YMMV / Sequelitis

• Broken Base: The Legend of Zelda Sequelitis. On the one hand, there's people who praise Arin for having the guts to criticize such a highly-praised game as Ocarina of Time at all, and agree that the 2D games were better than the 3D ones that follow Ocarina of Time's formula. On the other hand, there's the people who claim many of the points he brought up were not legitimate criticisms in the slightest, and that the video was more an excuse for Arin to whine about how much he dislikes 3D Zelda games. Detractors take umbrage with criticisms such as there being too much plot, the camera placement being poor, prolonged animations like opening treasure chests, and unintuitive puzzles, believing that they're either purely up to personal taste, show a poor understanding of the game's mechanics, or are even hypocritical or just plain odd (for example, when dismissing the puzzles in OOT, he praises those in The Legend of Zelda, where "puzzles" were usually just killing everything in the room). This was made worse when Arin played the title as part of Game Grumps, and showcased less than stellar skill — particularly his complaints about combat being "all about waiting" were caused by his own refusal to use items that penetrate the enemy's defenses or stun them and allow you to engage them at your pace. Overall, the backlash to this episode is a major reason why there hasn't been another episode of Sequelitis in the years since.
• Franchise Original Sin:
  • Traces of the more controversial elements of the Zelda episode can be seen all the way back in the first video, Castlevania vs. Castlevania II: Simon's Quest. At the very end, Arin makes a statement that the modern Castlevania titles, the ones that took more cues from II than the original, are similar to junk food (quick to eat, hard to savor) while the original title is more like a fulfilling dessert. This mirrors the Zelda video by speaking highly of old-school design philosophy while holding modern game design under greater scrutiny, but the key differences are that he does attempt to see why people could like the latter (he notices that the elements of II are done in a much flashier, more satisfying way) and avoids disparaging the people who enjoy them.
  • His infamous rant towards the personification of Skyward Sword, who up until that point has come across as friendly (if hapless), that causes it to run away in tears, is a big part of what turned people off from that episode... but even in the mostly-positive Mega Man X episode, where he shouts at Roll, who's only trying to be helpful, until she cries, and then states he isn't sorry.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Arin ended the Zelda episode recommending people subscribe so they can watch more videos in this series. Arin would never release another Sequelitis, with the negative reaction to that video being a major reason why.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • This series is treated very differently by fans of the Game Grumps, due to how Arin as a Let's Player is a radical antithesis to everything he says here. The most frequently-cited example is how Arin rants about characters popping up to tell you annoying and unnecessary information, as there are countless moments where an episode of Game Grumps would have gone a lot better if Arin had bothered to read the on-screen prompts or listen to the Annoying Video Game Helper instead of just ignoring them and assuming he already knew what they would say.
  • Probably the best remembered aspect of Sequelitis is Arin arguing how well Mega Man X teaches the mechanics of the game in its Highway level without resorting to tutorials. Then the mobile game Mega Man X DiVE was released, in which RiCO repeatedly interrupts the player to explain the game's mechanics in the middle of a recreation of the very same level, in the exact same manner that Arin was condemning.
• It's Easy, So It Sucks!: One of his major complaints about modern Zelda games is how they aren't as challenging as the original or A Link to The Past, to the point of being outright unstimulating.
• It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: He criticizes the Zelda series for sticking too close to formula, with Skyward Sword infuriating him the most.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • JUMP 'N SHOOT MAN!
  • "And then Capcom was like 'Fuck!'"
  • Many Mega Man-related videos will have at least one poster saying "X... is pretty smart. Y... is pretty fucking smart. Z is FUCKING...GENIUS!!!"
  • From the same video, a high-pitched "Mega Man! Mega Man!" (said by Roll acting like a hypothetical annoying Exposition Fairy, Egoraptor's point being that those games could teach the player without needing one) is now often quoted by Let's Players when unnecessary annoying exposition shows up in games. Probably a reference to Navi mode in Rockman Complete Works and the Anniversary Collection, but that was unvoiced and completely optional... unlike in a few of the later Mega Man X games.
  • RIDIN' ON CARS!!! *Air Guitar*
• Opinion Myopia: While he generally tries to avoid this, Arin has such negative feelings towards some of the 3D Zelda games, Skyward Sword in particular, that he outright accuses fans and critics of liking it only because of childhood nostalgia or because of the series' pedigree.
• Sequelitis: Ironically enough, the series of that name fell into this trope with the fourth episode on The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The idea of making an episode an episode devoted to critiquing a contender for the most beloved game of all time was already questionable, and many didn't care of the execution, citing Arin's logic as being iffy and focusing too much on trivial matters.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Being a series of opinion pieces about the differences between originals and sequels, some level of this was inevitable. His Zelda video, though, got a lot of hatred to the point of killing the series altogether.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: As noted some time later on an episode of Game Grumps, the personification of Skyward Sword comes across this way, with its nice and friendly personality making Arin's enormous "The Reason You Suck" Speech feel quite mean-spirited. When Danny mentioned this, he summed the scene up as "evil wins".
• The Woobie:
  • Roll might be annoying, but she gets beaten up and yelled at just for trying to help Mega Man. Even after she starts crying, Arin tells her he doesn't feel sorry for her.
  • Skyward Sword gets it pretty bad here. Even though the game is depicted as well-meaning, Arin repeatedly bashes it, culminating in an long speech where he expresses complete contempt with the game, which then promptly breaks down in tears.

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