Top 10 Worst Video Game Transitions to the 3D World

When video games went from two-dimensional sprites to three-dimensional polygons, the potential for unique experiences increased exponentially. But not every classic franchise successfully made the jump to the third dimension. Perhaps the amount of creativity needed to completely re-envision a world may have been too much for some development teams, or perhaps the companies didn't want to bother investing the time and money necessary for the great polygonal leap. For every Super Mario 64 or Final Fantasy VII, we got plenty of three-dimensional flops like these...

10. Street Fighter EX (Arcade / PS1)

Street Fighter fared much better than Final Fight in the jump to 3D, but its transition wouldn't be quick or painless. After Street Fighter 2 and its various iterations, we saw two more 2D generations of the series —Alpha and Street Fighter 3— and the 3D spin-off, EX. While the Street Fighter EX games weren't bad, they fell short of the standards set by their 2D predecessors / competition. The graphics and gameplay didn't feel as fast or fluid as the sprites of Street Fighter Alpha, and the new characters would all be fated to fade into obscurity. It wouldn't be until Street Fighter IV that we'd see the original world warrior tournament fighter adapted successfully to 3D, when the technology was available to capture the franchise's pace with detailed, fluidly animated 3D models.

9. Castlevania 64 (N64)

Castlevania has always had a hard time moving to 3D, and this is severely exacerbated by the superb 2D Symphony of the Night. All Castlevania games since have failed to get out from under that title's shadow, but some of the 3D attempts have been better than others. The others, of course, are the N64 titles, which were marred by floaty controls and a frustrating camera. The games weren't terrible, but the discrepancy between the decent 3D versions and the absolutely stellar progression of the 2D series kept them from being more than footnotes in video game history.

8. Dawn of Mana (PS2)

Like Castlevania, Square Enix's Mana series (a.k.a. Seiken Densetsu in Japanese markets) has spent most of its existence in one game's shadow, in this case Secret of Mana for the Super Nintendo. While there were plenty of good Castlevania games released before and since that PS1 classic, almost all of the other Mana games have received mixed reviews at best. A particularly bad example is Dawn of Mana, released near the end of the PS2's life cycle. Though the graphics were beautiful and stylish, the game itself turned out to be a tedious trek through awkward camera angles and frustrating controls. The Action-RPG approach of previous titles was removed, and the game instead played like a mediocre platformer. As the PS2 was already on its way out by that point, one must wonder why Square Enix even bothered with Dawn of Mana.

7. Mega Man X7 (PS2)

When Sony wanted a 3D Mega Man game for the original PlayStation, Capcom gave them Mega Man Legends. It was a fun, colorful action-adventure gem that impressed critics; however, it was a Mega Man game by name alone, with a completely new universe and cast. Capcom tried to remedy this with Mega Man X7 for the PS2; however, "tried" is about as charitable a term as one can give this game. Not only was Mega Man X7 a hot mess of bad camera angles, finicky controls, and thoroughly pathetic bosses ("Tornado Tonion"? Really?), but it again kept fans from playing as Mega Man X, as he had to be unlocked via rescuing enough hostages. Players instead had to start by controlling second banana Zero and new character Axl, an obnoxious little punk who immediately drew fans' ire. All of this led to Mega Man X8 going back to a classic 2D side-scrolling approach, but by then the series lost all of its momentum.

6. C: The Contra Adventure (PS1)

For fans of hardcore 2D action, there are few better choices than Contra, the first name in absurdly difficult side-scrolling shooters. The series hit its peak with Contra 3: The Alien Wars for the Super Nintendo, but that peak turned out to be a jump over a shark. The PS1 Contra games were almost universally reviled due to their glitchy, clunky controls and uninspired level design. Contra may have been difficult, but that difficulty was due to the deftly programmed challenge level, not a staggering amount of unfair glitches. C: The Contra Adventure (and Contra: Legacy of War before it) was only so hard because it was frustrating and unfun.

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