The first game in any series that was better than its sequels?

It's hard choosing your favorite child. So I took the liberty in making a different, easier question for the DD.net community.

The topic is pretty simple, so I'll be a gentleman and go first:

Metal Gear Solid
Pokemon
Metroid Prime
Animal Crossing (for nostalgic reasons)
Donkey Kong Country
Portal
Castlevania
Spyro the Dragon
Mega Man X
Syphon Filter
F-Zero
Katamari
Left 4 Dead

Wow, this is difficult. I'll edit my post when I think of more. lol

Super Mario Bros. is still the best Mario.

That might be all I got, though...granted, I'm not including Subseries as separate series, since it's not really separate.

Mario Tennis
Mario Golf

What the heck has happened to Camelot since the N64?

Joseph wrote:
Pokemon

Hmm...I'd have to disagree here unless you're considering failure to truly innovate or reinvent the franchise as a detriment (can't deny every subsequent game has rehashed the same formula). The original games are so mechanically flawed in both single player and multiplayer that calling them better is a bit of a stretch in my opinion. In terms of Pokemon designs I'd say it's not much better or worse than most of the sequels despite the relative simplicity of design (see Pokemon that "evolve" by becoming three things, three similarly coloured piles of goo with facial features, etc.). At the least, I'd put G/S/C above the originals since they mopped up many of the issues and are equally nostalgic.