Surprisingly Better Sequels- Dark Cloud and Dark Cloud 2

I've spoken before about Sequelitis, the disease that causes good franchises to churn out needless sequel after sequel. However, like all things in this world, there is a Ying for every Yang. The opposite of Sequelitis is the Surprisingly Better Sequel. What makes them opposites? Sequelitis is bad sequels, and the Surprisingly Better Sequel is, as its name states, a sequel that manages to be better than the original work. Maybe the story is better, maybe the characters are more expanded upon, whatever. Today, I want to take a look at a game, and its Surprisingly Better Sequel: Dark Cloud and Dark Cloud 2.

Sequelitis- Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories, and so forth

Sequelitis- when some greedy old executives decide they don't have enough money, so they take a work that is much beloved and make a sequel to it. Ah, but is the sequel as good as the original? Heck no, but it made money, didn't it? Today, I want to look at a game that was very original, very groundbreaking when it came out, and then got a sequel that was none of those things. And then got another sequel. And another. And another... This is Kingdom Hearts.

Sequelitis- Donkey Kong Country 1, 2 and 3

Sequelitis- the disease that franchises get whenever there is a needless sequel green lit and produced. The trope was codified by the Land Before Time movie franchise. The original film, The Land Before Time, was a classic animated film by that guru of animation, Don Bluth, about five dinosaur children that seek to find their families while avoiding being eaten alive by a T-Rex. It is a surprisingly dark film, brilliantly animated, and one of the greatest films of all time. Land Before Time 2 was a direct to video sequel that was about those same five children discovering a T-Rex egg, and returning it to its parents. The sequel was...not as good. And then they made another film that was a little worse than that one. And another. And another. By the time I was in college, they made the eleventh film in the series. None of these sequels were truly needed, and were made only to make a quick buck. But I digress; this blog isn't about Land Before Time, this entry is about the classic Super Nintendo game, Donkey Kong Country, and its sequels.