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Resurrecting Old Games, What Works?
There has definitely been a resurgence of old games being made new again through various methods. Unfortunately, any time you reinvent an old classic you risk either alienating the original audience or not making it appealing enough for the a new audience. "Capcom has been at the forefront of the recent remake boom, re-imagining a number of their classic titles as downloadable games. Bionic Commando, for example, was given a high-definition 2.5D makeover, and a rockin' remixed soundtrack with Bionic Commando: Rearmed. Capcom also re-released a new version of Street Fighter II on the way, with the lengthy new title Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. Interestingly, both games are coming out near new entries in their respective franchises: Street Fighter IV and Bionic Commando. But the question remains, how do you decided what games will still appeal to the current gaming audience? " What games can be counted amongst the success stories, and which can be chalked up as utter failures?
it's a conundrum;
Anything with a strong amount of Nostalgia for it is going to suffer from the fans who still play it proclaiming "they changed it, now it sucks" - See: Fallout 3, or any remake of Master of Magic ever done.
At the same time, some really great work has been done with remaking old games. I, for one, LIKED fighting the Enclave alongside a Giant mecha that spewed anti-communist propaganda.
My son will easily say - wow, you're right dad - Megaman rocks. cha-ching for Nintendo Wii. He came into the gaming scene after the "progression of graphics", so he easily yawns as 4 extra FPS or slightly enhanced visuals - he wants playability. Caught them playing pac-man on one of those joysticks that plugs into the TV. He laughed at the graphics, but they kept right on playing for an hour or so.
meh
Pfft, I'm holding out for Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix-Remix.
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Contra 4 came out for the DS a while back. It's very much like Contra 1 (which you can unlock). I thought they did a pretty good job with it. It's a little short, but there's a lot of mini games and mutliple difficulty levels.... and achievments......
Here's a link to the wiki page on it: Contra 4
This post approved by Shampoo.
It seems that a lot of the success of a resurrection of an old game depends on the gameplay (how it transitions to modern graphics, modern controls, modern gameplay expectations) and on the nostalgia associated with the game.
As an example of the latter, I would actually likely dislike a remake of The Secret of Monkey Island (MI 1).
Gameplay seems to be important though. Some of the classic games relied on gameplay, whilst others relied on story, etc. It doesn't seem like the gameplay from 1990 always transitions well into modern games. The culture of the gamer has shifted, as have the expectations. Graphics alone can almost make a game successful these days, although not completely; whereas back in 1990, graphics seemed to play a small role. Sure, it did to some extent, but I think it was less "realistic graphics" that was of interest back then(Commander Keen != realistic, even a classic like Loom wasn't realistic, although it was certainly colorful and "pretty").
As for successes that I have personally played, I think the continuation of Prince of Persia appears to have done fairly well.
There are only a few recent games that I have any lasting nostalgic impressions about, but there are quite a few old games that do. One reason is personal taste, of course, but I think games in the past had to rely on something else than games typically do now. Of course, everyone has heard this 500x, but that's ok. :)
One game that I wish WAS remade with more modern engines was Baldur's Gate. I loved the game (granted, it was my first CRPG, a genre I have since come to really enjoy more than any other), the story, the characters, etc... but I think if it were remade and put into even the Aurora 2 engine, it would do alright as a remake.
I have a few tips for anyone trying to revive an old game. First and foremost, don't screw up the controls. Don't try to recreate robotron for example on a console with only 1 directional control (gameboy sp, i'm looking at you)
Also, rather than a old version and a new souped-up version of an old game, I'd rather see 1 game that starts out looking like the old one, but with 100 little options that would allow you to customize the game. Extra visual enhancements would be great, like tempest on the jaguar, but make them optional. And what about more options? Xevious with 50 solvalous would be nice for example. Or speed ups/slow downs. Or new levels for an old game. New weapons. Be creative. Provide more options. Don't just churn out crap and hope to milk us old guys.
Disconnect your television. Do your own research. Draw your own conclusions. They're probably lying. Don't be a sheep.
Yet you still find time to post on ol' Slashdot.
You're right, that is a bad analogy.
Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
Pac-Man World has to be one of the worst failures. And it illustrates what I hate about these updates---that the designers try to reimagine the game from scratch.
Change the graphics, not the gameplay. When designers follow this rule, the game succeeds. (See Super Mario World and A Link to the Past.) When designers disregard this rule, the game fails. (See Spy Hunter.) None of the best games became classics because players really loved the names of the characters. We loved the gameplay. The new Street Fighter II downloadable game is perfectly executed, because the gameplay is what I loved as a kid but with new graphics that take advantage of modern systems' capabilities.
To utilize modern consoles' other capabilities, you need to write new gameplay. That's why Grand Theft Auto 3 was such a blockbuster---because they started from scratch, asking what the system was capable of. (And don't get me started on how that innovation has been squandered. Free-roaming games rock. Why is every decent mech or air-combat simulator saddled with some dull storyline that I have to ignore to get to the fun stuff? And why is there still no game where I can free-roam through the Star Trek universe, discovering random species or picking fights with Borg?)
We need Desert Bus resurrected. Only this time, in full 3D, rendering the entire trip at once, requiring a ton of RAM and video power in addition to six hours of time for the trip from Tuscon to Vegas.
Plus a more photorealistic bug splattering on the windshield after five hours.
Demanding constant attention will only lead to attention.
I have heard somewhere that it might result in resurrection a few days later. Not tried is myself though.... but there is this old indian graveyard too.
Releasing games is a great strategy. A) The legwork is done. B) You can shine it up. C) Customers who missed it the first time get another crack at it.
This works very well for games that were great for a reason. Chrono Trigger DS is my current fav. game. I never got to play it on the SNES, but the DS version is simply awesome... even if the graphics are pretty old school.
Likewise, Super Mario World DS, while not truly a remake, shows how the old formula can easily work in the modern generation.
I've also enjoyed Final Fantasy games on the DS. Stuff I never got to play on the NES because RPG's never appealed to me then.
Should companies do it? Yeah. For what games? Games that were obviously good for a reason. Final Fantasy 7 comes to mind. They could completely remake the game with higher quality graphics and cut-screens (using the models from the movies) and I'm sure it'd sell like hotcakes on all the systems... if they didn't have a lock-in with Sony.
Needless to say, I've benefited greatly from being able to play timeless classics again, for the first time. =P
"The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth." ~1984 George Orwell
M.U.L.E.?
Considering how often it was called a revolutionary game, it's surprising that there's only been a couple remakes, with none of them working on modern hardware and internet aware. :-(
Help! I'm a slashdot refugee.
I really really really miss the Desert/Jungle/Nuclear/Whatever Strike series of games.
Why oh why has there been nothing even remotely similar in years! It's the type of game you could pick up and play without having to commit hours and hours, it was great for some quick, fun action, but the series seems to have been completely dropped.
I'd love for a company remake anything even remotely similar. I'd guess there's a lot of old classics like these out there just gagging to be remade.
I don't think there's a shortage of classics that could be remade that don't even have to be faithful to the originals, just something similar as in this example. The real problem seems to be that gaming has converged onto a few very tight specific genres- RTS, RPG, FPS and Sport and hardly anyone dares venture even slightly outside the defined rules for creating a game within these boundaries.
Maybe gamers like me, who would like something like the Desert strike series games put into a rather nice modern form are just too much of a niche market to bother with.
Picture the Mushroomy Kingdom level from the new Smash Brothers Brawl as the graphics for the actual game play of the original Super Mario Brothers. Same exact game, still 2D, same controls, but re-done with awesome new graphics. That is the one retro area that I think has been completely unexplored.
No need to make things 3D or mess up the controls, but games like Mega Man 9 could have taken more advantage of newer graphics while still keeping the old-school feel to it.
Morphing Software
I recently reinstalled X-Wing Alliance and it works great. Back in the day I didn't have a joystick, and I used the mouse. I have a thrustmaster so some such thing now, and it works great, but I can't get it to support yaw when I twist the handle, which naturally makes me a total wanker in dogfights.
This is definitely a game series that should be done again with modern graphics, AI, online play, team play, etc. Just as long as it stays a "simulator" type game instead of the video gamey stuff they've made recently.
-- QED