[[StreetFighter http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/streetfighterII.jpg]]
[[caption-width:193:[-Those all suck now. Let's play HD Remix.-] ]]

--> ''"At first I thought all these updates were kinda nice to hold you over, but how many times can you update the same fucking game?"''
--> -- '''TheAngryVideoGameNerd''' on ''StreetFighter II''

Capcom has an annoying tendency to release one game, and then release it again several times with minor changes before any wholesale {{sequel}} ever comes along. When one finally does, it's 2:1 odds that it will be a ''prequel'' that doesn't do much of anything to advance the main plotline. Whether this is done to cater to the hardcore fanbase or cynically milk a franchise for all it's worth is purely a matter of conjecture.

Note also that, while Capcom does this enough to get the trope named after them, they are by no means the ''only'' publisher guilty of it.

Related to MissionPackSequel, but '''this includes the storyline as well as the gameplay.''' Easily leads to [[{{ptitlezx89c5u5txaj}} It's The Same Now It Sucks]], although many of these games are simply SoOkayItsAverage.

Contrast SequelEscalation. See TwainsObservationOnOriginality for one explanation.
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!!Examples:

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[[folder: Literature ]]

* OlderThanRadio example: Walt Whitman revised and republished ''Leaves of Grass'' nearly a dozen times over the course of his lifetime. The final, "deathbed" edition, published in 1892, is nearly three times the length of the first edition of 1855.
** Considering ''Leaves of Grass'' is a ''poetry collection'' he's at least adding more poems in each one.
*** Know what most poets would do? ''Put 'em in a new book.''
**** ''ARGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH! [[TheSimpsons I-HATE-YOU-WALT-FRICKIN'-WHITMAN!]]''

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* Name a {{Capcom}} franchise. Seriously, ''any'' franchise (that's actually been made into a franchise). There's a reason why Capcom gets to be the TropeNamer:
** The most ostentatious and infamous example is easily ''StreetFighter II'', which to date has seen ''five'' different iterations in the arcades (the original, ''Champion Edition'', ''Hyper Fighting'', ''Super'', and ''Super Turbo'') before ''Street Fighter III'' was released, not to mention platform-specific versions like ''Street Fighter II Turbo'' for the SNES and ''Special Champion Edition'' for the Genesis (both based on ''Hyper Fighting''), and the portable ''Super Turbo Revival'' for the Game Boy Advance. In 2003, Capcom released a '''sixth''' arcade iteration titled ''Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition'', which allowed players to pick between versions of characters from all five previous arcade iterations. The AttractMode for the ''Aniversary Edition'' even features the logos of the previous versions, which you can [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXoUzxXhRmM see here]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF2qMmBBFJc and here]]. In 2008, we got the [[{{Long Title}} ridiculously titled]] ''Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix'' (or ''HD Remix'' for short) that was released for PSN and Xbox Live Arcade, which is essentially ''Super Turbo'' with rebalanced gameplay and high definition comic book art for graphics.
***Capcom engaged in a bit of LampshadeHanging when they titled their PuzzleGame spinoff: ''Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo''.
***Then there's ''Street Fighter Alpha'' (''Street Fighter Zero'' in Japan), a prequel to ''Street Fighter II'' that eventually got its own set of sequels and console-specific home versions (''Alpha 2'', ''Alpha 2 Gold'', ''Alpha 3'', ''Alpha 3 Upper'', and ''Alpha 3 [=MAX=]'').
*** The 3D spinoff ''Street Fighter EX'' was followed by ''EX plus'', ''EX plus α'', ''EX 2'', ''EX 2 PLUS'', and ''EX 3''.
*** Once Capcom finally did get around to ''Street Fighter III''; however, they released two additional pseudo-sequels of it (''2nd Impact'' and ''3rd Strike'').
*** ''StreetFighter IV'' is set between the ''II'' and ''III'', and most of the playable characters are the exact same fighters from the original ''Street Fighter II'', with characters from ''Super'' and ''Alpha'' added to the home versions. Funny enough, alot of the talk over in Capcom's own message boards for some time were from fans actually requesting a second version of ''Street fighter IV'' (third if you consider the console release to be the second version). Just in time, since ''[[http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/699596/Super-Street-Fighter-IV-Officially-Revealed.html Super Street Fighter IV]]'' is now official.
** Capcom's ''{{Darkstalkers}}'' series fared even worse. Going out with ''Vampire Savior 2'' and ''Vampire Hunter 2'', which despite being numbered like sequels were just minor rule and roster updates to the original ''Vampire Savior'', which was actually third game in the series, following the original ''Darkstalkers'' (aka ''Vampire'') and ''Night Warriors'' (''Vampire Hunter'').
** The overwhelming majority of the ''ResidentEvil'' games take place in the summer of 1998, and a significant fraction of those take place ''within a single week''. ''Resident Evil 4'', taking place in 2004, may or may not have broken this trend by jumping ahead six years from the original continuity. In the meantime, fans will just have to wait and see how many prequels Capcom can jam into that six-year gap.
*** [=RE4=] was meant to be an aversion of this, as reviews for ResidentEvil 0 complained that the series was getting stale, so they chose to start fresh with 4.
*** It's been argued that they've fallen back into the same trap with ''5'', though, since so much of the fourth's gameplay style was lifted.
****But also an example of a subversion, as while they kept the same "overall feel", they did add new systems and the entire partner mechanic.
** Originally, DevilMayCry was supposed to be the immediate sequel to Resident Evil 2, because Capcom was also getting sick of the SurvivalHorror. They thought it was too much of a huge break in genres, though, so they ripped out the original story [Dante was a policeman fighting against more Umbrella horrors] to the current one. Turned out to be great. So far the franchise has been pretty good about this trope (even though chronology is all over the place: The chronological order is 3-1-4-2), but that can change in a heartbeat as soon as Capcom start pumping out spinoffs (and already *has* changed if you count Dante's appearances in ''{{Shin Megami Tensei}}: Nocturne'' and ''ViewtifulJoe'' as canon). To make things more confusing, 2 isn't canon.
** Capcom's ''MegaMan'' franchise is usually an exception to this trope -- rather than getting remade all the time with different game engines, Mega Man games get lots of ''real'' sequels that [[MissionPackSequel just build on the first game's engine]]. However, there seems to be a saturation point, after which only remakes and ports come out. The classic series reached that point shortly after ''MegaMan 8'' and before ''MegaMan 9'' (which ALSO uses the first game's engine) was announced, fans have had to settle for the ''Anniversary Collection'' (ports), ''Mega Man Powered Up'' (remake), ''Mega Man & Bass'' (spinoff/port; although it's technically a port, the game it's a port ''of'' was only previously released in Japan), and so forth. It's still early to say, but the ''[[MegaManX X]]'' series is also showing signs of having reached saturation.
*** Capcom's more recent series, ''[[MegaManZero Zero]]'' and ''[[MegaManBattleNetwork Battle Network]]'', have avoided this sort of infinite trail-off by transitioning into "next generation" series (''[[MegaManZX ZX]]'' and ''[[MegaManStarForce Star Force]]'' respectively). The Zero series should actually be applauded for "only" lasting four games before succumbing to this stagnation.
*** Capcom has made so many Mega Man spinoff series there's a Spinoff Stagnation meta-effect going on by itself.
** Even the semi-obscure ''1942'' [[ShootEmUps Shoot Em Up]] series isn't invincible to this. ''1943'' got a rerelease called ''1943 Kai'', and ''1942: Joint Strike'' is basically the elements of ''1943'', ''19XX'', and ''1944'' rolled up into one game.
** Somewhat used in [[AceAttorney Phoenix Wright]]. Though the first three games were remade, they mainly did it to bring it to the rest of the world, seeing how the GBA was a dying system.
*** Becoming more blatant now as the series is being ported to WiiWare with ''less'' content. (The bonus case added to the DS version of the first game will be separate downloadable content.)
** The GundamVsSeries, developed by Capcom, suffered this initially. While ''[[MobileSuitGundam Federation Vs. Zeon]]'' was innovative and well-received, the sequel ''[[ZetaGundam AEUG Vs. Titans]]'' was pretty much the same game with some new machines - and then came ''Gundam Vs. Zeta Gundam'', which was ''[=AvT=]'' with '''more''' new machines, and the popular Campaign Mode replaced with a repetitive alternate history mode. Thankfully, the later games in the series avert this; ''[[GundamSEED Alliance Vs. ZAFT]]'' boasts a drastic overhaul to the game engine, ''Gundam Vs. Gundam'' gains FanService points for covering the franchise's entire 30-year history, and each of those games has a sequel that greatly bolsters the roster and adds in an interesting Mission Mode.
* Tatsusoft (now TwinSky Games) once had a game placing BubbleBobble characters in a fighting game genre that [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] the many prefixes and suffixes of the Street Fighter games. It was called "Super Bubble Fighter II Turbo Alpha Championship Edition + 4 Ned".
* Arc System Works fell into this with the GuiltyGear games - Guilty Gear XX, the third game in the series, was followed with Guilty Gear XX #Reload (one "new" character, rebalanced moves), Guilty Gear Isuka (a four-player spinoff) Guilty Gear XX Slash (two new characters, one of which is from Isuka, and more rebalancing), then Guilty Gear XX Accent Core, which despite having no new characters has enough gameplay changes that they probably could have gotten away with calling it Guilty Gear X3 if Reload and Slash hadn't existed. And now there's Guilty Gear XX Accent Core ''Plus'', which fixes some glitches and adds a ton of extra features, including a story mode that takes place after the original XX. So how is this not X3 again?
** Because calling a game [[{{Hentai}} XXX]] has UnfortunateImplications.
*** Please don't forget that Guilty Gear XX got the subtitle The Midnight Carnival, which to this troper's knowledge, was applied to the original, #Reload and Slash. Thus giving the hilariously long name Guilty Gear XX #Reload: The Midnight Carnival.
** It seemed that ''BlazBlue'' might be headed this way as well, with the recent announcement of "Continuum: Shift". It has recolored stages ala ''[[StreetFighter Championship Edition]]'', 1 new stage, new moves, some rebalances and changes, and 3 new characters (one of them is Tsubaki, another is Nu's replacement, Lambda and the other is Hazama[[spoiler: /Terumi]]) - however, a steamlined fighting system and a new story that picks up where the previous game left off (as well as new voice-overs and music) makes it an aversion.
* EA has been milking TheSims for all its worth with constant expansions. While the vast majority of the expansion packs add significant alterations to the game engine and vast amounts of new content besides just "more stuff", starting with the Sims 2 generation, EA also began releasing "Stuff Packs" which are literally nothing more than themed packs of objects and clothes. Compare "Open For Business", which added a completely new system in the form of Sims creating their own businesses (literally out of anything the player wants), to "Family Fun Stuff", which was simply a collection of kids clothes and goofy furniture and only cost a mere $10 less than a full-fledged expansion pack.
* ''DynastyWarriors'' games all share the same plot, due to sticking to the same period in Chinese history. Each new numbered sequel brings only minor graphical improvements, and maybe one new game mechanic and one new character per faction.
** The series inherited this trope from the TurnBasedStrategy series it was spun off from, RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms. Every Rot3K game is based on the eponymous book, just with alterations to the gameplay.
**Thankfully, Koei seems to have realized that players can only play through the same battles so many times, as Koei is now focusing on their Warriors Orochi series, which puts character from Dynasty Warriors and it's sister-series Samurai Warriors in an entirely original setting. It also adds a whole mess of new and strange attacks and abilities, and only sort-of pays attention to the alliances from the main series.
* The ''ArmoredCore'' series had three games before ''ArmoredCore Two'' was released, one more before ''ArmoredCore Three'', and ''six'' more before ''ArmoredCore Four''. There's usually enough content, new components, and a new mechanic or two to make them better than the average MissionPackSequel, though, thankfully. From Software apparently just didn't want to change numbers that often. Most odd in case of ''ArmoredCore Formula Front'', a 3 series game that's only tangentally related to the main 3 series.
**Possibly [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in that each new numbered installment takes place either a considerable time after the previous (10-20 years) or in an entirely seperate timeline.
* ''{{Castlevania}}'' is also starting to feel like this; All of the major plot points for the series (from the beginning to the end) have all been covered except the penultimate battle mentioned in ''Aria of Sorrow'', which Konami seems keen on avoiding for more "let's have some random dick revive Dracula for shiggles" storylines to avoid having to close the series.
** This stands in contrast to the strategy used at the beginning of the series, in which they literally reused the same plot multiple times. There are no fewer than five unique games detailing Simon Belmont's assault on Dracula's castle in 1691.
* Bemani rhythm games. This series reached double digits and had to be renamed with X's in it.
* ''MarioParty'' series reached #8, 4 of which were on the Gamecube.
* Bioware has relelased countless compilations of ''NeverwinterNights'' packages, one with each new expansion pack or sequel. Gold, Platinum, Diamond.. Diamond was not the ultimate collection. NWN2 and its expansions were then included in more collections. The same happened with older Infinity Engine games also.
* If you think Madden should be listed here, you think that ''[[MissionPackSequel Madden NFL has a plot]].''
* Rockstar did this with ''GrandTheftAuto''. Between GTA 3 (designed by DMA before they became Rockstar North) and 4, five GTA games were released.
** Although ''Vice City'' and ''San Andreas'' did have entirely different areas and stories, and expanded and experimented on the gameplay to the point where they may as well have been sequels.
* The long-running ''Chessmaster'' series gets accused of this. But there's only so much you can do with chess.
* ''TombRaider'' series under Core Design and EIDOS were one sequel a year, even after [[DisneyDeath killing Lara]] off in the 4th game. The 5th game was a memorial of her funeral and the gameplay consisted of flashbacks. One has to assume that they were serious about ending the series at the 4th game but changed their mind.
** ''The Last Revelation'' was never intended to be the final ''Tomb Raider'' game, just the last one for that console generation. However the next game got delayed and the PS1 was still selling well (plus the PS2 had back-compatibility), so they shoved ''Chronicles'' out the door to fill the gap until ''Angel of Darkness'' arrived on the scene.
* {{Furcadia}}- Same graphics, game engine, and overall game since 1993, now with more default objects. The staff refuses to program in any new features that would create "significant changes to the gameplay" or that classify as "stuff to do".

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