History Main / SequelFirst

* ''[[Anime/KingOfPrism KING OF PRISM Shiny Seven Stars]]'', a sequel to both ''KING OF PRISM'' films and ''Anime/PrettyRhythmRainbowLive'' is the first official release of anything related to the ''VideoGame/PrettySeries'' in North America and most territories outside of Asia. [[note]][[https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2021-02-09/crunchyroll-adds-idol-time-pripara-anime-to-catalog/.169323 Prior to]] ''Idol Time VideoGame/PriPara'' [[https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2020-12-31/crunchyroll-adds-kiratto-pri-chan-anime-to-catalog/.168011 and]] ''Anime/KirattoPriChan'' being licensed by Website/{{Crunchyroll}} [[LateExportForYou in the 2020s]] alongside ''Anime/WacchaPriMagi'' [[https://www.sentaifilmworks.com/a/news/sentai-to-debut-waccha-primagi-anime-this-fall being licensed for simulcasting by]] Creator/SentaiFilmworks, only Spain and Italy got anything else from the Pretty Series, both getting releases of ''Anime/PrettyRhythmAuroraDream'' and nothing further, though the latter country's dub was [[UnfinishedDub incomplete]], stopping at episode 35.[[/note]] Because of this, people who haven't watched ''Rainbow Live'' or any of the ''King Of Prism'' films will be faced with problems, as the series has multiple instances of {{Late Arrival Spoiler}}s that require watching either the films or ''Rainbow Live'' to understand.

* While ''Series/KamenRiderDouble'' hasn't been made fully available outside of asia since its release in 2009/2010, but the sequel manga, ''Manga/FuutoPI'', is being published in france and other countries, with the anime adaptation being available in many territories through Website/{{Crunchyroll}}, with latin-american and brazilian dubs to boot.

* ''VideoGame/CosmicFantasy 2'' was the first and only game in the series released outside Japan.

* The film adaptations of ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' and ''Film/TheHobbit''. Not quite your typical example, as they're (evidently) not trying to pass off the events of the latter as happening after those in the former, but some people do seem to think that the ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' books came out earlier.

* Music/{{Nirvana}}'s debut album ''[[Music/BleachAlbum Bleach]]'' only saw a wide international release after the massive success of follow-up ''Music/{{Nevermind}}''.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheBraveLittleToaster'''s sequel ''Goes to Mars'' was released before ''To the Rescue'', despite the former clearly taking place after the latter. Advertisements even referred to ''To the Rescue'' as the "final" installment in the story.

* While the original ''Manga/DragonBall'' anime had dubs from Harmony Gold in '89[[note]]Which lasted only five episodes broadcast only in test markets, as well as a movie that combined the first and third films[[/note]] and Creator/FUNimation in '95[[note]]This one only covering the first thirteen episodes and the first movie[[/note]], neither were able to gain any sort of traction. However the incredibly popular dub of ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' meant that, thanks to PopCultureOsmosis, this trope was played straight. The success of DBZ's dub would result in the first English dub of the pre-Z anime in its entirety to release in '01-03. This happened for real regarding the fighter ''VideoGame/DragonBallGTFinalBout'', which was released on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation in the West in 1997, a full six years before the first English dub of ''Anime/DragonBallGT'' would debut in 2003. Thus DBZ fans were introduced to concepts like Super Saiyan 4 and Goku's granddaughter Pan as a young teenager long before their original context was understood (and in fact, long before even Super Saiyan 2 was introduced, let alone 3).

* ''VideoGame/{{EarthBound|1994}}'' (''MOTHER 2''), the second in the ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER}}'' series, and the first [[NoExportForYou (and originally, only)]] one to be released in the US. The original ''MOTHER'' was originally slated for a North American release under the title ''Earth Bound'' (two words), but was scrapped after being completed due to the company shifting focus to the UsefulNotes/{{Super NES}}. When the prototype surfaced years later and made playable by the fan community, the game was called ''[=EarthBound=] Zero'' to avoid confusion. When Nintendo would officially release the finished version themselves in 2015, it was entitled ''VideoGame/EarthBoundBeginnings''.

* ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'', although that's for a very good reason (specifically, straightening up all the licensing rights for the games which aren't OriginalGeneration would be a nightmare). The series started in 1991, but no one outside Asia would have any installment until ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration'' for the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance, about a decade later. Any installment with licensed characters wouldn't see international release until ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars30'', 30 years since the series started.

* The first ''VideoGame/SonicDrift'' game was Japan-only until long after the demise of the UsefulNotes/GameGear. The sequel was released internationally, and was still called ''Sonic Drift 2'' in its U.S. release. It was however renamed in Europe and released as ''Sonic Drift Racing''... but only on the box, the title screen in the actual game still reads "Sonic Drift 2" just to add to the confusion.

** The first ''SMT'' game to even get a US release was a GaidenGame on a very unpopular console -- that being ''Jack Bros.'' on the UsefulNotes/VirtualBoy.
* The first ''VideoGame/ThunderForce'' game to be released outside of Japan was ''Thunder Force II'' (more specifically, its UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis port). The first ''Thunder Force'' was released only for various Japanese microcomputers and is [[SequelDisplacement rather obscure even in Japan]].

* The first ''VideoGame/GanbareGoemon'' game released outside Japan was ''Legend of the Mystical Ninja'' for the UsefulNotes/{{Super NES}} (the series had previous installments for the {{UsefulNotes/Famicom}}), in which for some reason Goemon and Ebisumaru [[DubNameChange were renamed]] "Kid Ying" and "Dr. Yang". The two UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 games that were later localized kept the characters' original names.
* ''Stinger'', aka ''Moero!! Twinbee'', was the second ''VideoGame/{{Twinbee}}'' game for the Famicom and the only one released for the NES in North America. ''Pop'n Twinbee'' was later released in the PAL region for the Super NES along with the side-scrolling platformer spinoff ''Rainbow Bell Adventure''. The second arcade game, ''Detana!! Twinbee'', also saw an overseas release as ''Bells & Whistles'', while the PC Engine port eventually got an overseas release via the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole (albeit, untranslated). The original ''Twinbee'' arcade game was eventually released in the US on Konami's ''Arcade Hits'' compilation for the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS under the name of ''Rainbow Bell''.
* The ''VideoGame/SakuraWars'' series finally saw the light of day in the US when [[Creator/NipponIchi NIS America]] localized [[VideoGame/SakuraWarsSoLongMyLove the fifth game]] ''five years'' after it was originally released in Japan. Strangely, this was also seven years after the Japanese release of a UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 remake of the first game that was ''intended'' to be the first Western release of the series, but never got exported.

* ''VideoGame/TombsAndTreasure'', an NES adventure game, was a port of a UsefulNotes/PC88 game called ''Taiyou no Shinden Asteka II''. As the name indicates, this was a sequel to a game called ''Asteka'' (a command line-driven [[InteractiveFiction text adventure]] with some graphics), which was never translated into English.
* ''VideoGame/ClockTower'' on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation was actually ''Clock Tower II'' in Japan. [[VideoGame/ClockTower1995 The original Super Famicom game]] was never localized, not even after it was ported to the [=PlayStation=] as ''Clock Tower: The First Fear''.

* What North America got as simply ''VideoGame/{{Culdcept}}'' in 2003 was the [=PS2=] port/expansion to ''Culdcept Second'' in Japan, and it was released in America by NEC of all companies.[[note]]They released the UsefulNotes/TurboGrafx16 internationally, and after that they dropped out of video games entirely in America. They decided to go back to publishing games in America, but they only released two titles - this game and a UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube racing game called Tube Slider.[[/note]] The original ''Culdcept'' for the Sega Saturn came out in Japan in 1997.

* Inverted with the ''VideoGame/WonderBoy'' series. ''Monster World II'' (aka ''VideoGame/WonderBoyIIITheDragonsTrap'') was originally made for the UsefulNotes/SegaMasterSystem. But because the Master System was unpopular in Japan and was already discontinued by the time the game finished development, it ended up being released only in North America and Europe, where the console still had some life left. When Westone developed ''[[VideoGame/WonderBoyInMonsterWorld Monster World III]]'' for the UsefulNotes/MegaDrive, they decided to release it a UsefulNotes/GameGear port of ''Monster World II'' shortly afterward.
* ''Penguin Land'' for the UsefulNotes/SegaMasterSystem was actually a sequel to the original ''Doki Doki Penguin Land'', which was never released outside Japan.
* The first ''VideoGame/{{Parodius}}'' game released in Europe was ''Parodius: Non-Sense Fantasy'' (a.k.a. ''Parodius Da!''), which is actually the second game in the series. Many of {{Creator/Konami}}'s {{UsefulNotes/MSX}} games had European releases, but not the original ''Parodius.''
* ''[[http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/exile/exile3.htm Exile]]'' was originally released in Japan for the UsefulNotes/PC88, UsefulNotes/PC98 and {{UsefulNotes/MSX2}} under the title ''XZR II''; the original ''XZR'', to which it was a direct sequel, wasn't localized (and had no console port). However, the versions of ''Exile'' that were localized, for the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis and [[UsefulNotes/TurboGrafx16 Turbo Duo]] were titled without number even in Japan, and the following game for the Turbo Duo, ''Exile: Wicked Phenomenon'', was ''Exile II'' in Japan.
* ''Samurai Ghost'' for the UsefulNotes/TurboGrafx16 was a localization of the sequel to the Namco game ''VideoGame/GenpeiToumaDen''. The arcade original wasn't released outside Japan until it appeared on ''[[CompilationRerelease Namco Museum Vol. 4]]'', where it was titled ''The Genji and Heike Clans''.
* ''Arcus Odyssey'' for the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis was a GaidenGame in the otherwise Japan-exclusive ''Arcus'' RPG series by Wolf Team.

* The first ''VideoGame/FireProWrestling'' game released outside Japan was ''Fire Pro Wrestling A'' for the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance; naturally, the [[SuperTitle64Advance letter A]] was dropped from the title.

* In Japan, there were three ''VideoGame/KingsField'' games for the original UsefulNotes/PlayStation instead of two. The original ''King's Field'' was released just after the system's Japanese launch, and was not released internationally. Thus, the English version of ''King's Field II'' dropped the number, while ''King's Field III'' was renumbered ''King's Field II''.
* ''Final Zone II'' for the UsefulNotes/TurboGrafxCD was a sequel to a game released only on Japanese 8-bit computers. The UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis game released in the U.S. as ''Final Zone'' is a GaidenGame to the former two, and involves piloting a HumongousMecha rather than on-foot run 'n gun action.
* ''VideoGame/TimeCruise'' for the UsefulNotes/TurboGrafx16 was titled ''Time Cruise II'' in Japan, even though the game it was supposed to be a sequel to was never released.

* The UsefulNotes/GameBoy game ''X'' was released only in Japan, with a canceled international version going by the title ''Lunar Chase''. Its UsefulNotes/DSiWare sequel was released worldwide as ''X-Scape'' (US) or ''3D Space Tank'' (EU).

* ''VideoGame/{{Shantae}}'': ''VideoGame/ShantaeAndThePiratesCurse'' is the first game in the series to see an official release in Japan, skipping both the original UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor game and ''Risky's Revenge''. Being an InternationalCoProduction probably helped. Europeans didn't get the Game Boy Color game either. (A likely reason for this is that [=WayForward=] was a smaller company at the time and couldn't afford to translate the game into other languages, ''Shantae'' being rather dialogue-heavy for a platformer.)

* ''Sega 3D Classics Collection'', a CompilationRerelease of the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS remakes of a selection of Sega's games, was actually the second compilation to be released -- the first one, consisting of ''VideoGame/EccoTheDolphin'', ''[[VideoGame/FantasyZone Fantasy Zone: Opa-Opa Brothers]]'', ''VideoGame/OutRun'' (both the original arcade version and the 3D Master System edition), ''[[VideoGame/{{Shinobi}} Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master]]'', ''VideoGame/SpaceHarrier'' (both the original arcade version and the 3D Master System edition), and ''VideoGame/StreetsOfRage'' -- was only released in Japan. All of the aforementioned games are available to download individually on the Nintendo eShop in all regions, except for the aforementioned Master System editions of ''Out Run'' and ''Space Harrier'', as they're exclusive to the compilation.
* The original ''VideoGame/Splatoon1'' wasn't released in South Korea because the UsefulNotes/WiiU wasn't, meaning the franchise would instead debut with [[VideoGame/Splatoon2 the second game]] on UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch two years later.

* ''VideoGame/LiloAndStitch2HamstervielHavoc'', the tie-in game to ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries'' released for the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance, was released in Japan (as simply ''Lilo and Stitch''; no number, subtitle, or even the ampersand) without [[VideoGame/LiloAndStitchGameBoyAdvance the first]] ''[[VideoGame/LiloAndStitchGameBoyAdvance Lilo & Stitch]]'' [[VideoGame/LiloAndStitchGameBoyAdvance game]] for the same platform having been released there at all, which is odd considering that [[Franchise/LiloAndStitch the franchise]] is [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff very popular over there]].

** The ''Yes! Pretty Cure 5'' team would later be brought internationally on 2023...as the SequelSeries ''Anime/KibouNoChikaraOtonaPrettyCure23'' (along with ''Anime/FutariWaPrettyCureSplashStar characters'').

* ''[[Anime/KingOfPrism KING OF PRISM Shiny Seven Stars]]'', a sequel to both ''KING OF PRISM'' films and ''Anime/PrettyRhythmRainbowLive'' is the first official release of anything related to the ''VideoGame/PrettySeries'' in North America and most territories outside of Asia. [[note]][[https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2021-02-09/crunchyroll-adds-idol-time-pripara-anime-to-catalog/.169323 Prior to]] ''Idol Time VideoGame/PriPara'' [[https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2020-12-31/crunchyroll-adds-kiratto-pri-chan-anime-to-catalog/.168011 and]] ''Anime/KirattoPriChan'' being licensed by Website/{{Crunchyroll}} [[LateExportForYou in the 2020s]] alongside ''Anime/WacchaPriMagi'' [[https://www.sentaifilmworks.com/a/news/sentai-to-debut-waccha-primagi-anime-this-fall being licensed for simulcasting by]] Creator/SentaiFilmworks, only Spain and Italy got anything else from the Pretty Series, both getting releases of ''Anime/PrettyRhythmAuroraDream'' and nothing further, though the latter country's dub was [[UnfinishedDub incomplete]], stopping at episode 35.[[/note]] Because of this, people who haven't watched ''Rainbow Live'' or any of the ''King Of Prism'' films will be faced with problems, as the series has multiple instances of [[LateArrivalSpoiler Late Arrival Spoilers]] that require watching either the films or ''Rainbow Live'' to understand.

* The ''VideoGame/SakuraWars'' series finally saw the light of day in the US when [[Creator/{{Nippon Ichi}} NIS America]] localized [[VideoGame/SakuraWarsSoLongMyLove the fifth game]] ''five years'' after it was originally released in Japan. Strangely, this was also seven years after the Japanese release of a UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 remake of the first game that was ''intended'' to be the first Western release of the series, but never got exported.

* ''Videogame/SenranKagura Burst'', the second game in the series is the first game to be localized for North America. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] [[EmbeddedPrecursor since it has the content from the first game as well]].
* More like SpiritualSequel first, but ''Videogame/ProjectXZone'' got localized, while ''Videogame/NamcoXCapcom'' didn't.

* The Franchise/{{Nasuverse}} with ''VisualNovel/WitchOnTheHolyNight''. It was the first entry to be written, then followed by its sequels (if indirect; the only major connection is how they follow up on the Aozaki sisters) ''Literature/TheGardenOfSinners'' and ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}''. However, ''Mahou Tsukai no Yoru'' had trouble finding a publisher, leaving it in DevelopmentHell until 2012, around twenty years after it was written and its sequels were published. Incidently, it would be the first visual novel from the Nasuverse to be officially localized and released outside Japan.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* The ''VideoGame/EZ2DJ'' series started in 1999 spanning about a dozen and a half games released exclusively in South Korea until ''[=EZ2ON=] REBOOT : R'' was released worldwide in 2021, 22 years later.

* The American leg of the Music/{{Genesis|Band}} ''Music/TheLambLiesDownOnBroadway'' tour was scheduled to happen before the often difficult to follow ConceptAlbum had even been released in the US, since guitarist Steve Hackett had injured his hand late in rehearsals, thus requiring the band to change the tour dates so he could heal. The band ended up playing the entirety of the album to audiences who hadn't heard it yet and certainly weren't expecting [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible anything like that]].

** ''VideoGame/VenusBloodFrontier'' is the sixth game in the ''VideoGame/VenusBlood'' series, but the first to get an remastered International edition. It was followed by the eighth installment, ''VideoGame/VenusBloodHollow'', and then the ''seventh'', ''VideoGame/VenusBloodGaia'', with its remaster also adding some mechanics introduced in ''Hollow''.

* ''VideoGame/AtelierIris'' was the first of the ''VideoGame/{{Atelier}}'' series to be released outside of Japan; most of its predecessors still haven't been.

* Music/{{Nirvana}}'s debut album ''Bleach'' only saw a wide international release after the success of follow-up ''Nevermind''.

* There are two 1970s ''{{ComicStrip/Peanuts}}'' storylines involving Linus and a girl named Truffles. The second storyline, where Linus and Truffles are reunited, was animated as part of ''A Charlie Brown Celebration'' in 1981. The first storyline, where Linus and Truffles meet for the first time, was animated two years later in an episode of ''The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show''. Truffles was colorized differently in the ''Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show'' episode than in ''A Charlie Brown Celebration'', so they were evidently not trying for any continuity between her two animated appearances.

* The first ''VideoGame/GloryOfHeracles'' game released in the US is the sixth game in the series.