Give Those Old Games A Facelift!
My favorite hobbit, Frodo, over at the Weekly Geek has put together a list of classic games that he and his cohort, The Geek, would like to see redone for the next-gen consoles. The list includes such classics as Maniac Mansion, Secret of Mana, Legend of Zelda, Toejam and Earl and Final Fantasy VII.
Reading their lists and reasons for choosing particular titles got me thinking about what games I would like to see redone. Chrono Cross sprang to mind immediately, but I had a hard time thinking of any others. To me, the beauty of a lot of these older games, IS the 8 or 16 bit graphics. While a revamp of Maniac Mansion might look good, I would probably rather play the original for nostalgic purposes. It seems to me that RPGs as a genre lend themselves to updating while other genres should be left untouched to bask in their olde schoole glory.
If you had unlimited amounts of cash to give your favorite oldie but goodie a revamp, which would you choose?
Top Five List: Top Five Games That Could Use Makeovers [The Weekly Geek]
Fruit Brute
Posted to Hot Stuff, Video Games on 5 February 2007
· Comments (8)
Other stuff like this: classic games, facelift, frodo, revamp, weekly geek
Amazing pic! Spot on, man, spot on.
I think I remember a PC remake of Maniac Mansion...and I believe that I have it, but I won't know until this evening. ;p
I would love to see Chrono Trigger revamped. It sucks that Square-Enix shut down the fan one that a bunch of people were making. I'd also love to see Chrono Cross remade with PS3 graphics, as well as MegaMan Legends. MegaMan Legends was one of my favorite games ever and I'd love to see a revamp or even another entry into the series.
I'd love to see Treasure's SEGA Saturn classic Guardian Heroes given a slight update. Basically, all I'd want done is the sprites given high-res makeovers, and the 3-D elements of the game improved, leaving the gameplay totally untouched.
I have two series that I would like to see given a complete makeover.
1. Chrono Trigger. It would be awesome if Square completely re-made Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross, so that they had upgraded visuals, music, and a story that flowed more smoothly between them. It would be even more awesome if these re-releases led up to the release of a brand new third installment (Chrono Break anyone?).
2. Soul Blazer. This trilogy is the hidden jewel of SNES RPGs. Produced by Enix, the trilogy consists of Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaea, and Terranigma. These games were wonderful but were overshadowed by Square's string of SNES masterpieces. Terranigma never even saw a stateside release (though it did get to Europe, oddly enough). All three games are standard adventure, hack-n-slash gameplay, so it would be awesome if Squeenix remade the games for the Wii using cell-shaded graphics. Level 5, are you listening?
I considered adding chrono trigger... but man if that game isn't already pretty much perfect.
I'd like to see the original Legend of Zelda redone for the Wii (or DS) the way Final Fantasy III was on the DS. Total conversion, everything in 3D, but the gameplay just the same as it originally was.
Not that I'll know the difference because I never really liked Zelda on the NES. So maybe Link to the Past is the one that needs redoing.
I really want to see an update of either the original Donkey Kong - with Mario's squishy shoe noises, the red girders, and DK just standing there looking goofy and not wearing a monogrammed tie - or DK Game Boy, with the 100 levels. Not holding my breath though, as Nintendo seems to have decided to morph the original DK franchise into some kind of Lemmings thing lately.
I don't know how Mappy could be updated, but I'd like to see that happen as well. This year is its 25th anniversary.
That goes double for Marble Madness, but Kororinpa looks like it might come pretty close.
I think it's time to dig out the Asteroids series of games - Asteroids, Asteroids Deluxe, Space Duel, Blasteroids - and do something with them, either on XBLA or the "Wii Games Channel" or whatever they end up calling it. Of them all, I think Space Duel has the best balance between look and feel, multiplayer gameplay, and gimmickry.
I'd like to see a Wii remake of virtually any Sierra point and click game, but we've all talked about that stuff before.
I miss some of the old classic Mac games! Not many PC gamers knew about them, but some had a significant impact on my childhood. I'd love to be able to play Ares, Avara, Iron Helix, the Marathon trilogy, Lunicus, Jump Raven, and the volumes of many other exclusive games that most mac users can't even play any more since the update to OSX.
Good times...
Oh and I'd love to see a remake of Iron Helix! Maybe even the Journeyman project, though they kinda already had that director's cut thing a few years back I never saw any sequels! Come on, Journeyman Project II: The Directors Cut! Try and scale the tower, have a cow land on you, this time in real time and Hi-Def!
Maniac Mansion is a great idea, as is Day of the Tentacle and all the other point-and-click adventure games by Lucas. How long has it been since somebody made a decent Indiana Jones game? A re-make of the classic point-and-click Indy games... Now that'd be something! I bet Harrison Ford wouldn't mind offering his voice for 'em, either.