Remakes, Remasters & Ports

In general, are you excited when remakes are announced, or would you prefer new, original games to come from the developer? What are some of your favourite/least favourite remakes, and why?

Do you see these as a cash grab, or do you see the merits in remaking or even just porting classics to newer consoles for newer generations to experience?

What are some games you would love to see remade, remastered or ported from an older, obsolete console?

Where is the Xenoblade Chronicles Switch remaster/port Monolift Soft give it to me now it's the only good game in the series and it deserves to come to Switch.

OK, now that I've got that off my chest...

It really depends on the game, and how long its been since I last played it. Generally I am quite pleased to see remasters/remakes/ports, because they're games that I haven't played in a long time - or in the case of some like the .hack quadrilogy on PS4, never got to play at all! - and having them on a current generation console is wonderfully convenient. Of course they're all cash grabs, but if they're done properly then I don't see the harm in it - it gives older players the chance to re-experience something they haven't played in years, and newer players an easier jumping-on point. Playing old games with modern control schemes and visuals and general quality-of-life improvements can be fantastic.

Would I prefer more of these or more new games? It depends on the developer, really. A lot of developers - looking at you, Square Enix - don't seem to be capable of making games of the same kind of quality that they used to. That might sound like nostalgia talking, but comparing the incomplete clusterfuck of FFXV to even FFXIII, and then comparing that to the masterpiece that is FFXII: The Zodiac Age...yeah. But on the same topic with Square Enix, games like Octopath Traveler could just as easily be an argument against that. Pokemon might be a better example, because the games have been rubbish since Gen IV...and HeartGold/SoulSilver are the gold standard for remakes. I think I'd like to see a healthy balance between the two - remakes/remasters/ports in-between major releases, perhaps. Take your time and get the new games right for a change, and in the meantime give us older games for the current generation. Don't mess them all up by trying to do them all at once.

The Crash N Sane Trilogy actually ranks highly amongst one of the worst remasters I've played because it actually makes the things I didn't like about the trilogy WORSE. Like those godawful racing stages in the third game. The bridge levels in the first are the epitome of platforming hell, too - from what I understand they're actually MORE difficult because of the shape of the models or something. Spyro did much better, but it REALLY messed up with those garbage flight controls. These are the kind of things that I expect to be better but are somehow amplified and made worse for whatever reason. The Metroid Prime Trilogy isn't the greatest of ports either, because it gives the perfectly serviceable first two titles absolutely terrible motion controls.

The extent of the changes is another factor, too. I really don't like it when games are given "updated re-releases" where they are basically the same title just with additions they didn't have last time. Whilst I enjoyed both Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate and The Caligula Effect: Overdose as two examples, both were based off of handheld titles, and the changes were pretty damn minimal in the grand scheme of things. The differences between the three versions of Hyrule Warriors are pretty minimal, and it was frustrating that there wasn't more to it, especially with the Switch version. I think there needs to be either more effort put into the changes made between versions of games to make it a proper remaster, or for it just to be a straight-up port, because it's frustratingly exploitative and prompts purchasing the games again for the "complete" experience.

Pricing is also an issue with these things. In no reality are the Gamecube Resident Evil titles worth £30 digitally, Capcom. Good lord.

I still cling onto the hope that one day, Xenosaga will see some sort of Switch remaster. Even though realistically, it's never going to happen because the games were never really that popular to begin with. It's a shame, because the entire series is criminally underrated.

Starcraft got remastered and Warcraft 3 is getting an overhaul(if it hasn't hit already). Lots of people want Diablo 2 to get a graphical update due to how balanced the game happened to be with a limit on a class' power(not to mention its PvP arena is still alive and kicking after 20+ years). A game I know is getting remastered is Command&Conquer and fortunately EA is allowing the Westwood cast to do the job but I'm cautiously optimistic because you never know how much freedom they truly have when its EA writing the checks.

Honestly, with the way some series are going completely downhill, I'd rather see them reboot or rehash features from old games. For example, I'd love to be able to play older CoD multiplayer again (Black Ops or MW2). All it would've taken was backwards compatibility, but since Sony decided that wasn't worth their time, we get reboots with lootboxes instead. See: Modern Warfare Remastered. Although here we are more than a year later and MWR multiplayer is still more fun than the other two games that have come out since.

Same with Halo, their new games run by 343 are becoming terrible and are missing the love and passion brought by Bungie every year. Seeing the Master Chief Collection come to PC is a nice sign because I'll actually be able to play fun Halos again without having to boot up my old 360 again.

I personally love reboots, but they have to have some effort put in, and be done well. Sony flopped the Skyrim remaster by limiting mod support, but did fine by adjusting MWR to the modern market by adding lootboxes that had little effect on gameplay. Alpha Sapphire/Omega Ruby had the chance to be wonderful reboots, but I personally cannot stand the Mauville city changes along with a huge reduction in difficulty.

As Dawn said, it's mostly the way that the video game market has changed, developers used to put their blood, sweat, and tears into making a game they loved to play and hoped we'd love to play, and now we get rushed games made with features existing only for the purpose of snatching a quick buck. So if remaking old games is the only way we're going to get that quality back, then so be it.

Remakes, while also imo quick cashgrabs (let's be real), do have that nostalgia factor that makes us really want to play said games, unlike the current generation of games with a heavy influx of lootboxes and microtransactions.

I cautiously look forward to the C&C remaster, but fear the worst at the same time.
I'd personally kill for a Need for Speed Underground 1 & 2 remake/remaster. That along with 2005's Most Wanted AND Midnight Club 3 were the golden days of racing games to me

It depends, as most people have said. There are some games that I didn't get a chance to play when they originally came out - for example, the Shenmue games, which came out again last year (more of a port, I suppose, but still) - and I appreciate the opportunity to play them without having to buy a pre-owned Dreamcast and Xbox. Ditto games like Crash and Spyro, because I owned an N64 instead of a PlayStation back then, and I didn't really have the money to own both consoles. So I'm grateful for remakes, remasters, and reboots if they help fill in the gaps in my knowledge of gaming history. But that said, if I HAD owned the original games, I probably wouldn't be as interested... It'd have to be a game I really loved, like Ocarina of Time's 3DS remake, or Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, to convince me. I guess remakes and remasters are a good thing, overall, because newcomers can experience them for the first time, and veterans can decide whether they want to stick to their old copy or splash out on the new version.

That said, a developer/publisher's output shouldn't consist of just remakes and remasters. You have to balance the old with the new.

These remakes are making it want for new generations to play and play it more better in terms of difficulty. Also, Nintendo uses this kind of remake to make more suitable and more greater length and longer duration and beautiful 3D, CGI for new generations.

The only remake games i played so far was that of .hack//G.U Last Receede, but i need to play it more!

(sorry for my poor English)

i was literally just talking to my friend the other day about how i would love a beautiful ocarina of time remake for the switch. i personally am fine with all of these types of things as long as the ip is treated well and given love. it's a great way for new generations to experience a game that may now be more expensive, for an older console that's not feasible for everyone to obtain, whatever. it's also good for fans of the original (though they're geeenerally the ones with the most complaints but that's another subject) to see their favorite characters return and get to share the experience of the game with their children/younger siblings/whatever, all that good stuff.

i think it can be cash grabby when a remake is done too soon after the initial release though, but i'm excluding "ultimate" versions in that statement (pokemon crystal, persona 4 golden). i'm mostly thinking of like. when a game is released and like a year or two later a remaster is done and there are little to no changes made to really justify it.

tl;dr i've got 4 versions of ocarina of time and i'd but 4 more if nintendo gave me the chance. (replace the game and company with other things i like to get full effect lol)

I like when remakes come about.
I love seeing how faithful they are to the originals or what small differences, or large, there are in game.

I see them as a cash grab, but totally understand why game companies use remakes as a cash grab.
Nostalgia sells, and sometimes if you pick the right nostalgic piece of media, it sells well.