In the era of remakes and remasters, what niche game would you like to see receive the treatment?
In the era of remakes and remasters, what niche game would you like to see receive the treatment?
cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/27366526
I know that remakes and remasters are contentious, but let's pretend whatever game in question you're thinking of is handled with the utmost care by your favourite devs and they absolutely nail it.
Mine would be Shadow of Memories (called Shadow of Destiny in North America). It's legitimately one of my favourite games of all time but it kinda flew under the radar and I haven't met many people who know of it let alone played it. Seeing it get modern graphics, maybe some expanded mechanics, would be soooo cool.
My wishlist is Final Fantasy Tactics, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, and Xenogears. A Xenogears remake likely isn't ever happening so I'd be happy with a remaster, and it's practically an open secret at this point that an FFT project is in development. It getting the Tactics Ogre Reborn treatment would be lovely, but what I really want is an orchestrated soundtrack. Here's hoping it doesn't get cancelled. 🤞
As a genre, 4X is still kicking around, but I'm not even sure if SMAC is beloved enough to get the treatment. Good voice acting would be essential.
Honestly, looking at how modern game development studios handle remakes, I wouldn't want them anywhere near any of my beloved games. I haven't played a single remake in the last 20 years where I felt like the studio that made it knocked it out of the park.
Also, I strongly believe good games should not be remade, and only remastered/ "deluxe remastered" (where even if the game is remade, its a 1:1 faithful recreation with additional features and gameplay mechanics being optional). Remake the games that weren't great, give them another chance at big success.
- Sonic 2006
- the XenoSaga games (don't @ me XS fans, you know the combat and boss design in those games were terrible, 1 had DOMO Carrier, Tiamat, and whatever was going on in Song of Nephilim)
- Most Konami games in the late 90s - mid 2010s
- LAPD Future Cop
- etc
The old GameCube game, Eternal Darkness
Deus Ex. When I first played it I was amazed by the graphics and I specifically remember being impressed that your character was reflected in mirrors. I've been replaying it recently and the graphics are obviously very dated, but it also doesn't run smoothly on modern hardware. My PC gets louder and louder as I play it and eventually the game starts to stutter and I have to restart it.
I would love to see F.E.A.R. with updated graphics. Preferably just a remaster, but if it was remade in the same spirit as the Dead Space remake was, I'd be down for that too, especially if they brought back Fettel's voice actor.
Black and white as VR
Mine is Gothic and Soul Reaver - getting both so I'm a happy camper
pretend whatever game in question you're thinking of is handled with the utmost care by your favourite devs and they absolutely nail it.
Crash Team Racing. :(
The rest of the Legacy of Kain games
Right now, I'd really like the Gex games. Underrated 2D platformer, and a pair of goofy early 3D collectathons!
Hopefully the remake of the trilogy is still in production. I've got it on my wishlist from Limited Run Games, lol
Mercenaries 1 playground of destruction
Just cause graphics could be something nice
I'd love to see Chrono Trigger get the 2D-3D octopath-style remake that a few old SNES games have gotten.
Shadow of Memories is such a good game. That's all I had to say.
X3: Terran Conflict.
Yes, we got X3FL in 2021 AND X4, but X4 is a very different game and X3FL is just a heavily scripted X3AP (more or less).
It's a more-than-me years old game with a lot of mods that keep it enjoyable to day – as "enjoyable" as it can be, that janky piece o' junk – but I feel about it the same way I feel about Halo 2: imagine what it could have been, if the devs had the resources they could have today.
(if you say "X4" I'm going to fucking flip)Tribes
Vib-Ribbon.
It's one of the coolest concepts I've seen for PSx. It's a rhythm game that loads into the console's ram, allowing you to swap the disc to one of your CDs and could generate unique levels for your songs.
While looking it up I did find there was a PS3 port, but I don't know how good that is or if it has the same custom level feature or not. I'd love a modern version that looks visually similar but allows you to either input a playlist from a service like yt or use your own local files to generate unique levels.
Shadow of memories sounds nice.
I can see a good remake of terranigma
Bonanza Bros, Blast Corps, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Vampire: The Masquerade -Bloodlines, Cruisn World, LEGO Battles, NBA Jam
Bonanza Bros would be a great couch co-op multiplayer game in a world where we need more. It would benefit from some gameplay tweaks, and adding online play and 4 players would be big.
Blast Corps was awesome, I found it to be an extremely underrated Rare game. This game in an engine with simulated rubble and crazy explosions would be a gem. I also think changing the camera to first person should be an option at the very least.
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days got its cutscenes remastered. I want the full game. It was dripping in atmosphere, and I loved the premise of scouting the new worlds. The graphics could use an upgrade, and the combat could be brought up to par with KH2. But, I love the leveling system and think it would barely need touching.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines is awesome and not super long. It's extremely buggy, but luckily there's a modder named Wesp5 who has spend YEARS creating an Unofficial Patch, to a point where all the cut content is restored and it's essentially feature-complete. There's a version that just patches the game, and a restored content version. I think he should be given a team and be allowed to curate content and rebalance cut mechanics for a remake. It would be magical.
Cruisn World is one of my favorite arcade racers ever. It has untouchable vibes, and I'd just like to see that with a nice sheen over it, maybe more levels and vehicles?
LEGO Battles is an RTS for the Nintendo DS. Put it on PC, nuff said.
NBA Jam is not very niche. I want a remake, and I don't care if it's up-to-date. It's the best sports game period.
C&C:Generals
OpenRA is nice though
No one lives forever 1 & 2.
I would enjoy a copy of Mechwarrior 4: Vengeance with some spiffed up lighting effects, maybe the mech pack mechs included in the base game, and higher resolution copies of the FMV segments. I have my original copy but I can't get it to run on Linux. Wonder if there's a way to wash a CD game through Steam Play. Lutris...doesn't function as software? It's one of those magnetic "performance enhancing" bracelets, it doesn't do anything but it has convinced a LOT of people it does.
This may be stretching the premise a little bit but I would like to play the game they thought they were making when they made Ride To Hell: Retribution.
The adventures of buckaroo banzai.
That movie suffered from poor execution but it is a cult classic and could possibly reach a new generation if it were done correctly.
Pong.
Subspace Continuum
None, let them be, let the era of redoing finally end please
It doesn't need a remaster, but a PC port of Lost Odyssey would be awesome.
Heckin' Mega Man Legends 1&2.
I'm not particularly a fan of either re-makes or full remastered but I'm a big fan or, for example, when Xbox upgraded the resolution and FPS or backwards compatible games.
I would love to see Metal Gear Solid The Twin Snakes again and have a similar service on Switch for GameCube games.
Elite 2: Frontier.
elite dangerous is very close but it doesn't really capture the seamlessness you get from not having a landing mode or frame shifting. pioneer spaceship sim is a remake in the truest sense of the word, but a remaster would fix the ui issues the original had rather than just rolling with them.
This might be too many, but what I want to see remade, remastered, or given complete editions (although "complete editions" may not be relevant to the post topic; and some titles may not be considered niche but whatever) are Asura's Wrath, Bloodborne, Bujingai, Bully, Dante's Inferno, Dark Sector, Dead Rising 2 (and Off the Record), The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai, the F.E.A.R. series, From Dust, God Hand, Grand Theft Auto IV, the first two Gungrave games, Just Cause, killer7, L.A. Noire, the Legend of Spyro trilogy, Like a Dragon Kenzan!, Mary Skelter 2, NieR: Automata, NieR: Replicant, Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, Ninja Gaiden 3, No More Heroes 2, Prototype, Red Steel 1 and 2, Rising Zan: The Samurai Gunman, Solatorobo: Red the Hunter, Spec Ops: The Line, the original Splinter Cell (plus Pandora Tomorrow, Chaos Theory, Double Agent, and Conviction), Stranglehold, Tail Concerto, Viewtiful Joe 1 and 2, Watch Dogs 1 and 2, and the original World Ends with You.
Primarily, the goals would be to either restore cut content or integrate separate DLC into the main package, offer enhanced graphics, take advantage of the 16:9 aspect ratio if originally released during the time of 4:3 screens or on handhelds, or fix bugs or address technical limitations that affected their original console or PC releases, alongside numerous quality-of-life improvements like anti-cheat and DRM removal and extensive performance optimizations. Also, we're still waiting for a PC release for Bloodborne.
Omg shadow of memories! What a pick :) great game that I've heard barely anyone talk about :)
It feels like the rules to say an official english translation for Mother 3! Loved playing it (if Nintendo read this I did not play it)
Guiltily I'd also love a WWF Smackdown or Here Comes the Pain remaster, same arcade gameplay, same roster, or updated but just prettier and expanded! :)
I want a remake of the original Harry Potter 1 and 2 games from the PS1. Not asking much, anything that looks nicer than this would do
Starsiege: Tribes, or Alien vs Predator (2).
Both had degrees of movement that I absolutely loved (Alien wall climbing in AvP).
I understand that I should probably check out Titanfall 2 for similar reasons.
Horace Goes Skiing
I wouldn't say no to another Echo Night.
Cyberbowl but add a repair garage and transformers movie level mechanicals, when the football explodes its mayhem.
Toxic crusaders! A sidescroller based on the toxic avenger movie.
Die hard trilogy.
A new non ubisoft splinter cell
Ultima 7 I guess. I never got into it but I keep hearing his great it was. Final Fantasy VI, because it was my first and therefore the best. Space Crusade because it was just that fun.
LEGEND OF DRAGOON
Omikron The Nomad Soul
Megaman Legends Megaman Battle Network Jetforce Gemini
Make clue finders for adults! Same game, just adult level facts, puzzles, and math!
Trapt
Bloodrayne
Primal
Here comes the Pain or No Mercy.
Wing Commander 1-4, space epics of my childhood.
I'm outing me as ancient:
- M.U.L.E.
- Load Runner
- The Castles of Dr. Creep
- Seven Cities of Gold
- Paradroid
- The Sentinel
- Hanse / Kaiser / Fugger
Heroes of might and magic 3, but I feel like it might not have the same appeal if it did happen. Happy to be proven wrong, of course 🙂
