10 Well Known Franchises That Went Down Hill

If life has taught me anything, it’s that all things must pass. You can’t live the high life forever, and you can’t subsequently sit in a slump the whole time either. This particular lesson sadly applies to gaming franchises as well, with certain classic game series seeing a sad decline over the years. Join us as we set out to poke fun at ten well known franchises that have gone down hill over the years.

Tony Hawk

Tony Hawk put skateboarding on the map back when I was a kid for putting his name to the best skating franchise around. I guess he was a pretty good skater as well, but that became secondary to the powerhouse that was the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series. The second game in particular is still revered as one of the best extreme sports titles ever, making the mediocrity of later Tony Hawk titles all the more painful. Whether it be the slightly misguided “comedy” of Underground 2 or the festering scatology that was the motion controlled Tony Hawk’s Ride, this series is well past its prime.

Sonic the Hedgehog

It’s easy to be damning of Sega’s ever persistent mascot, but I’m not going to sell Sonic too short. Though he’s had his ups and downs, he’s beginning to make a comeback with the surprising Sonic Colours last year and the recently rejuvenating experience of Sonic Generations. The numbers tell a different story though, with barely a handful of decent titles in the past decade being buried under a mountain of Hedgehog shaped turd. How can you really come back from 2006’s Sonic the Hedgehog?

Guitar Hero

Guitar Hero spent what feels like decades at the precipice of popular culture. Fast Forward a few years though, and add a seemingly endless tide of games in the franchise, and interest just seems to have waned entirely. Without any additions to the core formula, the series had been taking a nose dive since 2007’s Guitar Hero 3. So many games were released in such a short space of time that the series seemed to cave in under its own weight, leading to its inevitable demise.