Following up from one of the greatest platformers of all time, I found Yoshi's Story to be a big drop off. Basically everything that made it's predecessor unique was gone and replaced with this sickly sweet environment. You know, I loved Yoshi a lot better when he didn't make noises. The game was also too easy and the system of having to collect 'x' amount of fruit to clear the level just didn't gel with me.
As a kid, I thought Buck Bumble would become one of the big video game mascots. I was wrong and couldn't even get pass the first level due to the trippy camera, gameplay and blurry visuals.
Earthworm Jim 3D was another game I was really looking forward to for the N64. I loved the cartoon show as a kid and thought the translation into 3D would be the best step for everybody's favourite worm. Again, I was wrong. It's one of those games that was basically dead on arrival, the game was constantly delayed & by the time it came out, it just felt very dated. It's a shame too because you could see some genuine charm there, but unfortunately it was pieced together by some very sketchy game-design choices.
And then there is Kingdom Hearts. I enjoyed the first game, thought it honored Disney in the right light while telling a vague yet compelling story. The Action RPG/Platforming system while a little clunky & repetitive was a good fit for the series and all in all the game did a good job of laying the groundwork for what would become one of the most popular new series in gaming.
Then Square lost the plot.
Instead of following on from the original game of the series, Square went in a new direction on a completely different platform. Kingdom Hearts: Chains of Memories for the GBA, was at it's core a re-telling of the first game except in-between exploring all the old worlds, the game would introduce new characters (all of them coming off as bad Final Fantasy rejects) that would have a huge bearing on the series from that point on.
This all lead to Kingdom Hearts II, one of the messiest games of all time. Not only was the story choppy thanks to all these bland CoM characters but the gameplay became ridiculously linear. Instead of offering these huge Disney Worlds, KHII offered linear worlds with one path to ensure that you played the game the way they wanted. In the end, it just became a lame Devil May Cry/God of War clone where you just mash X and Triangle as much as possible.
Just thinking about it brings back all the disappointment I felt in 06.
