I will be the first to acknowledge that this is in no way an original or revolutionary claim, but it’s the obvious answer. The Dynasty Warriors series is by far the worst video game series ever created. Dynasty Warriors is the embodiment of the current belief that Japanese developers are reluctant, if not totally opposed, to generating new ideas in the gaming industry. Each new game features the same mindless, button smashing, beat-em-up action that can be found in the countless iterations and spin offs before it.
Another main contender for this title was Sonic the Hedgehog. A new Sonic and Dynasty game is released every couple of years and rarely do they offer anything new and inventive. The most recent sonic game, Sonic Generations, has players playing the same levels that have been featured in Sonic games over the past twenty years. This is another example of Japanese game development not developing anything new. The only reason that Sonic did not take the crown was because Sonic has changed more than Dynasty Warriors. Over the past twenty years gamers have seen Sonic in open world environments, competing in the Olympics, and racing in carts, while Dynasty Warriors is always a period piece action/strategy game. Even if the attempts to give Sonic a fresh face have usually failed, whether due to clunky controls or outdated gameplay updates, at least there is some interest to see what Sonic will try to copy next.
Dynasty Warriors has never seen any considerable changes, and has not contributed anything to gaming culture in the past ten years. It’s not impossible to breathe some new life into this series. Either with an update in gameplay mechanics or an overhaul of the story, just to name a couple. What this series desperately needs is to catch up to the industry. With interesting titles coming out of Japan like Catherine and El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron, more than ever does this series stand out as a stagnant space filler on retail shelves everywhere.