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.
The Legend of Dragoon
Kind of like with movies. I want to see games/movies/etc with great stories/plots that were terribly executed. Do good games deserve a refresh, sure. But come on, do something original and stop riding the nostalgia wave.
I would give my left nut for a Dark Cloud or Black&White 2 full remaster
Black & White 2 gets my vote
Dude dark cloud would be soooo good! That game was absolutely brilliant!
I will never stop wanting a remake of Eternal Darkness. All the other horror games got decent remakes/updates but where’s the love for Eternal Darkness?
That would be a great candidate!
I’d like a Final Fantasy 7 remake.
Yes, a remake, not a pseudo-sequel lore platform action combat game with all the cutscenes slowed down to 0.02x pace of the original.
Honestly I wouldn’t even mind keeping visuals more basic for standard gameplay just so the rest can be updated.
A lot of people surprisingly don’t know the game but I’d love to see Arc the lad: twilight spirits remade. I really enjoyed the story and the style of the game it would need a bit of graphics overhaul
Brightis, made by the developers that made Arc the Lad, would be great to see redone and released in English/other languages.
Dark Cloud 2 (Dark Chronical in Europe) I have never ran into a game that has hooked me like Dark Cloud 2 did. Loved how you upgraded the weapon not the character. Wouldn’t even need a remake just a Dark Cloud 3 as it like Final Fantasy each game had similar mechanics but a new story with new characters with some returning in different roles.
I came here to say Dark Cloud <3
Playing through Dark Cloud 2 right now! Looooved them as a kid, would also love a remake. 2 expanded on 1 in so many great ways but I think a modern take on it with some QoL stuff would be amazing.
Sly Cooper and Jak & Daxter are both criminally forgotten in this era of games
I would kill for a Jak 3 remaster. I loved using the button mash glitch with Light Jak and flying around using the wings. I played through that game so many times as a kid.
Also why the fuck won’t Sony port both those series to PC?!
I’d buy those!
NFS Underground 1&2
Wipeout
Rollcage
Twisted Metal
Twisted Metal was so good.
I loved Black when it came out.
Not a niche game, but: day (???) of waiting for Sony to put Bloodborne on PC.
Also, this is a bit of a tangent, but I really wish Nintendo would start putting some of their games on PC. Not even so that I can play them, I do have a switch, but because there are quite a few of them that just don’t do well on console, either performance-wise or in terms of UX. For example, I’ve been playing the new Zelda game. The game’s core mechanic involves scrolling through a MASSIVE list of objects to find what you’re looking for and the best solution the game has for this is a handful of sorting options that only get you so far when there are just this many things. Without changing any of the gameplay, you could make the experience soooo much better by:
- Letting you use a mouse on the menu.
- Adding a basic search filter.
- Letting you hotkey some echoes.
Some games just deserve better treatment than what they got from the limitations of their original platforms.
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 Resident Evil remakes have been really solid imho. Bloober knocked it out of the park with the Silent Hill 2 remake as well. I’ve also felt like the Pokémon remakes have been generally superior.
I only like the Resident Evil remake on the GameCube from 2002 (which was later ported and released as Resident Evil HD). It retained everything about the original that was iconic and made minor additions. I wish those were optional, but since the game came out in 2002 before options were really a consideration it gets a pass. I can’t believe I am saying this, because without Kojima it feels like sacrilege, but MGS3 Delta actually looks like it might be a good remake by keeping the original gameplay as an option.
As a Silent Hill fan, I disagree. SH2 remake is very mid, and misses the mark on many points IMO. Too much was changed just for the sake of being changed. It is filled with every “Bloober-ism” in the book: stupid, predictable jumpscares (which were not really in SH2 originally since it built up as a horror game in a different way from the first game which did use jumpscares), bad performance problems, etc. The game focuses too much on combat; in the original game the optimal way to play (and lore accurate way) was avoiding most combat, but the remake refuses to allow you to avoid combat like you could in the original game. Character designs are worse than the original IMO. I really wanted to love the game, but right when I start to enjoy whatever was happening, Bloober swooped in with some addition or change or -ism that immediately pulled me out and had me rolling my eyes. Also, swapping out the original’s camera for a boring, bland, copying-everyone-else over the shoulder camera without even giving the option for the original camera hurts my soul.
I don’t really care about Pokemon so I can’t comment on it. Never played it except the TCG game on GameBoy, and I never finished that game either. Just didn’t hold my interest.
Different strokes!
Red Alert 2
Yes! But not into a 3D engine. Loved some Arctic circle, everyone start in the corners and have a race for the derricks and airports!
There was a game on the 3ds called Fantasy Life that was really really cool it was like a mix of RPG/action-ish with a mini game section where you would do various crafting stuff I’d love to see that on PC with better graphics and whatnot.
I got that but never got around to playing it. I got kinda Rune Factory vibes from it, is that accurate? I really should give it a try.
Sort of like rune factory, but it’s been well over a decade since I played it so I honestly don’t remember it well enough to properly compare. It was also multiplayer so that was cool if you have a friend to play with
Its not that old (although that does fit the theme) but Hotline Miami 1, and to a lesser extent, 2. Both are limited a lot by the engine, and by the small scale of their development. If they could be re-made in a new engine, with some modern customizability and QoL features, as well as added polish on things like the door physics, I think it could go a long way to ensuring they stand the test of time.
- Chrono Trigger, in SE’s HD-2D style. Do what they just did for Live a Live, change little to nothing but make it really pretty.
- Final Fantasy 8. Why 8? Because it has the most room for improvement. I expect SE not to keep FF remakes faithful, and 8 is the one that will benefit from that. Just retell the story in a better game that doesn’t punish you for leveling up.
- Kid Icarus Uprising. This doesn’t need more than a straight port really. One thing I’d really love to see though is a more competitive Light vs. Dark that restricts players to base weapons only, no min-maxing in PvP.
- Any classic Tales games that was never released in the west. They keep rereleasing newer entries, but where are the 2D classics? I especially want Destiny DC/2, Legendia, and Phantasia PSP.
- This is an extra impossible pipe dream for several reasons, but it’s my list and I’m allowed to dream. I wish the Boktai series could come back in some form. Silliest way to do it could be to sell it with a USB-C Solar Sensor attachment for the Switch, but that’s extra not happening. Even if we have to lose the original hardware though, I’d just like to see this game made available in some form…
I might be in the minority here, but I’ve been loving the FF7 remakes. I would definitely buy 8 getting the same treatment!
