I think a game should only experiment with introducing a new genre if it has the fan base for it, but if they (developers) are doing it in hopes to gain a new audience or more people then it can be rather risky and is most likely going to be met with failure. Chances are; if no one bought it the first time then why would they be inclined to buy a different form of it?

I didn't necessarily enjoy it "more" than the games of the original franchise, but Fallout3 (et al.) made a relatively successful leap transcending genre - and for that matter, also amalgamating elements from multiple genres.

i don't know how much other people liked it but i loved Halo Wars.

I've never really loved transcending into other realms, but I did love Mario Strikers and Mario Kart games once in a while

Frankly I don't care much either way. I was a huge fan of the Jak and Daxter series and I did buy Jak X I enjoyed even though it wasn't really Jak and Daxter. However, I have bought games from a series which was a different genre but was terrible, but I knew why, the series was not made to be anything other than what it was, so I forgave it and continued playing other games in the genre and series.

Halo: Warthog Racing

Sometimes I think games of franchises that change from their predecessors deserve more love than they get. Contrary to what most fans say, Starfox Adventures and Command are my favorite games, and I feel that they get more hate than they deserve(though I'll admit,I understand if they hated Command's story). Likewise, the Megaman Legends series is my favorite series only second to the X series(I'll also say that one of my favorite games in that series is the RPG spin-off, Command Mission), despite the radical departure from the traditional 2D sidescrolling, and think that more people should be aware of it. I'm glad to know that some people are some games that change are more lucky than others such as Metroid Prime, Final Fantasy Tactics, GTA III and Resident Evil 4. That said a lot of times when a game changes that don't work, but I think it's more because I don't like how the game plays rather than the change itself. Using Megaman and Starfox again,I didn't like Assault as much as The other games, but mostly because I feel that the On-foot sections feel generic and boring , rather than hating the on-foot for being on-foot, and I didn't care much for Battle Network series because I found the battle system to be annoying. I also don't like the Medal of Honor reboot because the switch to modern warfare felt like a generic MW clone, not having much of what made the original games special(probably not best example). As with Chain of Memories, I think it's due to personal tasets, I always found card based games to be both boring and confusing, which would explain why I barely got past the first 20 minutes of the game. tl;dr Some work some don't

Jak X: Combat Racing was great times growing up, hell, I still have it!

It certainly is a pretty big risk but if it is well planned it could work.

Franchises can absolutely jump genres. Successful ones were Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, the Metroid Prime games, the Mario and Luigi games, and Jak X. They may not have been extremely well received (except for Mario), but they were great games, nonetheless. Chain of Memories was a great game objectively. I played it before any of the other games, so it was my first experience with the series, and it played great. While the Metroid Prime games were not my first experience with the games, as I had played parts of Zero Mission and Fusion, I really enjoyed it more than the others. While playing Super Metroid makes all the difference, it is still a great game.

It's not impossible, but it ain't easy. I think it has to do with how you start the series. If Mario had started out as a fighter or a racing game, I doubt it would be very popular as it is today.

Mega Man/Mega Man Legends? Never played Legends, but it seems like the kind of game I wouldve enjoyed as a teenager

As long as a game is gameplay focused - like Mario and Sonic - you can jump genres just fine. Look at all the Mario Strikers and Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing-type spinoffs there are. Look at Littlebigplanet, which is also getting a cart racing spinoff this year. If a game is story-driven though, then it's pretty much impossible to do without pissing off fans.

It's why there is no cart racing spinoff for Mass Effect, for example. Or why we never got Uncharted Racing (history dictated that Naughty Dog really should've made a racing spinoff after Uncharted 3). Anyone remember 007 Racing? Or Star Wars Demolition? There's only so far story-driven, character-driven universes can go. They're less video gamey at that point, and more movie-like. So you have to respect the characters and man, that's a creative dead end. Because those characters in story-driven games do nothing but serve the story; they're not really about gameplay. Not like Mario, or Sonic, or Sackboy.

There's probably some wiggle room there; shifting to related genres. Like, say, moving a character from a fighting game into a brawler/action adventure. But you really need a strong game to pull it off; which is why Tekken spinoff "Death by Degrees" failed, and "Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks" succeeded (but, to be fair, MK: Mythologies failed). It's weird that that doesn't happen more often though. Like, why don't open world games beget street racing spinoffs? You'd figure Wei Shen and the Third Street Saints and whatnot would be AMAZING at Fast & Furious-style antics. Heck, a spinoff like that might be the only way to launch a successful arcade racer these days. *sigh*

none to many games area ble to cross over due to player expectations. even if a game is pretty good, people will be let down that it's not another game like what they originally enjoyed. I really liked the Metal Gear Ac!d games on psp (and wish konami would make at least MGA2 available to download), but everyone else was all: oh, it's a card game? that's gay. people won't give it a shot right off the bat. look at Metal Gear Rising. Many are writing it off because it's a straight action and not a stealth game.

Probably the best example would be WarCraft III and World of WarCraft.

I did enjoy Halo Wars, but not more than Halo. But Crash Team Racing has given me nearly as many good memories as Crash 2.

It is my understanding that Death By Degrees is an example of a genre shift ruined by poor execution - the concept itself does make sense given the particular character in question.

I have long held the opinion that the Valkyria Chronicles setting could comfortably spawn a Battlefield-type game, and/or an RTS in the vein of EndWar...

I really love Jak X Combat Racing and Final Fantasy Tactics (I think I love the original FFT more than any other FF). I think the biggest letdown for me was Soul Calibur: Legends. Although I never expected much in the first place

Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks was pretty good. I would love a secuel to it.