This Old Neon Forum

Welcome to This Old Neon’s fourth official “BEST GAME EVER!!!” Project.

Round One of the “Best Trilogy” side-event includes the every trilogy nominated for the category except for a handful that were removed after discussions with the community determined they stretched the definition of “trilogy.” There are 2 polls of 14 games each.

VOTE HERE

• You can vote for UP TO FIVE (5) games per poll, or skip a poll entirely.
• The top 5 games from each poll will advance to the category finals!
• You can’t change your votes once they’ve been submitted, so click carefully. Voting closes on Saturday at midnight AST.

Don’t forget to vote in the main event and find your way to the other user-submitted categories at thisoldneon.com/bge!

Poll 1 of 2 - Three Wrongs Don't Make a Wright
BioShock / 2 / Infinite (Multiplatform)
Borderlands / 2 / The Pre-Sequel! (Multiplatform)
Castlevania / II: Simon's Quest / III: Dracula's Curse (NES)
Crash Bandicoot / 2: Cortex Strikes Back / [3: ]Warped (PS1)
Devil May Cry / 2 / 3: Dante's Awakening (PS2)
Dragon Age: Origins / II / Inquisition (Multiplatform)
Dragon Warrior / II / III (NES)
The Final Fantasy Legend / II / III (GB)
Mass Effect / 2 / 3 (Multiplatform)
Ninja Gaiden / II: The Dark Sword of Chaos / III: The Ancient Ship of Doom (NES)
Ninja Gaiden Sigma / II / 3 (Multiplatform)
Resident Evil / 2 / 3: Nemesis (PS1)
Sonic the Hedgehog 1 / 2 / 3 (Genesis)
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron / II: Rogue Leader / III: Rebel Strike (N64/GCN)

Crash is fantastic but has aged a lot so it will probably lose votes from me later on but early on it deserves it. (Haven't played 3 yet)

DMC I'm currently playing the first game and adoring it. Yeah I haven't played 2 or 3 but none of the other series here I like that much anyway.

Poll 2 of 2 - Three of One, A Quarter-Dozen of the Other
Banjo-Kazooie / Banjo-Tooie / Nuts & Bolts (N64/X360/XBO)
Dark Souls / 2 / 3 (Multiplatform)
Dead Space / 2 / 3 (Multiplatform)
Donkey Kong Country / 2: Diddy's Kong Quest / 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! (SNES)
Double Dragon / II: The Revenge / III: The Sacred Stones (NES)
EarthBound Beginnings / EarthBound / Mother 3 (FC/SNES/GBA)
Halo: Combat Evolved / II / III (XB/X360)
Kid Icarus / Of Myths and Monsters / Uprising (NES/GB/3DS)
Metroid Prime / 2: Echoes / 3: Corruption (GCN/Wii)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney / Justice for All / Trials and Tribulations (GBA/DS)
Pikmin / 2 / 3 (GCN/Wii U)
Spyro the Dragon / 2: [Ripto's Rage / Gateway to Glimmer] / Year of the Dragon (PS1)
Streets of Rage / 2 / 3 (Genesis)
Super Mario Bros. 1 / 2 / 3 (NES)

Halo 1 and 2 were on PC we're including that version too right?

Banjo Kazooie and Tooie and masterpieces and still hold up today. Nuts & Bolts is there just so it can be nominated here.
DKC1-3 is the best trilogy I've ever played. 2 being the best.
Halo 1-3 is a great series the original standing out to me (especially the PC version)
Super Mario Bros 1 and 3 are amazing and 2 is eh. This is way I believe DKC is far better.

Poll 2 is loaded with the games I want to go through. Shame the RNG gods didn't spread them out more.

Poll 1 of 2 - Three Wrongs Don't Make a Wright
BioShock / 2 / Infinite (Multiplatform)
Borderlands / 2 / The Pre-Sequel! (Multiplatform)
Castlevania / II: Simon's Quest / III: Dracula's Curse (NES)
Crash Bandicoot / 2: Cortex Strikes Back / [3: ]Warped (PS1)
Devil May Cry / 2 / 3: Dante's Awakening (PS2)
Dragon Age: Origins / II / Inquisition (Multiplatform)
Dragon Warrior / II / III (NES)
The Final Fantasy Legend / II / III (GB)
Mass Effect / 2 / 3 (Multiplatform)
Ninja Gaiden / II: The Dark Sword of Chaos / III: The Ancient Ship of Doom (NES)
Ninja Gaiden Sigma / II / 3 (Multiplatform)
Resident Evil / 2 / 3: Nemesis (PS1)
Sonic the Hedgehog 1 / 2 / 3 (Genesis)
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron / II: Rogue Leader / III: Rebel Strike (N64/GCN)

Castlevania and Dragon Warrior NES trilogies are easy votes for me in this one.

I think people tend to underrate Final Fantasy Legend or not really give it the attention it deserves because they think it's a series of Game Boy Final Fantasy spin-offs, but it's actually its own little series in the SaGa franchise with classic SaGa mechanics (limited-use weapons, interesting race/class mechanic, level-ups from using your skills). The crazy thing is, all three games in the series are good. The first one is fairly simple mechanically, but the second one is really fleshed out and amazing. That consistency is why I'm giving it my vote.

Poll 2 of 2 - Three of One, A Quarter-Dozen of the Other
Banjo-Kazooie / Banjo-Tooie / Nuts & Bolts (N64/X360/XBO)
Dark Souls / 2 / 3 (Multiplatform)
Dead Space / 2 / 3 (Multiplatform)
Donkey Kong Country / 2: Diddy's Kong Quest / 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! (SNES)
Double Dragon / II: The Revenge / III: The Sacred Stones (NES)
EarthBound Beginnings / EarthBound / Mother 3 (FC/SNES/GBA)
Halo: Combat Evolved / II / III (XB/X360)
Kid Icarus / Of Myths and Monsters / Uprising (NES/GB/3DS)
Metroid Prime / 2: Echoes / 3: Corruption (GCN/Wii)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney / Justice for All / Trials and Tribulations (GBA/DS)
Pikmin / 2 / 3 (GCN/Wii U)
Spyro the Dragon / 2: [Ripto's Rage / Gateway to Glimmer] / Year of the Dragon (PS1)
Streets of Rage / 2 / 3 (Genesis)
Super Mario Bros. 1 / 2 / 3 (NES)

The first Dark Souls is a good enough game to carry the entire trilogy. It's one of the most perfect executions of a creative vision I've ever seen in gaming. Partly because of that, I didn't think the sequels held up as well. They were never going to be as good as the original, but after replaying Dark Souls 2, I've been keen to dip back into Dark Souls 3 again, because each game really does have its own mind-blowing high points and atmospheric / lore elements that make them compelling.

@ Slurmee:

Yes, the PC versions of the Halo games would be included here. I think they're pretty much the same games.

Also, Super Mario Bros. 2 is severely underrated. It definitely holds its own in that trilogy. There's some really good platforming design in that game.

Voted. Will post thoughts later.

Dead space trilogy is pulled down way too much by the utterly shite third entry to be here. Shame because I adored the first and the second was pretty decent too.
RIP Visceral

Winners of Round One

Poll 1 of 2

Castlevania NES Trilogy
BioShock
Crash Bandicoot
Dragon Warrior NES Trilogy
Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis Trilogy

Poll 2 of 2

Super Mario Bros. NES Trilogy
Donkey Kong Country SNES Trilogy
Dark Souls
Metroid Prime