seemingly been cast aside with companies not making new games as they gather dust. However, with that, game designers have since struck out on their own and have been creating "spiritual successors" like Mighty No. 9 (a spiritual successor to Mega Man) and Yooka-Laylee (a spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie). No doubt, a lot of people are for it and a lot yearn for the classics. With upcoming spiritual successors on the horizon, it seems like the best time to look at the benefits of them.
With many classic franchises having become dormant over the years, spiritual successors allow us to relive them in another way. Who knows when we'll get a new Mega Man game but Mighty No. 9 can potentially fill a void and allow us to somewhat relive the good old days but with new material instead of playing the same game (even if it is a classic) a million times. Same goes with Banjo-Kazooie. It's unknown when the next one will come out so Yooka-Laylee could fill that void of giving us a similar game but a new game instead of having to play the same games over and over again because even a classic can get boring if you play it too much.
Spiritual Successors also give the game designers clean slates. Unfortunately, when franchises get so popular, they're almost expected to be the same and you risk alienating long time fans if you try to experiment with a popular franchise and deviate from the tried and true formula. To this day, games like Zelda II: The Adventure of Link and Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest are probably the most debatable and polarizing in their respective franchises as they deviated from the first game and many of the following games. When a lot of well known franchises do so many games with the same formula, a lot of controversy will happen when they try to deviate. When Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker's cartoon like graphics were first shown, there was a ton of backlash because it wasn't like the usual Zelda game. When Metroid Prime: Federation Forces' first trailer was released, fans absolutely despised it because it wasn't the typical Metroid among other reasons. Yooka-Laylee's predessor: Banjo-Kazooie had the same situation as Banjo-Kazooie was a masterpiece and Banjo-Tooie was a very good sequel that followed the formula. However, the recent game: Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts was not as well received and got mixed reviews because it strayed from the traditional formula. To be fair, some have benefited as Castlevania achieved big success with the Metroid-Vania style of Castlevania games with Symphony of the Night not only be the first to use that engine but is also been considered the greatest Castlevania of all time. This is where a spiritual successor benefits as the game designers can experiment and try stuff without having to risk aliening long time fans. I'm sure Keiji Inafume has had ideas for Mega Man but hadn't used them cause either he or Capcom thought it wouldn't go over well with fans but now with Mighty No. 9, he can be more creative instead of being trapped in the same box. Same goes for the former Rare executives as they can try things with Yooka-Laylee that they might not have been able to do with Banjo-Kazooie and they probably remember the mixed reviews of Nuts & Bolts. Plus, if games like Mighty No. 9 and Yooka-Laylee do introduce new things that do well, maybe future Mega Man and Banjo-Kazooie can try and not only be improved by them but they we'll be more welcomed.
There's also the fact that the classic franchises can benefit and possibly return. In the end, the video game industry is a business and they're about making money. If Mighty No. 9 and Yooka-Laylee enjoy success and make a lot of money then the video game industry can see that these older franchises can not only still be money but be gravy trains. If Mighty No. 9 does great then Capcom can see there's money to be made in Mega Man and if Yooka-Laylee does great then Rare and Microsoft can see Banjo-Kazooie will make money.
Finally, if these new games do great and older games return then that could lead to competition. If the game companies don't rest on their franchises proven track record or name then they can release the best new games possible. That would lead to the people behind Mighty No. 9 and Yooka-Laylee then working harder to prove that name or established franchises aren't everything and prove that they got the better games. Competition brings out the best in people as you got two companies trying to outdo the other and show the world that their games is the best. The players are then the big winners as these companies will keep releasing the best games they can make and give players new games to treasure.
Ultimately, it's a wait and see on whether the spiritual successors unleash their true potential or not. Given their successors to classic games, they got big shoes to fill and a lot to prove but one thing is certain and that is the possibilities are incredible.
