Gamers tend to hold the titles they’ve played in their past lives close to their heart.
Classic games–if that’s even an appropriate term–helped build the foundation of today’s gaming sphere. As change happens to the gaming industry, so too do gamers begin to shift their tastes and soon after, companies are forced to fine tune their development agendas based on the constant changes that strike the industry. Digital entertainment is vastly more mainstream and as the popularity grows with each passing day, the people it attracts become younger and some of gaming’s greatest hits long-forgotten.
A lot of the younger gamers in my immediate circle have not experienced the joys of video games outside the likes of recent Call of Duty launches or the varying MOBAs that spawned from Dota ’s success. Perhaps side-scroller titles like classic Mario and Sonic wouldn’t attract the newer crowd anyways and that’s understandable, but there are games in recent time that served the purpose of impacting us and sending shock waves through the gaming world with innovation or just damn good presentation.
Halo 1 on the original Xbox brought my wildest sci-fi fantasies to life with the feel of a shooting style I already new having played Doom and Quake before it. Epic story-driven games that combined action and exploration like Knights of the Old Republic captivated me long before Mass Effect was a thing. Before Call of Duty was a regular part of my immediate circle, there was Golden Eye and heck, I’ll even throw Perfect Dark in there.
The games I mentioned above are only a few on the list of games a handful of gamers I know have yet to play. Some of them young, some of them not, but most are people who were recently touched by the good word of video gaming.
As someone who pushes people to play a lot of different games, especially those that lean more towards art than pure entertainment, it’s very difficult to just tell someone to go out and play Final Fantasy VII when the game, much less the Playstation 1, is difficult to access. There are other ways around these issues such as emulators and PC-based downloads, but often times it really does come down to convenience.
While a lot of these games older games are now a part of the bargain bin, companies have the opportunity to resurrect past greats through remastering them via HD Edition.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection is going to bring back Halo 1 through 4 onto the Xbox One, making it a more viable buy for the newer generation. Sony is bringing back the Grim Fandango , fully remastered on the Playstation 4 with the PSN service looking to emulate backward-compatibility by bringing back PS2 and PS3 games via streaming service. Nintendo may not have directly announced an HD remake for the 2014/2015 release window but they did jump on the bandwagon for The Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker HD , which was thoroughly enjoyed by most of my non-Gamecube owning friends ( Majora’s Mask HD next, please?).
There is just so much money to be had from remaking older titles especially since they are already there; they exist, they just need a time to polish and fine tune what’s already been made. I know a lot of people across a multitude of online forums that would kill for an HD bundle of Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2. Heck, I even know people who want another updated edition of both Sonic Adventures 1 and 2. There’s also Ninja Gaiden, Silent Hill, or whatever tickles your fancy.
The upcoming PS4 HD remake for The Last of Us is a cool idea and all, but when I say we need more HD remakes, I mean we need to go far back – far enough where the original release’s definition of “HD” is questionable ( The Last of Us even on the PS3 was still beautiful).
It pains me to see that whenever a company release an idea or a thought at a new HD remake of whatever game, they become accused of being lazy and simply wish to cash in on the recycling of an old title. Sometimes, you can’t beat the classics.
What do you guys think? Could the gaming world use a few more HD remakes? If so, what games do you have in mind? While there are many I could only dream of, I actually wouldn’t mind a remastered version of Chrono Trigger , but that’s just me.