History Main / LaterInstallmentWeirdness

* ''Manga/DragonBall''': Buu Arc is ''far'' more goofy and filled with gags than any of the other ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' arcs. This was especially prominent for western viewers who started with ''Z'' first: while ''Z'' certainly has its comedic moments, the amount of goofy scenes, ideas and subversions hadn't been that common since the manga's very first arc, the Pilaf Arc, which of course most viewers of ''Z'' hadn't been exposed to. What puts the Buu Arc above and beyond the Pilaf Arc is that this was mixed with the drama and tension of a typical DBZ Villain Arc, which resulted in a ''lot'' of the SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome, CrossesTheLineTwice and MoodWhiplash tropes. The fact that the Buu Arc turned into the longest storyline in the franchise accentuated the matter.

* ''Manga/DragonBall'''s Buu Arc is ''far'' more goofy and filled with gags than any of the other ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' arcs. This was especially prominent for western viewers who started with ''Z'' first: while ''Z'' certainly has its comedic moments, the amount of goofy scenes, ideas and subversions hadn't been that common since the manga's very first arc, the Pilaf Arc, which of course most viewers of ''Z'' hadn't been exposed to. What puts the Buu Arc above and beyond the Pilaf Arc is that this was mixed with the drama and tension of a typical DBZ Villain Arc, which resulted in a ''lot'' of the SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome, CrossesTheLineTwice and MoodWhiplash tropes. The fact that the Buu Arc turned into the longest storyline in the franchise accentuated the matter.

* ''WesternAnimation/DoraTheExplorer:''
** Season 3 introduced the ''estrellas'', which involved the main characters catching stars that would randomly show up in the middle of an adventure, with Dora counting how many they caught during the end of the episode. Sometimes, one of them would have some kind of power relating to what was happening in the episode. This was ultimately dropped by the end of Season 4.
** Season 4 was [[OddballInTheSeries way different than the rest of the series]] because it ditched the three-picture sequence for passing the locations. Instead, Dora asks Map every time she passes a location, who checks off the places passed.
** Season 7 saw a lot of changes for the show, such as a new theme song, updated animation (with some CGI elements added in, most noticeable with Map and Backpack), and emulating a mobile game on a touchscreen device (like a tablet) rather than a PC game.

* Starting with 2015's ''I'm Comin' Over'', Music/ChrisYoung shifted from a twangy "neotraditional" country sound to more electronic and sometimes R&B-influenced country. The change was due to longtime producer James Stroud retiring and being replaced by Corey Crowder.

* The final ''Literature/HarryPotter'' book, ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows DeathlHallows]]'', is the only one that doesn't mainly take place in Hogwarts, instead having the protagonists travel around Britain for most of the plot, and is the only one to have a "hero's quest" structure instead of the previously standard school year structure. It's also the only book without any [[FictionalSport Quidditch]]. Fittingly [[Film/HarryPotter the films]] are an example too -- as the seventh is the only book to be split into two films (plus the same points that were present in the book).

* The final ''Literature/HarryPotter'' book, ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'', is the only one that doesn't mainly take place in Hogwarts, instead having the protagonists travel around Britain for most of the plot, and is the only one to have a "hero's quest" structure instead of the previously standard school year structure. It's also the only book without any [[FictionalSport Quidditch]]. Fittingly [[Film/HarryPotter the films]] are an example too -- as the seventh is the only book to be split into two films (plus the same points that were present in the book).

* ''WebVideo/JeepersMedia''. Specifically, Mike Mozart's videos. Starting around 2011, Mike had pretty much stopped doing toy reviews, and instead made increasingly more rant videos, usually against bigger media corporations like Creator/{{Viacom}}, but he also got very political as well. This continued for about a year, then he began doing new toy review videos, which contained a ''lot'' more adult jokes and wordplay than older reviews, in addition to other Jeepers Media folk joining in on the reviews as well. It's also clear that by this point, Mike's mindset went from DoingItForTheArt to MoneyDearBoy.
* The later episodes of ''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic'''s first run definitely qualify as this, starting with the ''Film/MoulinRouge'' review in November 2011, which was also when creator Creator/DougWalker realized that he was ready to move on from the Critic. While still comedic, reviews now attempted to be more analytical, and began to cover works that garnered positive critical and audience response (such as ''Film/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas'' and ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom''). Most of the videos also became either crossovers with other ''Website/ChannelAwesome'' reviewers or filled with cameos up until the end of the show's run in June 2012 (and [[WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee the official end of the character]] in August). The episodes following the the series' [[UnCanceled revival]] in February 2013 continued this approach, with the addition of a larger cast and the Critic abandoning his cutoff date to review more recent films as well. The episodes made after the return also use much less footage of the film being reviewed, sometimes abandoning it entirely in favor of sketches done in the style of the movie (usually when covering a movie still in theaters).

* Website/NotAlwaysRight:
** After years of formatting stories entirely in dialogue form, they began adding ones in narrative form in late 2016 to allow for greater flexibility in content.
** Not Always Right and its sister sites (e.g. Website/NotAlwaysWorking) were all hosted on their own domains. The sites were all merged under the Not Always Right domain in 2017, while the comment system shifted from embedding the sites' Facebook pages to being hosted on Disqus. While this made it easier to crosspost stories that might fit in more than one site, it also broke a ''ton'' of links to stories, especially older ones, and wiped out the few non-story posts (most often memes and videos; to be fair, these were never popular with readers).
** For most of the site's history, the editors have insisted that all submissions be original content. However, in 2020, they began crossposting content from various subreddits.
* ''WebVideo/JonTron'' originally exclusively reviewed video games (and the occasional movie or TV show), but as time has gone on, he's greatly (if gradually) expanded his scope of review subjects. He still reviews video games, but now reviews movies and TV shows with equal regularity, as well as tackling more unusual subjects like infomercial products, cooking, and history.

* ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall'' has had a few changes in the past few years. The character 90's Kid changed his name to 90's ''Dude'' as a bit of growing up (out of universe, Lewis Lovhaug just couldn't justify using the "Kid" moniker when he was in his 30s now). Next was a change in scenery, due to Lewis and Viga Gadson moving to a new house (in-universe, Linkara blew up his old house on accident and Viga is ''not happy'' since she had to pay for everything and didn't expect Linkara's friends showing up). In 2021, the series' legendary theme song [[RearrangeTheSong had its lyrics altered]] as Lewis considered his old habit of attacking creators personally an old shame and the old theme song did just that. In 2022, not only did his ''Transformers'' reviews introduce a brand-new opening instead of using the normal opening, the "Longbox of the Damned" and ''WebVideo/HistoryOfPowerRangers'' gained new intros.

* Early Wrestling/{{ECW}} was a fairly run of the mill Wrestling/NationalWrestlingAlliance territory without the benefit of a territorial system to support it. The NoHoldsBarredContest GarbageWrestling it became most famous for didn't come until later, and even then the hardcore stuff was mainly smoke and mirrors for technically and athletically challenged wrestlers like [[Wrestling/JimFullington The Sandman]]. Over-the-top violence did not become center stage until Wrestling/LanceStorm, Wrestling/ChrisBenoit, Wrestling/{{Psicosis}}, Wrestling/ReyMysterioJr, Wrestling/DeanMalenko, Wrestling/PerrySaturn, Wrestling/EddieGuerrero, Wrestling/{{Raven}} and [[LongList the like]] started getting poached in mass by Wrestling/{{WCW}}.

* Gunpla tends to invoke this trope through its EarlyInstallmentWeirdness. It's not uncommon for a new Gunpla to be released that uses an older model frame, especially through its ''Anime/GundamBuildFighters''[=/=]''[[Anime/GundamBuildFightersTry Fighters Try]]''[=/=]''[[Anime/GundamBuildDivers Divers]]'' line. When its done with its main High Grade Universal Century line, it comes off as incredibly lazy, like the Gundam Tristan of ''LightNovel/MobileSuitGundamTwilightAXIS''.

* Season 5 of ''WesternAnimation/TheGarfieldShow'' begins with ''seven'' consecutive five-part episodes aired back to back (covering 12 and a half out of the 26 episodes of the season[[note]]The show airs in a TwoShorts format, so a normal episode actually covers two parts of the 5-parter, or the last one of a 5-parter and the first of the one after[[/note]]), and also almost every episode during these 5-parters features a song (something that already happened only in multiparter episodes, but since they were fewer in earlier seasons it wasn't so noticeable)

''Series/ThePuzzlePlace'': Season 3, which was produced after a year-long hiatus and consists of only ten episodes, is distinctly different from Seasons 1 and 2. The puppets are obviously different than in the first two seasons, with some notable changes to the character designs: Kiki, Skye and Leon's darker skin tones and Kiki's darker hair especially stand out. Skye, Nuzzle and Jody also have [[TheOtherDarrin different performers]] (in Jody's case for the second time), and the episodes end with AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle segments that the first two seasons didn't have. [[[/folder]]

** The show had ended its initial run while still very popular, and since such popularity was evident, Creator/CartoonNetwork decided to revive it a few years later. Original creator Creator/GenndyTartakovsky was busy with ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' and ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsCloneWars'', so production was turned over to Creator/ChrisSavino; not only did all of the characters look significantly different, but the series also went through a ''lot'' of {{Retcon}}ning, contradicting the series' previous incarnation. For example, Mandark's backstory and even given name were severely retconned.
** Mandark's lab was completely redesigned post-''WesternAnimation/EgoTrip'' to better resemble Overlord Mandark's lab in that film, with an extremely bizarre and organic-looking exterior and [[https://s1.dmcdn.net/v/CstDA1Q8pPsSbQN5Z/x1080 interiors lit with harsh reddish light]]. In the pre-''Ego Trip'' series, the exterior of Mandark's lab looked [[https://www.deviantart.com/davidevgen/art/Dexter-s-Laboratory-Mandarks-Lab-Background-666225843 more like a nuclear power plant]], and its [[https://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/558628-dexter-s-laboratory-science-ain-t-fair-windows-screenshot.jpg interior]] was quite brightly lit compared to Dexter's.

** The show had ended its initial run while still very popular, and since its popularity was still evident, Creator/CartoonNetwork decided to revive it a few years later. Original creator, Creator/GenndyTartakovsky, was busy with ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' and ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsCloneWars'', so production was turned over to Creator/ChrisSavino; not only did all of the characters look significantly different, but the series also went through a ''lot'' of {{Retcon}}ning as well, contradicting the previous incarnation of the series. For example Mandark's backstory and even given name were severely retconned. They also scrapped his little sister Olga.
** Mandark's lab was completely redesigned post-''WesternAnimation/EgoTrip'' to better resemble Overlord Mandark's lab in that film, with an extremely bizarre and organic-looking exterior and [[https://s1.dmcdn.net/v/CstDA1Q8pPsSbQN5Z/x1080 interiors lit with harsh reddish light]]. In the pre-''Ego Trip'' series, the exterior of Mandark's lab looked [[https://www.deviantart.com/davidevgen/art/Dexter-s-Laboratory-Mandarks-Lab-Background-666225843 more like a nuclear power plant]] and its [[https://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/558628-dexter-s-laboratory-science-ain-t-fair-windows-screenshot.jpg interior]] was quite brightly lit compared to Dexter's.

* ''Manga/DragonBall'''s Buu Arc is ''far'' more goofy and filled with gags than any of the other ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' arcs. This was especially prominent for western viewers who started with ''Z'' first: while ''Z'' certainly has its comedic moments, the amount of goofy scenes, ideas and subversions hadn't been that common since the manga's very first arc, the Pilaf Arc, which of course most viewers of ''Z'' hadn't been exposed to. What puts the Buu Arc above and beyond the Pilaf Arc is that this was mixed with the drama and tension of a typical DBZ Villain Arc, which resulted in a ''lot'' of the SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome, CrossesTheLineTwice and MoodWhiplash tropes. That the Buu Arc turned into the longest storyline in the franchise accentuated the matter.

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/{{Angel}}'''s fifth and final season involved the protagonists running the BigBad organization Wolfram & Hart. Due to budget cuts, a much greater portion of the episodes took place during the daytime, and Cordelia was largely absent. Additionally, Spike was transplanted to the show for this season following the series finale of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' (taking Cordelia's spot in the opening credits).
* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'':
** The fifth season introduced several new main characters while all but two original ones (TheHero and the CreatorsPet) were made OutOfFocus; a new title sequence was eventually ushered in with logos for all the new heroes, not just Green Arrow. Save [[ComicBook/{{Ragman}} for one]], the newbies were [[ReplacementScrappy received exactly like you were expecting.]] Most of them do get better however.
** The first four seasons of ''Arrow'', unlike the following shows in the universe it spawned, were relatively grounded, as the de-facto ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' of its canon, with the farthest reality-leaving touches involving the League of Assassins' Lazarus Pit being able to resurrect dead characters. However, as the other series (and crossover events) brought in elements such as the multiverse, time travel, and alternate timelines into canonical play, all of the above began to affect ''Arrow'' as well: characters from Earth-2 and metahumans, interaction with cosmic beings, and eventually, alternate timelines away from the show's prime history. The characters even lampshade regularly in later seasons how their world is much different from the days of fighting druglords from a bunker.
* The first three seasons of Creator/{{MTV}}'s ''Series/{{Awkward}}'' were run by series creator Lauren Iungerich, who had a natural, realistic vision for the show. After her departure, the show received new {{showrunner}}s who made the show a more dramatic, stereotypical high school soap opera. [[spoiler: Most notably there was a plot about new girl Eva turning out to be a psychopathic StalkerWithACrush for Matty with a fake identity and FakePregnancy to pull TheBabyTrap on him. This plot might have worked on a regular teen show where drama happens all the time, like ''Series/BeverlyHills90210'', but it was ludicrous on ''Awkward.'']]
* ''Series/{{Baywatch}} Nights'': The series started as a SpinOff of the original ''Baywatch'' with a GenreShift towards detective stories, with Mitch and other characters opening a detective agency and solving mysteries. Soon afterwards it did a ReTool [[FollowTheLeader following the then-leader]] that was ''Series/TheXFiles'' and had the characters (veteran lifeguards and police officers ''before'' becoming P.Is.) battling supernatural [[MonsterOfTheWeek Monsters of the Week]]. It was cancelled shortly after.
* ''Series/{{Blackadder}} Goes Forth'' is the only Blackadder season in which Edmund has no connection to royalty, or indeed any {{Historical Domain Character}}s at all except a brief encounter with the Red Baron, and the sudden reveal in the last episode that Field-Marshall Haig owes him a favour.
* ''Series/{{Bonanza}}'': Has several, but for many years viewers didn't see the last three seasons (and a number of the 1966-1970) episodes because they were not syndicated, which -- when they did see these "rare" episodes, there were often stark differences from the show they knew and loved:
** '''Season 7 (1965-1966)''': The departure of Pernell Roberts was the first tipping point.
** '''Season 9 (1967-1968)''': The arrival of Candy Cannaday, the drifter turned trusted ranch hand and confidant of the Cartwright family. While some fans were starting to drift away, the show was still the No. 1 western on television, and the fourth-rated show overall.
** '''Season 10 (1968-1969)''': In use during these two seasons was the rescored theme, a bright marching-type arrangement of the original David Rose-orchestrated Jay Livingston-Ray Evans theme. Still a top-three rated show.
** '''Season 12 (1970-1971)''': Here's where things begin to fit more squarely in the "Late Installment Weirdness" trope -- [[CousinOliver the new kid]], Jamie Hunter (added to round out the cast and give someone that actually could use Ben's advice), a totally new theme ("The Big Bonanza," composed by David Rose), actual title shots introducing each actor, and the move of the set from the Paramount Studios to the Warner Bros. studios. Amazingly, the show still ranked in the top 10 for this and the following year, but the end was drawing nigh ... .
** '''Season 14 (1972-1973)''': New opening shots and a new arrangement of the original Livingston-Evans theme (once again orchestrated by Rose), but it was one notable missing actor -- Dan Blocker, as Hoss Cartwright -- that made this season truly fit the trope. Blocker died of a blood clot following an operation, and [[TheCharacterDiedWithHim nobody could ever succeed him in the role]]. The ratings went south, and it wasn't long before ''Bonanza'' was relegated to the history books ... and an endless run in syndicated reruns.
* ''Series/BostonPublic'' started off featuring things that regularly happen in inner city high schools. Later seasons had really weird things happen, like a student getting electrocuted and thinking he's Jesus.
* The final season of ''Series/{{Bramwell}}'' is vastly different from the others -- only two 2-hour episodes, which focus on her caring for new army recruits rather than her typical hospital work, her father and new stepmother vanish without explanation, while her behavior becomes foolish and irresponsible, culminating in her being fired from the Thrift, the hospital she started.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'''s last two seasons had moved networks to the UPN, and are now more about Buffy trying to be an adult outside of school or college (especially with her mother's death towards the end of the fifth season). Spike properly underwent a HeelFaceTurn in these seasons, as opposed to the TokenEvilTeammate he'd been previously, and actually became Buffy's love interest for real. Creator/AnthonyHead likewise asked for time off, meaning Giles is no longer a regular, and Creator/AlysonHannigan is given his AndStarring in the credits. The seventh season also introduced the Potential slayers - with the arc being about training them for the final battle with the First Evil.
* ''{{Series/Charmed|1998}}'' Season 8 is the only season not to feature Daryl Morris, and Leo is absent for about ten episodes -- both of which were due to budget cuts requiring them to be written out. The season also features a new protagonist, Billie, who gets a story arc of her own.
* ''Series/{{Community}}'':
** Season 4 is very different as a result of Creator/DanHarmon the showrunner being fired and absent from that season. He returned for 5 & 6.
** In the last two seasons, the former study group members returned to Greendale Community College to form the "Save Greendale Committee", an extremely loose ExcusePlot to keep the show going. Jeff Winger became a teacher, so the show had much less focus on classes and studying. Multiple main cast members left, including Creator/DonaldGlover, thus breaking up the popular Troy and Abed duo, new regular cast members were introduced, Chang became a regular part of the group, and the overall tone of the show got even darker and weirder than before. Furthermore, since the final season was not made for broadcast TV, the episodes were longer and often slower-paced, Annie & Abed are involved in a lot more plots together once Troy leaves the show.
* By its final couple of seasons, the original run of ''Series/{{Dallas}}'' had lost most of its classic era cast with the exception of JR Ewing himself, Bobby, Cliff and a few minor supporting characters, greatly eroding the BigScrewedUpFamily nature of the show. The combination of a mostly new and younger cast, different locations, soapier storylines in general and in the finale an outright shift into the supernatural with an ItsAWonderfulPlot ending made late ''Dallas'' a very different animal to the beast it had been in its prime.
* The sixth and final season of ''Series/ADifferentWorld'' put the heavy focus on incoming students at Hillman ([[{{transplant}} including one recurring character]] from then-recently ended ''Series/TheCosbyShow''), after the main characters graduated, and Dwayne and Whitley married, in the previous season; Jalessa vanished from the series; the theme song was redone (again), and now sung by Music/BoyzIIMen, replacing Music/ArethaFranklin.
* Season 7 of ''Series/DoctorWho'' saw the Third Doctor exiled to modern-day Earth by the Time Lords, unable to use the TARDIS, and working with UNIT as their scientific advisor. While this was intended to be the series' status quo for the foreseeable future, the incoming production team found it too restrictive, and gave the Doctor limited TARDIS travel as and where the Time Lords saw fit, before restoring full TARDIS travel after "The Three Doctors" at the start of Season 10. UNIT was eventually sidelined come Season 12, the Fourth Doctor's first season, with later Doctors teaming up with them as and when they met, rather than working for them long-term.
* ''Series/TheDrewCareyShow'' saw a number of major differences in its last two seasons, especially the final season. Many of the show's major characters were written off for various different reasons; Drew, Mimi, and Mr. Wick are now working for an entirely different company (Mr. Wick in particular is now a janitor and tries working his way back up to the top of the corporate ladder); the show goes through three different new theme songs; the show switched from a multi-camera StudioAudience format to a single-camera LaughTrack format, which also resulted in ChaosArchitecture with the sets; and plots became a tad absurd, such as Mimi's house being burned down to force her into moving in with Drew.
* ''Series/{{ER}}'' began as a fairly realistic portrayal of a hospital emergency room, but later seasons included kidnappings, explosions, arms being chopped off, helicopter crashes, shoot-outs and many other things. Also [[RevolvingDoorCasting the entire cast was different]].
* ''Series/FantasyIsland'': In early seasons it was just about people fulfilling their fantasies, albeit with some FridgeLogic about how Mr. Rourke managed to pull some of it off. By the final season the show was dropping some pretty heavy hints that Rourke was an actual angel of the Lord.
* ''Series/TheFactsOfLife'':
** '''Season 5 (1983-1984)''': Blair and Jo had graduated from Eastland, after which the series' primary setting was moved from Eastland Academy to Mrs. Garrett's new business, Edna's Edibles. A tipping point but still the main premise of the show -- the two other girls (Tootie and Natalie) still connected to Eastland -- was there.
** '''Season 7 (1985-1986)''': Wholesale changes, including a new main setting (a novelty store called Over Our Heads, which replaced Edna's Edibles, that had been destroyed in a fire), the addition of Creator/GeorgeClooney to the cast and a re-recorded theme (from pop rock to a synth-heavy new wave. By this time, too, all four of the girls were wearing new wave fashions and were blatant examples of having EightiesHair. Also, Charlotte Rae reduced her role significantly, not appearing at all in some episodes.
** '''Season 8 (1986-1987)''': Creator/ClorisLeachman replacing Charlotte Rae as the "housemother," Beverly Ann Stickle, and confidant to Blair, Jo, Natalie and Tootie. Also, Beverly Ann [[CousinOliver adopting]] Andy Moffett, a street orphan who had started working at Over Our Heads as an errand boy.
** '''Season 9 (1987-1988)''': Several new characters, most notably Sherrie Krenn (Austin, the future country singer) as Australian foreign exchange student Pippa [=McKenna=]. The series was still (amazingly) going strong, and it was finally several of the key cast members -- most notably Creator/MindyCohn and Creator/NancyMcKeon -- deciding to leave after the end of the season that put the kabosh on the most radical changes of them all for a planned Season 10: An {{Aftershow}} -- based on the two-part Season 9 finale, wherein Blair learns that Eastland is in severe financial trouble and uses her wealth to purchase the assets of Eastland, then becomes the school's headmistress -- with a bunch of all-new students (played by then-child stars Creator/MayimBialik, Creator/SethGreen and Creator/JulietteLewis) that would have made the show essentially reminiscent of the first two seasons.
* ''Series/FamilyMatters'' lampshades this in the eighth season when Steve Urkel shows Carl his time machine. In response, Carl lists off all of Steve's other major inventions and is unfazed at what he's been told. Considering that Urkel wasn't even present in the first season, the presence of out-and-out science fiction elements are a jarring contrast to the rather conventional DomCom the show started as.
* The sixth season of ''Series/GimmeABreak'' saw the show go under a minor {{Retool}}, with the setting being changed from Glenlawn to UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, the Kanisky daughters being written out, and [[CousinOliver the introduction of Joey's brother Matt.]]
* ''Series/{{Glee}}'': The show began relying less and less on having musical numbers only take place in the choir room or in someone's imagination, and had characters bursting into song whenever they feel like it. Not to mention all the crazy subplots involving Sue, such as hypnotizing Sam. Also, the tribute episodes became more frequent, as they would often let the songs write the stories, rather than vice versa.
* ''Series/HappyDays'':
** '''Season 8''': Creator/RonHoward and Don Most, having played original lead character Richie Cunningham and close friend Ralph Malph respectively, leave the series. Since the show was all about Fonzie already, that wasn't so much a late-installment weirdness, but especially with Season 9, the focus was now shifted over to [[OfficialCouple Joanie (Richie's sister) and Chachi]].
** '''Season 11''': The rescored theme and change from the vintage-1950s style jukeboxes to the more modern late-1960s models.
* ''Series/{{Haven}}'' in its later seasons became much more serialized than before. The earlier seasons tended to be more ''Series/TheXFiles''-esque MonsterOfTheWeek with elements of a greater MythArc hinted at (mostly about Audrey's origins, as well as the origins of the Troubles). The later seasons moved the MythArc front and center and became more LovecraftLite. The second half of season 5 (the final season) bordered on full-on CosmicHorrorStory.
* ''Series/HeeHaw'': Began with the 1986-1987 season, the first in which co-host Roy Clark went solo, as Music/BuckOwens had departed to go into self-imposed retirement. The show, however, carried on well as Clark's natural charisma and chemistry with his co-hosts continued to make the show a bonafide hit. It was in the late fall of 1991, however, when the show went into a different direction: A completely new set (a shopping mall and nightclub), new cast members -- some of them left, others had passed away through the years -- and an emphasis on pop-country singers alienated longtime viewers to a point where the show was now a disaster. The show redeemed itself somewhat in the final season when it began airing as ''Hee Haw Silver'' and focused on clips from the first 20 or so years (with most of those segments coming from the early to mid-1970s).
* ''Series/{{House}}'' began two of the last three seasons with [[MultiPartEpisode Two-Part Episodes]] dedicated to the title character escaping a mental institution and prison, respectively. He also ended up in a romantic relationship with Dr. Cuddy, who was completely absent for the final season.
* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'': The final season, barring the last two episodes, [[ExtremelyShortTimespan takes place over the course of three days]] while all previous seasons took place over a year (usually from September to May). As the main cast stay at the the Farhampton Inn [[spoiler:for the wedding of Barney and Robin]], the familiar [=MacLaren=]'s Pub only appears in a few flashbacks.
* The final season of ''Series/JudgeJudy'' replaced longtime narrator Jerry Bishop with Steve Kamer, as Bishop died in 2020. Additionally, the season was produced during the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, meaning the audience is missing. As a consequence, the usual crane shot of the audience as the narrator says, "And now, the next case..." between the post-case litigant interviews and Bailiff Hawkins-Byrd calling for the next case's litigants had to be dropped.
* ''Series/Kaamelott'' starts subtly including more serious elements and continuity in its short comedy format from as early as season 3 (during which the conflict between Arthur and Lancelot slowly builds up), but the series pulls such a strong CerebusSyndrome in season 5 that it became the {{Trope Namer|s}} on the French side of the wiki. Season 6 is an almost season-long flashback to Arthur's youth in the Roman legion. Aditionally, the 5-minute episodes of seasons 1 to 4 stretch out to a full 45 minutes in seasons 5 and 6.
* ''Series/LawAndOrder'' was almost adamant about not focusing on the personal lives of its characters, feeding us information only through the various tidbits one might drop to a co-worker, but rarely, if ever showing it. Which is why the Season 6 episode "Aftershock" was such a shocking departure from the norm as it featured no case and for once actually did focus heavily on the main cast. For the next 2-3 seasons, there was a greater emphasis on the characters' personal lives (Lenny's daughter's legal troubles, Jamie's ex-husband suing her for custody, etc.).
* ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'' suffered from the same fate about halfway into its run. After original showrunner Rene Balcer left the series, his replacement Warren Leight began to retool the series into more of a CrimeTimeSoap akin to [[Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit the Sex Crimes Division]] and begin to focus more of Goren's dysfunctional family and apparent diminishing sanity, Eames learning that her slain cop husband's killer was wrongfully convicted, Wheeler's fiancee was a dirty [=FBI=] agent and a completely [[AssPull out of nowhere attraction]] between the former two detectives that wasn't even hinted at in the earlier years.
* ''Series/LaFemmeNikita'' (not to be confused with the CW drama simply named ''Series/{{Nikita}}'') got a short PostScriptSeason after being UnCanceled. Apparently a lot of the actors had gone their separate ways, because some major characters either vanished or died, and even with replacements the cast was smaller. Even one actor who remained played a different character ([[spoiler:Birkoff's twin brother from a prior episode replaces him after his death]].) Also, Michael's role is quite different than in seasons past. Even in scenes when most of the faces onscreen are ones you know, the world after the events of the intended SeriesFinale is ''not'' the one you know.
* ''Series/{{MacGyver|1985}}'': A mild example is the last seasons: while it remained a show about a ScienceHero (and the {{Trope Namer|s}} for MacGyvering), situations where he had to use his skills included defusing a ScoobyDooHoax regarding Bigfoot, a TimeTravel OrWasItADream episode where he went back to the Middle Ages and had to adventure alongside Merlin, an adventure that took place ''in the afterlife''.
* ''Series/{{MASH}}''. Although the subject of SeasonalRot has always been up for debate, it's often agreed that the show's ultimate turn for the worse began with Season Eight: by that time, Creator/AlanAlda and Burt Metcalfe had completely overhauled the production staff and replaced almost all of the writers, shifting the tone of the show from a sitcom with dramatic undertones to a drama with comedic undertones; with CerebusSyndrome set in, as well the loss of Radar and an end to Klinger's Section 8 schemes - including running around in dresses ([[WordOfGod even Harry Morgan once remarked, "When we lost Radar, we essentially lost Klinger as well"]]), the last four seasons are much regarded as an almost entirely different show altogether.
* ''Series/MiamiVice''[='=]s final seasons also included an escalation in odd episodes, such as one of the characters [[AlienAbduction being abducted by aliens]] (the leader of which was played by Music/JamesBrown), a group of drug dealers doing a ScoobyDooHoax regarding ghosts to try to keep people away from their operation (and the ghost being probably RealAfterAll), Sonny going through EasyAmnesia (and temporarily becoming a bad guy) in one episode, a couple of "comedy" episodes where the Vice detectives had to deal with borderline-murderous [[GambitPileup Gambit Pileups]] regarding the purchase of unusual items (a prize bull's semen in one, the HumanPopsicle remains of a famous singer in another) from the same ButtMonkey ConMan snitch...
* ''Series/TheMindyProject''[='=]s seasons after its ChannelHop to Creator/{{Hulu}} feature more experimental/wacky episodes, such as an ItsAWonderfulPlot episode where Mindy never dated Danny (instead she's married to a TV producer played by Creator/JosephGordonLevitt), a GroundhogDayLoop episode after Ben breaks up with her, and another episode where Mindy wakes up in the body of a [[WhiteMaleLead white man]].
* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'', following its ChannelHop to the [[Creator/SyFy Sci-Fi Channel]], had a lot of changes thanks to a wondrous amount of ExecutiveMeddling. The biggest change was that it gained a plot - Season 8 had Mike and the Bots chased by Pearl Forrester and her two henchmen, Season 9 had everyone return to Earth and Pearl setting up shop in Castle Forrester and Season 10 had Pearl try to get her Mad Scientist's credentials (though 9 and 10 didn't have the same strict continuity of season 8 and the episodes were again self-contained). The movies in this era were heavily either science fiction or fantasy-based movies (as per Sci-Fi's wishes that the films be within the network's name genre) with Season 10 loosening up due to it being the final season (of the original run).
* ''Series/OnceUponATime'':
** The first half of Season 6 introduced characters from 'The Land of Untold Stories'. As opposed to fairy tales, these featured characters like Dr Jekyll, Captain Nemo, Edmund Dantes - without a notable arc villain like the others. The second half of the season however went back to familiar roots, with the Black Fairy taking over as the villain.
** The seventh season saw the departure of Emma, Snow, Charming, Belle and Henry as series regulars - and was instead centered around an adult Henry who believes his childhood adventures were just stories he made up. It also featured new versions of characters the show had already used - for example Henry's lover is Cinderella, but not the same one who had appeared in the previous seasons.
* The last couple of seasons of ''Series/{{Oz}}'' were increasingly experimental and included a MusicalEpisode, Cyril O'Reilly developing Multiple Personality Disorder on top of brain damage, a drug that causes artificial aging, and an ever-increasing body count.
* The later episodes of ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'' are easily recognizable:
** The frequent {{Friendship Moment}}s between Leslie and Ann are completely absent, following the latter's departure.
** On a lesser scale, Garry Gergich, who had been referred to as "Jerry" throughout the series' run, was renamed to "Larry Gengurch" by April, then to "Terry", and ultimately to "Garry", his actual name.
** Most obviously, in the final season, there is a TimeSkip to [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture 3 years later]]. The show's setting has changed beyond belief, as basically [[ArtifactTitle the entire cast except Craig no longer works in the Parks Department]]. This meant that the iconic office goes unused for most of the season, only reappearing for any significant length once or twice.
** The format itself changed in the final season, as episodes no longer had [[TheTag tags]].
* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'':
** ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'', originally envisioned as the GrandFinale, is much darker than every other series before it and utilizing new naming conventions that aren't used elsewhere. The events of the season were later retconned into being in an alternate universe, to provide for crossovers.
** ''Series/PowerRangersSamurai'' was the first series since the original ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' to have more than one season. Of course, this was less through popularity and more because of the ChannelHop leading to a change in how series were released.
** ''Series/PowerRangersBeastMorphers'' was produced during the transition from Saban Brands to Hasbro; unusually, Hasbro chose to go back and adapt a Sentai, ''Series/TokumeiSentaiGoBusters'', previously skipped over by Saban (mostly because of the show bombing in Japan). Between this and recently-revealed ExecutiveMeddling on the part of Haim Saban (who was still creative consultant) the show feels somewhat odd at times, wanting to [[ContinuityPorn embrace continuity]], but thanks to Saban's demands they couldn't develop much between episodes. There's also the brief appearance of Captain Chaku, which adapts the ''Series/SpaceSheriffGavan'' crossover and therefore also feels out of place.
* ''Series/ThePractice'' became an entirely different show in its final season, a good deal of the cast, main lead Bobby Donaldson included, replaced. It was basically a ''season-long'' PoorlyDisguisedPilot for ''Series/BostonLegal''.
* The concept of the show ''Promised Land'' (a SpinOff of ''Series/TouchedByAnAngel'') had the Greene family traveling around the country to help people, but in the show's third and final season, they settled permanently into a community by the final season.
* ''Series/ThePrisoner1967'' spent the first twelve of its seventeen episodes (in production order) confined almost exclusively to The Village, where the lead character Number 6 was imprisoned. But the next four episodes to be produced all spent the majority of their runtimes (apparently) outside the Village, with increasingly [[BizarroEpisode bizarre]] in-universe reasons for doing so without having Number Six actually escape the Village:
** The 13th produced episode, "[[Recap/ThePrisonerE7ManyHappyReturns Many Happy Returns]]", simply has Number 6 escape from the Village after finding it deserted, [[spoiler:only to be brought back at the end of the episode]].
** The 14th produced episode, "[[Recap/ThePrisonerE13DoNotForsakeMeOhMyDarling Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling]]", cranks up the weirdness by having Number 6's mind be transplanted into the body of another person; he spends the majority of the episode outside the Village in his new body, before [[spoiler:being brought back at the end and returned to his original body]].
** The 15th produced episode, "[[Recap/ThePrisonerE14LivingInHarmony Living in Harmony]]", makes things weirder still by having Number Six be apparently become a sheriff in an American [[TheWestern Western]]. Only in the final few minutes is it revealed that [[spoiler: Number Six is still in the Village, under the influence of hallucinogenic drugs]].
** The 16th and penultimate produced episode, "[[Recap/ThePrisonerE15TheGirlWhoWasDeath The Girl Who Was Death]]", has Number Six apparently back in his old life as a superspy, pursuing a female assassin across England. Only at the very end is it revealed that [[spoiler: he is simply reading a bedtime story about himself to the Village children]].
** The 17th and final episode, "[[Recap/ThePrisonerE17FallOut Fall Out]]", returned to being set mainly in the Village, but was enough of a BizarroEpisode to count as "Later Installment Weirdness" in its own right.
* ''Series/QuantumLeap'''s fifth season, in an effort to boost sagging ratings (with a dose of ExecutiveMeddling), did away with some of the series' rules, particularly the one that stated that Sam couldn't Leap outside his own lifespan (he was born in 1953) and wouldn't Leap into anybody famous or interact with anyone famous other than possibly a brief cameo (a very young Michael Jackson[[note]]a young actor portraying him, not the actual person[[/note]] and Buddy Holly, among others, appeared in earlier seasons). In the season opener, he Leaped into Lee Harvey Oswald, and later that season into Elvis Presley, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Marilyn Monroe's limo driver, and a captain during the Civil War. There were also a lot more "stunt" episodes (such as a trilogy with "evil Leapers," more views of the future, a host who may or may not have been a vampire, etc.), to the point that very few episodes were the simple, standalone, SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong, quiet, personal episodes of seasons past, and the theme song was rewritten to be more bombastic. The series finale (which had been written long before), despite being a MindScrew in its own right, fortunately returns to the tone of previous seasons.
* ''Series/{{Quantico}}'' went in a different direction for its third and final season, completely removing the dual timelines and rather than a single plot, whose important figures were slowly given the spotlight to show how they were part of it, it features standalone episodes with little to no connection between them, until the second half of the season who gave the team a recurring antagonist in Conor Devlin and more connected missions.
* ''Series/RaisingHope'' in the fourth (and final) season. The focus of the show shifts away from Jimmy and Sabrina and more towards Jimmy's parents, Burt and Virginia. Notably the titular child, Hope, despite being four years old at the time of the fourth season has next to no dialogue. This wasn't as big of a deal in previous seasons as she was a baby in the first two seasons and a toddler in the third, but this becomes especially jarring considering she gets maybe ten lines of dialogue by the time she's pre-school age.
* ''Series/{{Riverdale}}'': From the first to fifth season, the show was generally consistent with being a genre mixture of murder mysteries, soap opera, teen romance/drama, and a ComingOfAgeStory for Archie and his friends. And most supernatural elements during that time were eventually revealed to be a ScoobyDooHoax of some kind. However, by the sixth season, things really get changed up because supernatural elements and magic become very real for the town, Archie and many of his close friends get superpowers, and parallel worlds like Rivervale are dealt with for the first time.
* ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'' was a show about a blue collar family trying to make ends meet. Having been told that the ninth season would be their last, the creators had the Conners win the lottery. Even aside from that ReTool, there were a lot of odd episodes, set in a character's imagination or depicting Roseanne fighting terrorists. The GrandFinale also reveals that the events of the entire series were all a book that Roseanne was writing, making the last season fall under MentalStory as well. The 2017 renewal [[CanonDiscontinuity removed all these changes]], except for the birth of Darlene and David's daughter, Harris[[note]]though she's a teenager in the revival, which doesn't really fit the timeline[[/note]]. The ninth season also changed the theme song, which had been entirely instrumental before.
* ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'''s seventh season saw the sudden departure of both Sabrina's aunts, due to both actresses wanting off the show. As a result, Sabrina's two college friends Roxie and Morgan now live in the Spellman house. While WorkCom elements had come in ever since Season 3, as Sabrina was now graduated from college, this has more emphasis on plots at her work.
* ''Series/SanfordAndSon'''s last couple of seasons are often regarded by many fans as being weaker and sillier compared to its earlier seasons, mainly due to the departure of the show's original black writers and producers, and replacing them with Jewish writers and producers, causing the show to lose its original authentic urban edge and ethnic vibe that made it such a stand-out and groundbreaking series (for its day) and instead relying on standard sitcom fluff and hijinks.
* The ninth season of ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' was a full-fledged retool that had a new cast of characters take priority while the previous cast was seen more sparingly or in leadership roles. In fact, series creator Creator/BillLawrence wanted to have the 9th season to have a new name (''Scrubs: Med School'') to separate it from the previous ones (as the difference was just that stark), but was prevented from doing so by Creator/{{ABC}}.
* ''Series/SearchParty'' started out as a DarkComedy/satire about Millennial {{hipster}}s, but by the fourth season had an extended ''Film/SilenceOfTheLambs''-esque plot and the fifth and final season ends with a [[spoiler: ZombieApocalypse]].
* The last two seasons of ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' have often been panned by viewers and critics alike; with the departure of series co-creator and showrunner Creator/LarryDavid, many complained that the storylines became increasingly absurd, far-fetched, and unbelievable.
* ''{{Series/Shadowhunters}}'''s first two seasons had Valentine as the main villain. The third and final season has Lilith in this role.
* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' had many actors' contracts expire, so the last two seasons show him growing into a more Superman-like role, leaving behind old characters, old settings, and increasingly, ''the town in the title.'' The last two seasons are a Superman series in all but name. The changes happen gradually enough that it feel organic--just as in real life, the "cast" of your childhood life is demoted to RecurringCharacter as new regulars appear.
* ''Series/SpartacusBloodAndSand'''s first and prequel season can be distinguished from the second and third by taking place in the ludus of Quintus Batiatus and having a divide of plots between the nobles upstairs and gladiators downstairs. The second season did have the characters now free and fighting as a rebel army, but still had numerous familiar faces, and continued Spartacus's quest to get revenge on Glaber. The final season ''War of the Damned'' picked up after eleven major characters had died in the previous season, and Marcus Crassus is the main antagonist. As Spartacus's sometimes love interest Mira died in the Season 2 finale, this season pairs him with an exiled Roman noblewoman Laeta. Part of what makes this season more different from the rest is that they were only given one more, when several had been planned, meaning it had to hurriedly wrap things up.
* ''Series/StargateSG1'', where the primary enemies the Goa'uld were diminished in threat by the end of the eighth season, and the ninth season opened establishing a new BigBad in the Ori. In addition there were several cast changes as Richard Dean Anderson left the show and only came back in sporadic guest appearances. The show's last few seasons happened to follow the endings of several other beloved sci-fi shows, and the show imported actors from those shows, most notably Ben Browder and Claudia Black from ''Series/{{Farscape}}''.
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
** The series began as a science fiction series [[MinovskyPhysics with at least a pretense of hardness]] about a human-run [[MilitaryScienceFiction elite paramilitary organization]] that sent out their [[CoolStarship best Starship]] to [[BoldExplorer explore outer space]]. Many plots revolved around how the humans handled encountering the strangeness of the universe, while occasionally segueing into SpaceOpera. Since then, newer writers have incorporated many elements of contemporary and post-contemporary science-fiction, with the [[SpiritualAntithesis following installments]] sometimes resembling ''Franchise/StarWars'' outings.
** The final season of the original series. Many critics and fans felt that the show was growing far cheesier and more far-fetched, and the show’s logo changed from yellow to blue and the theme tune was slightly remixed. Some of the cast and crew later admitted they knew season 3 was going to be the last season and stopped caring as much about the quality of the episodes.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'':
** The logo was changed during the fifth season, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsxgcLf0TSY to give it a swoosh]] similar to ''Film/SupermanTheMovie''. It was removed the following season.
** In the Season 6 episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E10ChainOfCommand Chain of Command]]", Captain Jellico, as one of his initial orders as new captain of the ''Enterprise'', has Deanna Troi get out of the goofy purple outfit she wore and into an actual uniform. She stays in uniform for the rest of the series and into the movie era, much to actress Creator/MarinaSirtis' relief and the joy of Troi's fans.
** In Season 7, writers were apparently unable to resolve the BelligerentSexualTension between either Riker and Troi or Picard and Dr. Crusher, thus the writers decided the best thing to do was pair Troi with Worf! According to WordOfGod, they'd thought about pairing Troi and Worf since season 5. While Creator/MichaelDorn wished things continued, it didn't get anywhere and it would a end few years later when Riker and Troi were ultimately married in ''Film/StarTrekNemesis''.
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': Jadzia Dax was killed off at the end of Season 6 and was replaced with a new host, Ezri Dax, for season seven. We then had several episodes focusing on Ezri getting to grips with being a host and managing several lifetimes of new memories, exploring her background, and meeting her family. We didn't have this much focus on Jadzia in six years; we never saw her sister (mentioned once) and her original pre-joining surname was never established. There was also focus on the fallout from Ezri and Worf, Jadzia's widower, being stationed together (which seems to have defied a Trill law earlier in the show about Trills not associating with the husbands/wives of past hosts).
* ''Series/That70sShow'': For the first 4 seasons of the show, each episode had an original title. Starting with season 5, [[IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming each season's episodes would share their titles with the songs of a '70s rock group]] (season 5: Music/LedZeppelin; season 6: Music/TheWho; season 7: Music/{{The Rolling Stones|Band}}; season 8: Music/{{Queen}}).
* ''Series/TilDeath'' got downright surreal in its final season when nobody was watching, including Doug [[MediumAwareness realizing he's a character in a sitcom]] and his girlfriend [[TheOtherDarrin keeps getting recast]], Creator/MayimBialik as a therapist who is really Mayim Bialik in a reality show, and other bizarre adventures.
* As ''Series/TwentyOneJumpStreet'' reached the end of its run and lost more original cast members, the series still focused mainly on campus cases, but mixed in episodes strictly dealing with adult perps, such as "Shirts and Skins," which was about the murder of a neo-Nazi leader amid the conflict between his group's two factions, with a side plot featuring the anti-racism vigilantes (led by a middle-aged man, no less) who turned out to be not so different from the neo-Nazis.
* Not that ''Series/TwinPeaks'' wasn't weird to begin with but its third season completely abandons all the wacky soap-opera elements and turns into a full-on CosmicHorrorStory full of BodyHorror, NightmareFuel and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking a lot of]] [[ClusterFBomb swearing]]. Airing on adult-only Showtime instead of the original Creator/{{ABC}} helps.
* ''Series/TwoAndAHalfMen'' was almost intentional. After Charlie Harper is killed off off-camera (due to Creator/CharlieSheen's [[RoleEndingMisdemeanor meltdown resulting in his termination with the show]]), Alan and Jake end up befriending and living with the weirdly named Walden Schmidt, and Jake also lampshades the changes in his character and attributes his "awkward years" to puberty as he becomes more and more of a sociopathic horndog who suddenly joins the Army at one point, leaving Alan and Walden in an Odd Couple-esque setting.
* The final season of ''Series/TheVirginian'' was subtitled ''Men From Shiloh''. The previous season's cast was overhauled (with only the Virginian and Trampas remaining), the series adopted a decidedly more SpaghettiWestern atmosphere, and the episodes focused more on the individual characters on a rotating basis instead of on the cast as an ensemble.
* The teleroman ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginie Virginie]]'' had a weird case of LongRunnerCastTurnover in 2007 when the CharacterTitle [[PassingTheTorch passed the torch]] to a younger Virginie teaching at the same school. The show was running since September 1996 and already broke the longevity record for Quebec fictionalized television with its 1221'st episode in 2006 when the actress decided to quit.
* ''Series/WalkerTexasRanger:'' By its final seasons, it was still an action-adventure series based on Texas, but many odd episodes occurred, including several [[VerySpecialEpisode Very Special Episodes]] with faith-based special guests, rampaging evil spirits, an AllJustADream episode occurring on the Old West, people stealing super-weapons [[CutLexLuthorACheck to use to take on Walker]], an episode where Walker and friends must find a missing kid that is being helped by a stereotypical RobotBuddy, and the final episode featuring as a foe a [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke genetically-engineered]] ImplacableMan SuperSoldier who's creation was funded by a RightWingMilitiaFanatic group.
* The final season of ''Wind At My Back'' is usually regarded as an unusual point in the series' run, mostly due in part to addition of a new head writer who, apparently, wasn't even really familiar enough with the show, or its characters, to continue their stories in a direction that reflected the previous four seasons.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* The ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' series started out in a UsefulNotes/WorldWarII setting until ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty4ModernWarfare'', the game in which the series mostly abandoned its WWII roots in favor of contemporary, near-future or even downright sci-fi settings, to the point that when the series finally returned to its original setting ''9 years'' after the last outing, [[VideoGame/CallOfDutyWWII it had to specifically mention it in the title.]]
* ''VideoGame/TheClueFinders'':
** ''6th grade'' and ''Search and Solve'' featured only two "worlds", whereas previous games (Sans ''Math 9-12'') featured three.
** ''The Incredible Toy Store Adventure'' only featured one "World", both teams were gathering resources (Though only Joni&Owen traveled, Leslie&Santiago only did one challenge) and thus took turns giving hints. Additionally, Ali-trap (seen in ''Reading'' as a "Little Trap") accompanied the team.
*** ''The Incredible Toy Store Adenture'' (As well as ''Mystery Mansion Arcade'') had different voice actors.
** ''6th grade'' and ''Reading 9-12'' also used way more [[TwoDVisualsThreeDEffects CGI]] and were darker in tone. Almost disturbingly so.
** In the grade-based titles and ''Math Adventures'', the sign-in screen is presented as a kind of contract in which you are putting your name down to help the [=ClueFinders=] on their adventure despite all the danger it will undoubtedly entail. This concept is dropped from ''Reading Adventures'' onwards, and ''Incredible Toy Store Adventure'' redesigns the sign-in screen entirely.
* ''VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution'':
** The 2013 ''DDR'' game no longer causes Goods to break combos or decrease "battery" life meters, which can come off as a shock to longtime fans of the series.
** Games up to ''[=DanceDanceRevolution=] [=SuperNOVA=]'' use tracks from the ''Dancemania'' album series for licensed songs, due to the series at the time being a partnership with Toshiba EMI (now EMI Music Japan) which produced ''Dancemania''; the idea being that ''DDR'' is a means through which the ''Dancemania'' albums are publicized. Additionally, because EMI handled the soundtracks for these games, licensed tracks could be included on ''DDR'' soundtracks. As such, it can come off as a shock to play newer ''DDR'' games, as 1. those games use largely different sources for licensed songs, and 2. these games do not have licensed songs on their soundtracks.
* ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey'':
** ''VideoGame/EtrianOdysseyVBeyondTheMyth'', despite harkening back to the traditional floor-to-floor gameplay progression from the first three games after the fourth installment (''Legends of the Titan'') overhauled it by distributing the dungeons across an added overworld and the ''Untold'' remakes took a story-centric approach with pre-defined characters, has some major anomalies that make it stand out from both the traditional entries and the non-standard ones:
*** It is the only installment in the series to lack the three signature Elemental Dragons that served as {{Optional Boss}}es in previous games. They're replaced by all-new opponents. This also means the classic {{Superboss}} music theme of the series ("Scatter About") is absent -- this game's superbosses use instead a remixed version of the sea battle theme of ''The Drowned City'' (also heard in ''Legends of the Titan'' during mini-boss battles).
*** The sub-classing system from previous games (which allowed party characters to add a secondary class to complement their primary class and earn extra abilities) is eschewed in favor of the Legendary Title system: Each class can now be extended into one of two branches, each having its set of skills and features, after the second boss of the game is defeated. It is not possible to have both branches at a time, and the only way to switch from one branch to the other is by giving the character a rest (which is penalized by lowering their current level by two).
*** The weapon forging system works differently. In previous games, by collecting special hammers in the strata or mazes, it was possible to imbue attributes (like the ability to inflict a specific ailment, elemental input, or higher critical hit rate to enemies and bosses, or raising slightly a particular stat to the wielder) to existing weapons as long as they had available slots. Here, in absence of the hammers, it's no longer possible to imbue anything external to weapons; forging now increases the attack stats (physical and elemental) of the weapon, raising its level by one. It can be raised to up to Level 5, and it's no longer strictly necessary to apply the materials that were used to craft the weapon in the first place: If you run out of the required material(s) and don't feel like grinding, you can use metal-based ingots instead (be warned that those are rare, so it's best to only use them for weapons crafted with ''very'' rare materials). This change is retained in ''Nexus''.
*** On a cosmetic level, the gameplay interface eschews the style used in all past games in favor of one that would not look out of place in a science fiction or SolarPunk game (especially considering [[spoiler:the futuristic theme of the fifth and sixth strata]]), with heavy use of rounded edges and sans-serif fonts. This interface style is kept (sans a few changes) in ''Nexus''.
*** Character customization has been greatly expanded on. Not only can you choose eye, hair, and skin color, but you can choose the former two color categories with RGB sliders, unlike in past games where each character design has only one alternate palette. You can also assign voices to characters; while the ''Untold'' games also have voices, they are only for Story Mode characters and not your made-from-scratch Classic Mode characters.
*** The TEC stat, which determines magic attack and magic defense, was split into two new stats, INT for magic attack and WIS for magic defense.
** ''VideoGame/EtrianOdysseyNexus'': Many of its oddities can be chalked up to being a MegamixGame, but one that particularly stands out are how geomagnetic poles work in this game. In past games, they serve as save points and warps back to town. In ''Nexus'', however, the poles are used to travel to new locations and only appear in Shrines, rather than in every major dungeon.
* ''VideoGame/FatalFury'':
** ''VideoGame/GarouMarkOfTheWolves'' did away with the plane-shifting mechanic (where characters could sidestep into the background or foreground to dodge and counter attacks) present throughout the rest of the series, making it play more like a ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters King of Fighters]]'' game than a ''Fatal Fury'' game. ''Real Bout Fatal Fury 2'' eased into this somewhat, however, as some stages had no extra planes.
** ''Real Bout Fatal Fury'' introduced {{Ring Out}}s, where a player could smash their opponent against the edge of the stage until they break through a barrier and fall out of the ring. This mechanic was immediately dropped in ''Real Bout Fatal Fury 2''.
** ''Real Bout Fatal Fury 2'' is incredibly stripped down in terms of presentation. No pre-battle or victory quotes, no intro animations, a victory animation only at the end of the fight, and a very quick and generic stage transition and vs. screen. The game feels like it's trying to rush you through fights as quickly as possible.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'' doesn't feature [[RecurringElement any character named Cid]] nor is the name Cid ever mentioned. The original ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' had a Cid, but he was introduced halfway through the game, and the remake only adapts the Midgar arc. Since the game is going to get two sequels which will recount arcs after Midgar, Cid is most certainly going to appear in at least one of them, but still, the change from a multiple-disc game to a full-on trilogy released separately made the remake the first game released after ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII'' that doesn't feature any Cid whatsoever.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'':
** ''Shadowbringers'' was heavily beloved, but there was one thing that shocked and disappointed many fans -- the new Gunbreaker and Dancer jobs did not have any awesome-looking gear for anything below Level 60 and even there, the only Level 60 gear you get is the stuff they start with (which are simply recolors of existing gear) and the Shire gear from the very end of ''Heavensward'', so fans couldn't get Gunblades who chirp "Kupo!" upon unsheathing or chakrams infused with the power of Nidhogg.
** ''Shadowbringers'' likewise eschews the Deep Dungeon and Hildibrand side content (a staple since ''Heavensward'' and ''A Realm Reborn'' respectively) in exchange for different content like the Ishgard Restoration Project (one of the first pieces of content to focus heavily on crafting classes since the Ixal beast tribe quests before ''Heavensward'') and group fishing on a boat.
** ''Shadowbringers'' also came with some major changes to the combat system, chief among them a rebalance to MP - now every class has a flat cap of 10,000 and every spell that uses it uses a fixed amount, rather than both fluctuating and increasing as you gain levels and put on better gear - as well as the removal or simplification of several skills and mechanics, even if the class once heavily relied on them (Machinist no longer having its ammo-management mechanic or any penalty for letting their weapon {{overheat|ing}} too much, Astrologian's card-drawing buffs were simplified into simple damage boosts for either ranged or melee-focused classes) or the skill is a ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' staple (healers can no longer use Protect -- something the devs were planning on removing in an earlier expansion, but didn't do so ''because'' it's such an iconic spell).
* ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys4'' from the ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'' series manages to completely reverse much of the series formula. In this game, the PlayerCharacter is not a security guard on night shift, but a little boy in his own bedroom. As such, there's no camera system to keep an eye on the animatronics, nor any finicky electronic tools to ward them off; the boy has to move from his starting position to check his bed, closet, and hallways to keep the animatronics from attacking. Whereas previous games in the series challenged the player's reflexes, this game challenges the player's patience.
* ''VideoGame/GameAndWatch'': Of the twelve titles released after 1985, eight of them have only one game mode: the last two Multi-Screen games ''Gold Cliff'' and ''Zelda'' and both Crystal and New Wide Screen versions of ''Super Mario Bros.'', ''Climber'' and ''Balloon Fight''. ''Gold Cliff'' and ''Zelda'', two of the last games in the series, are the only ones with a Continue option.
* ''VideoGame/{{jubeat}}''[='=]s online matching used to put you in multiplayer score attack rounds with other players playing the same song, which is to be expected...but then ''jubeat clan'' changes matching so that the people you match with ''may not be playing the same song''.
* ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'':
** ''VideoGame/Kirby64TheCrystalShards'', the final game in the "Dark Matter Trilogy" (a series of ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'' games directed by Shinichi Shimomura that feature Kirby repeatedly battling a mysterious entity known as "Dark Matter"), notably replaces the Animal Friends, who had defined the gameplay style of the [[VideoGame/KirbysDreamLand2 previous]] [[VideoGame/KirbysDreamLand3 two]] games in the trilogy, with the ability to combine Copy Abilities. The game also uses a [=2.5D=] visual presentation rather than a [=2D=] one, features a far more in-depth story than previous titles (using cutscenes between each world to show different parts of the adventure), and is set on multiple planets rather than being limited to Pop Star. As for the cast, the protagonists are much more varied and elaborate, with the use of narrative cutscenes allowing for the main and supporting cast to be better expanded upon; previous entries limited the protagonists to Kirby and the Animal Friends (and Gooey), who were noticeably flatter due to the more minimalist storytelling of ''Dream Land 2'' and ''Dream Land 3''. Overall, it's a very different game than previous Shimomura titles.
** Games directed from Shinya Kumazaki's era onwards, would feature a permanent return to ''Super Star'''s ability movesets, as Dark Matter and Game Boy Advance onwards titles would still stick with mostly one attack abilities. In ''Return to Dream Land'' onwards, bosses would return to having two phases in their battles as ''Dream Land 3'' and ''Kirby 64'' would show. All the games forwards would start your player off with 7 lives instead of three or two.
** ''VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies'': Despite reusing the same engine and ability philosophy as previous games, Star Allies would deviate in major ways such as returning to the helper formula of Super Star, and placing a much bigger emphasis on Elemental Abilities and helpers, as various level puzzles will require the player to recruit a specific team of critters to claim its reward. The game's structure showed a major revamp, nixing the previous three games' formula of 7/6 thematic worlds with one boss on its end, now resorting to treating each world like a story chapter and featuring multiple bosses per world, as well as limiting the story to 4 worlds, closer to Super Star's subgame story formula.
* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' has a few oddities in relation to previous games in the series. Link starts with six hearts instead of three, his dash motion is regulated by a stamina meter, and the dungeons have all their own entrance cutscenes, lack compasses (the maps retain their properties) and boss keys (replaced instead with special objects that have to be assembled correctly into the boss gates). It's also the only ''Zelda'' game since the NES and SNES games where certain bosses are fought more than once, and one of the only ones along with ''[[VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink The Adventure of Link]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask Majora's Mask]]'' where the Boomerang doesn't exist as an item (the Beetle serves its function instead). The exploration of the overworld's areas are more puzzle-based, as in the dungeons, and the saving process is relied on Bird Statues instead of a pause menu feature. Lastly, it's the second game (after ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaPhantomHourglass Phantom Hourglass]])'' to have a RealTimeWeaponChange, and the first to display an InventoryManagementPuzzle for secondary items like bottles, shields and ammunition bags. Since the game still plays functionally like the others in the series, it's still far from an OddballInTheSeries.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkBetweenWorlds'' gives Link access to nearly all items from Ravio's shop with the exception of the Sand Rod (which at first is being used by another character), not from the dungeons. Instead of getting them at certain points in the story for free, like you normally would, you have to rent the equipment (cheaper, but you lose it if you die) or buy it (each item is 800 to 1200 rupees). While all dungeons past the first four do have treasure items, they're of the Quest Status category (Blue Mail, Master Ore pieces, etc.); and since each dungeon's layout is already present for view on the 3DS's touch screen, only the Compass is in need of being collected to locate the treasure chests (as opposed to ''Skyward Sword'' having only the map). Lastly, ''A Link Between Worlds'' is the first game since ''A Link to the Past'' to have more than nine dungeons, and the saving process is based on using Bird Statues. It also allows players to tackle the main set of dungeons in any order they please, instead of following the more linear story structure the series usually employs.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTriForceHeroes'' not only uses the mission-based levels of the ''Four Swords'' games, it also has a setting very much at odds with the rest of the series. There is no world-ending threat, just a princess in a fashionably questionable body sock [[spoiler: which she seems to change her mind about in the end]] who got cursed by a witch out of petty jealousy [[spoiler: or maybe not -- there's some hints she may have genuinely wanted to help but had poor fashion sense]]. Many of the traditional elements like Heart Containers and permanent upgrades that even ''Four Swords'' had have been left out as well.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' is odd in numerous ways.
*** Much of its weirdness comes from revisiting EarlyInstallmentWeirdness, where the overworld is basically open to explore but different areas have their own BeefGate. Dungeons can be completed in whatever order (baring rare instances of needing a specific item or ability to get in) and lots more secrets and hidden areas are said to be present.
*** Unlike nearly ever other ''Zelda'' game, which require [[PlotCoupon collecting specific items]] to win the day, players can finish the tutorial, then quite literally immediately glide over to the final boss, potentially ending the game in an hour or two. Granted, this is an incredibly difficult task if you aren't already familiar with the game's combat and mechanics, but it ''is'' possible to defeat Calamity Ganon from the very beginning of the adventure.
*** Most puzzles in the ''Zelda'' series have only one solution. ''Breath of the Wild'' changes the formula--while certain key story beats must be done in a particular way, nearly every single puzzle or challenge has multiple solutions that allow the player to experiment until they find a method that works for them. For example, when faced with brambles that must be burned, Link might cut a rope holding a lantern to set them on fire, carry a lit torch to the spot, use fire-based weapons to light the flame, or lure an enemy with fire-conjuring abilities to do the work for him. The game encourages this kind of outside-the-box thinking, and it's clear that no two players will complete the adventure in the same way.
*** Besides that, it also eschews a lot of items in favor of upgrades to the Sheikah Slate; and even then, the player has most of their important abilities by the time they've completed the tutorial. Weapons are acquired off the field as opposed to a standard sword that is always carried with Link (in other ''Zelda'' titles sometimes Link can pick up weapons from enemies but only as a temporary supplement to his primary weapon and he won't be able to use it anywhere but in the local area) and have limited durability (in the past only shields had durability ratings).
*** The game also requires players to pay close attention to the environment, which ''will'' kill you if you are not prepared. The temperature, time of day, geography, and weather must all be considered when setting out for a new area (exploring a desert means surviving scorching heat that will drain your health, for example). Players must either use item crafting (in the form of elixirs and foods that prevent adverse effects) or equip armor sets that offer protection against various dangers--and even then, the base-level equipment isn't enough to help. Instead, Link must restore Great Fairies hidden across the land and use their own brand of magic (another type of item crafting) to upgrade his armor to offer permanent shielding against cold, heat, and fire.
*** Finally, dungeons (long the primary focus of the series) are downplayed in favor of a larger, deeper overworld. There are only five main story dungeons (plus a huge number of much smaller, more focused shrines), and they have noticeably less focus, scale, and variety compared to previous installments, with the vast majority of gameplay focused on exploring and traveling across the overworld instead. All dungeons except Hyrule Castle also end up becoming [[OneTimeDungeon permanently inaccessible when cleared,]] something that rarely happened in past titles.
* The first few ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor'' games were about members of LaResistance in Europe and/or OSS members fighting the Germans [[TrappedBehindEnemyLines behind enemy lines]], usually in the form of a StealthBasedMission. Starting with ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonorAlliedAssault'' however, it became more {{actionized|Sequel}}, complete with fighting on the frontline alongside American Paratroopers and Army Rangers. Then the final few installments, namely ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonorPacificAssault'', ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonorVanguard'' and ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonorAirborne'', removed the OSS and Resistance aspect entirely, and instead focused on [[ElitesAreMoreGlamorous elite soldiers and Marines]] fighting in Europe and The Pacific, with nary a Stealth mission seen... and then the series performed a TimeSkip (even having characters that were descendants of those who appeared on the first games) and managed two games set during UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror (''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor2010'' and ''Medal of Honor: Warfighter'', which was also more arcade-style in gameplay) before [[FranchiseKiller seemingly giving up the ghost]].
* ''Franchise/MegaMan'':
** ''VideoGame/MegaMan8'' removed a lot of staple features in the [[VideoGame/MegaManClassic Classic series]], including Rush Coil and Jet (the only time Rush Jet appears is in an UnexpectedShmupLevel, while Rush Coil is replaced by Tornado Hold and a secret secondary function for the Mega Ball) with Rush gaining brand new modes instead, and doing away with E Tanks. It was also the first and only time (discounting the infamous DOS games) that Mega Man was able to swim underwater instead of sinking like a [[{{Pun}} rock]]. All of these changes were reverted in ''VideoGame/MegaMan9'' and ''[[VideoGame/MegaMan10 10]]'', but at the expense of two ''other'' mainstay mechanics: sliding and the [[ChargedAttack Charge Shot]].
** ''VideoGame/MegaMan11'' has a heavier focus on story and character development than most other Classic-series games, but is also the first TwoAndAHalfD game in the Classic series, displays Mega Man's PowerCopying using a different model instead of a PaletteSwap, and features Robot Master bosses that [[TurnsRed turn red]] (literally and figuratively) and switch up their patterns and attacks midway through the fight, instead of using the same one all the way, something only seen previously in ''VideoGame/MegaManX8'' and ''VideoGame/MegaManPoweredUp''.
** While the previous Game Boy games recycled Robot Masters from the NES games, ''VideoGame/MegaManV'' featured an all new cast of bosses in the form of the Stardroids (who also broke the SomethingPerson naming convention previous bosses had in favor of being named after planets), introduced Tango the cat as a new robot animal companion, and replaced Mega Man's [[ChargedAttack Charge Shot]] with the [[RocketPunch Mega Arm]].
** As for the music of the Classic series, of all 12 mainline games (including ''VideoGame/MegaManAndBass''), ''11'' is the only entry that reuses the same BGM theme for ''all'' post-Robot Master stages. Prior to that, ''[[VideoGame/MegaMan7 7]]'', ''8'', ''9'', and ''10'' went the extra mile and had different themes composed for each of their corresponding post-RM stages. This is in comparison to [[VideoGame/MegaMan1 the]] [[VideoGame/MegaMan2 fi]][[VideoGame/MegaMan3 rst]] [[VideoGame/MegaMan4 6]] [[VideoGame/MegaMan5 ent]][[VideoGame/MegaMan6 ries]] and ''[=MM&B=]'', which would have 2 or more stages accompanied by one theme and the other stages would have another.
** ''VideoGame/MegaManX5'', meant to be the GrandFinale of the ''[[VideoGame/MegaManX X]]'' series, made numerous changes to the X formula. Changes include X's Fourth Armor from [[VideoGame/MegaManX4 the previous game]] being available from the get-go (albeit with a few {{Nerf}}s); multiple armor sets for X that can be swapped out, but also function differently from past games in that ''all'' of the parts need to be collected before the armor can be used, instead of being able to wear part of an armor set and get the benefit from that specific piece; the ability to change between X and Zero in a single playthrough, only used previously in ''[[VideoGame/MegaManX3 X3]]'', in a limited capacity where Zero could only be used once per mission and would be made unavailable if he took too much damage; most of the game being a TimedMission; the nixing of Heart Tanks in favor of choosing between an upgrade to your max health or max weapon energy after beating a boss, alongside gaining certain equippable parts; the ability to crouch and ride on electric wires and the inability to shoot through walls; the introduction of Alia as MissionControl, who delivers information about the current stage you're on; variable boss HP levels, where bosses will get more health as you get closer to the time limit, but will also drop better parts; and, in the Western localization, once again breaking boss naming conventions in favor of [[ShoutOutThemeNaming naming bosses after]] members of Music/GunsNRoses (though the ''[[CompilationRerelease X Legacy Collection]]'' opted to give the ''X5'' bosses names closer to the original Japanese).
** ''VideoGame/MegaManX7'' was not only the first 3D entry in the series, but the title character wasn't even playable for most of it (new character Axl took his place instead). Unfortunately, the game (among other glaring issues) is considered to have poorly executed its VideoGame3DLeap, and ''VideoGame/MegaManX8'' both brought back X as playable from the start (Axl was given some gameplay changes to differentiate him from X) and settled for TwoAndAHalfD gameplay instead.
** After prior games in the ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' series gave the player a multitude of collectible single-use Cyber-Elves that can provide a multitude of boosts when used (though some of them penalize your end-of-level ranking), ''VideoGame/MegaManZero4'' only gave the player a single permanent Cyber-Elf at the start of the game with adjustable persistent boosts, and penalties are only incurred if you make it ''too'' powerful. In fact, a lot of ''Zero 4'' is kind of different from the previous three games in general: the Shield Boomerang and Rod weapons are removed in favor of the Z-Knuckle, which lets you strip foes of their weapons or grab on to certain ledges and ropes; elemental chips are gone in favor of making certain EX-skills and stolen weapons with the Z-Knuckle have elemental properties; a boss using their EX-skill for you to [[PowerCopying copy]] is dependent on the stage's weather rather than your ranking; you operate from a mobile trailer unit rather than the Resistance base of the previous two games; all eight normal bosses are available from the beginning, rather than in specific sets of four split by the mid-mission stage; even the musical style is different, such as Dr. Weil getting a new leitmotif that is noticeably more bombastic than the ominous one he had before. In a more meta instance, ''Zero 4'' having [[GrandFinale a proper conclusion]] also marks the ''Zero'' subseries as the first to be allowed to finish properly, compared to previous ''Mega Man'' subseries either just being LeftHanging (the Classic series until ''VideoGame/MegaMan9'', ''[[VideoGame/MegaManLegends Legends]]'') or given finales [[SeriesFauxnale that were immediately undone]] and ''then'' leaving the story hanging (''VideoGame/MegaManX5''; even ''Zero'' was originally supposed to end with [[VideoGame/MegaManZero 3 the third game]]).
** ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork6'' adds a secondary elemental wheel, has two entirely separate transformation mechanics instead of just one (with the returning mechanic being heavily reworked), and introduces new folder-building rules such as each chip's MB becoming relevant to the number of copies of said chip can be used. Story-wise, Lan and his family move from ACDC Town at the start of the game.
* ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'':
** ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'' is highly story-focused with hours of cutscenes and character dialogue, is far more linear and boasts less exploration than any of its predecessors, {{power up}}s are gotten by authorization instead of locating them in the environment, and enemies no longer drop collectibles (meaning that Samus has to use Concentration to refill).
** ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeFederationForce'' is a linear, team-based, mission-based multiplayer FPS with very few puzzle elements, no permanent upgrades (aside from optional [=MODs=]), little exploration, and focuses on the Galactic Federation Marine Corps rather than Samus Aran.
* ''VideoGame/MonsterHunterWorld'', in spite of all the changes it makes to traditional series fare -- seamless sub-maps, a return to consoles, DropInDropOutMultiplayer, more "Westernized" elements, and the like -- Capcom has stated that no, it's not a spinoff of ''Videogame/MonsterHunter'', but the fifth main game in the series. This is attested by many of its changes being carried over to ''VideoGame/MonsterHunterRise'' instead of just being one-offs. Its differences from previous games include:
** You can now go on open-ended and self-determined Expeditions that have no time limit, perfect for exploring an unfamiliar area or gathering materials and/or Research Points at your leisure.
** Sub-areas are now seamless rather than transitioning between loading screens.
** There's actual voiced English and Japanese dialogue now, where as previous games had human characters SpeakingSimlish backed by subtitles. Fans of the original Monster Hunter Language need not despair, you can swap it back through the options menu.
** Instead of continually tracking down the monster and hitting it with paintballs to mark its location, the player uses "scoutflies" to automatically track the monster by finding footprints, scales, dead carrion and other traces of the monster's presence.
** Blademasters and Gunners now use the same armour, rather than distinct versions. Equipping a close combat weapon increases physical defence and equipping a bowgun or bow increases elemental defence.
** Base-camp has been upgraded substantially; you can now restock supplies, change your weapons and armour, and eat at the canteen.
** You now see colour-coded damage numbers for attacks, providing clues to monster weak spots and letting you see how your weapon's damage compares with another's.
** Armour skills work differently now. Rather than gear having relevant Skill Points that only activated the skill when you built up enough, simply equipping the armour piece gives you the skill outright. In addition, equipping multiple items with the same skill enhances the skill's effects.
* ''VideoGame/Mother3'':
** While the game still retains the series trademark wackiness, it is also has a lot of much darker content compared to the previous games in the series. For starters, [[spoiler: Hinawa, Lucas' mother, is brutally KilledOffscreen in the very first chapter of the game]], animal cruelty is played ''very'' seriously, the threat the BigBad presents is much more present than Giygas' was in ''[=EarthBound Beginnings=]'' and ''[=EarthBound=]'', and at the end [[spoiler: Lucas' brother, Claus, [[DrivenToSuicide commits suicide in-battle]]]].
** The story is structured by chapters, something that was not seen in previous games, and the first 3 chapters take place in a far more rural environment than the [[{{Eagleland}} modern America-inspired continent]] in the previous two games. There are many areas in the game in which you are never allowed to return past a certain point as well.
** The four main characters are not four kids, but a kid, his dog, a teenage princess, and an adult thief. Unlike [[VideoGame/EarthBound Ness, Paula, and Jeff]], who are expies of [[VideoGame/EarthBoundBeginnings Ninten, Ana, and Lloyd]] respectively, Lucas, Kumatora, and Duster do not resemble the characters from the past game nor share their personality or traits. In regards to Boney, he is the only pet dog in the series that [[ActionPet is a permanent party member]] (King does join Ness during his adventure if the player desires so, but only briefly). You also don't get to play as Lucas until chapter 4.
** The objective of the game (introduced in chapter 7!) is not to collect 8 different melodies, but to [[spoiler: pull the majority of the seven needles that are sealing away the Dark Dragon beneath the Nowhere Islands before the bad guys do so. That said, each needle is guarded by one of the seven Magypsies, whose names are a reference to the seven musical modes in order to keep up with the theme, with these being Aeolia, Doria, Lydia, Frygia, Mixolydia, Ionia, and Locria]].
** The main antagonists are not aliens from outer space, but ''humans'' [[ItMakesSenseInContext dressed up as pig soldiers]], meaning that the iconic Starman enemy is not present in this game, and neither is the series' original BigBad, Giygas ([[spoiler:the latter being understandable given that he was defeated for good at the end of ''[=EarthBound=]'']]).
* ''VideoGame/PacMan99'': In the ''Championship Edition'' games, sleeping ghosts are triggered by passing next to them, causing them to wake up and join the ghost train. In ''99'', you instead ''pass through'' sleeping ghosts to activate them, and ghost trains aren't inherently hostile save for the lead ghost.
* ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'':
** ''VideoGame/Persona3'' was a massive retooling of the franchise. Along with [[VideoGame3DLeap the shift to 3D]], it introduced many staples of the series going forward, such as life sim elements, Social Links, All-Out Attacks, randomized dungeons, and the Wild Card and Velvet Room only being accessible to the protagonist instead of everyone in your party. Philemon and Nyarlethotep also disappeared from the story, and the residents of the Velvet Room would all adopt a cohesive style going forward (white hair and yellow eyes, and blue and black clothing) and all be siblings of each other. All the ''Persona'' games after the ''[[VideoGame/Persona2 2]]'' duology are so radically different from their origins they might as well be a different series. Indeed, the series after ''3'' rarely acknowledges the early games outside of a few subtle nods such as a recurring news segment in ''3'' and Philemon's butterflies serving as save points in ''[[VideoGame/Persona4 4]]''.
** While Shadows were a recurring element in the series ever since ''2'', defeating and accepting your own Shadow to access your Persona was only a thing in ''VideoGame/Persona4''.
** While ''3'' introduced visible enemy encounters, and allowed you to sneak up on enemies and get a surprise attack in before the fight proper starts, ''VideoGame/Persona5'' turned it into an entire stealth mechanic, allowing the player to hide behind cover to get the drop on enemies who made patrols like they were in a proper stealth game.
** In [[Videogame/Persona5 5]] the arcana have a red background with a white outline instead of the blue background and outline used since 3, and feature the subject in the cards doing something humiliating, like the Fool getting [[GroinAttack bitten by the dog]], and Justice taking a [[EveryManHasHisPrice bribe]], possibly because [[spoiler: [[GreaterScopeVillain Yaldabaoth]] gave them to the protagonist instead of [[BigGood Igor]]]]
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
** While ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' don't change up too much compared to ''Sun and Moon'', they do have some weirdness in them as being the only games besides the [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue Kanto games]] to only have Pokémon introduced in its generation. They're also the only games [[spoiler:where you don't battle the League Champion (Alder) as the final boss. Instead, Ghetsis of Team Plasma serves as the final opponent in the main story. You do get to battle Alder after completing the story, though]].
** ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'', in addition to replacing the [=HM=] system with Ride Pokémon, ditches the "gym" system of previous games in favor of a rite of passage known as the island challenge. Instead of facing eight bosses before facing an EliteFour and Champion, you now do a series of eleven trials where instead of fighting a small number of Trainers before facing a boss, you instead partake in a number of various tasks before hand. And instead of a Trainer, you fight a [[KingMook Totem Pokémon]]: a powerful, intelligent Pokémon that will call for an ally during battle, placing you into a 2 v. 1 fight. Also unlike Gyms, trials cannot be left once you start them. After completing all the trials on a particular island (except for the last one), you fight the Island Kahuna in a traditional battle before proceeding to the next island. The [[BossRush Pokémon League]] is done a little differently as well: while battling the Elite Four is the same, after the first two runs the FinalBoss [[spoiler:is randomly-chosen from a pool of Trainers, since ''you'' are the Champion and are now defending your title]]. The National Pokédex is gone as well, leaving over half the Pokémon without their numbers in their summaries and removing any incentive for catching a lot of post-game only Pokémon. On the subject of the Pokédex, you don't actually get a diploma for completing the Regional Pokédex and the four Island Pokédexes -- you get stamps for your Trainer Card indicating their completion instead.
** ''VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunAndUltraMoon'' are the first games to introduce entirely new Pokémon in the middle of a generation, that can't be obtained in the original ''Sun and Moon''.
** ''VideoGame/PokemonLetsGoPikachuAndLetsGoEevee'' has this all over the place, especially considering the game is made in the style of ''VideoGame/PokemonGO'':
*** RandomEncounters are out and replaced with PreexistingEncounters instead. Wild Pokémon battles are also largely taken out (the only ones you get to battle are the two Snorlax, the four Electrode at the Power Plant masquerading as items, and the Legendary Pokémon) and the game instead uses the catching minigame from ''Pokémon GO'' as the main method to capture new Pokémon.
*** Local CoOpMultiplayer is introduced for the first time, allowing a second player to drop in with a second Joy-Con and play the main campaign alongside the primary player and participate in Double Battles.
*** You now carry a Box to store Pokémon with you via your Bag in addition to the six Pokémon you carry on-hand. In other games, Boxes were restricted exclusively to the PC.
** ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'' expanded on a few of the changes introduced in Generation VII, combining the traditional RandomEncounters with ''Let's Go'''s PreexistingEncounters. But in addition to removing the National Pokédex, Pokémon outside of the Galar Pokédex aren't available at all in the game, and many of them can't even be transferred. This means that for the first time in a main series game, players can't [[{{Tagline}} catch 'em all]], legitimately or otherwise. Due to the frequent ChristmasRushed releases and the ever-expanding roster of {{mons}}, the plan going forward is to make a handful of older mons available in each new game and hope your favorite makes it into the next one.
** In the first two generations, Team Rocket is a criminal organization, while the teams of Generations III through VI have more lofty goals of radically changing the world or even the universe. Generations VII and VIII instead take a back-to-basics approach with their antagonist teams; Team Skull in Gen VII is a group of LaughablyEvil street thugs who aren't taken seriously in-universe and have no intention of ruling the world, and Team Yell in Gen VIII is just a group of rowdy fans with traits of punks and FootballHooligans.
* ''VideoGame/ProfessorLayton'':
** Though ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheAzranLegacy'' retains the gameplay, feel and themes of previous ''VideoGame/ProfessorLayton'' games, while still serving as the last released game starring the eponymous character, it sets itself apart from all of them by featuring multiple playable locations instead of only one or two (this is justified by the story -- they have to travel all over the world in order to collect the egg-shaped pieces of an ancient key that gives access to the ultimate Azran technology, of which bits and pieces were discovered in ''[[VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheLastSpecter Last Specter]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheMiracleMask Miracle Mask]]'', as well as the anime movie ''[[Anime/ProfessorLaytonAndTheEternalDiva Eternal Diva]]''). And each location related to the Azran egg hunt has its own mystery or case which has to be solved so the characters can succeed in their overarching quest (this system would later inspire the case-by-case progression in ''[[VideoGame/LaytonsMysteryJourneyKatrielleAndTheMillionairesConspiracy Layton's Mystery Journey]]''). It also has the fewest story episodes, with only six instead of seven and beyond (though the fourth episode is so extremely long that the game is estimated to have an equivalent total amount of ''ten'' episodes, thus staying only behind ''The Unwound Future'' as the longest game in the series). Lastly, thanks to its open-ended nature, the game introduces sidequests in the form of World Times news, and interestingly not all of them are completed by solving puzzles.
** Many of the changes seen in ''VideoGame/LaytonsMysteryJourneyKatrielleAndTheMillionairesConspiracy'' are to be expected given the different protagonist (Katrielle Layton, instead of her father), who employs a less rigorous (but still effective) methodology to solve cases (as that's what she does instead of investigating one huge, overarching case), and interacts with a different cast of supporting characters. But there's one major novelty that calls for attention: Whereas the previous games progressed as the player completed the chapters one by one, in this game multiple chapters will be unlocked at once at one point, and they can be completed in any order -- this was likely inherited from the open-ended concept of the fourth chapter of ''Azran Legacy''.
* ''VideoGame/RaidenV'' deviates quite a bit from past ''VideoGame/{{Raiden}}'' games:
** It is console- and PC-exclusive, skipping the arcades.
** Instead of being a OneHitPointWonder with multiple VideoGameLives, your ship now has only one life per credit and a LifeMeter.
** There are multiple ships available, each with their own weapons, somewhat like in ''VideoGame/RaidenFighters'' but not like in past main-series games where the most customization you get are ships with different movement patterns (''Raiden DX''), whether checkpoints are in or not (the [=PS1=] port of ''Raiden''), or what purple-icon weapon you get.
** There's an actual plot and a lot of voiced dialogue with faces to go with those voices, unlike past games which just have an ExcusePlot and no characters to speak of.
** This game has social elements: When performing certain actions (such as reaching a target score, clearing a stage, or beating your personal best score), you may receive "cheers" from other players, and likewise you may "cheer" on other players doing the same. When the Cheer meter is full, you can perform a special attack.
** There are various widgets on the sides that show things like the text log, your weapon levels, and a histogram of your score.
** There is no vertical-orientation mode; past ''Raiden'' games in arcades are vertical by default, with console games having it as an option (in addition to horizontal pillarboxed mode, the only screen orientation ''V'' offers).
* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' up until ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica Code: Veronica]]'' was a slow-paced SurvivalHorror game with emphasis on solving puzzles, managing limited health, ammo, and inventory space, with a goal of staying alive long enough to escape whatever virus-contaminated hellhole you've found yourself thrust into. As of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' the series [[ActionizedSequel became much more action-oriented]] and went on to focus on saving the world from megalomaniacs and ancient conspirators. [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil7 The seventh game]] shifted ''again'' back to slow-paced horror, but in a far different vein from the original series.
* ''VideoGame/RhythmHeaven Megamix'' has a completely different structure than previous games in the series, having different worlds instead of just sets of mini games, with each one having a different theme and the game having an actual story. There's also no rhythm toys, and medals aren't used for unlocking extras, rather you earn coins from playing the mini games and spend them on extras. The scoring system is also different, showing you an actual score from 1 to 100 instead of just showing the feedback and your rank.
* ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'':
** ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'' and ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIVApocalypse'' are notably two of the very, very few ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' games to lack any sort of defense stat. Even Magic, which traditionally dictates magic attack and defense, exclusively powers magic attack in these games. Meanwhile, ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiNocturne'' is the only game to drop the use of the demon-summoning COMP device, as well as having the player control an actual superhuman called the Demi-Fiend.
** Most of the mainline ''Shin Megami Tensei'' games take place in [[TokyoIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse Tokyo]] either shortly before TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt happens or AfterTheEnd. ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiStrangeJourney'' takes place in an EldritchLocation that popped up in Antarctica, and the apocalypse hasn't happened [[spoiler:yet]].
* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'':
** The games from ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' and on took the series in very different directions both in tone and gameplay, especially in the mid-2000s. Having human characters appear on a regular basis, the tone generally becoming more serious, the Chaos Emeralds being significantly played up in importance, and [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains having new superpowered villains taking the center stage away from Eggman]] are just some of the many ways the later games contrast the Classic era of the series.
** Despite ''VideoGame/SonicMania'' being a throwback to the 2D era of ''Sonic'' games in every other way, it bucks the trend of the old games of having Eggman be the boss fought at the end of every Zone with rare exceptions. Instead, Eggman shares the boss spotlight with the [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Hard Boiled Heavies]] and Metal Sonic.
* Later ''VideoGame/StoryOfSeasons'' titles feature a shift from an idealistic, relatively down-to-earth rural story to a more fantasy-centric one. The series always contained MagicRealism, but over time it's increased and become more focal. The general character design has also [[ArtEvolution changed]] to go along with the shift. The colour palette is brighter and the characters are less realistically "small town" looking. Around the DS-Wii era is where the series' now-signature CastFullOfPrettyBoys started. The shift mostly correlates with the change in a producer of the series. The original creator, Wada, moved on during the DS era and the current director, Hashimoto, started with ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonGrandBazaar Grand Bazaar]]''. ''Grand Bazaar'' has more of a children's storybook aesthetic than previous games. The games have gotten LighterAndSofter since Wada left, with none of the DysfunctionJunction of games like ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoon64 64]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife AWL]]''.
* ''VideoGame/StreetsOfRage'' was a very slow game and it focused more on being strategic on when you should attack. The second game more or less kept the core gameplay the same while changing very little. The third game changes a whole lot of stuff: unlike the previous games, the third game has a detailed story and cutscenes, gameplay is very fast paced with emphasis placed on quick combos, players can perform dodge rolls to avoid enemy attacks, and the game has MultipleEndings.
* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
** ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DWorld'', being the thirteenth console platform game in the ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' series, is the first core game since ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'', itself an OddballInTheSeries, where Princess Peach is not a DamselInDistress but rather a [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething playable character]]. The Sprixie Princesses take her usual place as the ones to be rescued. The same game also promotes Rosalina and Captain Toad to playable characters, who were non-playable in previous games and still in need of Mario's help despite not being kidnapped. In terms of gameplay, it also follows the style of ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DLand'', with both games following the format of the 2D ''Mario'' games rather than the more sandbox-design of other 3D entries: that is, making the main objective of each stage not about collecting stars, but simply reaching the flagpole at the end. That said, collecting star coins/stars is still required to progress. In terms of narrative, there are no spoken dialogues, with the communication between characters limited to gestures and expressions.
** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey'':
*** Lives and Game Overs are completely done away with for the first time in the core games. [[DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist Dying merely causes you to lose 10 coins]]. Since it's not uncommon for you to be carrying around several hundred or even several ''thousand'' coins at one time, this amount is so insignificant that it's frankly baffling that the developers went to all the trouble of programming in this "penalty" at all, besides penalizing players farming coins for the game's costumes. You can even go back to the spot where you died and pick those 10 coins ''back up'' if you want.
*** Though Super Stars no longer appear, temporary invincibility is still possible through scanning any Mario Amiibo[[note]]This includes Mario, [[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Smash]] Mario, 8-bit Mario (classic or modern), Gold or Silver Mario, and yes, Wedding Mario.[[/note]].
*** While the game does use the exploration-based gameplay of ''64'' and ''Sunshine'', the game does not boot players out of the level after collecting a Power Moon, making it more similar to collectathons like ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong64''. Also in that vein, there are no selectable story missions for each moon -- instead, the area's plot advances permanently upon collecting certain primary objective moons.
** ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndSonicAtTheOlympicGames Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games]]'' on Wii U does quite a few things different from previous console installments. These changes include replacing the Dream Events set in Mario and Sonic locations with Duel Events set around different locations around Rio, the Main Menu is replaced with a Hub Plaza and you can also unlock Guest Characters who become playable when you beat them.
** ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPaperJam'' has a few differences from the previous four games. Save points are not present in the game at all since saving can be done at any time from the menu, the characters do not receive a bonus when they level up, and the Spin Jump is not present, instead replaced by the Trio Grab.
* ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'':
** Later day entries have decided to push the envelope as to what to include, to the point that the already Ultimate UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny is going up to even more absurd levels. Starting with ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsJudgment'', we have seen PoweredArmor users (''Anime/TekkamanBlade''), cyborgs (''Anime/{{Iczer}}''), battleships (''Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato2199''), magical girls (''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth'') ''kaiju'' (''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}''), live-action heroes (''Series/KyoryuSentaiZyuranger''), idol singers (''Franchise/TheIdolmaster'', ''VideoGame/{{Aikatsu}}'') and even, PintSizedPowerhouse(s) such as '''''Franchise/MegaMan'''''.
** ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsUX'' is currently the only game to feature a Mazinger, but ''not'' pilot Kouji Kabuto as they used ''Anime/MazinkaiserSKL'' for the series this time around. Its followup, ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsBX'' was the first Universal Century ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' installment ''not'' to include Amuro Ray.
** ''VideoGame/{{Super Robot Wars Z}}1'' was the last game to include the Final Dynamic Special CombinationAttack while ''Z2'' and ''Z3'' are two of four games not to include Great Mazinger, the other two being ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsK'', which took place just in the basic ''Anime/MazingerZ'' era while the aforementioned ''BX'' was just the standard ''Anime/ShinMazinger'' like ''Z2'' and ''Z3''.
** ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsNEO'' is the only game in the franchise to ''not'' include Real Robots, its only Gundam rep being ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam''. It also had the odd choice of numerous sports-based robots.
** ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars30'' is not only the second game not to have AlternateUniverse ''Gundam'' representatives since ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsGC'', it is also the first proper game to have a ''tokusatsu'' hero in the form of ''Anime/{{SSSS GRIDMAN}}''
* The ''Creator/TomClancy''-brand video game franchise is a SharedUniverse that, as crazy as it gets, is LikeRealityUnlessNoted and all of the technology that has appeared so far is based on gear actually experimented on by DARPA and the enemies are realistic (Terrorists, foreign military, narcotics dealers, ultranationalists). And then two limited-time events in ''VideoGame/GhostReconWildlands'' and ''VideoGame/GhostReconBreakpoint'' had the heroes facing off against a Franchise/{{Predator}} and The Franchise/{{Terminator}}.
* ''VideoGame/Uncharted4AThiefsEnd'' is the only game in [[VideoGame/{{Uncharted}} its franchise]] to not contain any fantastical elements, instead being focused on a lost pirate colony. It also has a lot of new gameplay additions (like updated stealth, a grappling hook, and a vertical attack) because it's the only one to have come out on the [=PS4=].
* The English title logo font for ''VideoGame/UncleAlbertsMysteriousIsland'', the last ''Uncle Albert'' game translated in English, uses a font similar to but different from the original French logo. The other two translated games use the exact same font as the original French games.
* ''VideoGame/YakuzaLikeADragon'': Despite what the [[MarketBasedTitle English title]] may suggest, this game is not a spinoff. The series concluded the story of its protagonist, Kazuma Kiryu, and shifted gears to a new protagonist, and with that, the game went from a BeatEmUp with mild RPG elements to a full-blown turn-based RPG. Another thing to note is this is the first mainline ''Yakuza'' game to be dubbed in English since the first one.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

!!Examples:

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* ''WebVideo/TheGameTheorists'': After the ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddysSecurityBreach'' triple theory and the first episode remaster featured a compilation of the various intros, all subsequent episodes no longer feature the famous "Science Blaster" theme song.

* ''WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd'' hasn't changed too much since his early days, but since season eight, he expanded the type of games he reviews; whereas before he exclusively reviewed games from the 80s and early 90s, he now also tackles games from the mid to late 90s and early 2000s. He still [[DiscoDan sticks to retro stuff]] (aside from ''very'' occasional nods to modern games), he's just become much less strict about the specific time periods games are from, treating basically anything from before UsefulNotes/TheSeventhGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames as fair game.

* ''WebVideo/AngryVideoGameNerd'': The iconic theme song was removed after the ''VideoGame/{{Darkman}}'' review. Subsequent episodes only include the final line of the song "he's the angry video game nerd" until ''The Rocketeer''. All episodes after "Contra How I Remember It" have a digitized version of the AVGN theme song.

*** Though Starmen no longer appear, temporary invincibility is still possible through scanning any Mario Amiibo[[note]]This includes Mario, [[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Smash]] Mario, 8-bit Mario (classic or modern), Gold or Silver Mario, and yes, Wedding Mario.[[/note]].

** ''WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheTeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' is one for the franchise as a whole. The turtles underwent major design changes (the most notable being each of the four being a separate species of turtle) and [[AdaptationalPersonalityChange personality changes]][[note]]Raph being a BruiserWithASoftCenter, Leo being a [[CasualDangerDialog quip-happy]] DeadpanSnarker, Donnie being an InsufferableGenius with MadScientist tendencies, and Mikey having his comic relief traits downplayed with more focus on his AllLovingHero traits[[/note]]. The show has a higher focus on episodic comedy than its predecessors, magic and mystic elements play a larger role (up to being [[DoingInTheScientist the origin of the ooze itself]]) and even the turtles' weapons are changed, with Raph, Leo, and Mikey wielding tonfas, an odachi, and a kusari-fondo respectively (Donnie keeps his bo-staff, albeit upgraded to SwissArmyWeapon status). Fan reception was...[[TheyChangedItNowItSucks contentious]], which might've contributed to the show only lasting two seasons (though [[VindicatedByHistory people have been kinder to it looking back]]).

*** It is the only installment in the series to lack the three signature Elemental Dragons that served as {{Bonus Boss}}es in previous games. They're replaced by all-new opponents. This also means the classic {{Superboss}} music theme of the series ("Scatter About") is absent -- this game's superbosses use instead a remixed version of the sea battle theme of ''The Drowned City'' (also heard in ''Legends of the Titan'' during mini-boss battles).

*** It is the only installment in the series to lack the three signature Elemental Dragons that served as {{Bonus Boss}}es in previous games. They're replaced by all-new opponents. This also means the classic BonusBoss music theme of the series ("Scatter About") is absent -- this game's superbosses use instead a remixed version of the sea battle theme of ''The Drowned City'' (also heard in ''Legends of the Titan'' during mini-boss battles).