History OddballInTheSeries / VideoGames

*** There's also ''VideoGame/Persona4Arena'' and ''[[VideoGame/Persona4ArenaUltimax Ultimax]]'', {{Fighting Game}}s [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin based on]] ''VideoGame/Persona4'' (with some extra characters from ''VideoGame/Persona3'').
*** The final ''Persona 4'' continuation/spin-off was ''VideoGame/Persona4DancingAllNight''. It's a rhythm game. The usual supernatural shenanigans (such as mysterious disappearances and fighting off shadows) are involved, but with dancing.
*** ''VideoGame/PersonaQShadowOfTheLabyrinth'' is basically "''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey'' [[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace with]] ''[[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace Persona 3/4]]'' [[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace characters]]."

*** There's also ''VideoGame/Persona4Arena'' and ''[[VideoGame/Persona4ArenaUltimax Ultimax]]'', {{Fighting Game}}s [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin based on]] ''VideoGame/Persona4'' (with some extra characters from ''VideoGame/Persona3'').
*** The final ''Persona 4'' continuation/spin-off was ''VideoGame/Persona4DancingAllNight''. It's a rhythm game. The usual supernatural shenanigans (such as mysterious disappearances and fighting off shadows) are involved, but with dancing.
*** ''VideoGame/PersonaQShadowOfTheLabyrinth'' is basically "''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey'' [[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace with]] ''[[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace Persona 3/4]]'' [[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace characters]]."

** ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaSUltimateSummerCamp'': A spin-off digital board game released alongside the remastered collection and BestKnownForTheFanservice that merrily messes with canon, bringing more or less all the major characters from the games together regardless of whether they would ever have met in the main continuity (including characters who are canonically dead and ''V3'' characters who may not even exist in the same universe) and are all presented as being broadly the same age, since it's set in an AlternateUniverse where everyone's at school together.

** ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaSUltimateSummerCamp'': A spin-off digital board game released alongside the remastered collection and BestKnownForTheFanservice that merrily messes with canon, bringing more or less all the major characters from the games together regardless of whether they would ever have met in the main continuity (including characters who are canonically dead and ''V3'' characters who may not even exist in the same universe).

*** Amusingly, you can make the argument that ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'' is made up ''primarily'' of oddball entries, since only [[VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc two]] [[VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair releases]] in the whole franchise were visual novels set in the primary continuity, with the rest being:
** ''VideoGame/DanganronpaAnotherEpisodeUltraDespairGirls'' is a third-person shooter in a series of ClosedCircle murder mystery visual novels. Its status as the oddball is only cemented by how much [[DarkerAndEdgier darker, edgier,]] [[BloodierAndGorier bloodier, and gorier]] it is from the main series ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'' games -- which weren't exactly pulling their punches in the first place.
** ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'' is a SoftReboot and the only major entry into the series not to be part of the Hope's Peak arc, a tightly-interwoven series of stories encompassing the first two games, the abovementioned spin-off, [[Anime/Danganronpa3TheEndOfHopesPeakHighSchool a concluding anime]], and several tie-in novels (which could all be seen as oddballs themselves, especially the anime since it's pretty crucial to closing out the whole story). So while the core gameplay remains largely the same, ''V3'' stands out as a far more isolated one-off story.
** ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaSUltimateSummerCamp'' is a spin-off digital board game released alongside the remastered collection and BestKnownForTheFanservice that merrily messes with canon, bringing more or less all the major characters from the games together regardless of whether they would ever have met in the main continuity (including characters who are canonically dead and ''V3'' characters who may not even exist in the same universe).

* ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'':

*** Amusingly, from this point of view ''Danganronpa'' is made up ''primarily'' of oddball entries, since only [[VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc two]] [[VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair releases]] in the whole franchise were visual novels set in the primary continuity!

* ''VideoGame/DanganronpaAnotherEpisodeUltraDespairGirls'' is a third-person shooter in a series of ClosedCircle murder mystery visual novels. Its status as the oddball is only cemented by how much [[DarkerAndEdgier darker, edgier,]] [[BloodierAndGorier bloodier, and gorier]] it is from the main series ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'' games -- which weren't exactly pulling their punches in the first place.

** ''VideoGame/AceCombat6FiresOfLiberation'' is a mild example: it's the sole entry that was released as an Platform/{{Xbox}} exclusive rather than a Platform/PlayStation exclusive, and it's set on the continent of Anea rather than the continent of Usea (where all of the other Strangereal games take place); the plot is centered on a war between the newly introduced countries of Emmeria and Estovakia, with the countries of Belka, Erusea, Osea, and Yuktobania (the major players in all of the other entries) being entirely absent.

** ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorneyChronicles'' are the only games in the series not to take place TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, instead being ambiguously set sometime around the 1890s, during the Meiji era in Japan and the tail end of Queen Victoria's reign in England; and therefore are also the only games not to heavily cross-reference characters and events from the main timeline, which takes place in the 2010s and 2020s. Furthermore, at least in the localisations, they're the only games that still take place at least partly in Japan, and are the only games where the real-world settings are so integral to the story as to be necessarily retained across all localised versions.[[note]]Whereas, in all other games' English releases, California is substituted for Japan, which has knock-on effects like Germany often standing in for the [=USA=] and France for Australia when characters are called on to travel to other countries.[[/note]] This also means that the major Japanese characters in ''[=GAA=]'' retain their original names in translation, which almost no characters elsewhere in the series do; although most minor characters still have theirs changed to something AsLongAsItSoundsForeign so that Anglophone players can still appreciate the puns.[[note]]Interestingly, this sometimes takes place in reverse too, with the localisation changing an English character's AsLongAsItSoundsForeign PunnyName from the Japanese version into something that would still be broadly plausible to an English-speaker, e.g. renaming "Egg Benedict" to "Eggert Benedict" in English.[[/note]]

*** The ''Pokémon Mystery Dungeon'' series is known for being much DarkerAndEdgier than most other spinoffs, so the LighterAndSofter UsefulNotes/WiiWare-exclusive ''Adventure Squad'' games can come as quite a shock. For starters, they use the same SuperDeformed art style as ''My Pokémon Ranch''; for another, the in-depth and often quite sinister storylines of the other ''Mystery Dungeon'' games are missing in favor of an ExcusePlot where the player has to find a land of infinite chocolate so their village will stop fighting over the last cookie. (Perhaps because of this, they were [[NoExportForYou never translated into European languages]].) While it still plays by OneGameForThePriceOfTwo, each version makes much more of an attempt to differentiate itself, featuring different starters, different wild Pokémon, and different dungeons -- by comparison, the ''Rescue Team'' and ''Explorers'' games just move some Pokémon and items around.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening'' is the first ''Zelda'' game where the titular princess has no involvement in plot (the only other one being ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTriForceHeroes Tri Force Heroes]]'')[[note]]the ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames Oracle]] games'' technically count as well, but linking the games has the princess appear in the GoldenEnding[[/note]], the first game to allow you to shoplift (the only other one being ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]'')[[note]]and even then, ''Link's Awakening'' has the bonus of Link [[ShopliftAndDie getting killed if he ever returns]] and being renamed "THIEF"[[/note]], and the first have a GoldenEnding (the only other one being ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild Breath of the Wild]]''). It holds numerous explicit references to other Creator/{{Nintendo}} franchises, with appearances being made by characters and enemies from titles such as ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'', ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'', and even ''VideoGame/SimCity''. Finally, most of the bosses are pretty chatty, engaging Link in short pre- and post-battle conversation.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' ditches a linear plot in favor of a WideOpenSandbox gameplay while introducing droppable enemy weapons, cooking, wearable armor/clothing with diverse effects and more or less doing away with traditional dungeons and collectable items. ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'', a direct sequel to ''Breath of the Wild'', maintains the open world gameplay of its predecessor while adding craftable weapons and ''vehicles''.

** ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'' stands out as the only game in the main series (i.e. aside from the ''Investigations'' and ''Great Ace Attorney'' spin-offs) where Phoenix Wright isn't the primary playable character. You play as Apollo for the vast majority of the story, and while Phoenix is intermittently present as an [=NPC=] throughout the game, his [=POV=] is shown for only about one-third of the final case, and during a flashback at that. It's also the only ''Ace Attorney'' game not to have been directed either by series creator Creator/ShuTakumi[[note]]Who directed the first three ''Phoenix Wright'' games and ''The Great Ace Attorney'' duology, and co-directed the ''Professor Layton'' crossover[[/note]] or by Takeshi Yamazaki[[note]]Who directed both of the ''Investigations'' spin-offs and the fifth and sixth main series games that followed ''Apollo Justice''[[/note]], although they did both work on the game in other capacities.

** ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'' stands out as the only game in the main series (i.e. aside from the ''Investigations'' and ''Great Ace Attorney'' spin-offs) where Phoenix Wright isn't the primary playable character. You play as Apollo for the vast majority of the story, and while Phoenix is intermittently present as an [=NPC=] throughout the game, his [=POV=] is shown for only about one-third of the final case, and during a flashback at that. It's also the only ''Ace Attorney'' game not to have been directed either by series creator Creator/ShuTakumi[[note]]Who directed the first three ''Phoenix Wright'' games and ''The Great Ace Attorney'' duology, and co-directed the ''Professor Layton'' crossover[[/note]] or by Takeshi Yamazaki[[note]]Who directed both of the ''Investigations'' spin-offs and the fifth and sixth main series games that followed ''Apollo Justice''[[/note]].

** ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'' stands out as the only game in the main series (i.e. aside from the ''Investigations'' and ''Great Ace Attorney'' spin-offs) where Phoenix Wright isn't the primary playable character. You play as Apollo for the vast majority of the story, and while Phoenix is intermittently present as an [=NPC=] throughout the game, his [=POV=] is shown for only about one-third of the final case, and during a flashback at that. It's also the only ''Ace Attorney'' game not to have been directed either by series creator Creator/ShuTakumi[[note]]Who directed the first three ''Phoenix Wright'' games and ''The Great Ace Attorney'' duology, and co-directed the ''Professor Layton'' crossover[[/note]] or by Takeshi Yamazaki[[note]]Who directed both the ''Investigations'' spin-offs and the fifth and sixth main series games that followed ''Apollo Justice''[[/note]].

** ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'' stands out as the only game in the main series (i.e. aside from the ''Investigations'' and ''Great Ace Attorney'' spin-offs) where Phoenix Wright isn't the primary playable character. You play as Apollo for the vast majority of the story, and while Phoenix is intermittently present as an [=NPC=] throughout the game, his [=POV=] is shown for only about one-third of the final case, and during a flashback at that. It's also the only ''Ace Attorney'' game not to have been directed either by series creator Creator/ShuTakumi[[note]]Who directed the first three ''Phoenix Wright'' games and ''The Great Ace Attorney'' duology, and co-directed the ''Professor Layton'' crossover[[/note]] or by Takeshi Yamazaki[[note]]Who directed the ''Investigations'' spin-offs and the fifth and sixth main series games[[/note]].

** ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'' stands out as the only game in the main series (i.e. aside from the ''Investigations'' and ''Great Ace Attorney'' spin-offs) where Phoenix Wright isn't the primary playable character. You play as Apollo for the vast majority of the story, and while Phoenix is intermittently present as an [=NPC=] throughout the game, his [=POV=] is shown for only about one-third of the final case, and during a flashback at that.

** ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'' stands out as the only game in the main series (i.e. aside from the ''Investigations'' and ''Great Ace Attorney'' spin-offs) where Phoenix Wright isn't the primary playable character. You play as Apollo for the vast majority of the story, and while Phoenix is intermittently present as an [=NPC=] throughout the game, his [=POV=] is shown for only about one-third of the final case, during a flashback at that.

** ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'' stands out as the only game in the main series (i.e. aside from the ''Investigations'' and ''Great Ace Attorney'' spin-offs) where Phoenix Wright isn't the primary playable character. You play as Apollo for the vast majority of the story, and while Phoenix is intermittently present as an [=NPC=] throughout the game, his [=POV=] is shown for only about one-third of one case.

* ''VideoGame/DanganronpaAnotherEpisodeUltraDespairGirls'' is a third-person shooter in a series of ClosedCircle murder mystery visual novels. Its status as the oddball is only cemented by how much [[DarkerAndEdgier darker, edgier,]] [[BloodierAndGorier bloodier, and gorier]] it is from the main series ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'' games.

** ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorneyChronicles'' are the only games in the series not to take place TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, instead being ambiguously set sometime around the 1890s, during the Meiji era in Japan and the tail end of Queen Victoria's reign in England; and therefore are also the only games not to heavily cross-reference characters and events from the main timeline, which takes place in the 2010s and 2020s. Furthermore, at least in the localisations, they're the only games that still take place at least partly in Japan, and are the only games where the real-world settings are so integral to the story as to be necessarily retained across all localised versions.[[note]]Whereas, in all other games' English releases, California is substituted for Japan, which has knock-on effects like Germany often standing in for the [=USA=] and France for Australia when characters are called on to travel to other countries.[[/note]] This also means that the major Japanese characters in ''[=GAA=]'' retain their original names in translation, which almost no characters elsewhere in the series do; although most minor characters still have theirs changed to something AsLongAsItSoundsForeign so that Anglophone players can still appreciate the puns (and, interestingly, sometimes the reverse: to change an English character's PunnyName from the Japanese version into something that would still be broadly plausible to an English-speaker, e.g. renaming "Egg Benedict" to "Eggert Benedict" in English).

** ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorneyChronicles'' are the only games in the series not to take place TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, instead being ambiguously set sometime around the 1890s, during the Meiji era in Japan and the tail end of Queen Victoria's reign in England; and therefore are also the only games not to heavily cross-reference characters and events from the main timeline, which takes place in the 2010s and 2020s. Furthermore, at least in the localisations, they're the only games that still take place at least partly in Japan, and are the only games where the real-world settings are so integral to the story as to be necessarily retained across all localised versions.[[note]]Whereas, in all other games' English releases, California is substituted for Japan, which has knock-on effects like Germany often standing in for the [=USA=] and France for Australia when characters are called on to travel to other countries.[[/note]] This also means that the major Japanese characters in ''[=GAA=]'' retain their original names in translation, which almost no characters elsewhere in the series do; although most minor characters still have theirs changed to something AsLongAsItSoundsForeign so that Anglophone players can still appreciate the puns.

** ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorneyChronicles'' are the only games in the series not to take place TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, instead being ambiguously set sometime around the 1890s, during the Meiji era in Japan and the tail end of Queen Victoria's reign in England; and therefore are also the only games not to heavily cross-reference characters and events from the main timeline, which takes place in the 2010s and 2020s. Furthermore, at least in the localisations, they're the only games that still take place at least partly in Japan, and are the only games where the real-world settings are so integral to the story as to be necessarily retained across all localised versions.[[note]]Whereas, in all other games' English releases, California is substituted for Japan, which has knock-on effects like Germany often standing in for the [=USA=] and France for Australia when characters are called on to travel to other countries.[[/note]] This also means that the major Japanese characters in ''[=GAA=]'' retain their original names in translation, which almost no characters elsewhere in the series do; although most minor characters still have theirs changed to something AsLongAsItSoundsForeign so that English-speaking players can still appreciate the puns.

** ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorneyChronicles'' are the only games in the series not to take place TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, instead being ambiguously set sometime around the 1890s, during the Meiji era in Japan and the tail end of Queen Victoria's reign in England; and therefore are also the only games not to heavily cross-reference characters and events from the main timeline, which takes place in the 2010s and 2020s. Furthermore, at least in the localisations, they're the only games that still take place at least partly in Japan, and are the only games where the real-world settings are so integral to the story as to be necessarily retained across all localised versions.[[note]]Whereas, in all other games' English releases, California is substituted for Japan, which has knock-on effects like Germany often standing in for the [=USA=] and France for Australia when characters are called on to travel to other countries.[[/note]] This also means that the major Japanese characters in ''[=GAA=]'' retain their original names in translation, which almost no characters from the main series do; although most minor characters still have theirs changed to something AsLongAsItSoundsForeign so that English-speaking players can still appreciate the puns.

** ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorneyChronicles'' are the only games in the series not to take place TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, instead being ambiguously set sometime around the 1890s, during the Meiji era in Japan and the tail end of Queen Victoria's reign in England; and therefore are also the only games not to heavily cross-reference characters and events from the main timeline, which takes place in the 2010s and 2020s. Furthermore, at least in the localisations, they're the only games that still take place at least partly in Japan, and are the only games where the real-world settings are so integral to the story as to be necessarily retained across all localised versions.[[note]]Whereas, in all other games' English releases, California is substituted for Japan, which has knock-on effects like Germany often standing in for the [=USA=] and France for Australia when characters are called on to travel to other countries.[[/note]] This also means that the major Japanese characters in ''[=GAA=]'' retain their original names in translation, which almost no charcters from the main series do; although most minor characters still have theirs changed to something AsLongAsItSoundsForeign so that English-speaking players can still appreciate the puns.

** ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorneyChronicles'' are the only games in the series not to take place TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, instead being ambiguously set sometime around the 1890s, during the Meiji era in Japan and the tail end of Queen Victoria's reign in England; and therefore are also the only games not to heavily cross-reference characters and events from the main timeline, which takes place in the 2010s and 2020s. Furthermore, at least in the localisations, they're the only games that still take place at least partly in Japan, and are the only games where the real-world settings are so integral to the story as to be necessarily retained across all localised versions.[[note]]Whereas, in the main series' English releases, California is substituted for Japan, which has knock-on effects like Germany often standing in for the [=USA=] and France for Australia when characters are called on to travel to other countries.[[/note]] This also means that the major Japanese characters in ''[=GAA=]'' retain their original names in translation, which almost no charcters from the main series do; although most minor characters still have theirs changed to something AsLongAsItSoundsForeign so that English-speaking players can still appreciate the puns.

** ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorneyChronicles'' are the only games in the series not to take place TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, instead being ambiguously set sometime around the 1890s, during the Meiji era in Japan and the tail end of Queen Victoria's reign in England; and therefore are also the only games not to heavily cross-reference characters and events from the main timeline, which takes place in the 2010s and 2020s. Furthermore, at least in the localisations, they're the only games that still take place at least partly in Japan, and are the only games where the real-world settings are integral to the story and therefore retained across all localised versions.[[note]]Whereas, in the main series' English releases, California is substituted for Japan, which has knock-on effects like Germany often standing in for the [=USA=] and France for Australia when characters are called on to travel to other countries.[[/note]]
** ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'' stands out as the only game in the main series (i.e. aside from the ''Investigations'' and ''Great Ace Attorney'' spin-offs) where Phoenix Wright isn't the primary playable character: you play as Apollo for the vast majority of the story, and while Phoenix is intermittently present as an [=NPC=] throughout the game, his [=POV=] is shown for only about one-third of one case.

** ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorneyChronicles'' are the only games in the series not to take place TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, instead being ambiguously set sometime around the 1890s, during the Meiji era in Japan and the tail end of Queen Victoria's reign in England; and therefore are also the only games not to heavily cross-reference characters and events from the main timeline, which takes place in the 2010s and 2020s. In the localisations, they're the only games that still take place at least partly in Japan, and are the only games where the real-world settings are integral to the story and therefore retained across all localised versions.[[note]]Whereas, in the main series' English releases, California is substituted for Japan, which has knock-on effects like Germany often standing in for the [=USA=] and France for Australia when characters are called on to travel to other countries.[[/note]]