History Main / EvenBetterSequel

* While originally one story in manga format, ''DragonBall Z'' is by far better known and loved than the original ''DragonBall'' anime.
** Hell, the {{Recut}} series ''Dragon Ball Kai'' showing in Japan is a retelling of ''Z'' (minus the filler).

* May not be a complete example, but the loosely connected PsychicPowers manga stories by KatsuhiroOtomo kept increasing in quality as time went on. First was a largely forgettable short story about some cops investigating a paranormal case. This was followed by the beautifully written & illustrated ''DomuAChildsDream'', featuring those same officers investigating a series of psychic killings. Then came the classic ''{{Akira}}'', revolving around the government's attempts to copy the powers seen in ''Domu'' for their own ends.

* {{Halo}} was the Xbox's killer app. Halo 2 was it on awesome, rock, more Elites, and a hotter Cortana. Halo 3 has a bit of a BrokenBase on this subject, but the side that thinks this way normally sites the MP as being better. Halo 3: ODST was a return to the Halo 1 awesomeness mixed with the Halo 2 awesomeness. And it had [[GameBreaker the Halo 1 Pistol.]] Reach, from the looks of the leaked screens (and the fact that the World Premiere has the same graphics as the game because it was a cutscene and Bungie does all cutscenes in-engine) looks to be the best Halo game yet.

* ''[[MadMax The Road Warrior]]'' and ''Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome''. The first wasn't a ''bad'' film, but was ultimately a low-budget B-Movie. The second film practically invented [[ScavengerWorld its own genre]], using its higher budget to create an incredible and unique film (although as always, there are detractors).

* ''MadMax'' and ''Mad Max 2/The Road Warrior'': the first wasn't a ''bad'' film, but was ultimately a low-budget B-Movie. The second film practically invented [[ScavengerWorld its own genre]], using its higher budget to create an incredible and unique film (although as always, there are detractors).

* The ''{{Touhou}}'' games for Windows are generally considered an improvement on the PC-98 games, but most Touhou fans will agree that the PC-98 games weren't exactly shabby to begin with. A lot of fans are still hoping for [[BrotherChuck certain PC-98 characters]] to return in future Windows installments.

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The exception to this conventional rule is the EvenBetterSequel, which are largely (if not unanimously) thought to actually top the already-good original. In many cases, this is either the result of or comes along with a GenreShift, as instead of just trying to top the original, the makers will be trying something entirely new (see the ''Film/{{Alien}}'' and ''{{Terminator}}'' examples). In addition, this seems to be common with sequels to superhero films. This may be because genre conventions demand (or at least, strongly encourage) an OriginStory in the first movie, which takes up a good chunk of the plot and screen time with a [[ThisLoserIsYou relatively uninteresting everyman character]] before we even get a chance to see any super-heroics.

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** To be fair, World War II is a lot simpler in overall concept (Nazis and Japanese people try to take over the world and America saves the day, oh and Russia does something too) whereas World War I requires a lot of knowledge about no-longer-existant empires and a lot of countries Americans generally don't realize actually exist.

* The first three JamesBond films are generally considered to be progressively better than the one that came before it.

* Kelly Clarkson's first album ''Thankful'', made just off of her winning ''AmericanIdol'' was a modest hit. Her second album ''Breakaway'', featuring the title song, "Behind These Hazel Eyes", "Walk Away", and the radio hit "Since U Been Gone", was '''huge''' and established her firmly as a pop star.

* ''{{Metroid}}'' practically [[{{Metroidvania}} founded a genre]], but hasn't exactly aged well since then, due to its lack of a proper save system and other technical limitations. ''Super Metroid'', on the other hand, defined the series and is regarded as [[SoCoolItsAwesome one of the best games of all time.]]

* ''{{Metroid}}'' practically [[{{Metroidvania}} founded a genre]], but it was ''Super Metroid'' that defined the series.

* ''StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'' far outshone ''StarTrekTheMotionPicture'', although the series declined from there. Well, until the release of ''StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry'', which was followed by the lacklustre Next Generation films. The AlternateUniverse {{Prequel}} ''[[Film/StarTrek Star Trek]]'' has picked things back up, and we'll see where it goes when its sequel comes out in 2012.

* ''TeamFortress 1'' (and its pseudo-remake TeamFortressClassic) was very innovative and created an entire FPS sub-genre, but was very lacking thematically. After 9 YEARS in development out comes ''TeamFortress2'', with 9 distinct characters recogniseable by silouete or voice alone each with their own nationality, personality and unique weapons, not to mention the [[NiceHat hats]] and the constant patches and fixes both major and minor valve keeps handing out. For free!

It's possible that in the musical world, EvenBetterSequel is the rule rather the exception, considering that an artist's first album (though still good) may have been recorded when they were still trying to figure out their style. Also common in video games, where the sequel is often built on the technological and fictional foundation of the first, significantly reducing the time needed to come up with or adapt new technology or build the game's world, and allowing the developers to focus on enhancing the things that worked and prune the things that didn't.