Sunday 1 December 2019

Video game interquels, prequels and sequels

Interquels

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel - between Borderlands and Borderlands 2¹
Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword - between Ninja Gaiden (2004) and Ninja Gaiden II (2008)
Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge - between Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie
Metroid: Other M - between Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion
Final Fantasy IV Interlude² - between Final Fantasy IV Advance and The After Years
God of War: Ghost of Sparta - excluding flashbacks, set between God of War and Betrayal
Transformers: Age of Extinction³ - between War for Cybertron and Fall of Cyberton
Daxter - between Jak and Daxter and Jak II: Renegade
Street Fighter Alpha - between Street Fighter and Street Fighter II
Street Fighter IV - between SF II and SF III: New Generation
Street Fighter V - between SF IV and SF III: New Generation
God of War: Ghost of Sparta - between God of War and God of War II
Resident Evil: Survivor - between Resi 3 and Code: Veronica
Resident Evil: Revelations - between 4 and 5
Resident Evil: Revelations 2 - sequel to Revelations and 5
Shadow of the Hedgehog - between Sonic Heroes and Sonic Battle
Yoshi's New Island - between Yoshi's Island and Yoshi's Island DS
Assassin's Creed Rogue - between Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag and Assassin's Creed III
Batman Arkham VR - between Arkham City and Arkham Knight
Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom - between Ninja Gaiden (1988) and The Dark Sword of Chaos
Sacred Citadel - between Sacred and Sacred 3
Klonoa: Empire of Dreams - between Klonoa: Door to Phantomile and Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil

¹Tales from the Borderlands is an episodic comedy graphic adventure set some time after BL 2.
²Exclusive to PSP compilation Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection.
³also before events of film of same name.

PS3, 360 and PC versions of Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands follow the same storyline, but Wii and PSP have their own.  However, all are set between The Sands of Time and Warrior Within.

Because they can, DS game takes place after The Two Thrones.

Star Wars

Okay, Disney have consigned most to Legends Continuity, but that's not gonna stop me feeling the Force.

Yoda Stories, Shadows of the Empire and TIE Fighter - between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi

Lethal Alliance, The Force Unleashed and Empire at War - between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope

Rogue Squadron - after A New Hope, before The Empire Strikes Back and after Return of the Jedi

Force Commander - between A New Hope and Return of the Jedi

Novel interquels

Hitman: Enemy Within - between Hitman 2: Silent Assassin and Hitman: Contracts
Gears of War: Aspho Fields - between Gears of War and Gears of War 2
Halo: First Strike - between Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2
Resident Evil: Caliban Cove - between Resi Evil and Resi Evil 2
Resident Evil: Underworld - between Resi Evil 3: Nemesis and Code: Veronica
Fable: The Balverine Order - between Fable II and III
Resistance: The Gathering Storm - between Fall of Man and Resistance 2
Driver: Nemesis - sequel to Driver 2 and prequels Driver: San Francisco

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and sequel Shadow of War are set between Tolkien's seminal literary works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Film interquels

Star Trek (2013) - between Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek Into Darkness
X-Men: The Official Game - between X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand
Saw and Saw II: Flesh & Blood - between Saw and Saw II
Fast & Furious: Showdown - between Fast Five and Fast & Furious 6
Planet of the Apes: Last Frontier - between Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and War for the Planet of the Apes
Alien: Isolation - between Alien and Aliens
Zombieland: Double Tap - Road Trip - between Zombieland and Zombieland: Double Tap

Film trilogies

Alien Trilogy, Star Wars Arcade Trilogy and Die Hard Trilogy are obvious examples, but the following less so:

Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures
Spider Man: Friend or Foe
The Lord of the Rings: Tactics
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II - Rogue Leader
The Godfather (1991)

⁴Aliens, Alien 3 and Alien are tackled (in that order).
⁵Plays out in order films were theatrically released.

Lego Star Wars: The Video Game adapted Episodes I-III and sequel Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy obviously did the rest.

So why not sub first The Prequel Trilogy?

(Rolls eyes).

Each film was adapted separately for SNES and known as the Super Star Wars trilogy.

1985 arcade Empire served as a sequel to Star Wars (1983), so was released after Jedi (1984).

Sequels bearing same name

Bionic Commando (2009) is a sequel to 1988 NES game (based on 1987 arcade of same name).

Latter game was remade in 2008 as Bionic Commando Rearmed, and got its own sequel in 2011.

Clock Tower originally appeared on Super Famicom in 1995.

Remake and sequel of sorts was released a year later for PS1 and because EU and NA called it Clock Tower, many thought it was the first game.

In Japan, it was known as Clock Tower 2.

Alien Syndrome (2007) is set roughly 100 years after 1987 arcade.

Mixing it up, the first Parasite Eve is actually a sequel to Hideaki Sena's 1995 book of same name.

Parallel sequels

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 - before Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield and after Rainbow Six: Vegas.

Resident Evil 3: Nemesis - before and after Resi 2.

Yesterday Origins - before and after Yesterday.

Destroy all Humans! Big Willy Unleashed - before Path of the Furon and after Destroy all Humans! 2.

Darksiders III - takes place during II and before vast majority of original.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow - sequel to first film, prequels others and a re-telling of the Curse of the Black Pearl.

Suikoden Tactics - spin-off serves as prequel, side-story and sequel to IV.

Tron: Evolution - precursor to Tron: Legacy and sequel to both graphic novel Tron: Betrayal and Wii/DS games Tron: Evolution - Battle Grids.

Film prequels

Land of the Dead: Road to Fiddler's Green
The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay
Watchmen: The End is Nigh
James Cameron's Avatar: The Game
The Terminator: Dawn of Fate
Terminator: Resistance
Transformers: Dark of the Moon - The Game
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb
Star Wars: Bounty Hunter


The Blair Witch Project received three prequels:

Volume I: Rustin Parr, Volume II: The Legend of Coffin Rock and Volume III: The Elly Kedward Tale.

John Wick Hex is a narrative prequel to film trilogy and although released after John Wick: Chapter 2, Dynamite Entertainment's five-issue comic series John Wick prequels original film.

Film sequels of same name

Blade Runner (1997)

Excellent point-and-click begins shortly after film's opening, with rookie Ray McCoy assigned to hunt down Replicants accused of murdering animals.

In truth, it's a sidequel, as new plot intersects.

Years before Denis Villeneuve's sequel, the first to continue and also contradict events of film was K. W. Jeter's novel Blade Runner 2: The Edge of Human.

For example, written word claims Pris is human.

From Dusk Till Dawn (2001)

Ignoring events of Texas Blood Money and prequel The Hangman's Daughter, bullshit story goes like this.

For some reason, Seth is aboard high-security floating prison the Rising Sun and condemned to death for the murders Richie committed.

Vampires attack and chaos ensues, giving Seth and fellow inmates the opportunity to fight for survival and escape.

The Thing (2002)

Cpt. Blake's military rescue team is sent to investigate the carnage at Outpost 31 and nearby Norwegian camp.

NPC AI is primarily dictated by fear/trust system, as sanity levels of squad members can lead them to literally 'crack-up'.

Despite adding depth to playing experience, peeps splitting off and transforming into monsters at pre-determined moments makes interesting mechanic feel like a waste of time.

Also, alien design lacks imagination.

Timecop (1995)

Picking up directly after original ends, Max Walker is on a mission to right wrongs of Dr. Kleindast and ultimately bring inventor of time travel technology down.

Blade II (2002)

Six months after film's conclusion, Dr. Grant reveals the Arcan vampire clan are extracting 'dark energy' from humans to create a race of super vampires.

Daywalker and Whistler are on hand to foil heinous experiment dubbed Project: Vorpal.

Hulk (2003)

8 years after film ends, Dr. Crawford receives some of Bruce Banner's power from touching Gamma Orb and mutates into Ravage.

But the real enemy is Leader, and his private army of subordinates.

Miscellany

Iron Man 2 - story in console and portable versions are set after film, but iOS and Blackberry PlayBook beg to differ.

Star Trek: Hidden Evil - sequel to Star Trek: Insurrection.

Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters - tie-in/sequel.

Aliens: Colonial Marines - Fox approved sequel to James Cameron's classic.

Alien: Isolation - set 15 years after Alien, Ripley's daughter Amanda searches for mother.

Scarface: The World Is Yours - pseudo sequel retcons 1983 film's ending so Montana survives.

Wanted: Weapons of Fate - set a few hours after film.

Back to the Future: The Video Game - five-part episodic tale begins in 1986.

Jaws Unleashed - 30 years after events of original, Michael Brody's marine biologist captures and transports Jaws to Amity's marine theme park for research.

Die Hard: Vendetta - five years after Die Hard with a Vengeance.

Treasure Planet: Battle at Procyon - five years after original.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order - five years after Revenge of the Sith and everything else before A New Hope.

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis - a year after the Last Crusade.

Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine - 9 years after the Last Crusade.

Ghostbusters: The Video Game (2009) - the closest we ever got to Ghostbusters 3.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife will be a sequel to Ghostbusters II, not 2016 female-led reboot.  Personally, it just feels wrong to make another without Harold Ramis.

The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer - alternate sequel to original film.

Evil Dead

Hail to the King - 8 years after Army of Darkness.
A Fistful of Boomstick - sequel to HTTK.
Regeneration - not a sequel to Boomstick, but imagines what happened if Ash wasn't sent back in time at the end of Evil Dead II.

Jurassic Park

1994 Mega CD/Sega CD game is set after events of film and Telltale's four-part episodic adventure Jurassic Park: The Game also had the same idea.

1993 Sega arcade of same name is set 'few months later...'

Jurassic Park Part 2: The Chaos Continues is a non-canonical sequel to original.

The Lawnmower Man

Mediocre sci-fi fantasy is most famous for Stephen King suing filmmakers for attaching his name to title, as apart from gardening machine, had absolutely nothing to do with horror short of same name.

Platform-based efforts (apart from Mega Drive), continue story at point when film ends, as we enter cyberspace to destroy the Doomplayer and The Shop.

Game Boy begins like SNES, but not for long.

Unlike console big brother, extra sequence is given back story.

We're told 5 years after stopping Jobe, we actually failed, as he escaped through a 'back door' into the world computer network.

Angelo rescues Jobe from the Doomplayer and together, they drive to The Shop to defeat him.

Hell, we even get Space Harrier sections, but we still have no fucking idea who antagonist is.

Released for PC and only in Japan for PS1, Cyberwar was a sequel to game, not film.

Angelo is sent to virtual reality to tear Jobe a new asshole.

So with that said, plot ignores Game Boy version.

Err...

Appalling movie sequel Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace came out in 1996.

Blair Witch (2019) is completely unrelated to 2016 film of same name.

I have no idea if it's meant to be a 'sequel', but whatever, it's set 2 years after The Blair Witch Project, which took place in 1994.

Former police officer Ellis Lynch joins a search party at Black Hills to help find missing boy Peter Shannon.

Going further, it could also be described as an alternate sequel to original and/or alternate prequel to said film.

Finally, Stranglehold is the sequel to Hard Boiled and will apparently be made into a film.

Multiple prequels (and sequels)

Metaseries milked Final Fantasy VII dry of Materia.

Films

Last Order - details the destruction of Nibelheim
Advent Children - 2 years later

Video games

Before Crisis - 6 years before
Dirge of Cerberus - 3 years later
Crisis Core 7 years before

Suikoden

After third game, things got tasty.

IV - prequel to original
V - another prequel to original, but set after IV, so also a sequel to Tactics

So chronologically, main series goes IV, V, original, II and III.

God of War

Chains of Olympus - prequel to original
Ascension - prequels entire series

Dead to Rights

II - prequel to original
Reckoning - prequel to II
Retribution - re-imagining/reboot of original

So three games later, and we're no further on with story.

Across the board

Devil May Cry

Chronologically speaking:

Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening*
Devil May Cry
Devil May Cry 2
Devil May Cry 4
Devil May Cry 5

The Animated Series is sandwiched between original and sequel.

*In 2005, a manga prequel was published.

Dead Space

Rail-shooter Extraction prequels original, animated horror film Downfall takes place during events of Extraction and sequel Aftermath bridges the gap between Dead Space and Dead Space 2.

2008 comic series, simply titled Dead Space, serves as a prequel to Extraction and Downfall.

Wii game came bundled with one-shot comic of same name, so prequels prequel.

2010 novel Martyr is set about 200 years before first game and comic Salvage is set between original and Aftermath.

Ignition prequels 2 and mobile game (another Dead Space), is set after original but before 2.

Dead Space 2: Severed is set 3 years after Extraction, with DLC taking place shortly before sequel.

2012 novel Catalyst is set 250 years after Martyr, 2013 comic Liberation prequels Dead Space 3 and DLC Awakened picks up immediately after main game.

The Scorpion King

2002 film
served as a prequel to both The Mummy (1999) and The Mummy Returns.

Direct-to-DVD effort The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior follows a young Mathayus seeking vengeance after witnessing his father's death at the hands of military commander Sargon.

Video game Rise of the Akkadian prequels original film and Castlevania-esque GBA effort Sword of Osiris served as a sequel to film, so separate to Akkadian.

Third in film series Battle for Redemption picks up where TSK left off (presumably ignoring Osiris), and was followed by direct sequel Quest for Power.

Numberless fifth Book of Souls brings us bang up to date.

One more boys and girls.

The House of the Dead

2
 follows 1996 original and III is set in 2019.

4 takes place in 2003, with pointless mini-sequel Special picking up soon after climax, as Kate teams up with 'G' to destroy Pandora's Box.

Overkill is a spin-off and non-canonical prequel to original, and the only game to not name bosses after Major Arcana tarot cards.  Prelude to an Overkill served as a prequel comic.

Giving 'The' marching orders from title, House of the Dead: Scarlet Dawn is set in 2006, so a sequel to 4 and another prequel to III.

Uwe Boll's infamous House of the Dead calls itself a prequel to original game.

I find that hilarious, because gameplay footage of THOTD 2 is awkwardly edited in (usually during atrocious action sequences), and sometimes - for no FUCKING reason.

Bearing same title as film, Artisan Entertainment brought out a very short tie-in prequel comic.

Michael Hurst's stand-alone sequel House of the Dead II was a slight improvement and Dead and Deader was originally called House of the Dead 3, but was forced to drop name due to licensing issues.

Pure coincidence of course, but the alternative name for 1978 horror Alien Zone is The House of the Dead.

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