History EarlyInstallmentWeirdness / VideoGamesNumbersToM

*** After defeating Allan O'Neil, you're [[UnusableEnemyEquipment unable to claim O'Neil's machine-gun]] for yourself, for no given reason. This is changed in later games where O'Neil's dropped weapon can be collected (equivalent to a fresh Heavy Machine Gun pickup).

** The first Marvel fighting game from Capcom, ''VideoGame/XMenChildrenOfTheAtom'', had a much slower and deliberate pace, and generally played more like ''Street Fighter'' than later entries. While things like chain combos were still there, they were far more subdued, and the game itself lacked the sheer craziness of its successors. The ManaMeter was also completely different, and aerial characters like ComicBook/{{Storm}} and ComicBook/{{Magneto}} could still block while flying.

** In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', Sten and the other Qunari were all but human in appearance--very tall black men with white hair and purple eyes. ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' onward gave them grey skin and horns, as well as their war paint (the ''vitaar''). Having the Qunari be horned was intended from the beginning, but was unfeasible due to game engine limitations. Qunari were programmed to use human armor and the helmets wouldn't work with the horns. This is evident when you note that ogres, Qunari darkspawn, are horned even in the first game. In later games, it's retained as established more than some Qunari are unhorned and look more human, though, and in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'', where you have the option of playing a Qunari, you do have the option of creating one more in line with the first game's designs.

*** The [[OurGodsAreDifferent Daedric Princes]] [[IconicSequelCharacter make their first appearance]] in ''Daggerfall'', and they are quite different in appearance and personality than they would be later in the series. For example, Azura is much more malevolent and petty than in later appearances. She demands that you kill a priest who has spoken ill of her, and gets [[BerserkButton extremely upset]] if you refuse her request. She is also mentioned to be an ally of [[GodOfEvil Molag Bal]], something which has never been brought up in any work since then.

* Despite the series perhaps being best known for always featuring a QueerRomance, the original ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange'' is surprisingly light on overt depictions of said queer characters. There's heavy LesYay running throughout many of Max and Chloe's interactions, as well as Chloe's reminiscences about her relationship with Rachel, but not so much that it stands out from the many other games that utilise BaitAndSwitchLesbians or PseudoRomanticFriendship tropes between same-gender characters who are ultimately never confirmed as anything more than friends. The only unambiguously romantic moment between Max and Chloe is easily missed, occurring in only one ending variant, and only then if you pushed the flirtatious nature of some of the dialogue as far as possible. ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange2'' would also catch some flack for being ButNotTooGay when it came to the lead and his GayOption love interest, but at least featured several unambiguously queer characters in its supporting cast; and the fact that ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrangeBeforeTheStorm'' and ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrangeTrueColors'' both put sapphic romance options front-and-centre mean it can be jarring to go back to the first game and remember how much more low-key the LGBTQ+ representation is.

* Despite the series perhaps being best known for always featuring a QueerRomance, ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange'' is surprisingly light on overt depictions of said queer characters. There's heavy LesYay running throughout many of Max and Chloe's interactions, as well as Chloe's reminiscences about her relationship with Rachel, but not so much that it stands out from the many other games that utilise BaitAndSwitchLesbians or PseudoRomanticFriendship tropes between same-gender characters who are ultimately never confirmed as anything more than friends. The only unambiguously romantic moment between Max and Chloe is easily missed, occurring in only one ending variant, and only then if you pushed the flirtatious nature of some of the dialogue as far as possible. ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange2'' would also catch some flack for being ButNotTooGay when it came to the lead and his GayOption love interest, but at least featured several unambiguously queer characters in its supporting cast; and the fact that ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrangeBeforeTheStorm'' and ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrangeTrueColors'' both put sapphic romance options front-and-centre mean it can be jarring to go back to the first game and remember how much more low-key the LGBTQ+ representation is.

* Despite the series perhaps being best known for always featuring a QueerRomance, ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange'' is surprisingly light on overt depictions of said queer characters. There's heavy LesYay running throughout many of Max and Chloe's interactions, as well as Chloe's reminiscences about her relationship with Rachel, but not so much that it stands out from the many other games that utilise BaitAndSwitchLesbians or PseudoRomanticFriendship tropes between same-gender characters who are ultimately never confirmed as anything more than friends. The only unambiguously romantic moment between Max and Chloe is easily missed (occurring in only one ending variant, and only then if you pushed the flirtatious nature of some of the dialogue as far as possible). ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange2'' would also catch some flack for being ButNotTooGay when it came to the lead and his GayOption love interest, but at least featured several unambiguously queer characters in its supporting cast; and the fact that ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrangeBeforeTheStorm'' and ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrangeTrueColors'' both put sapphic romance options front-and-centre mean it can be jarring to go back to the first game and remember how much more low-key the LGBTQ+ representation is.

* Despite the series perhaps being best known for always featuring a QueerRomance, ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange'' is surprisingly light on overt depictions of said queer romances. There's heavy LesYay running throughout many of Max and Chloe's interactions, as well as Chloe's reminiscences about her relationship with Rachel, but not so much that it stands out from the many other games that utilise BaitAndSwitchLesbians or PseudoRomanticFriendship tropes between same-gender characters who are ultimately never confirmed as anything more than friends; the only unambiguously romantic moment in the game is easily missed (occurring in only one ending variant, and only then if you pushed the flirtatious nature of some of the dialogue as far as possible). ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange2'' would also catch some flack for being ButNotTooGay when it came to the lead and his GayOption love interest, but at least featured several unambiguously queer characters in its supporting cast; and the fact that ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrangeBeforeTheStorm'' and ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrangeTrueColors'' both put sapphic romance options front-and-centre mean it can be jarring to go back to the first game and remember how much more low-key the LGBTQ+ representation is.

* Despite the series perhaps being best known for always featuring a QueerRomance, ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange'' is surprisingly light on overt depictions of said queer romances. There's heavy LesYay running throughout many of Max and Chloe's interactions, as well as Chloe's reminiscences about her relationship with Rachel, but not so much that it stands out from the many other games that utilise BaitAndSwitchLesbians or PseudoRomanticFriendship tropes between same-gender characters who are ultimately never confirmed as anything more than friends; the only unambiguously romantic moment in the game is easily missed (occurring in only one ending variant, and only then if you pushed the flirtatious nature of some of the dialogue as far as possible). ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange2'' would also catch some flack for being ButNotTooGay when it came to the lead and his GayOption love interest, but at least featured several unambiguously queer characters in its supporting cast;
and the fact that ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrangeBeforeTheStorm'' and ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrangeTrueColors'' both put sapphic romance options front-and-centre mean it can be jarring to go back to the first game and remember how much more low-key the LGBTQ+ representation is.

* ''VideoGame/JumpStart'': The earliest installments -- the original versions of ''[=JumpStart=] Preschool'', ''VideoGame/JumpStartKindergarten'', ''VideoGame/JumpStart1stGrade'', and ''VideoGame/JumpStart2ndGrade'' -- don't have a toolbar constantly at the bottom of the screen with options such as Go Back/Exit, Help, Progress Report, and Difficulty Levels (though most of the options can be accessed other ways). Also, the original ''[=JumpStart=] Preschool'' and ''Kindergarten'' don't contain any sort of goals, progression, prizes, anything. Perhaps most importantly, all the characters' (except Edison's) designs in all of those games were different than their designs in all later games except ''[=JumpStart=] Pre-K'' (i.e. [[AccessoryWearingCartoonAnimal Frankie and CJ had no clothes other than their collar and hat, respectively]]).

** Started the game and skipped the intro expecting to hear the franchise's iconic theme at the main menu? Nope, in the original game it only played in the intro, a campaign FMV and the late-in-the-playlist music track Gray Sky.
** The game also does not feature any voice-acting and all details related to the campaign storyline are found in the instruction tab at the start of every scenario. The definitive edition does add a narrator to these instruction tabs.

** The setting and humor of this game is more subdued and grounded than its DenserAndWackier sequels. For instance, some of the things you investigate in this game include a zombie-infested graveyard, a zoo with animals running amok, a DreamLand whose queen is trying to remember a forgotten melody, an eerie abandoned factory, and a haunted house. By comparison, the [[VideoGame/EarthBound1994 very next game]] features a brainwashed cult that wants to literally paint the world blue, a zombie infestation masterminded by a sentient pile of puke who is also enslaving a village of strange WaddlingHead creatures, a CorruptPolitician being brainwashed by an evil statue that in turn hypnotizes you into an illusory BizarroUniverse, and a dungeon builder [[BreakingTheFourthWall who loves RPG dungeons so much]] that he ''[[GeniusLoci turned himself into a dungeon]]'' that you have to explore.

*** The G-Man’s signature briefcase in ''Half-Life'' prominently displays the Black Mesa logo, implying that he directly worked for the company in some capacity. Not only is this absent from ''Half-Life 2'', but his background is implied to be far more incomprehensible in nature.

* ''VideoGame/{{Bomberman}}'': Before the NES installments, the first game was a fairly primitive single-player MazeGame where both the clearly non-robotic player character and the enemies could move right through bombs. There weren't any multiplayer options in the ''Bomberman'' games until the UsefulNotes/TurboGrafx16 version. The games were also very slow paced and lacked a lot of power-ups like the rollerblades or bomb kicking. It wasn't until the Super NES era that the series found its place.

** ''Finest Hour'' is another example in itself in the way the series handled console releases. At the very beginning of the franchise, it was a PC series first and foremost, so the original game and its expansion came only on PC, while ''Finest Hour'', a console release, was a third-party spinoff. Starting with UsefulNotes/{{the seventh generation|OfConsoleVideoGames}}, things shifted as the original developers made an actual sequel for the Platform/Xbox360 as well as PC, with the third-party spinoff for it, ''Big Red One'', instead being shunted off to [[UsefulNotes/TheSixthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames previous-gen consoles]]; the series would continue in this manner, with mainline releases on PC and current-gen consoles and the spinoffs on previous-gen ones until ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDutyWorldAtWar World at War]]'', though it did briefly come back with ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDutyGhosts Ghosts]]'', ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDutyAdvancedWarfare Advanced Warfare]]'' and ''Black Ops III'' releasing on both seventh- and [[UsefulNotes/TheEighthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames eighth-gen]] consoles, with ''[=BO3=]'' coming closest to the old model (the full game on PC and eight-gen consoles, while seventh-gen ones could only fit the multiplayer and [[VideoGame/CallOfDutyZombies Zombies]]).

** The console ports have some noticeable differences from the PC games in part because, while the UsefulNotes/AtariJaguar port was compiled directly from the v1.2 codebase by Creator/IdSoftware themselves, all other ports - including those of ''Doom II'' - were third-party affairs simply borrowing the Jaguar port's code, with the ports of ''Doom II'' simply adding the new maps and enemies of ''Doom II'' to the ''Doom 1'' v1.2 code rather than recompiling anything. This leaves several mechanics noticeably dated, since none of the console ports of either game were released until more than a month after ''Doom II'' came out on PC, such as Lost Souls still counting towards the player's kill percentage (changed with the release of ''Doom II'' and the concurrent v1.666 for the first game to account for the Pain Elemental attacking by [[MookMaker spawning Lost Souls]]).

** ''Finest Hour'' is another example in itself in the way the series handled console releases. At the very beginning of the franchise, it was a PC series first and foremost, so the original game and its expansion came only on PC, while ''Finest Hour'', a console release, was a third-party spinoff. Starting with UsefulNotes/{{the seventh generation|OfConsoleVideoGames}}, things shifted as the original developers made an actual sequel for the UsefulNotes/Xbox360 as well as PC, with the third-party spinoff for it, ''Big Red One'', instead being shunted off to [[UsefulNotes/TheSixthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames previous-gen consoles]]; the series would continue in this manner, with mainline releases on PC and current-gen consoles and the spinoffs on previous-gen ones until ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDutyWorldAtWar World at War]]'', though it did briefly come back with ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDutyGhosts Ghosts]]'', ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDutyAdvancedWarfare Advanced Warfare]]'' and ''Black Ops III'' releasing on both seventh- and [[UsefulNotes/TheEighthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames eighth-gen]] consoles, with ''[=BO3=]'' coming closest to the old model (the full game on PC and eight-gen consoles, while seventh-gen ones could only fit the multiplayer and [[VideoGame/CallOfDutyZombies Zombies]]).

** ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry3DantesAwakening'' is the first game in the franchise with [[StanceSystem Styles]], but the system works differently here than in later titles. In ''Devil May Cry 3'', only one Style can be used during a mission and new skills are acquired through levels and grinding for {{experience points}}. In ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'' and ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry5'', Styles can be switched during missions, and skills can be bought before missions or at Divinity Statues. The UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch version adds Style Switching, which works similarly to ''Devil May Cry 4'' and ''Devil May Cry 5'', but keeps the original level grinding system.

** In ''VideoGame/AceCombat2'', the playable "superfighter" (a [[OriginalGeneration fictional plane]] that generally outperforms everything else in the game) set itself apart by way of being able to launch four standard missiles at a time. ''VideoGame/AceCombat3Electrosphere'' allowed a lot of the mid- to late-game planes do this with the standard missiles as well; on top of this, the weapon changing system in this game consisted of you ''replacing'' the standard guns-and-missiles with different variations, and the closest you got to the current system was if you took some form of bomb, which the game would automatically switch you to whenever targeting something on the ground. It wasn't until ''VideoGame/AceCombat04ShatteredSkies'' that the current weapon system (guns alongside standard missiles launched two at a time and a special weapon you could switch between at the press of a button) was set in stone. ''2'' also had an "Extra" mode available after completing the game once, where most planes that weren't made available sooner than normal were replaced with completely different aircraft - later games did away with this, save for locking the fictional superfighter away until after beating the game once, in favor of a more standard NewGamePlus.

** Eavesdropping on your neighbors' conversations was implemented in ''Dobutsu No Mori [=e+=]''
** Players couldn't use emotions until ''Wild World''

** Celeste, Brewster, and Harriet made their first appearances in ''Wild World''

** The eponymous character had a girlfriend named Tawna in the [[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot1996 first game]] who was the DamselInDistress. She was written out of the series starting with the second game, with WordOfGod stating that she had dumped Crash for Pinstripe Potoroo. The actual reason was that MoralGuardians found her design too overly sexual, and Creator/NaughtyDog wanted to have a more positive female lead, which lead to the creation of Crash's much more helpful and action-geared sister Coco for the second game. She wasn't quite scrapped completely, considering she's made a few later cameos and was in some spin-off titles like ''VideoGame/CrashTeamRacingNitroFueled''. The remake of the first game in ''VideoGame/CrashBandicootNSaneTrilogy'' tried to rectify this by [[AdaptationalBadass making her a little more feisty]] during the first cutscene (managing to knock out a lab assistant just before many of them surround her, instead of her being held by the arms by two of them). When she became a relevant character once again in ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot4ItsAboutTime'', she was revamped into an ActionGirl from [[AlternateSelf a different timeline]].

** The first ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'' is noticeably different from its later two installments. Most obviously, it was sold under the title ''VideoGame/{{Call of Duty 4|ModernWarfare}}'', which was later [[ArtifactTitle mostly phased out]] due to [[ExecutiveMeddling the franchise's split between Treyarch, Infinity Ward, and later Sledgehammer]]. Its campaign switches between little more than [[{{Ruritania}} the Russian countryside]] and [[{{Qurac}} a hostile, unnamed Islamic country]] (the latter of which you stop playing in as little as a third of the way through the game), as opposed to the more varied settings of the series' later two installments; there was also only one set of missions in a recognizably-specific real-world location (and that one being set in the real-world GhostTown that is UsefulNotes/{{Chernobyl}}), as opposed to the more varied environments of the later two, where every other mission takes place in Washington, D.C. or Rio de Janeiro or Paris. This, combined with the second and third installments' heavy use of RuleOfCool, is why some of the first installment's gritty realism feels lost in its sequels. It also featured an unlockable "Arcade Mode" to add a score counter over the whole game when replaying it and campaign cheats unlocked for collecting the intelligence, which were nowhere to be found in later installments save for the remastered version of ''[=MW2=]'''s campaign. The game's multiplayer experience is also heavily modified in its sequels. The first installment featured three fixed killstreaks ([[EnemyScan UAV]], [[DeathFromAbove airstrike, and helicopter]]), equippable night vision goggles, several pre-set voice messages, and an equipment/perk system that was heavily reworked in sequels. The first-tier perks were all for extra equipment such as an RPG, claymore mines or extra ammo, for instance, and you were forced to go without one if you attached a grenade launcher or, strangely, an underbarrel grip to your weapon. The system for attachments was also slightly different: a maximum of one attachment at a time for any weapon, with the only options being two types of sights (an unmagnified red dot or an ACOG), a suppressor, a foregrip or a grenade launcher, some weapon types were noticeably restricted in what was available (like sniper rifles ''only'' getting the ACOG and foregrips being restricted to shotguns and machine guns), and there were several attachments that were only used in the campaign, like an [=EOTech=]-style holographic sight (which was coded as the singleplayer counterpart of the ACOG) and a red dot scope that shows up on every [=G36C=] in the campaign and a couple of M4s. The AK-47 was the first alternate assault rifle available upon unlocking the ability to create your own classes - the next two ''Modern Warfare'' games made it the final unlock (here that honor goes to the [[BlingBlingBang Golden Desert Eagle]] - on that subject, golden camos are restricted to one weapon per category rather than being unlockable for every weapon). The PC version also had some noticeable differences from the console versions - there was no Prestige system, it used [=PunkBuster=] as its anti-cheat system (making things difficult to set up properly when Even Balance eventually dropped official support for the game), and all of the post-release content console players had to purchase as DLC was made available for free in patches for the PC version, including a Christmas-themed variation of one map that the consoles never got except when [[HolidayMode it actually was Christmas]]. By ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfare2 Modern Warfare 2]]'' the publisher and developers realized the implications of selling the games over UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, and were able to implement Prestiging, use Valve's anti-cheat system, and sell DLC map packs.