Video Game Remake: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

 

This is, obviously, a [[Sub-Trope]] of [[The Remake]]. If the original game was [[No Export for You|only released in one country]], the publisher may then actually take a chance of releasing the remake to other markets as a [[Foreign Remake]]. Alternatively, if the game was specifically remade so it could be exported to another country, that's [[Remade for the Export]]. If the fans decide to remake the game themselves on a new engine, that's a [[Fan Remake]]. Distinct from the [[Updated Rerelease]], because that's merely rereleasing the same game with modest additions and improvements, whereas this is recreating the entire game from the ground up on new technology.

 

Remakes on the [[Wii]] tend to be known as Wiimakes, [[Just for Pun|just because wii can]].

{{examples}}

** The side-scrolling ''[[Ys]] III: Wanderers From Ys'' was completely remade in a top-down 3D hack-and-slash format similar to that of ''Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim'' as ''The Oath In Felghana'', which was originally a [[No Export for You|Japan-only]] PC game but was later ported by [[Nihon Falcom]] to the PSP, with that version receiving an English translation by [[XSEED Games]]. XSEED later published the PC version in English through Steam.

** ''[[Brandish]]: The Dark Revenant'' for the PSP gave the original game a most welcome graphical overhaul, rendering the game environments in splendid 3D.

** Played with/lampshaded the trope a little at the beginning, when one Gargoyle said (paraphrased) that Rare intentionally added steps to the tutorial to make people think that there would be changes to the game itself.

* ''Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen'' on Game Boy Advance, remakes of ''[[Pokémon Red and Blue|Pokémon Red And Blue/Green]]'' on the original Game Boy. It features [[Mons]] that had since been introduced in subsequent generations, a new set of islands to explore, superior graphics, [[Good Bad Bugs|vastly improved]] programming, and implemented the battle/experience system of ''[[Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire]]''. The game is also designed to cater to beginners. A help menu can be accessed at any time which can describe any aspects of the current situation (in battle, one can even look up a type-effectiveness chart) and the Old Man that once simply showed you how to catch a Pokémon now gives you the Teachy TV, an item that shows you how various in- game mechanics work. However, these remakes were necessary purchases for those who [[Gotta Catch Them All]] without a [[Game Shark]] or [[Socialization Bonus|friends with the games]], as the previous two generations of games were incompatible with the latest ones of the time.

* The ''[[Tales (series)]]'':

** ''[[Tales of Destiny]]'' for the Playstation was remade for the Playstation 2, following the release of its long-delayed sequel...but it was available [[Import Gaming|only in Japan]].

** And while not as popular as those two, there's also the remake of the GBC game ''[[Tales of Phantasia]]: Narikiri Dungeon'' for the PSP (''Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon [[Xtreme Kool Letterz|X]]'').

** A remake of ''[[Tales of Innocence]]'' was announced for the ''[[Play Station Vita]]''.

* ''[[Castlevania]]: The Dracula X Chronicles'' is a remake of the unreleased-in-the-West ''[[Rondo of Blood]]'', with the original ''Rondo of Blood'' and its sequel, ''[[Symphony of the Night]]'', included as [[Embedded Precursor|embedded precursors]].

** Before that, there was a far looser SNES remake of ''Rondo of Blood'', ''Castlevania: Dracula X'' (''Akumajou Dracula XX'' in Japan). It was generally considered disappointing.

* ''Maverick Hunter X'' was a remake of the first ''[[Mega Man X]]'' game with improved graphics, added anime cutscenes, an extra playable character, and an unlockable prequel [[OVA]] called ''The Day of Sigma''. Sadly, the game ''vastly'' changes certain aspects of the universe, so that the remake doesn't sync up with the storyline of the other games...up until about ''Mega Man X5''. The series creator stated he wanted to rewrite the beginning of the story, and would do so if the remake sold well...which it did not.

** It gets worse. Keiji Inafune, the producer of the series, took all the planned enhancements out of the ''Mega Man X Collection'' because he wanted to implement them in the PSP remakes. Since they never materialized, players were left with a bare-bones collection, and were left hanging.

** In a rare example of a game being remade '''twice''', ''[[Leisure Suit Larry]] in the Land of the Lounge Lizards'' was originally a [[Adventure Game|graphic adventure]] remake of the text-only ''Softporn Adventure'', with improved puzzles and an all-new comedic script, and was subsequently remade ''again'' with sharper graphics and a point-and-click interface replacing the original text parser.

*** And now it’s being remade ''again'' in high definition!

** Earlier, an [[Updated Rerelease]] named ''Masterpiece Edition'' had been released, which featured 24-bit graphics and remastered audio (an enormous improvement over the first Windows port).

** More recently, a version for the [[Nintendo DS]] has been released, with few changes from the original. It adds in a camera, notebook, and map feature for help with the various puzzles.

* Similar to ''Maverick Hunter X'' above, Capcom also re-released the original ''[[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]]'' game for the PSP as ''[[Mega Man Powered Up]].'' MMPU included completely remixed versions of classic stages (with a "Classic Mode" with all the levels preserved as they were on the NES), two new bosses, a level editor, and the ability to play as the bosses, not to mention an overhauled [[Super-Deformed]] art style. The remake was well received, despite the somewhat polarizing new look: as one reviewer put it, there's just something wrong about wanting to give Guts Man a big hug.

* ''[[Mana (series)|Final Fantasy Adventure]]'' (Seiken Densetsu in Japan) was remade for the Game Boy Advance as ''Sword of Mana''. The graphics received a significant upgrade, the plot gained notable depth, and several of the Final Fantasy series features (such as Chocobos) were removed in favor of Mana series features introduced in later games, such as cannon travel and ring menus.

** Arguably, what made Original Generations so well-received was it rectified a massive [[Flanderization]] of a certain villanous character, who was first rendered into a [[Jerkass]], into a [[Noble Demon]]. Come the sequel, the villain performed a well-deserved [[Heel Face Turn]] to the delight of fans

** ''[[Super Robot Wars Advance|Advanced Portable]]'', ''[[Super Robot Wars Compact]]'', and ''[[Super Robot Wars Compact 2|Super Robot Wars Impact]]'' also count, the latter having been compiled from ''three'' SRWs

* The ''[[Ninja Gaiden]]'' trilogy for the NES were given the ''Super Mario All-Stars'' treatment, resulting in the [[Compilation Rerelease]] of ''Ninja Gaiden Trilogy'' for the Super NES in 1995. The remade SNES versions of the games were included in the Xbox version of ''Ninja Gaiden'', along with the original arcade game in ''Ninja Gaiden Black'' (an [[Updated Rerelease]] of the Xbox game).

* ''[[Metroid]] Zero Mission'' was a remake of the NES ''Metroid'' with the world of ''Super Metroid'' and the control scheme of ''Metroid Fusion''.

**** Another take is that the one hallway underneath Chozodia is part of the Wrecked Ship. (it's next to an area with rail-like platforms under water and matches no other architecture in the game)

* ''[[Bomberman]]: Act Zero'' was a remake of the first Bomberman game, with an added dose of [[Darker and Edgier]].

** ''[[Dragon Quest]]'' has seen its share of remakes as well. Fans outside Japan are now happy that remakes of [[Dragon Quest IV|IV]], [[Dragon Quest V|V]] & [[Dragon Quest VI|VI]] actually came over.

*** The remakes of the fourth, fifth, and sixth games will be the first time those games were released in Europe.

*** Note: When you've grown up on the old-style ''Dragon Warrior III'' and ''IV'' graphics, trying to play an "upgraded" version of the game can be oddly off-putting. It makes it seem like they polished the visuals without doing anything to upgrade the primitive base of the game itself, from its [[Level Grinding]] to its [[Seinfeld Is Unfunny|classic storyline]].

*** The first three games were remade for the GBC with [[Dragon Quest I|I]] & [[Dragon Quest II|II]] compiled and [[Dragon Quest III|III]] as a cartridge itself. They were even remade for the Super Famicom in Japan.

** Oddly, though, they're pretty evasive about remaking the one game which players around the world are absolutely clamoring to be remade: ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]''. Official line is that they won't remake a game if it's still playable on modern systems (and with the PS2 and PS3's backward compatibility, it is), while rumors persist to the contrary. A PS3 tech-demo remake of the game's opening cutscene does absolutely nothing to clarify matters.

*** Given that Square always tends to test out new hardware with [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOaQipB0cNw rebuilds of] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgYGvjUHKkg old material], [[Did Not Do the Research|you'd think people would know not to get their hopes up.]]

** ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]'' was remade for the PSP, given voice-acted cel-shaded cutscenes, an improved script that removed much of the [[Engrish]] in the script, and stronger ties to the other games in the Ivalice Alliance (including Balthier from ''[[Final Fantasy XII]]'' and Luso from ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics Advance|Final Fantasy Tactics A2]]'' appearing as playable characters).

**** Now you can relive the old brick sized Game Boy days as [[SaGa 2]] (Final Fantasy Legend 2) is being released on the DS in honor of its 20th anniversary. Don't believe me? [http://www.square-enix.co.jp/saga2/ Here's Proof.]

** [[Lufia]] 2, the most famous game of its series which is originally created by Neverland and originally brought to North America by Natsume, is remade on the [[Nintendo DS]] under the name of "Lufia: Curse of Sinistrals" with new system, plots, and very Final Fantasy-ish character design, and Natsume reprised its role as the localizer for the North American market. Cue [[Broken Base]].

** In fact, ''Super Mario 64 DS'' may set the record for the most [[Super Title 64 Advance|console-specific subtitles/prefixes]]. It has "Super" from the Super NES (although, to be fair, Mario's been Super Mario since long before that), "64" from the Nintendo 64, and "DS" from the Nintendo DS.

** Perhaps because it's a [[Good Bad Translation]].

*** [[Woolseyism|Holmcross, yes.]] The tons of grammatical errors and awkward phrasing, no. It was made even worse by the fact that it wasn't released in North America until [[No Export for You|two years after its original release in Japan]], a gap longer than most [[Final Fantasy]] games, and yet the translation seemed like it was all done in a month.

* The first three ''[[Ace Attorney]]'' games for the DS are all ports (not remakes) of the original GBA games, which were only released in Japan. However, the DS version of the first game actually adds [[Updated Rerelease|a new case]] which introduces two characters who would appear in ''[[Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney|Apollo Justice]]'', the fourth game in the series and the first one actually made specifically for the DS.

* ''[[NiGHTS Into Dreams]]'', one of the ill-fated Sega Saturn's best [[Killer App|system sellers]], was re-released on the PS2 with updated graphics around the same time as its Wii sequel to give players who missed the Saturn train a chance to experience the game. Unfortunately, so far the remake is a [[No Export for You|Japanese-exclusive]].

** And now the first ''[[Avernum]]'' is getting a "ground-up rewrite with a new engine" for its IPad rerelease.

* ''Black Mesa'', a fanmade remake of the original ''[[Half Life]]'' created as a [[Game Mod]] for the Source engine, is currently set for release [[Schedule Slip|eventually]] and will not only recreate the game from scratch, but include some material that was originally excluded from the original game.

** And new moves such as walljumping and rolling, a redesigned combat system, and new tougher enemies and bosses (e.g. the Gatekeeper who replaces the Politician from the original, and Jaffar has magic attacks and is a lot tougher now).

** Of course, comparing many of the game's earlier ports, the improvements that accumulated in four years pretty much stacked up to a remake.

* ''Double Dragon Advance'' for Game Boy Advance was a remake of the original ''[[Double Dragon]]'' arcade game but with new stages, moves, and enemies lifted from or inspired by later installments (particularly ''Double Dragon II'' and ''Super Double Dragon'').

** There was also an Xbox Live Arcade version of the first game, but it was just a straight emulation of the arcade game with the option to add redrawn HD graphics.

** Then there are DS remakes ''Revolution'' and ''Double Shot'', and PSP remake ''Evolution''. Then ''Rainbow Islands'' was remade for DS under ''Revolution''. They are all [[So Bad It's Good|so bad, they're good]].

** There's a new remake called ''Bubble Bobble Plus'' on the [[Wii Ware]] service. [[Sprite Polygon Mix|The characters and enemies are 3D models while the background and platforms are still 2D renders]]. There are also brand new levels with 4-player support.

* ''[[Fire Emblem]]: [[Fire Emblem Akaneia|The Dark Dragon and the Sword of Light]]'', the first game in the series originally released for the Family Computer in 1990, has been remade twice. The first remake, ''Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem'', was released for the Super Famicom in 1994 and contains both, a remake and a sequel of the original game (players can skip the remade portion and begin directly with the sequel). The second remake, ''Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon'', was released for the Nintendo DS in 2009 and was the first version of the game given an international release. [[Marth Debuted in Smash Bros|Maybe now the noobs will quit asking "Is Marth in this game?"]]

** The sequel portion of ''Mystery of the Emblem'' also received a separate DS remake titled ''Heroes of Light and Shadows''. For some reason, this game ''didn't'' receive an international release.

** A much more faithful remake exists, ''Privateer Gemini Gold''.

* The original space combat game ''[[Elite]]'' has had quite a few of these since its first release in 1984. The most recent is ''Oolite'', a free open-source reimplementation with up to date graphics.

** And now ''[[Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge|LeChuck's Revenge]]'' has gotten one too. It also includes a commentary track by the three original ''[[Monkey Island]]'' designers, [[Tim Schafer]], [[Telltale Games|Dave Grossman]] and Ron Gilbert, plus a concept art gallery featuring backgrounds made for the 1991 version of the game (including some that were cut to save disk space), as well as character design art from the brand-new high-res makeover.

* ''[[Donkey Kong]]'' for the [[Game Boy]]. Take the original arcade game, put it on the Game Boy...then overhaul the mechanics, add several new moves for Mario (including the triple-jump, backflip, tightrope-walking and such, which pre-dated the 3D games), 97 additional stages, updated graphics (albeit monochrome if played on the original GB), and the new levels have a new focus on puzzle-solving. And a new final boss. This game added so much, yet it is arguably one of the best game remakes of all time.

** ''[[Harvest Moon]]: Hero of Leaf Valley'' is a remake of ''Save the Homeland'' that greatly expands the game and addresses most of its major failings.

* For Atlus, the [[Persona]] Series and the PSP are a match made in Heaven. ...Though, considering [[Shin Megami Tensei|Atlus's history]] that's probably a poor choice of words. Two Persona Games have been remade for the PSP. The first ''Shin Megami Tensei: [[Persona]]'', is a straight port of Revelations Persona for the [[PS One]], with improved localization and an updated UI. There's also a remake of ''[[Persona]] 3'' for the PSP (known as P3P), featuring gender selection, story modifications depending on gender (including Elizabeth's [[Spear Counterpart]]), and the ability to control your party members. Navigation has been streamlined, and the graphics and music have been altered. Also, they've added two new difficulty levels, Beginner and Maniacs. (Yes, they've actually made Persona 3 ''[[Nintendo Hard|harder]]''.) A PSP remake of ''[[Persona 2|Persona 2: Innocent Sin]]'' was released with a remixed soundtrack, in addition to the original version, new character art, and to top it all off, an NA release, making this the first official release of this game in North America.

** Another Sting game, ''[[Yggdra Union]]'', was released first for the GBA and then upgrade-ported to the PSP.

** This also is the case for ''[[Knights in The Nightmare]]'', which was released first for the DS and then upgrade-ported to the PSP.

* 1995 game ''[[Transport Tycoon Deluxe]]'' has been recently revived as the open-source project ''OpenTTD'', with the additional merit of keeping pretty much only the graphics from the previous game but with the code written entirely from scratch, and with ''lots'' of extra features and customization capabilities.

** As of version 1.0, you no longer need the original graphics. You can use them if you have an original game disk to get them from, but there's now a new set of graphics that eliminates the last non-free bit from this FOSS project.

* ''[[Serious Sam]]'' has the ''HD'' (yes, that's what it's called) rereleases, which feature ragdoll physics, various minor tweaks and the titular graphical enhancements.

* Nintendo had ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time|The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time]]'' remade for the [[Nintendo 3DS]], with a graphical overhaul and the [[Updated Rerelease|Master Quest]] dungeons as a [[New Game+]].

* A 3DS remake of ''[[Star Fox 64]]'' was announced around the same time as the remake of ''Ocarina of Time''. In addition to the obvious addition of upgraded 3D graphics, the voice acting was re-recorded (with the original voice actors when possible, though some had to be replaced), the music was redone (in contrast to the approach taken with ''Ocarina of Time 3D''), and the game has two main modes (in addition to the existing Expert mode); the [[Nintendo 3DS]] mode lowers the difficulty mostly because of the new controls, while the Nintendo64 mode intends to preserve the challenge of the original. The script was modified slightly as well, such as preserving the name of the planet Fichina in the international releases for consistency with later installments (it was changed to Fortuna in the original English release of ''64'', but not later games).

* ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]] Anniversary'' appears to be mainly a graphical upgrade, with several gameplay enhancements including online co-op.

* ''[[Adventures of Lolo|Meikyuu Sinwa/Eggerland 2]]'' for the [[MSX|MSX2]] was remade as ''Eggerland'' for the [[FDS]], with additional levels, redone graphics and music, save files, and the first actual appearance of series [[Big Bad]] King Egger, who had previously been [[All There in the Manual]].

* Somewhere between [[Ascended Fanfic]] and this trope lies ''[[Team Fortress Classic]]'', an updated release of the original ''[[Quake]]'' mod done on Valve's Goldsrc engine.

* ''[[Ace Combat 2]]'' got one in the form of ''[[Ace Combat Assault Horizon Legacy|Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy]]'' for the [[Nintendo 3DS]]. In Japan, it's called ''Ace Combat: Cross Rumble.''

* ''[[Thexder]]'' has been remade as ''Thexder '95'' for Windows, and as ''Thexder Neo'' on the [[Playstation Network]].

* ''The Monkey King: The Journey Begins'' for the [[Wii]] is actually a remake of the old Taito [[Shoot'Em Up]] ''Cloud Master'', despite the unrelated international titles.

* ''Oregon Trail 5'' For this game they literally took Oregon Trail II, made fishing and gathering plants into options instead of random events and put in some animated cutscenes. Those aside there is literally no difference.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Video Game Long Runners]]

[[Category:Videogame Culture]]