History EarlyInstallmentWeirdness / Videogames

* ''VideoGame/JakAndDaxter'': [[VideoGame/JakAndDaxterThePrecursorLegacy The first game]] is very different in [[DarkerAndEdgier tone]] from the later games in the series, although it was more in line with Creator/NaughtyDog's earlier ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot'' titles. The second game replaces Eco with a {{BFG}}, the series becomes more Sandbox/''GTA'' orientated, and Jak is SuddenlySpeaking.

** The Pieces of Eden went through a number of changes over time as well, from Apples being the most common, if not only kind of artifacts, to the threat level they pose. While Isu tech is never portrayed as harmless, the Apple as it appeared in ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedI'' was ''so'' dangerous that Altar, who has an unusual amount of precursor ancestry, can barely even look at it without going crazy. Likewise, Ezio was nearly powerless in the sequel against the Papal Staff and would've lost entirely if he didn't have an Apple on his person.

*** ''3rd Grade'' also features multiple "one-time" Challenges often done when the characters are en-route to another place. While other games (including a few later ones) would also do this, these could be repeated by going to the map.
** ''4th grade'' also featured multiple "one-time" challenges that can only be done once.

* ''VideoGame/TheClueFinders'':
** ''3rd Grade'' had a different theme, much more minimalistic animation, two songs about the "world" the cluefinders were in, multiple "One-time" challenges, as well as a need to acquire resources in the third "world".
** ''4th grade'' also had plenty of "Empty screens" (ie screens with nothing to interact with or an [=NPC=] to talk with) as well as the "one-time" challenges. However, unlike the previous game third grade, you couldn't return to these "one time" challenges. You also couldn't backtrack as moving from one "world" to the next was a PointOfNoReturn.
** ''Math Adventures 9-12'' featured much rougher animation, with some mild design changes. This was changed in an UpdatedRerelease.

* ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' is one of those success stories that somehow survived an extremely rough start. The gameplay is completely bare-bones; you can't interact with anyone who's not involved in some way with your missions. The only optional tasks are rescuing citizens from abusive guards (pretty easy), finding all the flags (a colossal pain without a guide), and killing the Templar Knights (ditto). Incidentally, there's no reward for the latter two tasks other than [[BraggingRightsReward the game acknowledging that you did them]]. Your meager arsenal consists of a Hidden Blade, sword, short sword, and throwing knives. The Hidden Blade is all-or-nothing; if you don't get a kill, it does no damage whatsoever. You have no money or other resources whatsoever. If you land in any kind of water, [[SuperDrowningSkills you die instantly]] (a real pain when you get to Sibrand). Enemies in the countryside will attack you on sight, and you have to move VERY cautiously to avoid their attention. Oh, and let's not forget the violent derelicts that smack you all over the place, unbelievably irritating beggars, and loudmouth preachers which say the same damn things ''over'' and ''over'' and ''over''. ''Just getting rid of that crap'' made ''[[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII ACII]]'' infinitely better.

** Bosses did not have to be defeated to progress through the game, Gnasty's minions are other Gnorcs he made out of gems where Ripto and the Sorceress just had an army of mooks that inexplicably followed them, obviously there are other dragons besides Spyro, and though a few powerups appear, they're very different than the standard versions in later games.

** If not for the common title and character design, you'd hardly believe that the games of the ''three'' continuities were from the same series. This even happened within the original series. While the engine was mostly the same, in ''[[VideoGame/SpyroTheDragon1998 Spyro the Dragon]]'' (1998) there were no sidequests to collect the {{Plot Coupon}}s, no Hunter, and the story felt like an ExcusePlot in comparison to the deeper ''[[VideoGame/Spyro2RiptosRage Ripto's Rage!]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/SpyroYearOfTheDragon Year of the Dragon]]''. Oh, and Spyro [[SuperDrowningSkills can't swim]], not even on the surface.

** 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'' tries 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 eponymous character had a girlfriend named Tawna in the [[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot1996 first game]] who was the DistressedDamsel. 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''. When she became a relevant character once again in ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot4ItsAboutTime'', she was revamped into an ActionGirl from [[AlternateSelf a different timeline]].
** The first game also had a world map consisting of three islands instead of the warp rooms that would become a staple of the franchise starting with the second game, and bosses were scattered throughout and not always the last obstacle. Crystals, the main Macguffins starting from the second game onward, were also completely absent. And the game was NintendoHard: in order to get the box gem for a level, you had to break all the boxes ''without dying''. Later games had checkpoints save your box count and [[NoDamageRun no-death runs]] were confined to special routes.

*** Weapon variety was very limited, as there were only eleven weapons in total in the game and you could carry all of them at once, including two assault rifles, two heavy weapons, and two types of grenades. Later games would give more variety of guns (''Vice City'' having at least two of every category) while also limiting you to one weapon in any given category (e.g. you can't have both the flamethrower and rocket launcher at the same time).
*** The player character is a mute and has no personality to them beyond whatever the player envisions them to be. He wouldn't even be given a ''name'' until his later appearance in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas''. The sequels would make their player characters more fleshed out and had them speaking. A consequence of this is that he is one of only two protagonists from the "3D era" who gets messages via pager rather than a cell phone (the other, Victor from ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCityStories Vice City Stories]]'', is simply because a pager fits its time period better).

*** The player character could not change clothes. Aside from the prison jumpsuit the player has at the start of the game, they will spend the entire game in a black leather jacket and green pants.

*** There's also no motorcycles. The game was intended to have them, but the devs couldn't get them to work right and decided to scrap them rather than delay the game or release it in an unfinished state. Motorcycles would return in ''Vice City''

** The [[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianDawn first game]] had several oddities that were removed from later games. Some particular ones were the lack of production queues (even training multiple infantry units or building several tanks required you to click the icon for them once, wait for it to finish, ''then'' click again) and the inability to place buildings with ''any'' sort of space between them unless you abused the also-unique-to-this-game ability to place buildings next to sandbags (later games don't let walls or other defensive structures increase your build area). The sidebar could also be pushed away at will at the click of a button, which made sense for missions where you never get to build and train anything, but nevertheless was removed in later games since even when they had infantry/tank-only missions, they'd at least give you free radar. There's no skirmish mode, either, so the only way to play the game against the AI is the campaign. Finally, both sides have the same voice for their advisor/computer character, even if it's explained that Nod is using a stolen one because they don't have anything equivalent; ''Tiberian Sun'' onward gave separate advisors for each side. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking And]] said advisor, in the first game, says "building" [[MemeticMutation even when you're training infantry]]. It also stands as the only game in the series with no expansion packs that actually expand on the story in any meaningful way.

* The original ''VideoGame/DeadSpace'' has several gameplay and narrative differences to its sequels that definitely stand out nowadays.
** Isaac is a HeroicMime. He never speaks throughout the entire game, only letting out grunts and yells when he's injured or exerting himself, like with a stomp or punch. In the sequels and remake, Isaac is a fully voiced character throughout the game.
** Zero-Gravity movement is far more stilted and awkward. You must manually aim at another surface you want to be on, then leap to it and wait for Isaac to land before being able to move again. In the sequels and remake, Isaac instead floats freely throughout the zero-gravity space using thrusters on his suit.
** Multiple quick actions in the sequels, like quickly refilling your Stasis meter and reloading manually when you are not aiming, are not present in the original. You instead must open your inventory to use Stasis packs, and must be aiming to manually reload.
** The Marker in the original game is not actively trying to spread a Necromorph infestation like the sequels' counterparts, but is instead trying to stop the one currently in progress.
** The color palette of the original game normally falls well into the RealIsBrown category, whereas the sequels are far more colorful and varied in terms of environments.

* ''VideoGame/{{Pikmin}}'':
** ''VideoGame/Pikmin2001'' features three Pikmin types: Red, Blue and Yellow. Red and Blue Pikmin work the same as they do throughout the series, but Yellow Pikmin function completely differently: they lack their trademark electricity immunity (there were no electrical hazards in the first game), and their unique traits were being lightweight and thus able to be thrown higher than the other types, as well as being able to handle Bomb Rocks. The lightness was kept for subsequent games, but when Bomb Rocks returned in ''VideoGame/Pikmin2'', they could not be handled at all, and ''VideoGame/Pikmin3'' allowed any Pikmin type to handle them.
** Idle Pikmin in the first game turned pale, a trait not seen in any of the other games.

** New moves are found by reclaiming pages of the title book instead of being brought of Thiefnet with coins.

** ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters '94'' did not allow players to assemble customized teams (despite this having always been a case of GameplayAndStorySegregation); instead, they had to pick a country and fight throughout the game with the three characters representing them (even though some of them, such as the Women Fighters Team and the VideoGame/ArtOfFighting Team, didn't actually have any members from the country they were supposed to be representing). There were no Super Gauge stocks (which were introduced in ''[='=]96'' and became the norm in ''[='=]99''), roll evasion, or running; instead, the game's system relied on a chargeable Super Gauge, sidestepping and forward dash (the system was used until ''[='=]97'' and ''[='=]98'', where it was dubbed Extra Mode, in contrast with the new Advanced system). Also, performing [=SDMs=] was dependent on two consitions: either with a full Super Gauge, or when your character's health is running low, like in the ''VideoGame/FatalFury'' series at the time. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking And there was no]] [[BreakoutCharacter Iori Yagami]].

* The original ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' has a drastically different tone than it sequel and subsequent spinoffs:

*** The player character is a mute and has no personality to them beyond whatever the player envisions them to be. He wouldn't even be given a ''name'' until his later appearance in VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas. The sequels would make their player characters more fleshed out and had them speaking. A consequence of this is that he is one of only two protagonists from the "3D era" who gets messages via pager rather than a cell phone (the other, Victor from ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCityStories Vice City Stories]]'', is simply because a pager fits its time period better).

*** The player character is a mute and has no personality to them beyond whatever the player envisions them to be. The sequels would make their player characters more fleshed out and had them speaking. A consequence of this is that he is one of only two protagonists from the "3D era" who gets messages via pager rather than a cell phone (the other, Victor from ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCityStories Vice City Stories]]'', is simply because a pager fits its time period better).

* ''VideoGame/RedDeadRevolver'' is quite different from its successors, the ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'' games. For one thing, it's a linear ThirdPersonShooter instead of a WideOpenSandbox, though it does have an explorable hub level. Its story and tone are also a lot DenserAndWackier than the ''Redemption'' games.

** In the very first ''VideoGame/{{Street Fighter|I}}'' released in 1987, Ryu and Ken are the only playable characters (with [[DoesNotLikeShoes Ryu]] wearing red slippers for some reason), and Ken is an exact clone of Ryu; their special moves, quite [[GameBreaker overpowered]] in this game, are almost impossible to pull off consistently (as they were considered more akin to cheat codes rather than mundane gameplay mechanics); other techniques such as combos, dizzies, and grappling moves are all non-existent; and every opponent has the same winning and losing quote (all spoken with the same crudely digitized [[GratuitousEnglish Engrish]] voice clip), and the ground-based player movement seems to consist of repeated fixed-length hops, making precise positioning difficult. The game did feature the same six-button configuration used by ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' and its sequels, but it was actually added to the game as an afterthought, created as a cheaper alternative to arcade operators who couldn't afford the original cabinet which used two hydraulic punching pads that determined the strength of the player's punches and kicks based on how hard they were pushed down. Additionally, Ryu and Ken's special move yells were dubbed for the overseas versions of the game, resulting in them yelling "Psycho Fire" and "Dragon Punch" instead of "Hadoken" and "Shoryuken."

*** Compared to the more DenserAndWackier sequels, the third game is relatively more down to earth and gritty in the art style and the story missions. Most of the humor come from the radio stations with their overthetop guests and advertisements. ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' would return to the gritty style and story while ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' shifted the tone to the middle of gritty and wacky.
*** Unlike the other games, the third game had no purchasable property, thus no extra ways to make money or saving the game. Extra safe houses were only unlocked as you progressed in the story and there were only a total of three (one in each island).
*** The third game [[MoneyForNothing throws money at the player]] like candy. Money awarded at the end of missions is absurdly high (the very first mission awards you $1000 just for picking up someone's girl and dropping her off at a club) and you can even get money by simply ramming into other cars; conversely, though, everything else is ten times more expensive than in future games (e.g. a Pay 'n Spray visit takes $1000 rather than the $100 of later games). The only things that you could blow money on were weapons and ammo, which weren't too hard to acquire anyway. The sequels would tone down costs and rewards to more reasonable levels and would give players a lot more things to spend their money on.

*** The player character is a mute and has no personality to them beyond whatever the player envisions them to be. The sequels would make their player characters more fleshed out and had them speaking.

*** Planes and helicopters weren't available to use in the third game. While the Dodo techincally is a plane that could fly, its controls are so bad that you'd be lucky to stay in the air for more than a few seconds.
*** The third game had the option of changing the camera view to an overhead state so you could play it similar to the previous titles in the series. This was notably missing from ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity Vice City]]'' onward. Also missing from ''III'' was the in-game map in the pause menu, which forced you to use the map included with the game manual if you wanted to navigate the streets well. An in-game full map was included starting with ''Vice City''. An in-game map for ''III'' would only appear on the Android/[=iOS=] version, released 10 years after the original was released.

*** ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' would introduce the grinding system, whose movement would be determined by how a character moved. As well, only Sonic and Shadow had the ability to grind. The game would be the last one to involve a Chao Garden
*** ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'' had numerous oddities to it. As the play controlled a three-man team, they were able to switch between a running type, a flight type and a "strength" type. This game would codify Team Sonic, Dark and Chaotix, but Team Rose would always be in flux. This is also the only entry in the 3D console era to have a Special Stages as well as the only one with hit points for both Eggman and the badniks.

[[folder:Survival Horror]]
* ''VideoGame/EndlessNightmare'' is a series of Indie horror games, with the first installment, ''Endless Nightmare: Home'', quite the oddball.
** It is uncharacteristically short (it can be completed within 20 minutes) and devoid of action, for starters. Your character, James, spends most of the game running from enemies instead of kicking ass, the only ranged weapon you can use is a taser (until you found a Glock in the final cutscene), and the enemies you encounter in the ''entire'' game can be counted on one hand, giving it the impression of an "Experimental game".
** The absence of boss battles. You complete the game by solving a puzzle instead.
** You can't use a FinishingMove to kill enemies in an instant, either. Later games grants you this option where a cursor will appear behind an unwary enemy, allowing you to execute them even if you're unarmed.
* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'':
** The original ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil1'' featured live-action scenes for its opening and ending sequences, whereas every subsequent installment in the series (including the 2002 remake) until ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Remake'' used CGI cutscenes instead.
** The first ''Resident Evil'' game also feels very basic compared to the later sequels. The original lacked an auto-aiming function (unless you were playing the [[DifficultyByRegion Japanese version]]) and the weapons came as they appeared without any chance to enhance them. The original game had MultipleEndings while the sequels only have a single ending each (except for ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Nemesis'' and ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'', although one could argue the alternate scenarios in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'' serve a similar purpose). The first game also lacked the limping animation that the player character could suffer if they were hurt, which meant even if your health was in the red, you could run at a brisk pace just fine. There was also 3D object scanning if you chose to inspect an item (which is only used to reveal two {{Plot Coupon}}s hidden inside of books), something that the later games dropped, but was brought back in ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica Code: Veronica]]'' and the remake to use for a few more puzzles. A common reoccurrence established since ''Resident Evil 2'' is having the {{Big Bad}}s and other characters go OneWingedAngel, mutating in varying, grotesque ways. Quite a number of them also become [[{{Kaiju}} towering monstrosities]]. It could be a bit strange looking back at the first game, realizing this ''never'' happens at all.
** Chris, Jill, Barry, and Rebecca in the first game are wildly different in their personalities compared to later installments due to the first game having no budget to hire better voice actors plus the developers directing the vocals despite being Japanese. Jill comes off as both whiny and on the verge of a nervous breakdown, Chris sounds like a complete dweeb, Rebecca is overkly perky for one being caught in a mansion full of zombies, and Barry is known for his LargeHam tendencies mixed with puns.
** The entire series has made a big GenreShift from claustrophobic, escape-oriented survival horror to an adrenaline-fueled action series where the protagonists, while still under extreme duress, have more control over the situation; to wit, the first game has a S.W.A.T.-based team trapped in a horror-filled mansion, while ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'' is set in Africa with two soldiers freely going gung-ho on infected civilians. With it, a lot of the "survival" aspects have been lost, but even during the early years of the franchise, the second game deviates heavily from the first by giving Claire and Leon far more than enough gun ammo to make it through the game. In the first game, ammo was highly limited, and running out of a particular ammo made certain boss fights near impossible to beat.
** Another difference that gaps the first few games from later ones is that the undead creatures and monsters are far more resilient and aggressive than they were later on. It can take as many as 9 shots from a handgun to take down a zombie in the first three games.
** The monsters in the first game were also uninspired, being clear shout outs to different movie monsters and killer animals. Starting with 2, they started becoming more unique.
** [[TheMole Albert Wesker's]] apparent death at Tyrant's hands (er, claws) initially was intended to be permanent, as shown by an early novelization and some versions of the game where you can fight his zombified corpse in bonus modes. Subsequent games would develop him into the series BigBad.
** Weapons would only come in one of each type. There was one kind of handgun, one shotgun, and so on. While later games would introduce multiple weapon types, it wasn't until the fourth game where the series fully embraced having multiple weapons of the same category.
** The level designs was very box-like. Nearly every room or area was a square or rectangle and the environments were flat. By the fourth game, the areas were more natural by having twists and turns and elevation differences.
* The first game of the ''VideoGame/NancyDrew'' series, ''Secrets Can Kill'', bears almost no resemblance to the later installments.
** Its characters are hand-drawn cartoons, dialogue exchanges are rudimentary and not always in-character, Nancy's phone contacts (Bess, George, and Ned) only give hints rather than show character development, and plot-essential clues crop up on bulletin boards for no reason. Plus, the fact that Nancy's investigating a cold-blooded murder [[spoiler: and has to point a handgun at someone to win]] pushes its storyline into WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids territory by comparison with subsequent games.
** ''Secrets Can Kill'' has since been re-released, in an updated version that sheds most of the original's EarlyInstallmentWeirdness. The fact that Nancy's investigating a murder instead of a robbery, haunting, or other non-lethal mystery is still rather jarring, but that probably couldn't be changed considering the game's title.
** The culprit also [[spoiler: doesn't talk to Nancy]] - making it the only game (Until the remaster) in which [[spoiler: none]] of the people you talk to are the culprit.
* The original ''VideoGame/{{Silent Hill|1}}'' is the only installment of the franchise on the original UsefulNotes/PlayStation (many of them are for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2). There are also a few oddities here and there, including:
** Not a lot of puzzles; most of the gameplay is based on survival and combat
** Harry, the player character, is by far the worst gun user out of any of the game's protagonists. This was because the game actually factored in external elements (perception and distance affected gun accuracy). While each is justified -- they're all civilians -- the player for the [[VideoGame/SilentHill2 second game]] is far better.
** This is the only game where the nurses act the way they do because of an external parasite, plus the only entry in the series to feature a male variation of the nurse/doctor enemy type. From the second game onward it would be female-looking nurse monsters only, with the design from the second game becoming the most iconic and reused (though the third game did use a less sexual design, and those nurses had actual faces like the ones in the first game).
** The MultipleEndings are based on two decisions only; there's no KarmaMeter or mixture of both involved. [[spoiler:The endings change whether you have saved or killed your partner, Cybil, from a parasite, and if you were able to find an important item or not in Michael Kaufmann's apartment; naturally, the best ending requires you save Cybil and get the item.]]
** The monsters were not representations of any facet of Harry's psyche, but [[spoiler:Alessa's]] likes and dislikes. In fact, much of the plot doesn't focus on Harry at all: he doesn't have any connection or deep-seated flaws, he's just a guy looking for his daughter.
* The original ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'' lacks the {{retraux}} minigames featured in every other game in the series, and is the only one where the threat of losing power is a constant gameplay element.[[labelnote:*]]While ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddysSisterLocation'' brought it back, it was only for a hidden level and a separate game mode added later.[[/labelnote]] Also, [[BigBad Freddy]] has a higher level of importance over the other animatronics (undergoing VillainDecay in the sequels), and the backstory is much more well-hidden; what later games bring front and center are instead hard to find {{Easter egg}}s which [[ExcusePlot the main narrative]] never mentions.

[[folder:Visual Novel]]
* ''Franchise/AceAttorney'':
** The original ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' used a penalty system with a fixed number of allowed "strikes" instead of the lifebar system of most later games. In later games, a mistake can cost you as little as 10% of your life bar or as much as 95%, if it doesn't result in you immediately losing the case.
** The first case in the series, "The First Turnabout," stands out from other first cases in a few ways.
*** Pressing is not required at any point in the case, and is only introduced in the first game's second case.
*** The first case is much shorter than any other case in the series, including other first cases, only having one witness, while most first cases in the series, except for ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigationsMilesEdgeworth'', have at least two witnesses to cross examine.
*** "The First Turnabout" is one of the few first cases that is not at all connected to the overarching plot, save for introducing Larry, who becomes relevant in "Turnabout Goodbyes."
** The first game is the only one to have three-day trials, with later games limiting it to one or two days for better pacing.
** Among the Phoenix trilogy, the first game lacks the Magatama and profile presenting. The fourth and later games removed the latter except for certain scripted sections and greatly reduced the presence of the former.
** Early on in the series, the guilty suspects were also more basic in terms of motive and their plans were also basic in the beginning of the series. As the games grew and evolved, the motives and planning from the villains grew more elaborate, complex, and sometimes just plain convoluted and crazy, but making it complex to figure out for the sake of challenging the player and RuleOfCool both excuses it and makes it entertaining.
** A lot of the weirdness of the first game in comparison to later entries becomes obvious in the fifth case, which was made for the UpdatedReRelease on the DS after the third game had already been released. The tone is very different compared to the rest of the game, and the pacing is much tighter, with longer trials allowing for more to happen within a single day. However, the new pacing is combined with the weirdness of a three-day trial, resulting in [[MarathonLevel one of the longest cases in the series]], making it more obvious why these were dropped.
** The first game also featured a setting that was far more culturally vague, at least in the English version. While things like a {{Toku}} show being extremely popular among children or the general outline of the court system point to the setting being based on Japan, they were small enough details that [[ThinlyVeiledDubCountryChange the localisation could reasonably change the setting to a slightly stranger version of the United States]]. Later games feature far more overtly unique Japanese themes, causing headaches for the localisers and leading to the infamous {{Americasia}} aesthetic.
** Both ''Ace Attorney'' and ''Justice For All'' feature four cases each (the former having a fifth case added in the Nintendo DS version released after the original trilogy was completed). From ''Trials And Tribulations'' onwards, five cases would become standard for the series (except ''Apollo Justice'').
* ''{{Franchise/Danganronpa}}'': From the viewpoint of the entire franchise, there has much some notable differences between the early installments and the later installments.
** The executions in ''Danganronpa V3'' are more brutal in comparison to the executions in the [[VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc first two]] [[VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair major installments]]. Not that the executions in the first two games weren't brutal to begin with!
** The original ''[[VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc Danganronpa]]'':
*** Portrayed Hope's Peak Academy as a GoodAllAlong institution that had nothing to do with advancing the BigBad's scheme, since it was intended to shelter the students, and the Headmaster (a suspect for the mastermind) had been killed before the start of the game. This can come off as very jarring considering how later works in the franchise [[SuckySchool portray the Academy as heavily corrupt]], not giving a damn about the students as people and only being interested in their talents, and indirectly aiding the BigBad in the process.
*** Numerous tropes the franchise is known for deconstructing are played straight.
*** Compared to the executions afterwards, the execution of [[spoiler:Leon Kuwata]] is ''incredibly'' violent. This is largely due to it being lifted from the considerably darker early build of the game.
*** All versions of the game lack a light novel readable after the main game is complete, something that is in every game starting with the UpdatedRerelease of ''Danganronpa 2''.
*** Both male and female students feature a character with [[NonStandardCharacterDesign a much more unusual look than the rest of them]] ([[{{Gonk}} Hifumi]] and [[LadyLooksLikeADude Sakura]]). Later games just stick to only one of the male students having an unusual design.
*** The Re:Act feature (which itself was used with decreasing frequency in the game), a form of DialogueTree where progressing in the dialogue requires you to click on specific purple-colored phrases in the other characters' statements, has not appeared in any of the following installments.
*** The game has less "sci-fi and unrealistic" elements in comparison to other installments. For example, in [[http://danganronpaislandmode.tumblr.com/post/153140479113/i-wonder-how-that-teddy-bear-actually-operates one of Chihirio's free time intros]], it was stated that they don't have the technology for a robot with an AI installed inside it yet. Given how the future installments ended up having [[spoiler: a virtual world simulator, medicine that can change the size of somebody, anime programs that can brainwash people, and actual robots with actual AI installed inside them]], that comment can be a bit jarring.
*** The 8-bit character sprites used for the students' dorms and picturing them being carried to their executions are completely different from the ones seen in School Mode, being less SuperDeformed. Later games use the School Mode sprites for dorm portraits and executions instead of having a separate set of sprites for both the main game and side content.
*** Unlike in the sequels, a student's report card doesn't list their birthday, their blood type, or the things they like and dislike the most.
*** Barring some HoYay, the game is more lacking in the ShipTease department than the sequels. There's really not much romance other than Makoto's crush on Sayaka ([[spoiler:which is short-lived as she's the first victim of the killing game]]), Toko's love for Byakuya (which is entirely PlayedForLaughs), and Kyoko being Makoto's ImpliedLoveInterest. In ''[[VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair Danganronpa 2]]'' and ''[[VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony Danganronpa V3]]'' on the other hand, the students share plenty of ShipTease.
*** The number of Free Time Events each character had generally depended on when they died. For example, [[spoiler:Sayaka]], the first to die, only has two events, whereas [[spoiler:Toko]], who survives, has eight [[spoiler:counting Genocide Jack's three]]. Later installments gave each character five events, even if they died too early to see them all in a normal playthrough, [[spoiler:although in ''V3'', each character has two events with [[DecoyProtagonist Kaede]] in addition to the standard five with Shuichi]]. Each character can either give the player a new ability to use during the Class Trials or more points, which are required to use said abilities. Free Time Events in later games give hope fragments when cleared, which are necessary to unlock abilities for the Class Trials, and the character's special ability when you clear all of them.
*** The murder plots in the first game are considerably simpler than the convoluted schemes from the later two games. Only one chapter has a murder plot more complex than "stab/bludgeon victim and dispose of evidence", and in two chapters the murders were spur-of-the-moment actions that weren't planned out at all. Most of the complications of the cases is the result of people meddling with the crime scenes and manipulating evidence after the fact. This is a stark contrast to later games where nearly every case involves untangling the murderer's complicated schemes.
** Characters do not give you their underwear upon finishing their Free Time events as they do in the sequels, with this instead happening once the player finishes a given character's School Mode ending added in the Vita port and subsequent releases.
* In ''VisualNovel/{{Melody}}'', the first time Arnold’s work is mentioned, Melody says that he is an engineer who works at a power plant. However, in all later mentions of his job, he works in construction.

* ''VideoGame/BrawlRoyale'':
** Unlike in the ''VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy'' series, Natalie is depicted as a ninja making use of katanas and shuriken, rather than as a mage.
** Lance uses a sword here instead of a {{BFG}} and revolver/gunblade combo, and appears in more casual attire than the [[PuttingOnTheReich Nazi outfit]] he uses in all later appearances. Lance was originally intended to be a [[ArtEvolution visual remake]] of Lancelot, a character from ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gqjMoX6smY One More Final Battle]]''. Matt Roszak would instead make a new character out of the intended redesign, after he deemed it to look completely different from Lancelot.
** Matt breaks out a [[GatlingGood double-barrel gatling gun]] if he outdraws Lazarus. To date, this is the sole time he has been depicted using a firearm.
* In the [[NoExportForYou Japan-exclusive]] first ''VideoGame/CustomRobo'', you could only use Ray and could not switch to other bodies -- additionally, most of the robos in this game looked less robotic and more like humans in armor. From ''V2'' onward, not only are you able to switch your robo's body in addition to all other parts, there is much more variety in robo design.
* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}''[='=]s early builds hardly resemble the later versions from 2011 onward.
** Pre-classic is the most glaring case of all. Only a few blocks in the game existed, many of which had completely different textures: Grass blocks were green all over and wooden planks [[https://external-preview.redd.it/SdRDggwVLEH0BewM7Z52hBgAuD8Jy_SJUXFroWtHtrY.png?auto=webp&s=af17c6fa34b269b2f352e0a961b7a25e8a4f1db0 looked like this]]. Some versions had maps that lacked any sort of grass, looking like superflat with stone blocks in its place. Human mobs (which had the same skin as Steve) could be spawned by pressing G, and jumped around the map while flailing their arms and legs.
** Classic looked more like the ''Minecraft'' we know today than Pre-classic, but still fits.
*** It had the same bright green foliage (which continued to be used until Alpha 1.2), and introduced Survival mode. Killing hostile mobs awarded points, depending on how dangerous the mob was (creepers yielded the most points, while zombies yielded the least). Furthermore, creepers had melee attacks (only exploding when killed by the player) and mushrooms were the only source of food, dropped by pigs; red mushrooms were poisonous and brown mushrooms healed the player. The player's fist also dealt four points of damage.
*** Even Creative Classic was different from today's Creative Mode in one small but significant way: the player could not fly.
*** Sponges could also absorb water because there weren't finite water sources yet. Once finite water was added, sponges became non-functional (though they regained their old absorption properties in 1.8)
** In earlier versions of Indev, the player would start near a house made of moss stone filled with chests containing every item in the game. Once the survival aspects of the game were emphasized, the chests were removed and the house became wooden. The items also stacked to 99; today, items stack to 64.
** Early versions of Infdev (not to be confused with Indev, its immediate predecessor) gave the player 999 wooden planks and glass. Similarly with the item chests, these were removed in later versions.
** As a more general example, food originally did not stack, so it quickly filled up the player's inventory. This was fixed in Beta 1.8 (which also added hunger). Meat also used to have thick outlines which were removed in 1.4.2.
** In older versions of the game, sheep would drop multiple blocks of wool if punched by the player. Beta 1.7 added shears. Also, sheep did not drop mutton until 1.8.
* Nintendo games weren't consistently localised into French, German, Spanish and Italian until the Gamecube era, with the latter two not getting localisations at all until the mid-late Nintendo 64 era.
* ''VideoGame/NintendoWars'':
** The very first game in the series only had two armies (Red Star and Blue Moon) and featured a simple "one army versus another" ExcusePlot. It also lacked proper [=COs=], meaning that the two armies were nothing more than {{Palette Swap}}s of each other. There was also no campaign, instead featuring a simple list of maps to complete. In addition, several units functioned very differently from their later incarnations (for example, while ''Advance Wars'' and beyond have the APC, which can carry footsoldiers and supply adjacent units with fuel and ammo, the APC in the original ''Famicom Wars'' could only do the former, with the latter function being delegated to a separate unit, the Supply Truck). Finally, damage and counterattack damage were calculated simultaneously during fights, meaning that two identical units on identical terrain would come out of a battle with exactly the same amount of damage inflicted on each other (in later games, the attacker would have the advantage as counterattack damage was based on the attacked unit's strength ''after'' the initial attack).
** ''Super Famicom Wars'', in addition to introducing Yellow Comet and Green Earth (and, thus, four-faction maps), would feature distinct [=COs=]. However, of the seven in that game, only three had any gameplay differences, all of which were severe {{Game Breaker}}s as they typically gave that CO's army a massive advantage with absolutely no downside ([=COs=] in the ''Advance'' series usually have weaknesses to offset any strengths they may have). There were still no [[LimitBreak CO Powers]], though, and all of the other weirdness of the original ''Famicom Wars'' remained.
** The first ''Advance Wars'' is vastly different from later games in the series in several respects:
*** Every CO has only one CO Power, and there's a severe imbalance between each one, with weaker ones like Olaf's Blizzard and massive GameBreaker like Eagle's Lightning Strike. Powers don't cause a BGMOverride either.
*** The tutorial is separate from the main Campaign rather than integrated into it.
*** Most missions in Campaign mode are pre-deploy, and you don't get to see the map before you choose [=COs=].
*** Only Orange Star is playable in Campaign, and all other nations are enemies.
*** There are several places where the campaign splits into two distinct paths, as well as certain missions where the entire map changes depending on the chosen CO (particularly the missions against Drake), rendering it impossible to play every single mission in one go. In addition, certain bonus missions can only be opened up by completing specific in-game tasks, such as completing certain missions within a specified number of turns or choosing a specific CO for a certain string of missions ([[GuideDangIt none of which is ever conveyed to the player]]).
*** There are no ranking points at the end of each mission, with Speed, Power, and Technique scores represented by vague bars instead. As a result of this, maps and additional [=COs=] are not purchased with ranking points but instead using coins earned based on your letter grade.
*** The player is prompted to enter their name and takes a direct role in the campaign as Orange Star's "strategic advisor" (similar to the Tactician in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade''). This was dropped from all future games.
*** The overall art style is much more cartoonish than in later games. In particular, Olaf and Kanbei in this game bear only a scant resemblance to their ''Black Hole Rising'' and ''Dual Strike'' counterparts.
*** The Black Hole army uses {{Palette Swap}}s of Orange Star troops as opposed to their own sprites. (There is an in-story reason for this, though.)

* The first ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' game for the UsefulNotes/PC98, ''VideoGame/TouhouReiidenHighlyResponsiveToPrayers'' was a strange sort of Breakout/Arkanoid game with gravity and lots of bullet dodging; from the second game onward the series was firmly in the ShootEmUp genre, but the BulletHell formula prevalent in the Windows series was not established until the fourth PC-98 game (out of five), and the makings of the "spell card" system that would dominate the Windows Touhou games wasn't present until the fifth game. The overall tone and character designs are still fairly different.
** While most characters in the Windows games have last names, most PC-98-era characters don't.
** Most enemies in Windows games are either fairies or balls of energy; in the PC-98 games, various other entities such as ghosts and fairies ''on the ground'' join the fray.
** In ''VideoGame/TouhouGensokyoLotusLandStory'' and ''VideoGame/TouhouKaikidanMysticSquare'', you get a bomb back after each stage. Not in the Windows games, unless you play as a specific character pair in ''VideoGame/TouhouEiyashouImperishableNight''.
** Characters who would go on to appear in the Windows games look dramatically different. Reimu has a more traditional-looking {{miko}} outfit (no [[Memes/TouhouProject armpit jokes]] for you) and boasts purple hair. Marisa, in her first incarnation, has a purple outfit and red hair; her signature blond hair doesn't show up until a few games later. Yuuka's hair is longer, curlier, and she wears pants instead of a skirt, and that's only in her second form; when you encounter her initially she's wearing ''pink pajamas'' of all things. Alice is a young child, and her outfit is really only similar in that it's heavy on blue.
** The early Windows games have some oddness of their own:
*** In the sixth and seventh games, nonspells were treated like traditional shmup boss patterns, cycling through a few different attacks that could overlap rather than the highly structured patterns the series is known for, leaving that to the spellcards. By the time the eighth game came out, nonspells followed the same basic design philosphy as spellcards.
*** The setting was initially portrayed as large and full of mystery and danger. There was no indication there's only one human village, travel seems to take a while, and the concept of lost village makes sense. Around the time of ''VideoGame/TouhouKaeidzukaPhantasmagoriaOfFlowerView'' the setting got hammered down fairly well as being small and mostly documented.
*** Youkai tended to have Western names unless they had a good reason not to, the exact opposite of the situation from the 9th game on. Similarly, several were given a generic species of 'youkai' instead of something specific.
*** The seventh game features a "Phantasm Stage" beyond the normal [[BrutalBonusLevel Extra Stage]], which hasn't reappeared in any game since, although fans often come up with custom Phantasm stages and bosses for other games. However, given that the boss of said stage is [[RealityWarper Yukari]], it can be inferred that she [[BreakingTheFourthWall twisted some boundaries]] to put herself in the game when there was otherwise no more room.
** The sixth game in particular, (''VideoGame/TouhouKoumakyouTheEmbodimentOfScarletDevil'') being the first Windows game, can seem very odd compared to the later entries:
*** You can't see your hitbox when focused. Focusing itself simply moves the option closer to the center, with none of the major changes to shot common in later games.
*** No boss markers at the bottom of the screen. Particularly nasty with the high mobility and randomness of boss movement carried over from the PC-98 games (there it was less of an issue with smaller screens and more shot spread).
*** On {{Easy Mode|Mockery}}, you couldn't play the final stage at all; the game simply ended after Stage 5 with no ending (not even the bad one). Later installments would not do this and would let you fight the final boss on any difficulty.
*** It's the only main-series danmaku game to not have a score/power-up gimmick of some sort. Even the PC-98 games had some unique way to increase score (albeit not terribly thematic ones), but here you're stuck with collecting point items and speedkilling bosses.
*** It is ''remarkably'' ugly. This doesn't sound like a big deal, but the difference between it and the next is far larger than any of the others.
*** According to the dialogue between Reimu and Remilia, Reimu actually ''killed'' Sakuya in their last battle. She's [[UnexplainedRecovery mysteriously okay]] in the ending.
* ''VideoGame/{{Darius}}'':
** Though the original game does have branching paths, it doesn't use a stage select screen. Instead, the levels split into divergent courses after the BossBattle. ''Darius R'', released about a decade and a half later, uses this same style of stage select.
** The first two games, released in 1986 and 1988, have multi-monitor setups that would not be seen again until ''Dariusburst Another Chronicle'' in 2010. Even then, ''DBAC'' only uses two 16:9 monitors for a 32:9 setup, as opposed to the 4:1 setup of three 4:3 monitors used in the first two games (although ''Darius II'' does come in a two-monitor, 8:3 setup).

* Both sibling series of the ''VideoGame/{{Forza}}'' franchise have noticeable differences between their first installment and later ones:
** The first ''Motorsport'' game has oddities such as point-to-point races that would never reappear down the line. It also had more original tracks, including 'Blue Mountains' which is a generic recreation of the real world Mount Panorama Circuit. Finally, the way the game handled the [[TierLists Performance Index]] was completely different: Each tier of PI had its own sub-tiers, and it was not possible to see the exact value of a car.
** The first ''Horizon'' game was significantly more linear in both gameplay and structure compared to its sequels. Cars were limited to travelling along roads with only a few open arenas for off-roading action. As for structure, compared to the 'do anything you want' attitude of the sequels, ''Horizon'' limits you to races with strict entry requirements, and has a clear line of progression between races.
* The first ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeed'' game was the only game in that series to have an endorsement from ''Road & Track'' Magazine. Furthermore, the first five games were the only games to have detailed showrooms of the cars featured in-game.
* The first two ''VideoGame/{{Burnout}}'' games are fairly straight street-racing games, with the only gimmick of rewarding risky driving with NitroBoost to make them stand out. ''Burnout 3: Takedown'' was the first to actually reward players for crashing their rivals, along with the much-beloved puzzle-game-in-disguise Crash Mode, and the series has been a celebration of aggressive vehicular mayhem ever since.
* The original ''VideoGame/FZero'' has a number of differences that make it stand out from its successors:
** There are only four unique machines in the game. The rest of the competition is comprised of generic brown machines that try to get in your way, generic purple machines that you start to see if you fall below 5th place, and exploding stalled flashing machines.
** ScoringPoints for clearing laps, with more points rewarded the higher-ranked you are. You get an extra life EveryTenThousandPoints.
** The game does not keep track of individual opponents, other than the one in 1st place, or 2nd if you're 1st. The way opponents are implemented are such that you can't lap purple machines or named opponents no matter what.
** Also, while a non-fatal crash will cause the entire crowd of opponents to easily surpass you in a few seconds in later games, here it takes a while to fall down several places.
** The rank requirement system, which requires that you be a particular place or higher to go to the next lap or else you lose one life. In later games other than ''Maximum Velocity'', you can come in 30th place in Grand Prix mode and you'll still be allowed to go to the next stage.
* The first ''VideoGame/{{Wipeout}}'': A different, less minimalistic style for both the GUI and the vehicles, the vehicle is invincible and so weapons only slow you down, and the abillity to select between two pilots for each teams, a feature which would only reappear in ''Wipeout Fusion'', itself an oddball.

* The first ''VideoGame/WanganMidnight Maximum Tune'' game only lets you drive in the Tokyo area and a small subset of the Wangan Expressway. Furthermore, to change your car's tuning, you don't do so before a race; you can only do so via a menu you can access only after inserting your card, versus races as well as stages 41-60 (the latter 2/3 of the Story Mode) have you race one lap around the course, and after the initial 20 tuning blocks, it takes ''five'' stages to get a new tuning block, while in later games the next 10 blocks appear every two stages. It also only takes 8 blocks to go from 600 to 800 HP, as opposed to 10 in later games.
* The original ''VideoGame/DonPachi'' has faster but less numerous bullets compared to its successors. It also lacks the crazy numbers of later games in the series: you're lucky to get more than a 20-hit combo, and you can only achieve scores as long as 8 digits, and that's if you're very good at the game; contrast ''Dodonpachi Daifukkatsu'' where a 200-hit combo is trivial and, on a decent run, you have a [[PinballScoring nine-digit score by the end of]] ''[[PinballScoring the first stage]]''. Notably and entirely absent from ''VideoGame/DonPachi'' (as well as its sequel ''[[VideoGame/DonPachi Dodonpachi]]'') are the {{Robot Girl}}s that have become a staple of the series.
** The first game also averted HitboxDissonance and had a bit of FakeDifficulty in later levels

* ''VideoGame/TheSims'':
** ''VideoGame/{{The Sims|1}}'' is very different from its descendants. It's more like a typical life simulator (many which started out as, or were, [[FollowTheLeader clones of said game)]] than the goofy Sims. Unlike the more recent games, there was no aging other than from baby to child, and the Create-A-Sim page was extremely limited. Simlish was also less expansive and thus more repetitive than in future games.
** The very first ExpansionPack, ''Livin' Large'', didn't have a theme or focus on a major new gameplay experience and was instead a compilation of various random new items; something later games would probably call a "Stuff Pack". Eventually, both ''The Sims'' and ''Livin' Large'' were discontinued and replaced with ''The Sims: Deluxe Edition'' which bundled the two together, acknowledging the fact that by the standards of later expansions ''Livin' Large'' doesn't really stand on its own.
** The first game didn't track what day of the week it was, so Sims go to school and work every single day. Since Sims can't grow old and retire from their careers, ''The Sims'' also features the odd quirk of forcing Sims who reach the top of their career track to move to the mid-level of another career, something that has never been seen again.
** [=WooHooing=] didn't exist, and GRatedSex was in full effect. To have a child, two adult Sims simply had to do enough romantic interactions until a pop-up appeared asking if you wanted to give them one. ''Livin' Large'' made things more explicit with a "vibrating bed" that Sims could play in and create children by using it, but it wasn't until ''VideoGame/TheSims2'' properly introduced the ability to [=WooHoo=] [[MakingLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces in a variety of places]].
** The first two games frequently referenced ''VideoGame/SimCity'', but these were phased out as ''The Sims'' became a MorePopularSpinoff.
** Aliens in ''VideoGame/TheSims2'' are basically regular Sims with green skin, lacking the PsychicPowers they'd get in later games. Also, it's the only time aliens are available in the base game.
** ''The Sims 2'' was the first game to introduce changing seasons. In this iteration, seasons lasted only five days and had no set events (like equivalents to Christmas, although some holiday-like observances were optional via interactions with certain items), making it more of a weather pack than a true seasonal pack. ''The Sims 3'' and ''The Sims 4'' introduced seven-day seasons to [[CaptainObvious match the length of an in-game week]], as well as holidays that take place at a set time in each season (i.e. Winterfest on Wednesday in Winter) to give a sense of progressing through a year.
* ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon'':
** The first two handheld games had no marriage in it and very little socialization, while the third game had marriage but only to your DistaffCounterpart. The first two games in the series to have a female protagonist had the game end after marriage.
** As a whole the first few titles were considerably darker than what we're used to now, with the series getting increasingly LighterAndSofter from ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonMagicalMelody'' onward.
** Compare the cast of games like ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon64'' to games like ''VideoGame/StoryOfSeasons''. Overall the character designs have become less like realistic people living in a small town and more like a dating sim. CastFullOfPrettyBoys is in full effect, as is the female equivalent.
** Any fan who picks up [[VideoGame/HarvestMoon1 the SNES series]] on Virtual Console will be surely shocked by the difference from what they know. There's no rucksack, there are no hearts besides the names (instead being in a diary much like in ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife'''), there are no character portraits, you can't befriend non-bachelorette villagers, there are no heart events, and there are no real Harvest Godesss interactions. The English translation was censored, thus getting you drunk on "juice", when almost all games in the series feature alcohol heavily. There are references to other gods besides the Harvest Goddess as well. The game is [[SurpriseDifficulty surprisingly difficult]] as there is no clock, you cannot ship at night, you can't ship perishables, and the days go by quickly. You often have no time to woo women and get your work done in the same day. Luckily there is no proper day-night system so you can work all night.



* Many elements of the ''VideoGame/TotalWar'' series such as dynasties being more important and a more fluid take on the RiskStyleMap were introduced in ''[[VideoGame/RomeTotalWar Rome]]''; the first two installments (''[[VideoGame/ShogunTotalWar Shogun]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/MedievalTotalWar Medieval]]'') had stricter {{Risk Style Map}}s, less application of dynastic mechanics, and the overpowered "jedi general" mechanic. Both of these have been remade now in the style established by ''[[VideoGame/RomeTotalWar Rome]]''. ''[[VideoGame/TotalWarShogun2 Shogun II]]'' also has naval combat, albeit markedly different from the AgeOfSail fights in ''[[VideoGame/EmpireTotalWar Empire]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/NapoleonTotalWar Napoleon]]'' in focusing more on boarding actions than cannon volleys. Also, the dynasty mechanic was abandoned in ''Empire'' and ''Napoleon'', the former actually allowing you to switch governments types through revolution, and brought back in ''Shogun II''.

* ''VideoGame/{{Shadowverse}}'' might have taken this trend from another Creator/{{Cygames}} title ''VideoGame/GranblueFantasy'': All chapters from the ''Morning Star'' arc will always put the character against enemies popping out of nowhere, even in the midst of dialogue. This causes even the shortest conversations to be interrupted by monster attacks. By the second half of the arc, we get to know more of the original characters' backstories as they are trapped in the dream world. The second arc named ''Guild Wars'' actually has a better plot, leaves equal opportunities for introducing new characters as well as expanding the CharacterDevelopment of the originals. Some chapters are no longer interrupted by unnecessary monster attacks. That being said, the ''Guild Wars'' chapters of each leader are actually longer than their ''Morning Star'' chapters.

* ''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}'':
** Blasters, despite functioning significantly differently from Shooters (the former launches high-damage explosives; the latter rapid-fires normal ink shots), were classified as a type of Shooter until ''3''. Similarly, Brushes were classified as a type of Roller until ''2''.
** Character customisation was limited in the [[VideoGame/Splatoon1 first game]]; there was only one hairstyle and legwear per gender.
** The first game has several [[{{Retraux}} NES-inspired]] minigames that didn't make it into the sequels.
** The first game is the only one in the series to have two noticeably different English translations, similar to a few other Nintendo games at the time.
** None of the special weapons from the first game return in their original forms in the sequels.
** Saltspray Rig is the only stage in the entire series that isn't rotationally symmetrical until Skipper Pavilion near the end of ''2''[[note]]Not counting some variants of Shifty Station, which are only playable during special occasions[[/note]] -- or symmetrical at all, for that matter, because the obstacles in the middle of Saltspray Rig are slightly asymmetrical. Unsurprisingly, neither of them ever appeared again.
* ''[[VideoGame/AdventuresOfLolo Eggerland Mystery]]'' required you to collect Diamond Framers to open a door, while all other games in the ''Eggerland'' series have you collect Heart Framers to open a chest. ''Mystery'' was also the only game to include a "Type B" mode, in which each level has a time limit, or [[ScoringPoints points]].

* The first ''VideoGame/{{Age of Empires|I}}'' might be difficult for fans of [[VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresII the]] [[VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresIII sequels]]: units can only be created one at a time (fixed with the expansion pack ''Rise of Rome''), only by going through the entire map you can find out idle units, farms are perishable buildings... and of course there are oddities such as killing the birds that fly over the screen and the War/Archer Elephant having as many hitpoints as ''buildings''!

* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer'' series:
** The [[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianDawn first game]] had several oddities that were removed from later games. Some particular ones were the lack of production queues (even training multiple infantry units or building several tanks required you to click the icon for them once, wait for it to finish, ''then'' click again) and the inability to place buildings with ''any'' sort of space between them unless you abused the also-unique-to-this-game ability to place buildings next to sandbags (later games don't let walls or other defensive structures increase your build area). The sidebar could also be pushed away at will at the click of a button, which made sense for missions where you never get to build and train anything, but nevertheless was removed in later games since even when they had infantry/tank-only missions, they'd at least give you free radar. There's no skirmish mode, either, so the only way to play the game against the AI is the campaign. Finally, both sides have the same voice for their advisor/computer character, even if it's explained that Nod is using a stolen one because they don't have anything equivalent; ''Tiberian Sun'' onward gave separate advisors for each side. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking And]] said advisor, in the first game, says "building" [[MemeticMutation even when you're training infantry]]. It also stands as the only game in the series with no expansion packs that actually expand on the story in any meaningful way.
** ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert 1'' actually tried to play the series premise (a battered alliance fighting the onslaught of an invading, tyrannical empire led by an AxCrazy dictator) entirely straight, with subtle performances and writing. The rest of the series devolved into high {{Camp}} immediately. In other words, Early Installment ''[[InvertedTrope Lack of Weirdness]]''. The first Red Alert game also apparently takes place in the same universe as the [[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianSeries Tiberian-series]] games, as Kane appears as a Soviet advisor and the Soviet ending even has explicit references to the Brotherhood of Nod. The second game obviously doesn't fit into the timeline of the Tiberian games, so at some point after the first one, the timeline must have split. It's also the last game in the series to continue heavily dabbling in CosmeticallyDifferentSides - some of their buildings look different, and it was the first game to dabble in the idea of separate countries within the two major factions with slight differences[[note]]albeit extremely minor and [[GuideDangIt never explained in-game]][[/note]] but for the most part it's a lot of the same tech doing the same stuff between both sides, before later games gave the individual sides even different generic infantry.
** Up through ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianSun Tiberian Sun]]'', there were only two columns in the sidebar, one for buildings of any kind and one for infantry and vehicles, with other stuff shoved into one of the two at random when applicable. ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2 Red Alert 2]]'' added separate tabs for all the different types of stuff you could make, with that game in particular having four, two each for buildings (one "production" and one "defensive", the latter also housing support powers) and two each for units (one for infantry and one for vehicles).

* When you compare the first ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'' games to the future ones you'll notice several differences.
** Kapp'n, Blathers, and the Able sisters (and their respective services) didn't exist in the original N64 version. The Able Sisters' absence also meant that shirts and umbrellas were sold in Tom Nook's shop (which also extends to the Gamecube version, even though the Able Sisters were introduced in that game). That said, they ''were'' originally planned to appear in the game, but couldn't be added until ''[[UpdatedRerelease Dobutsu no Mori+]]''.
** Eavesdropping on your neighbors' conversations was implemented in ''Dobutsu No Mori [=e+=]''
** Players couldn't use emotions until ''Wild World''
** Blathers couldn't identify fossils by himself before ''Wild World''. Fossil identification was instead done by mailing fossils to another museum.
** Character customization was more limited: your character wore a horned (for boys) or pointed (for girls) hat with the same pattern as your shirt that could not be removed. Said hats return in later games, but only if you wear a custom pattern on your head.
** Watering Cans didn't exist before ''Wild World''. In older games, flowers didn't wither. Flowers also couldn't be picked up after being planted, and Hybrid flowers didn't exist.
** Celeste, Brewster, and Harriet made their first appearances in ''Wild World''
** You wouldn't get pictures of the villagers as a reward for being good friends with them.
** The villagers were less interactive. For example, in the first games, you had a menu option to do favors for them, ''Wild World'' onward, the villagers will automatically run to you if they want you to do a favor.
** The overseas localizations of [[VideoGame/AnimalCrossing2001 the first game]] feature [[AmericanKirbyIsHardcore a much more cynical setting than their Japanese counterpart]], with many of the villagers, most notably the Cranky, Snooty and Peppy villagers, [[WorldOfJerkass treating the player very harshly]] and insulting them for the most mundane reasons. Even the Lazy and Normal villagers, who are the nicest villagers of the bunch, can have their moments too. This is also the case for ''Wild World'', although not to the same extend as the first game. Games from ''City Folk'' onwards don't take as many liberties regarding overseas localizations and are much more closer to their Japanese counterparts.
** You can only get NES games in the original game.
** Acres are less fluid in the original compared to its sequels. They are explicitly marked on your map, and the screen won't scroll past their edges.
** Each player's house in the first game has a Gyroid outside that serves as a SavePoint, meaning that you ''must'' walk back to your house if you want to stop playing without angering Mr. Resetti. ''Wild World'' introduced the ability to save by pressing Start anywhere (it also had beds in your house's attic that you could use to save your game). And a random villager would guide you through the process of saving instead of a fixed NPC.
** The first game has balls you can kick around, which are absent in later installments.
** In the first game, there was a dump where you would drop items, and they would disappear later. Other games have a recycling bin where you drag and drop items through a menu.

* The first ''VideoGame/MechWarrior'' game was hit by this. While it featured the expected first-person HumongousMecha combat (like the later games), it had an ''extremely'' simple graphics engine (it came out in 1989, after all), and had role-playing elements. It was also the only singleplayer mech game to take place before the Clan Invasion, and the last official single-player game to feature the [[RetGone Unseen]] 'Mechs (Mechwarrior Online and its Project Phoenix releases are multiplayer-only). It also did not feature the [[DesignItYourselfEquipment ability to customize your 'Mech]], a staple of every ''Mechwarrior'' game since ''Mechwarrior 2''. It also did not feature a third-person perspective option, something that was available in most of the subsequent games.
* The first two ''VideoGame/BloodyRoar'' games, the second in particular, have in-depth story modes that are absent in the later titles. They -- once again ''2'' in particular -- are also generally considered vastly superior to the later titles by fans, in part because of this. The first game also doesn't have Beast Drives or secret characters (at least not one that can be unlocked and played as), and features a few characters who didn't reappear in later games (although most were [[{{Expy}} replaced by characters with similar movesets]]).

* In retrospect, ''VideoGame/XBeyondTheFrontier'' was rather obviously an immature game. You could only pilot the one ship you started with, the interface was slow and unintuitive and its learning curve was more of a learning mountain of doom, the ships didn't have defenses beyond shields, trade and station building was limited and combat was extremely simplistic. The ''X-Tension'', uh, extension was widely considered "what ''Beyond the Frontier'' was meant to be" -- and even that was still somewhat unripe, especially concerning combat -- which, if anything, was even more simplistic due to the tendency of the AI to ''fly in a straight line while under attack''. It took four years after ''Beyond the Frontier'' for ''[[VideoGame/{{X}} X2: the Threat]]'' to come out, and that finally gave the game the features and gameplay mechanics it's maintained since then and that we know from ''X3: Terran Conflict''.
* The original UsefulNotes/GameBoy started out with just a light gray edition in 1989. Then came the Play It Loud! series in 1995, in which it was released in five more colors (along with white in Japan and blue in Europe), and that sets the standard for all subsequent handhelds by Nintendo (starting with the Game Boy Pocket in '97) to be released in all different colors upon launch.
* ''VideoGame/AceCombat'':
** The first game (''VideoGame/AirCombat'' in the west) had a world map that allowed the player to play missions in any order once they'd been unlocked and planes had only guns and standard missiles (weapon changing first appeared in the third game). Losing a plane was permanent, and crashing every plane led to a game over. Finally, there were no fictional "super planes" until the second game (although the final boss was similar to the sorts of aerial fortresses that became common in later games).
** 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.
** ''04'' introduced alternate paint schemes for planes that the player could choose themselves[[note]]''3'' had paint schemes determined by which faction you were currently working with, at least in the Japanese version where you actually had a choice[[/note]], but had some weirdness regarding them. There were three different paint schemes available for every plane - one normal, one used by enemy {{Red Shirt}}s unlocked by getting an A or S rank on a specific mission, and one used by unique enemy aces that would be unlocked by shooting them down. However, those aces wouldn't appear unless you were playing NewGamePlus above Normal difficulty. On top of that, the alternate paint schemes were treated as entirely separate craft (only special weapons were shared between the different paint schemes of a plane) and had to be purchased individually, with the ace ones costing a little bit extra. Later games changed it so aces could appear in a new game, with only a few restricted by difficulty, and paint schemes could be changed out on a single aircraft without having to shell out for them[[note]]they went back to having to pay to switch paint schemes in ''[[VideoGame/AceCombatInfinity Infinity]]'', but that's in part due to the focus on tuning and upgrading planes to far surpass their regular abilities - plus switching paint only ever costs about 50 credits anyway, compared to the thousands needed to buy the actual plane in the first place[[/note]].

* ''VideoGame/Shantae2002'' is the only game in the series where Shantae has multiple lives (later games give her just one, with each heart on her health bar accounting for four hits instead of just two), and interaction in towns is limited to Shantae rotating until she finds the building she wants to enter, similarly to ''VideoGame/ShiningInTheDarkness''. It's also the only one with an active day/night cycle, with tougher monsters coming out at night, and one building in towns only accessible at night. The original also lacks the "skull = death" pits, causing the need for many blind jumps.

* ''VideoGame/UnchartedDrakesFortune'' has some noticeable changes in the gameplay compared to the sequels in the ''Uncharted'' series. There are a few quick time events, Drake must manually switch to grenades from his current weapon in order to throw them, there is no zoom in feature for automatic weapons, machine gun turrets Drake can commandeer have unlimited ammo as opposed to the sequels where the ammo is limited, and the melee combat system is much more simplistic. And though enemies do improve in gear as the game goes on, the HeavilyArmoredMook enemies that otherwise take heavy fire or headshots to finish off are absent. Story-wise, the plot is a bit more simple as well, with the action taking place almost entirely on an island; only 3 out of 22 chapters take place outside the island, as opposed to the vast number of locations and settings the sequels visit. The relationships between some of the characters also hadn’t been nailed down yet and are much different than in the sequels. Nathan and Sully’s relationship being the one that’s the most different. In this one it's more like a somewhat cold business partnership instead of the [[ParentalSubstitute father/son]] one of the rest of the franchise. Compare Nate’s pretty non-plussed reaction to Sully’s alleged death in this game to him losing it over the same alleged death in [[VideoGame/Uncharted3DrakesDeception the third game.]]

* ''VideoGame/CubeEscape'': The first created game of the series, ''The Lake'', is a relatively simplistic game with a FeaturelessProtagonist and no specified time period, as well as no SequelHook or obvious connection to a larger plot. In contrast, later games have clearly defined characters, time periods, and gradually-accumulating pieces of a JigsawPuzzlePlot. Even with a later update to tie it a bit to ''Seasons'', you could basically skip it entirely and not miss anything about the series' overarching plot. It also remains the only game in the series to have MultipleEndings. Additionally, Dale Vandermeer, Mr. Crow, and Mr. Owl - characters who all turn out to be extremely important to the larger plot and make frequent appearances in later games - aren't introduced until ''Case 23'', the fifth game of the series.

* Early UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS and UsefulNotes/WiiU games came with full-fledged physical manuals. Eventually these were watered down into single paper pamphlets and eventually even that was just replaced with a generic paper telling you how to view the digital manual. Some games still come with manuals however they're very rare and mostly limited to indie games.

* Every dragon in ''VideoGame/{{Dragonvale}}'' has completely unique art and a design that is separate from every other dragon in the game- with the exception of the Leap Year Dragon, the Clover Dragon, the Solstice Dragon, and the Blue Moon Dragon, which are some of the first limited-release dragons and vary from using the same base as another dragon to being a direct PaletteSwap.

* [=PlayStation=] line:
** In North America, the first year or so of UsefulNotes/PlayStation titles were packaged in oversized longboxes (similar to the elongated cases used for the Sega CD and US/EU UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn games), which had multiple variants. These would eventually be replaced by the more economical jewel case, with many of the popular longbox games being reprinted in this format.
** Early UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 games also came in generic DVD cases in America instead of the cases with a memory card holder or [=PlayStation=] logo embossed inside. Many early games were also still being released on [=CDs=] (easily identifiable by their blue backs) until DVD became the dominant format for the system.
** UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 games up to 2009 came in packaging similar to the [=PS1=] with the "Film/SpiderMan1"-style logo on the side of the box and a [=PlayStation=] logo on the label of the disc. When the [=PS3=] undergone a rebrand in 2009 to coincide with the then-newly released Slim model, the logo was changed to the more familiar [=PS2=]-style [=PS3=] logo akin to the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 and UsefulNotes/PlayStation5 logos, and the game packaging was changed accordingly, with it more resembling the packaging for [=PS4=] games.

* ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'':
** The first game, which took place during a ForeverWar that saw frequent use of superweapons, is perhaps most infamous for [[RealIsBrown its extremely desaturated and monochrome color palette]]. Subsequent games in the franchise would inject far more color into its world, including the ''Ultimate Edition'' remake that brings the first game up to the graphical style of the rest of the series.
** The first game is also the only one in the series with SquadControls, allowing you to order squad members to either advance to a certain spot or hold back. Future games just have your squad act mostly independent from you, with only a basic 'prioritise this enemy' command available.
** The first game didn't have [[HoldTheLine Horde mode]], a notable exclusion considering how popular and series-defining that mode would become.
** The first game had collectables in the form of COG Tags, which were only useful for unlocking achievements. Later games feature a much wider range of things to collect, most of which give some details on the setting's lore. ''Ultimate Edition'', meanwhile, keeps the COG Tags but gives them an additional use as a way of unlocking tie-in comics to read.
** The first game released on PC a year after its 360 debut, clearly as an afterthought,[[note]]especially considering they forgot to renew its DRM certificate at one point shortly after release, so anyone who had the PC version was declared a pirate and unable to play the game for a solid week[[/note]] as later games would remain exclusive to Xbox until the property switched developers with ''Gears 4''.
** From ''Gears of War 2'' onwards, trying to use the Lancer's chainsaw against an enemy also equipped with a Lancer will lead to a BladeLock, with you needing to complete a ButtonMashing prompt to win the duel and finish them off. This feature was absent from the original game, though it was added to ''Ultimate Edition''.
** The only Lambent enemies are Lambent Wretches. The characters don't treat them as anything special and they're often found fighting alongside regular Locusts in the chapter they're featured in. The next two games [[{{Retcon}} would make it a major plot point]] that there is a bloody civil war between regular and Lambent Locusts.

* ''VideoGame/WatchDogs'':
** [=DedSec=] did appear in the first game, but as a morally ambiguous third party faction with HeWhoFightsMonsters tendencies. Both ''[[VideoGame/WatchDogs2 2]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/WatchDogsLegion Legion]]'' not only have their protagonists work directly for [=DedSec=], but the group is also depicted in a far more positive light; less {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s and more LaResistance.
** Many gameplay elements of the first game are generally less polished than in future installments. To unlock side content, Aiden must infiltrate and tamper with ctOS Towers (the game's version of the then-ubiquitous "Ubisoft Towers"), which ''2'' would drop. Aiden's movement is much more limited, and he lacks any non-lethal options beyond his baton. The game's story missions are played out in a linear order, and split into multiple acts that gradually escalate the strength of enemies upon completion; later games are much less linear and drop the act structure. Police rarely patrol the streets, and upon gaining a wanted level they will first scan the area before sending backup. Aiden's clothing customisation options mostly amount to reskins of his default outfit, a far cry from Marcus' impressive and varied range of clothing options. Aiden can steal money via hacking in the same way Marcus can, but he must go through the additional step of visiting an ATM to take out the money.
** Combat itself would be heavily downplayed as the series went on. Aiden had a HyperspaceArsenal, while Marcus is limited to two weapons alongside his [[TheParalyzer stun gun]], and the cast of ''Legion'' are limited to two weapons which are strictly character-specific. Aiden also had access to an ItemCrafting mechanic, were he could find or buy items scattered around the game world, and choose to turn them into consumables such as grenades and powerful hacks in the midst of battle. ''2'' abandons this system, and instead turns items into abilities on a cooldown.
** The first game is also much darker in both narrative and aesthetics than the LighterAndSofter sequels. Even the gloomy London of ''Legion'' makes up for the dour tone by invoking more DenserAndWackier gameplay.
* ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic'':
** The first game lacked the series staple of hero skills -- leveling up ''only'' meant an increase in a randomly chosen statistic, and there were no choices to be made or specializations, that only came in with ''II'' -- instead, each type of hero had some advantage, like Sorceresses being better at sailing. It also lacked any story in the game itself -- the four campaigns were the ''same'' except for different starting towns and each lacking the map about attacking the lord you picked, the map descriptions were bare bones and there was no new story in the maps, far from the voiced briefings and in-map events of ''II'' onward.
*** One result is that since there is no "Wisdom" skill that caps the level of magic a hero can learn, any hero with a spellbook can learn any spell, including the incredibly broken [[TeleportSpam Dimension Door]]
** The battlefield in the first game is much smaller than in other games. While units range from flying units that can zip across the battlefield to MightyGlacier types like Ogres and Hydrae, the battlefield is generally somewhat more densely packed than in later games.
** Unit stacks could not be split in the first game, so tactics familiar to veterans of later games (such as splitting off stacks consisting of a singular "[[HumanShield fodder]]" unit) are impossible.
** The first game did not allow players to upgrade units. The second game, which introduced the feature, only allowed some units to be upgraded. In a rare exception, the Dragons, the ultimate unit of the Warlock town, could be upgraded ''twice.'' Starting with the third game, all units other than those not belonging to a faction could be upgraded, and it wasn't until the mobile game ''Might & Magic Heroes: Era of Chaos'' in 2017 that they could be upgraded more than once again.
** The first and second games had each town offer six different types of units, but heroes only had five slots in their army, meaning that they'd have to forgo at least one type of their town's units. Starting in ''III'', it was possible to include one of each type of a town's units into a hero's army.
** In the first game, scenarios randomly selected your town type and in some cases, your starting location. Players could also set the intelligence level for the computer players in addition to choosing the difficulty.
* The original ''VideoGame/TraumaCenter'' game, ''Trauma Center: Under the Knife'', has a number of quirks that were never repeated in the remainder of the series:
** Organs and bodies were rendered to look more realistic, rather than bright and colorful like in later installments. On the other side of the spectrum, character artwork was noticeably more shonen-esque, whereas ''Second Opinion'' onward would go for a more realistic look provided by Masayuki Doi (an Atlus regular who would go on to be the lead artist for ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'').
** The game uses a different set of sound effects compared to the standard set used throughout the rest of the series. [=GUILT=] also had completely different designs across the board.
** There were many gameplay mechanics that stand out. You had a "Miss Limit" of 20; if you miss enough times the operation will end in failure. Future games drop the Miss Limit, making losing vitals, running out of time or the occasional NonStandardGameOver the only ways to fail an operation. Several ailments were also dealt with differently. Triti had to be cut out with the scalpel after removing its pins, while gauze had to be massaged down after applying the gel. Most notable is that you have both the Hand and the Bandage as tools you can select at anytime; the former used for the aforementioned massaging as well as for CPR, while the bandage was used to close up patients. Due to their extremely limited uses, they were removed from the tool selection in future games, only becoming selectable when relevant.
** The sixth and final story chapter of ''Under the Knife'' took the form of a BossRush, in which you would deal with each [=GUILT=] strain one-by-one. The final chapters of future games tend to feature far more diverse objectives, including ''Second Opinion'', which remade ''Under the Knife'''s sixth chapter from scratch. This was likely because the BrutalBonusLevel of each game is also a BossRush; finishing ''Under the Knife'' only to discover that the bonus chapter was a harder version of what you just accomplished was a bit of a pacing oddity.

* ''VideoGame/HitmanCodename47'' was more of a shooter with heavy stealth elements than an actual StealthBasedGame, including a few areas where your cover was automatically broken and 47 was forced into an open gunfight. It wasn't until the sequel ''VideoGame/Hitman2SilentAssassin'' that the series embraced the idea of small, elaborate, non-linear levels that could be completed multiple ways without ever being detected.

* Early UsefulNotes/Atari2600 games used game select and difficulty switches to select game parameters rather than menus due to the low amount of memory and cartridge storage. Games released later in the system lifespan did use menus as cartridge storage increased and the switches were less frequently used. Early models also had the difficulty switches up front, known to fans as "six-switchers." Later models moved the switches to the back, known as "fours-switchers," even though both models [[NonIndicativeName had six switches]]. The game reset switch also starts games.
* One of the earliest games for UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS, ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DLand'', had two "modes" of stereoscopic 3D that could be freely swapped between: one where the graphics "pop out" of the screen, and one where they "sink into" the screen. Because of how disorienting the former effect is, no future game included this feature, and the vast majority went with the "sink in" style.
* In ''VideoGame/CytusII'', charts made prior to version 2.0 lack tap-drag notes, while nearly every Chaos-difficulty chart released afterwards has them.

* ''VideoGame/{{Grow}}'' series:
** ''Grow Ver.3'' doesn't really have any objective beside putting every items to Level Max, nothing special even happen if you win the game beside the "CONGRATULATION !!" message that appears. Future games gives the player a motive to grow all objects to Level Max.
** ''Grow Ver.3'' is the only game with a score system.
** ''Grow Ver.3'' and ''Grow RPG'' are the only grow games where you need to drag items on a GROW logo instead of simply clicking on it.
** ''Grow RPG'' have faceless humans instead of the Onkies, a common humanoid creature that appears for the first time in ''Grow Cube''.
** The "level up" sound effect in ''Grow ver.3'' and ''Grow RPG'' is different from later games.

* ''VideoGame/CityBuildingSeries'': The most remembered games start at Caesar 3 and follow a generally similar style. However, Caesar 1 and 2 had a number of differences from this style.
** Separate city and province levels. The city level had you build buildings, entertainment, police equivalents, final goods industries, etc. The province level had you building ports, military units, raw material industries, and other structures that fed or defended the central city. Road and basic infrastructre at this level were more expensive as well. Caesar 3 style games effectively combined these into a single map, with farms, mines, ports, and such built within the city.
** Industry was taxed rather than directly generating income from exports, with taxes based on productivity. Industrial productivity required both enough raw materials/labor/market access to operate, plus demand for its products from city population, connections to provincial towns, or connections to ports/trading posts. Unlike Caesar 3 where only industrial exports directly brought in money, industrial demand by a city's population would also earn city income.
** Goods were not specifically required to do anything (no specific weapons needed for soldiers, no goods needed to grow housing, etc.) All industry functioned the same, consuming raw materials and selling to someone to generate taxes while employing people, and that was it.
** Empire rating, equivalent to kingdom rating on pharaoh, could be improved by building up a province, instead of relying on gifts and tribute.
** Few buildings used the walker system. Most used an area system, where houses in an area got the benefit, some were citywide, where buildings placed anywhere benefited a city.
** Mission order could be chosen more freely. Any province next to a completed one could be played, allowing a more freeform mission order, unlike Caesar 3 and pharaoh's "1 or 2 choices available" or Zeus and Emperor's fixed cities/campaigns.

* The original ''VideoGame/DeadSpace'' has several gameplay and narrative differences to its sequels that definitely stand out nowadays.
** Isaac is a HeroicMime. He never speaks throughout the entire game, only letting out grunts and yells when he's injured or exerting himself, like with a stomp or punch. In the sequels and remake, Isaac is a fully voiced character throughout the game.
** Zero-Gravity movement is far more stilted and awkward. You must manually aim at another surface you want to be on, then leap to it and wait for Isaac to land before being able to move again. In the sequels and remake, Isaac instead floats freely throughout the zero-gravity space using thrusters on his suit.
** Multiple quick actions in the sequels, like quickly refilling your Stasis meter and reloading manually when you are not aiming, are not present in the original. You instead must open your inventory to use Stasis packs, and must be aiming to manually reload.
** The Marker in the original game is not actively trying to spread a Necromorph infestation like the sequels' counterparts, but is instead trying to stop the one currently in progress.
** The color palette of the original game normally falls well into the RealIsBrown category, whereas the sequels are far more colorful and varied in terms of environments.

* Chapter I of ''VideoGame/FaithTheUnholyTrinity'' contains a few differences from the succeeding two chapters:
** The chapter is much shorter and simpler than usual, with only two main enemies and a secret third one, all of which can be driven off by the cross, spread out over two areas. Chapter II contains a lot more areas, enemies and puzzles, with Chapter III following suit.
** Chapter I's endings also call into question [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane whether John is actually a priest and Amy is actually possessed by a devil, or if they're just escaped mental patients]]. Future chapters are straightforward ReligiousHorror games operating under the assumption that [[DoingInTheScientist the demonic activity is very much real]].

[[Edutainment Game]]

[[folder:Survival Horror]]
* ''VideoGame/EndlessNightmare'' is a series of Indie horror games, with the first installment, ''Endless Nightmare: Home'', quite the oddball.
** It is uncharacteristically short (it can be completed within 20 minutes) and devoid of action, for starters. Your character, James, spends most of the game running from enemies instead of kicking ass, the only ranged weapon you can use is a taser (until you found a Glock in the final cutscene), and the enemies you encounter in the ''entire'' game can be counted on one hand, giving it the impression of an "Experimental game".
** The absence of boss battles. You complete the game by solving a puzzle instead.
** You can't use a FinishingMove to kill enemies in an instant, either. Later games grants you this option where a cursor will appear behind an unwary enemy, allowing you to execute them even if you're unarmed.
* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'':
** The original ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil1'' featured live-action scenes for its opening and ending sequences, whereas every subsequent installment in the series (including the 2002 remake) until VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Remake used CGI cutscenes instead.
** The first ''Resident Evil'' game also feels very basic compared to the later sequels. The original lacked an auto-aiming function (unless you were playing the [[DifficultyByRegion Japanese version]]) and the weapons came as they appeared without any chance to enhance them. The original game had MultipleEndings while the sequels only have a single ending each (except for ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Nemesis'' and ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'', although one could argue the alternate scenarios in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'' serve a similar purpose). The first game also lacked the limping animation that the player character could suffer if they were hurt, which meant even if your health was in the red, you could run at a brisk pace just fine. There was also 3D object scanning if you chose to inspect an item (which is only used to reveal two {{Plot Coupon}}s hidden inside of books), something that the later games dropped, but was brought back in ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica Code: Veronica]]'' and the remake to use for a few more puzzles. A common reoccurrence established since ''Resident Evil 2'' is having the {{Big Bad}}s and other characters go OneWingedAngel, mutating in varying, grotesque ways. Quite a number of them also become [[{{Kaiju}} towering monstrosities]]. It could be a bit strange looking back at the first game, realizing this ''never'' happens at all.
** Chris, Jill, Barry, and Rebecca in the first game are wildly different in their personalities compared to later installments due to the first game having no budget to hire better voice actors plus the developers directing the vocals despite being Japanese. Jill comes off as both whiny and on the verge of a nervous breakdown, Chris sounds like a complete dweeb, Rebecca is overkly perky for one being caught in a mansion full of zombies, and Barry is known for his LargeHam tendencies mixed with puns.
** The entire series has made a big GenreShift from claustrophobic, escape-oriented survival horror to an adrenaline-fueled action series where the protagonists, while still under extreme duress, have more control over the situation; to wit, the first game has a S.W.A.T.-based team trapped in a horror-filled mansion, while ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'' is set in Africa with two soldiers freely going gung-ho on infected civilians. With it, a lot of the "survival" aspects have been lost, but even during the early years of the franchise, the second game deviates heavily from the first by giving Claire and Leon far more than enough gun ammo to make it through the game. In the first game, ammo was highly limited, and running out of a particular ammo made certain boss fights near impossible to beat.
** Another difference that gaps the first few games from later ones is that the undead creatures and monsters are far more resilient and aggressive than they were later on. It can take as many as 9 shots from a handgun to take down a zombie in the first three games.
** The monsters in the first game were also uninspired, being clear shout outs to different movie monsters and killer animals. Starting with 2, they started becoming more unique.
** [[TheMole Albert Wesker's]] apparent death at Tyrant's hands (er, claws) initially was intended to be permanent, as shown by an early novelization and some versions of the game where you can fight his zombified corpse in bonus modes. Subsequent games would develop him into the series BigBad.
** Weapons would only come in one of each type. There was one kind of handgun, one shotgun, and so on. While later games would introduce multiple weapon types, it wasn't until the fourth game where the series fully embraced having multiple weapons of the same category.
** The level designs was very box-like. Nearly every room or area was a square or rectangle and the environments were flat. By the fourth game, the areas were more natural by having twists and turns and elevation differences.
* The first game of the ''VideoGame/NancyDrew'' series, ''Secrets Can Kill'', bears almost no resemblance to the later installments.
** Its characters are hand-drawn cartoons, dialogue exchanges are rudimentary and not always in-character, Nancy's phone contacts (Bess, George, and Ned) only give hints rather than show character development, and plot-essential clues crop up on bulletin boards for no reason. Plus, the fact that Nancy's investigating a cold-blooded murder [[spoiler: and has to point a handgun at someone to win]] pushes its storyline into WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids territory by comparison with subsequent games.
** ''Secrets Can Kill'' has since been re-released, in an updated version that sheds most of the original's EarlyInstallmentWeirdness. The fact that Nancy's investigating a murder instead of a robbery, haunting, or other non-lethal mystery is still rather jarring, but that probably couldn't be changed considering the game's title.
** The culprit also [[spoiler: doesn't talk to Nancy]] - making it the only game (Until the remaster) in which [[spoiler: none]] of the people you talk to are the culprit.
* The original ''VideoGame/{{Silent Hill|1}}'' is the only installment of the franchise on the original UsefulNotes/PlayStation (many of them are for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2). There are also a few oddities here and there, including:
** Not a lot of puzzles; most of the gameplay is based on survival and combat
** Harry, the player character, is by far the worst gun user out of any of the game's protagonists. This was because the game actually factored in external elements (perception and distance affected gun accuracy). While each is justified -- they're all civilians -- the player for the [[VideoGame/SilentHill2 second game]] is far better.
** This is the only game where the nurses act the way they do because of an external parasite, plus the only entry in the series to feature a male variation of the nurse/doctor enemy type. From the second game onward it would be female-looking nurse monsters only, with the design from the second game becoming the most iconic and reused (though the third game did use a less sexual design, and those nurses had actual faces like the ones in the first game).
** The MultipleEndings are based on two decisions only; there's no KarmaMeter or mixture of both involved. [[spoiler:The endings change whether you have saved or killed your partner, Cybil, from a parasite, and if you were able to find an important item or not in Michael Kaufmann's apartment; naturally, the best ending requires you save Cybil and get the item.]]
** The monsters were not representations of any facet of Harry's psyche, but [[spoiler:Alessa's]] likes and dislikes. In fact, much of the plot doesn't focus on Harry at all: he doesn't have any connection or deep-seated flaws, he's just a guy looking for his daughter.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Other]]
* ''VideoGame/BrawlRoyale'':
** Unlike in the ''VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy'' series, Natalie is depicted as a ninja making use of katanas and shuriken, rather than as a mage.
** Lance uses a sword here instead of a {{BFG}} and revolver/gunblade combo, and appears in more casual attire than the [[PuttingOnTheReich Nazi outfit]] he uses in all later appearances. Lance was originally intended to be a [[ArtEvolution visual remake]] of Lancelot, a character from ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gqjMoX6smY One More Final Battle]]''. Matt Roszak would instead make a new character out of the intended redesign, after he deemed it to look completely different from Lancelot.
** Matt breaks out a [[GatlingGood double-barrel gatling gun]] if he outdraws Lazarus. To date, this is the sole time he has been depicted using a firearm.
* ''VideoGame/TheClueFinders'':
** ''3rd Grade'' had a different theme, much more minimalistic animation, two songs about the "world" the cluefinders were in, multiple "One-time" challenges, as well as a need to acquire resources in the third "world".
** ''4th grade'' also had plenty of "Empty screens" (ie screens with nothing to interact with or an [=NPC=] to talk with) as well as the "one-time" challenges. However, unlike the previous game third grade, you couldn't return to these "one time" challenges. You also couldn't backtrack as moving from one "world" to the next was a PointOfNoReturn.
** ''Math Adventures 9-12'' featured much rougher animation, with some mild design changes. This was changed in an UpdatedRerelease.

* In the [[NoExportForYou Japan-exclusive]] first ''VideoGame/CustomRobo'', you could only use Ray and could not switch to other bodies -- additionally, most of the robos in this game looked less robotic and more like humans in armor. From ''V2'' onward, not only are you able to switch your robo's body in addition to all other parts, there is much more variety in robo design.

* ''Franchise/AceAttorney'':
** The original ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' used a penalty system with a fixed number of allowed "strikes" instead of the lifebar system of most later games. In later games, a mistake can cost you as little as 10% of your life bar or as much as 95%, if it doesn't result in you immediately losing the case.
** The first case in the series, "The First Turnabout," stands out from other first cases in a few ways.
*** Pressing is not required at any point in the case, and is only introduced in the first game's second case.
*** The first case is much shorter than any other case in the series, including other first cases, only having one witness, while most first cases in the series, except for ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigationsMilesEdgeworth'', have at least two witnesses to cross examine.
*** "The First Turnabout" is one of the few first cases that is not at all connected to the overarching plot, save for introducing Larry, who becomes relevant in "Turnabout Goodbyes."
** The first game is the only one to have three-day trials, with later games limiting it to one or two days for better pacing.
** Among the Phoenix trilogy, the first game lacks the Magatama and profile presenting. The fourth and later games removed the latter except for certain scripted sections and greatly reduced the presence of the former.
** Early on in the series, the guilty suspects were also more basic in terms of motive and their plans were also basic in the beginning of the series. As the games grew and evolved, the motives and planning from the villains grew more elaborate, complex, and sometimes just plain convoluted and crazy, but making it complex to figure out for the sake of challenging the player and RuleOfCool both excuses it and makes it entertaining.
** A lot of the weirdness of the first game in comparison to later entries becomes obvious in the fifth case, which was made for the UpdatedReRelease on the DS after the third game had already been released. The tone is very different compared to the rest of the game, and the pacing is much tighter, with longer trials allowing for more to happen within a single day. However, the new pacing is combined with the weirdness of a three-day trial, resulting in [[MarathonLevel one of the longest cases in the series]], making it more obvious why these were dropped.
** The first game also featured a setting that was far more culturally vague, at least in the English version. While things like a {{Toku}} show being extremely popular among children or the general outline of the court system point to the setting being based on Japan, they were small enough details that [[ThinlyVeiledDubCountryChange the localisation could reasonably change the setting to a slightly stranger version of the United States]]. Later games feature far more overtly unique Japanese themes, causing headaches for the localisers and leading to the infamous {{Americasia}} aesthetic.
** Both ''Ace Attorney'' and ''Justice For All'' feature four cases each (the former having a fifth case added in the Nintendo DS version released after the original trilogy was completed). From ''Trials And Tribulations'' onwards, five cases would become standard for the series (except ''Apollo Justice'').

* Early ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}'' games:
** No hold, no lock delay (pieces lock into place as soon as they hit the floor or the top of another piece) unless it's a game made by Sega, slower sideways movement (again unless it's by Sega), a completely random randomizer notorious for I-piece droughts and consecutive S- and Z-pieces, and only counterclockwise rotation (in pre-Nintendo versions). So you've cleared 200 lines in ''Tetris DS'', and gotten GM rank in ''VideoGame/TetrisTheGrandMaster''; NES and Game Boy ''Tetris''[='=]s Level 19 should feel like nothing... right?
** In the Atari arcade version: separated levels with an end-of-level bonus based on the height of your field, line-raising as a level feature instead of a multiplayer punishment, and having to play on levels whose designs were based on the initials of the top three high-score entries.
** Sega's 1988 arcade version of ''Tetris'' supports up to three buttons...that all rotate counterclockwise.
* ''VideoGame/{{DJMAX}} Online'' (which [[SequelDisplacement most newer fans don't know about]]): No Fever, hold notes only raise your combo by 1, equipment is very expensive, and currency earned per song is very little.

* Many elements of the ''VideoGame/TotalWar'' series such as dynasties being more important and a more fluid take on the RiskStyleMap were introduced in ''[[VideoGame/RomeTotalWar Rome]]''; the first two installments (''[[VideoGame/ShogunTotalWar Shogun]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/MedievalTotalWar Medieval]]'') had stricter {{Risk Style Map}}s, less application of dynastic mechanics, and the overpowered "jedi general" mechanic. Both of these have been remade now in the style established by ''[[VideoGame/RomeTotalWar Rome]]''. ''[[VideoGame/TotalWarShogun2 Shogun II]]'' also has naval combat, albeit markedly different from the AgeOfSail fights in ''[[VideoGame/EmpireTotalWar Empire]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/NapoleonTotalWar Napoleon]]'' in focusing more on boarding actions than cannon volleys. Also, the dynasty mechanic was abandoned in ''Empire'' and ''Napoleon'', the former actually allowing you to switch governments types through revolution, and brought back in ''Shogun II''.
* The first ''VideoGame/{{Deception}}'' game was a first-person RPG which included typical item usage, merchants to buy/sell from, SummonMagic, as many traps in each room as you could fit and have MP to fund, and the ability to redecorate your castle. From ''Kagero'' on, they shifted to third-person, removed almost all RPG elements except for HitPoints, and you were limited to one ceiling, wall, and floor trap at a time, but you also received bonus points for {{Combos}}. However, the connection was far more tenuous between games in the original Japanese; the later titles are {{Dolled Up Installment}}s in the US.
* The pre-NES ''VideoGame/BomberMan'' 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.
* ''VideoGame/{{Shadowverse}}'' might have taken this trend from another Creator/{{Cygames}} title ''VideoGame/GranblueFantasy'': All chapters from the ''Morning Star'' arc will always put the character against enemies popping out of nowhere, even in the midst of dialogue. This causes even the shortest conversations to be interrupted by monster attacks. By the second half of the arc, we get to know more of the original characters' backstories as they are trapped in the dream world. The second arc named ''Guild Wars'' actually has a better plot, leaves equal opportunities for introducing new characters as well as expanding the CharacterDevelopment of the originals. Some chapters are no longer interrupted by unnecessary monster attacks. That being said, the ''Guild Wars'' chapters of each leader are actually longer than their ''Morning Star'' chapters.

* ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyo'':
** When [[VideoGame/PuyoPuyo1991 the original game]] was first released for the MSX and Famicom, it was a simple FallingBlocks game with a single field and the top of the screen as the only opponent; ''VideoGame/MadouMonogatari'' characters were limited to the Puyos and token appearances by Arle and Carbuncle. It was [[VideoGame/PuyoPuyo1992 the arcade version]] released a year later that would start the focus on the multiplayer and cast of characters the series is known for. More subtly, the original game has ''six'' colors of Puyo--red, blue, light green (replaced with purple), dark green, gray (removed entirely), and yellow--as opposed to the five that later games would settle on.
** While ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyoTsu'' keeps the ''Madou Monogatari'' characters from the first arcade game, it abandons the iconic banter/manzai sequences in favor of short character bios before each round. It's a rather surprising omission, considering the character interactions later became one of the series' biggest selling points. The Super Famicom port added them back in.
** SEGA's first original Puyo Puyo game, ''VideoGame/PuyoPop2001'', was basically SEGA trying to copy Compile's older games. This includes recycling voice clips from ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyoSun'', strictly using the rules from ''Puyo Puyo Tsu'', and exclusively using the former ''Madou Monogatari'' characters. This is very different from ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyoFever'' and every game since, due to the series going through a SoftReboot with a new cast of characters and setting, a far more saccharine art style, becoming even LighterAndSofter, and the larger emphasis on {{Comeback Mechanic}}s.
** A lot of the ''Fever''-era characters, such as Amitie, Raffina, and Klug, started off as straighter {{exp|y}}ies of Arle and her friends and enemies before going through some DivergentCharacterEvolution later on and becoming more unique in their own right in terms of personality. Amitie in particular was a lot more tomboyish, a result of her being the expy of the similarly tomboyish Arle.
** In ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyoFever2'', Sig, who makes his debut in this game, is barely ever mentioned to have an obsession with bugs and BugCatching, a character trait that would become one of his defining factors later on.
** Yu is a solo character in her debut in ''Fever''. Once ''Fever 2'' rolled around, she would be accompanied by her brother Rei.
** The DS games have portraits of the characters that appear on one of the screens that react to events during the game, such as being close to losing or close to winning, while another screen is dedicated to the Puyo gameplay. In ''Fever'' and ''Fever 2'', the Puyo gameplay is on the top screen while the characters are on the bottom screen; in ''15th Anniversary'' and it successors, their placement is inverted.

* ''VideoGame/RhythmHeaven'' for the GBA is pretty different than its two sequels. For starters, the mini-games are arranged in eight columns of six instead of ten columns of five, and the [[FinalExamBoss Final Exam Remix]] is Remix 6 instead of Remix 10. Also, the music for the sequels' mini-games are tailor-made for them while some of the GBA mini-games just have accompanying BGM with the same tempo. And there's the UnexpectedGameplayChange that Quiz brought, while the other games never radically change the rules. The Remixes of the GBA version also doesn't change the artistic theme of the mini-games and one stage actually remixes previous remixes, two things that the sequels don't dabble in. Lastly, some first-time stages have no practice sessions.

* ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon'':
** The first two handheld games had no marriage in it and very little socialization, while the third game had marriage but only to your DistaffCounterpart. The first two games in the series to have a female protagonist had the game end after marriage.
** As a whole the first few titles were considerably darker than what we're used to now, with the series getting increasingly LighterAndSofter from ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonMagicalMelody'' onward.
** Compare the cast of games like ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon64'' to games like ''VideoGame/StoryOfSeasons''. Overall the character designs have become less like realistic people living in a small town and more like a dating sim. CastFullOfPrettyBoys is in full effect, as is the female equivalent.
** Any fan who picks up [[VideoGame/HarvestMoon1 the SNES series]] on Virtual Console will be surely shocked by the difference from what they know. There's no rucksack, there are no hearts besides the names (instead being in a diary much like in ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife'''), there are no character portraits, you can't befriend non-bachelorette villagers, there are no heart events, and there are no real Harvest Godesss interactions. The English translation was censored, thus getting you drunk on "juice", when almost all games in the series feature alcohol heavily. There are references to other gods besides the Harvest Goddess as well. The game is [[SurpriseDifficulty surprisingly difficult]] as there is no clock, you cannot ship at night, you can't ship perishables, and the days go by quickly. You often have no time to woo women and get your work done in the same day. Luckily there is no proper day-night system so you can work all night.

* The first ''VideoGame/FreddiFish'' game, the very first Humongous game to stray from pixel art and use hand-drawn cartoony graphics, has many glaring differences from its sequels, as well as all later hand-drawn Creator/HumongousEntertainment games. For one, the animation is much looser and characters tend to go OffModel rather often. Freddi also has a different design, where she is much rounder and has a tall upper fin. Perhaps the biggest difference though is its plot; it's much DarkerAndEdgier and even violates NeverSayDie, a trope all the successors made a point to play straight. Also, on the earliest print runs of the game, the cursors that are made to look as if they're pointing into the distance rather than to the sides have a different design than other Humongous games -- they are long and thin rather than short and thick, though this was corrected on later prints.
* ''VideoGame/PuttPutt Joins the Parade'' also has very little resemblance to any later HE game. The game is much smaller and the puzzles are very simplistic; also, you are sent down one of three streets to mow lawns in order to make money, and solving the puzzles to make it across the other two streets will be entirely unnecessary unless you also decide to deliver groceries, and only one of the three requires an item to solve it (another one also can be solved with an item, but you can also solve it by honking your horn). The mini-games are much more like toys rather than arcade styled, as they have no objective (one of them is a cube where you just mix everything up to make crazy pictures, for instance). The characters are usually one-off characters created for small scenes, and are not given much development. It's also the only game in the entire series that actually makes use of the gas gauge, as it slowly drains while you play, although TakeYourTime is in full effect as you cannot actually run out; later games would simply make the gas gauge a decoration. Finally, bar ''Putt-Putt Travels Through Time'', this is the only game that doesn't give you a checklist of the items that you need to finish the game.
* Most games in the EdutainmentGame series ''VideoGame/JumpStart'' have a toolbar constantly at the bottom of the screen with options such as Go Back/Exit, Help, Progress Report, and Difficulty Levels, but the earliest installments (the original versions of ''[=JumpStart=] Preschool'', ''VideoGame/JumpStartKindergarten'', ''VideoGame/JumpStart1stGrade'', and ''VideoGame/JumpStart2ndGrade'') don't (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]]).

* Earlier ''VideoGame/{{beatmania}}'' games can seem odd to someone who plays more modern entries. In the first few versions, there are only four timing judgements (the flashing Great / Just Great was not introduced until ''beatmania 4th MIX''), Goods will break your combo instead of incrementing it, and the game has more of a "street" theme compared to modern titles.
* In the original ''VideoGame/{{jubeat}}'', your exact post-song bonus is displayed. Additionally, there is no "EXCELLENT" ranking--you can get a perfect score of 1 million, but the highest grade is SS, which is awarded at 950,000 points.
* The original ''VideoGame/ReflecBeat'' only has two Top markers, even on Hard, and focuses particularly on battle--winning will allow you to clear the song even if you have <70% Achievment Rate, said Achievement Rate is not shown during stages, and the announcer declares "You win!" and "You lose!" rather than "Clear!" and "Failed!". Finally, the menu interface is much darker than its successors and the song selection screen shows two scrollable columns of songs represented by album art rather than grids of album art.
* ''VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution'':
** The very first release of the first game (commonly called "DDR 1.0" by the fanbase) doesn't have Versus Style. There is a two-player mode called Couple Style, but rather than two players dancing separately, they work together to complete a unified stepchart based on the Single charts (it's not Double Style since there are times when more than two arrows appear), so they have to play on the same difficulty. Additionally, the game makes no distinction between passed or missed steps; regardless of how close or far your timing is, the arrows will pass through the Step Zone. Finally, the Maniac/Heavy/Expert difficulty is absent. These oddities are addressed in the Internet Ranking Version (AKA "DDR 1.5"), but Couple and Versus Styles still have to be played on the same difficulty. The choice to select different difficulties for two-player modes is introduced in the second game.
** Vivid arrow skin, which distinguishes the beat of the arrows, is introduced in the third game. For perfectionist players, the first two games are effectively a LuckBasedMission, since you have no way to ascertain the exact timing of the stepcharts outside memorization.
** The classic song wheel interface for music selection used until ''[=X2=]'' is introduced in ''[=5thMix=]''. The first three games' music selection is modeled after a jukebox, with songs represented by [=CDs=]. The fourth game uses a weird interface in which songs are represented by diagonal banners at the bottom half of the screen. Other than that, the first four games also restrict the number of available songs based on the modes you select (though all of them except for ''[=1stMix=]'' are rereleased with the option to access the entire song list) and do not allow you to choose the same song more than once within the same playthrough.
** All mainline games up to ''[=4thMix=]'' run at only 30 FPS, which can come off as an eyesore for those accustomed to newer games.
** Freeze arrows, speed modifiers, and a dedicated options menu do not exist until ''DDRMAX''. Other modifiers must be inputted with codes.
* The original ''VideoGame/FZero'' has a number of differences that make it stand out from its successors:
** There are only four unique machines in the game. The rest of the competition is comprised of generic brown machines that try to get in your way, generic purple machines that you start to see if you fall below 5th place, and exploding stalled flashing machines.
** ScoringPoints for clearing laps, with more points rewarded the higher-ranked you are. You get an extra life EveryTenThousandPoints.
** The game does not keep track of individual opponents, other than the one in 1st place, or 2nd if you're 1st. The way opponents are implemented are such that you can't lap purple machines or named opponents no matter what.
** Also, while a non-fatal crash will cause the entire crowd of opponents to easily surpass you in a few seconds in later games, here it takes a while to fall down several places.
** The rank requirement system, which requires that you be a particular place or higher to go to the next lap or else you lose one life. In later games other than ''Maximum Velocity'', you can come in 30th place in Grand Prix mode and you'll still be allowed to go to the next stage.

* ''VideoGame/{{Darius}}'':
** Though the original game does have branching paths, it doesn't use a stage select screen. Instead, the levels split into divergent courses after the BossBattle. ''Darius R'', released about a decade and a half later, uses this same style of stage select.
** The first two games, released in 1986 and 1988, have multi-monitor setups that would not be seen again until ''Dariusburst Another Chronicle'' in 2010. Even then, ''DBAC'' only uses two 16:9 monitors for a 32:9 setup, as opposed to the 4:1 setup of three 4:3 monitors used in the first two games (although ''Darius II'' does come in a two-monitor, 8:3 setup).

* The original ''VideoGame/OsuTatakaeOuendan'' lacks a lot of the features from its successors, ''VideoGame/EliteBeatAgents'' and ''Osu Tatakae Ouendan 2''. There's no bonus stages, which means that levelling up has no purpose, the final stage is just one song instead of two, the art style is a lot cruder than the later games in the series, the records menu is just a scrolling list of your score and rank rather than allowing you to see the rank of any stage you want, it's also the only way to view your rankings, as they don't appear on the song selection screen, the song's difficulty also doesn't appear on that screen, and you are unable to skip the intros to levels, only able to skip the Manga part of the intro.
* The first ''VideoGame/ProfessorLayton'' game, ''[[VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheCuriousVillage The Curious Village]]'', is a bit different from other games. The characters aren't as zoomed in during dialogue exchanges, the red exclamation mark symbol appears when you do any examination instead of just appearing when you've activated a puzzle, and there's very little voice acting outside of the Anime cutscenes and the victory/failure quotes after puzzles. There was also no Memo function at this point (though a handful of puzzles did let you draw directly on them), meaning that any note-taking and calculating had to be done on a separate sheet of paper. Furthermore, the optional side puzzles are much simpler than they'd be in later games (one consists entirely of clicking parts to assemble a robot dog - there isn't even the challenge of figuring out where the parts go - while another is little more than a jigsaw puzzle). Finally, in terms of characterization, Layton is unusually baffled at people's obsession with puzzles, when in later games (even those placed chronologically before this one) he's not only okay with it, he ''himself'' is a veritable puzzle chewer.

* ''{{Franchise/Danganronpa}}'': From the viewpoint of the entire franchise, there has much some notable differences between the early installments and the later installments.
** The executions in ''Danganronpa V3'' are more brutal in comparison to the executions in the [[VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc first two]] [[VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair major installments]]. Not that the executions in the first two games weren't brutal to begin with!
** The original ''[[VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc Danganronpa]]'':
*** Portrayed Hope's Peak Academy as a GoodAllAlong institution that had nothing to do with advancing the BigBad's scheme, since it was intended to shelter the students, and the Headmaster (a suspect for the mastermind) had been killed before the start of the game. This can come off as very jarring considering how later works in the franchise [[SuckySchool portray the Academy as heavily corrupt]], not giving a damn about the students as people and only being interested in their talents, and indirectly aiding the BigBad in the process.
*** Numerous tropes the franchise is known for deconstructing are played straight.
*** Compared to the executions afterwards, the execution of [[spoiler:Leon Kuwata]] is ''incredibly'' violent. This is largely due to it being lifted from the considerably darker early build of the game.
*** All versions of the game lack a light novel readable after the main game is complete, something that is in every game starting with the UpdatedRerelease of ''Danganronpa 2''.
*** Both male and female students feature a character with [[NonStandardCharacterDesign a much more unusual look than the rest of them]] ([[{{Gonk}} Hifumi]] and [[LadyLooksLikeADude Sakura]]). Later games just stick to only one of the male students having an unusual design.
*** The Re:Act feature (which itself was used with decreasing frequency in the game), a form of DialogueTree where progressing in the dialogue requires you to click on specific purple-colored phrases in the other characters' statements, has not appeared in any of the following installments.
*** The game has less "sci-fi and unrealistic" elements in comparison to other installments. For example, in [[http://danganronpaislandmode.tumblr.com/post/153140479113/i-wonder-how-that-teddy-bear-actually-operates one of Chihirio's free time intros]], it was stated that they don't have the technology for a robot with an AI installed inside it yet. Given how the future installments ended up having [[spoiler: a virtual world simulator, medicine that can change the size of somebody, anime programs that can brainwash people, and actual robots with actual AI installed inside them]], that comment can be a bit jarring.
*** The 8-bit character sprites used for the students' dorms and picturing them being carried to their executions are completely different from the ones seen in School Mode, being less SuperDeformed. Later games use the School Mode sprites for dorm portraits and executions instead of having a separate set of sprites for both the main game and side content.
*** Unlike in the sequels, a student's report card doesn't list their birthday, their blood type, or the things they like and dislike the most.
*** Barring some HoYay, the game is more lacking in the ShipTease department than the sequels. There's really not much romance other than Makoto's crush on Sayaka ([[spoiler:which is short-lived as she's the first victim of the killing game]]), Toko's love for Byakuya (which is entirely PlayedForLaughs), and Kyoko being Makoto's ImpliedLoveInterest. In ''[[VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair Danganronpa 2]]'' and ''[[VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony Danganronpa V3]]'' on the other hand, the students share plenty of ShipTease.
*** The number of Free Time Events each character had generally depended on when they died. For example, [[spoiler:Sayaka]], the first to die, only has two events, whereas [[spoiler:Toko]], who survives, has eight [[spoiler:counting Genocide Jack's three]]. Later installments gave each character five events, even if they died too early to see them all in a normal playthrough, [[spoiler:although in ''V3'', each character has two events with [[DecoyProtagonist Kaede]] in addition to the standard five with Shuichi]]. Each character can either give the player a new ability to use during the Class Trials or more points, which are required to use said abilities. Free Time Events in later games give hope fragments when cleared, which are necessary to unlock abilities for the Class Trials, and the character's special ability when you clear all of them.
*** The murder plots in the first game are considerably simpler than the convoluted schemes from the later two games. Only one chapter has a murder plot more complex than "stab/bludgeon victim and dispose of evidence", and in two chapters the murders were spur-of-the-moment actions that weren't planned out at all. Most of the complications of the cases is the result of people meddling with the crime scenes and manipulating evidence after the fact. This is a stark contrast to later games where nearly every case involves untangling the murderer's complicated schemes.
** Characters do not give you their underwear upon finishing their Free Time events as they do in the sequels, with this instead happening once the player finishes a given character's School Mode ending added in the Vita port and subsequent releases.

* The first ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeed'' game was the only game in that series to have an endorsement from ''Road & Track'' Magazine. Furthermore, the first five games were the only games to have detailed showrooms of the cars featured in-game.

* The original ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'' lacks the {{retraux}} minigames featured in every other game in the series, and is the only one where the threat of losing power is a constant gameplay element.[[labelnote:*]]While ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddysSisterLocation'' brought it back, it was only for a hidden level and a separate game mode added later.[[/labelnote]] Also, [[BigBad Freddy]] has a higher level of importance over the other animatronics (undergoing VillainDecay in the sequels), and the backstory is much more well-hidden; what later games bring front and center are instead hard to find {{Easter egg}}s which [[ExcusePlot the main narrative]] never mentions.

* Both sibling series of the ''VideoGame/{{Forza}}'' franchise have noticeable differences between their first installment and later ones:
** The first ''Motorsport'' game has oddities such as point-to-point races that would never reappear down the line. It also had more original tracks, including 'Blue Mountains' which is a generic recreation of the real world Mount Panorama Circuit. Finally, the way the game handled the [[TierLists Performance Index]] was completely different: Each tier of PI had its own sub-tiers, and it was not possible to see the exact value of a car.
** The first ''Horizon'' game was significantly more linear in both gameplay and structure compared to its sequels. Cars were limited to travelling along roads with only a few open arenas for off-roading action. As for structure, compared to the 'do anything you want' attitude of the sequels, ''Horizon'' limits you to races with strict entry requirements, and has a clear line of progression between races.

* The original ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' has a drastically different tone than it sequel and subsequent spinoffs:
** The test chambers themselves are far bleaker, with sterile concrete and metal walls making up the vast majority of the scenery. The rest of the games have a much more dynamic atmosphere with a distinctly futuristic look.
** Similarly, the "behind the scenes" areas in the original games were claustrophobic, labyrinthine, rusting, and quite literally falling apart. Contrast this to later installments, where these areas mostly consist of vast, sprawling chasms filled with intricate mechanisms powering everything in the facility.
** The soundtrack of the original game consisted mostly of brooding, ambient tracks that were designed to evoke a feeling of tension and isolation. The sequel is positively ''upbeat'' in comparison, with light synthesizers and orchestral instruments forming the backbone of the soundtrack.
** The original game relied heavily on subtle BlackComedy, to drive the point home further that all was not what it seemed at Aperture. While there's still plenty of Black Comedy to go around in the sequels/spinoffs, their overall sense of humor is [[DenserAndWackier far more overt]].[[labelnote:*]]To paraphrase [[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee]], it's more "custard pie in the face" humor than the original's "snooker cue to the bollocks" humor.[[/labelnote]]
** [=GLaDOS=] originally had a much rounder, more static design, only moving to dodge attacks during her boss fight. The sequel (and, by extension, every spinoff that's since followed) gave her a more squared and ''much'' more expressive design.
** The original game had a much tighter storyline: it basically amounted to you solving a bunch of tests put forth by a noticeably malfunctioning AI [[spoiler:and then escaping the facility when [[AIIsACrapshoot said AI tries to kill you]]]]. Later games would go much deeper into Aperture Science's history, as well as take a much closer look at the inner machinations of the company itself.

* The first two ''VideoGame/{{Burnout}}'' games are fairly straight street-racing games, with the only gimmick of rewarding risky driving with NitroBoost to make them stand out. ''Burnout 3: Takedown'' was the first to actually reward players for crashing their rivals, along with the much-beloved puzzle-game-in-disguise Crash Mode, and the series has been a celebration of aggressive vehicular mayhem ever since.

* In ''VideoGame/TheClueFinders'' games:
** ''3rd'' grade features three "Worlds" where the titular cluefinders have to [[FetchQuest collect items]] and use them for that "world"'s final challenge. No other game in the series has this - the games that ''do'' have three acts will typically only have one or two challenges in the final act with the only way to move being "forward", and not being able to access the map.
*** ''3rd Grade'' also features multiple "one-time" Challenges often done when the characters are en-route to another place. While other games (including a few later ones) would also do this, these could be repeated by going to the map.
** ''4th grade'' also featured multiple "one-time" challenges that can only be done once.
** Leslie did not speak with SesquipedalianLoquaciousness in 3rd, 4th, or Math 9-12.
** ''Math 9-12'' features only ''one'' "world" to explore, and the game is ''all'' about playing a Clue-like game where you have to use the clues given to figure out a location, suspect, and an item.

** Classic looked more like the ''Minecraft'' we know today than Pre-classic, but still fits. It had the same bright green foliage (which continued to be used until Alpha 1.2), and introduced Survival mode. Killing hostile mobs awarded points, depending on how dangerous the mob was (creepers yielded the most points, while zombies yielded the least). Furthermore, creepers had melee attacks (only exploding when killed by the player) and mushrooms were the only source of food, dropped by pigs; red mushrooms were poisonous and brown mushrooms healed the player. The player's fist also dealt four points of damage.

** In older versions of the game, sheep would drop multiple blocks of wool if punched by the player. Beta 1.7 added shears.
*** Also, sheep did not drop mutton until 1.8.

*** ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' was heavily multi-genred as while it was still a platformer, each character played differently (Sonic was a standard platformer, Tails was racing, Knuckles was treasure hunting, Amy was a chased racer, Big was fishing and Gamma was shoot-em-up). The game heavily relied on OnceMoreWithClarity to understand how one character arrived at a place or even the motivations for an encounter. It was also the first appearance of the Light Speed Dash, which would stay an item until ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'', where it would become a standard power set. This would also be the first game where Super Sonic was relegated to an EleventhHourSuperpower.