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11) Don’t repackage old mechanics as new
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3Let me start off by saying I’m using mechanics here as a blanket term for weapons, gameplay, abilities, etc.  Creating a game that finds success from its unique gameplay and mechanics is difficult. Doing it a second time is even harder.
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5In Wario Land 3 there are nine power-ups that give Wario abilities such as swimming underwater and picking up enemies. Gaining new abilities can give players a great feeling of progression and opens new pathways in levels, but the majority of the power-ups in Wario Land 3 are things Wario could do from the very beginning of Wario Land 2 and even Wario Land, such as swimming underwater and picking up enemies.  For some reason, the developers had the bizarre idea that repackaging previously standard moves as unlockable abilities would be a treat for the player, like getting the same Christmas present as last year. Imagine playing Crash Bandicoot 2 and you can’t use the spin move until unlocking it halfway through the game. You could argue that this adds difficulty to the game, but taking away things that used to be standard only makes a game feel like it’s backtracking, and is a poor exchange for a bit of increased difficulty.
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7The Legend of Zelda series often suffers from doing this. In how many games do you have to unlock core tools such as bombs or the ever common bow? The thrill of unlocking a new ability is lost when it’s not a new ability, and what’s the point of buying a sequel if nothing new is being introduced? If you’re going from the 2012 model of your car to the 2015 model you expect more than a new paint job. You want new features that improve a familiar system such as rear view parking camera, bluetooth capability, etc. The same goes for a new game. You wouldn’t buy a second game just for better graphics, would you?
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9Banjo-Kazooie is a game with many unlockable abilities, and in the sequel, Banjo-Tooie, these moves are all useable from the start. Having all of these abilities at the beginning means developers can expand on these abilities and players can start accessing new content sooner, rather than relearning moves and rehashing old content. Simply repackaging cool stuff from the last game and pretending it’s new is what can make a game feel like a rehash, and this ties into the next rule.
102) Expand on old mechanics to improve them, and/or create new ones
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12A good sequel takes what worked in the last game and expands upon that. In Ocarina of Time, the common bow is expanded on by introducing fire, ice and light arrows, each with different combat capabilities and environmental effects.  In Halo you wield one weapon at a time. In Halo 2 you can wield two weapons at a time. Brilliant and simple, but Wario Land 3 not only goes backwards in terms of Wario’s moveset but ruins one of its strongest, most most defining features, the No Death system.
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14In Wario Land 2, Wario loses coins instead of health when attacked, in addition to being knocked back. These coins are used to pay for minigames which reward the player with treasure when won.  In Wario Land 3 the No Death system still exists, but Wario does not lose coins when damaged, in fact there isn’t even a visible coin counter like in Wario Land 3. Coins are used to play a golf mini-game that raises a blockade when won, allowing access to previously blocked parts of a level. Arguably this increases the importance of coin collection, but each try at the minigame costs only 10 coins, and since Wario cannot lose any collected coins, the increased importance of coin collection becomes overshadowed by these other factors, which greatly reduces Wario Land 3’s difficulty in comparison to Wario Land 2. The level of punishment lost by removing the element of Wario losing coins when attacked turns Wario Land 3 into an upsettingly easy game. Wario Land 3 goes backwards instead of bringing new things to the table.
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173) The sequel should stay true to the series, but stand out
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19This can be the hardest part of making a sequel. A sequel should be familiar to the predecessor, but not a rehash. A sequel should stand out as its own game, but not deviate from the previous game so much that the core gameplay is entirely different. For those who have never played the entire Wario Land series here are a few videos of gameplay from each game.
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21Each Wario Land game shares common, core elements like platforming, hurling enemies, collecting treasure, and using Wario’s brutish build in his moveset. Yet each game changes the formula in ways to make it stand out in the series. Wario Land is very similar to the usual side scrolling Super Mario Bros. games, While Wario Land 2 introduces the No Death system eliminating common platform staples like bottomless pits. Wario Land 3 is essentially just Wario Land 2 with the previously mentioned changes. Wario Land 4 takes the core of Wario Land 2, re-adds a health system and speeds up the action in many ways such as allowing Wario to charge through multiple blocks at once. Wario Land 3 fails to change the formula enough to be recognizable as its own game. Why would I want to play Wario Land 3 when Wario Land 2 does everything better?
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23I again call The Legend of Zelda series for comparison, because this is one aspect where the series shines. While all games in the Zelda series share common core gameplay of slashing monsters, using weapons to progress to new areas, solving room puzzles to progress through dungeons and more, each game presents a new face that makes each game instantly recognizable. Each game has its defining qualities, making each game worth playing, unlike series such as Call of Duty where each subsequent game might as well be an rerelease of the last. If I want a game with more emphasis on puzzles, I’ll play Oracle of Ages, if I want a game with more emphasis on narrative I’d play Majora’s Mask.
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25These obviously aren’t commandments for making a profitable game. Competitive games such as Street Fighter and Call of Duty survive for decades by only making small changes between each game. A game of football isn’t going to drastically change between each season and neither do these games. And then there’s the fact that moving to the next console generation means you likely won’t be able to play the previous version of the game on the new console thanks to the unpopularity of backwards compatibility. And then there’s the all powerful force of brand recognition.
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27A successful sequel is hard to make, especially when following a very well-received game. Wario Land 3’s mistakes make it the poster child of all the mistakes that can be made in making a sequel. And without a successful sequel, a franchise is doomed to fail.