5 Video Game Series From the 1990s That Are Dead (but Need to Come Back)

In every decade, a new video game series comes along that blows everyone away. Many continue into the next decade with sequels and spinoffs, but not every franchise is as lucky. Some do well initially but fade into obscurity as they’re left behind. The 1990s certainly featured several exceptional video game series that died off and never properly returned, and many are due for a comeback. We looked through them all and came up with five that would be great to see return, though, not in some sort of collection. We want to see new content, not just remasters!

1) Darkstalkers

The Darkstalkers franchise kicked off in 1994 with Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors, though it’s called Vampire in Japan. The fighting game franchise released four more titles before going quiet in 1997. Since then, there have been remasters, ports, and compilations of older games, but nothing new, as the Darkstalkers franchise has been quiet regarding new entries for nearly three decades. The franchise branched out into an anime adaptation and other areas, but aside from its characters popping up in other Capcom games, Darkstalkers, as its own fighting game franchise, has been quiet for far too long.

2) Gex

Gex is a platformer series that launched in 1995 across all the systems available at the time. The game centers on a wise-cracking gecko who loves television and fights villains in the media dimension. Three games were released in the 1990s: Gex, Gex: Enter the Gecko, and Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko. A fourth game was in development but was never released; Gex Trilogy combined all three games into a single package years later. It’s a fun franchise and a great platformer, and seeing as the genre hasn’t gone anywhere, it’s time to bring Gex to modern gaming.

3) Wing Commander

The Wing Commander series was a massively ambitious multimedia franchise that featured some exceptional games. Five were released in the 1990s, beginning with 1990’s Wing Commander and ending in 1997 with Wing Commander: Prophecy. A spinoff called Wing Commander Arena was released in 2007, but it isn’t part of the main series, so it doesn’t count. Regardless, the franchise had some impressive games with large-scale, interactive stories. Wing Commander III was particularly entertaining, featuring full-motion video starring Mark Hamill, Malcolm McDowell, and John Rhys-Davies, to name a few. If they made a new Wing Commander game, I’d be first in line to buy a copy, but it seems unlikely.

4) Earthworm Jim

There were plenty of great platformers released throughout the 1990s, but Earthworm Jim was one of the most irreverently weird. The game features a literal earthworm named Jim who jumps into a robotic suit to fight evil with his trusty machine gun. He can swing using his body outside of the suit and employ other worm-based mechanics to make gameplay dynamic. The first game was released in 1994, and the run-and-gun platformer launched a franchise. Several sequels followed until 1999’s Earthworm Jim: Menace 2 the Galaxy was released on the Game Boy Color, ending the franchise. There have been re-releases, but no new games (only canceled ones), and the 2008 announcement of Earthworm Jim 4 has yet to bear fruit.

5) Descent

Descent is a first-person shooter that allowed full six-degrees of rotation within the environment, as players controlled ships that moved through complex mines in space. Deathmatch allowed players to hunt one another, and the franchise grew to include three games released between 1995 and 1999. While no official games have been added to the series since, a Kickstarter campaign (that I contributed to) attempted to revive it in 2015. Licensing issues arose, so instead of a new Descent game, the devs released Ships That Fight Underground, which was more of a spiritual successor. Still, it would be nice to see a proper entry in the franchise come around for modern systems.

What series from the ’90s do you want to see make a comeback? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!

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