Final Fantasy VII continued to make headlines earlier this week with the release of a brand new demo at Tokyo Game Show as fans eagerly await the chance to relive this classic. And that’s not the only complete remake of a decades-old game that’s found great success recently. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening is due to release in less than a week, having received widespread praise from the moment it was announced, and the Resident Evil 2 remake is already on most ‘Game of the Year’ lists for 2019.
We recently looked at 10 remastered games we want before the next generation, a list of brilliant games that are locked behind old hardware after never being brought forward from the previous generation of consoles. It's a little late to start working on remakes from the ground up for the PS4 and Xbox One, so instead, here’s 10 games that we need to be remade for next-gen consoles which are expected to launch in Holiday 2020.
10 RESIDENT EVIL 3: NEMESIS
After the critical and commercial success of Capcom’s Resident Evil 2 remake earlier this year, it’s only natural that fans are not only eager for more games in the series to be remade but already speculating whether Resident Evil 3 is getting remade next.
RE3 takes place during the events of RE2 and follows S.T.A.R.S. agent Jill Valentine, the partner of Chris Redfield's from the first game. RE3 also expanded on the Tyrant from RE2 by introducing the Nemesis, a recurring boss that stalked the player equipped with a rocket launcher and the ability to dodge incoming fire.
Resident Evil 3: Nemesis is available on PlayStation, PC, Dreamcast, and GameCube.
9 METAL GEAR SOLID
These days Hideo Kojima is an incredibly well-known and acclaimed video game designer but it was the Metal Gear series that really put him on the map, most notably Metal Gear Solid for the PS1. Metal Gear Solid helped reinvent and popularize stealth in video games in a time when Splinter Cell didn’t exist yet and put on a focus on the use of in-engine cinematic cutscenes for the first time.
The success of Metal Gear Solid on the PS1 led to multiple sequels, spin-offs, as well as comics, novels, and more. Most recently, Metal Gear Solid was included as one of the twenty games on the PlayStation Classic miniature console.
Metal Gear Solid is available on PlayStation, PlayStation Classic, and PC.
8 THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: OCARINA OF TIME
There a few games out there as revered as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Originally released on the Nintendo 64, Ocarina of Time was the first Legend of Zelda game to feature 3D graphics and serves as a prequel to every game in the series.
To this day, Ocarina of Time remains as the highest-rated video game of all time on Metacritic, the second-highest-rated video game behind Super Mario Galaxy on GameRankings, and is often regarded as one of the best video games ever made by many publications.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is available on Nintendo 64, GameCube, Wii, WiiU, and Nintendo 3DS.
7 SILENT HILL 2
The wide-spread success of Komani’s P.T. is at least partly due to the legacy of the Silent Hill franchise and there’s no game in the series that deserves to be remade quite as much like Silent Hill 2. The Resident Evil 2 remake has been incredibly successful and proved that players are craving well crafted survival-horror experiences.
Silent Hill 2 was remade as part of the Silent Hill HD Collection for PS3 and Xbox 360 but released to mixed reviews due to the quality of the collection, not the game’s themselves. If we’re not going to get the canceled Silent Hills or the ability to redownload P.T., then a Silent Hill 2 remake is a must!
Silent Hill 2 is available on PS2, Xbox, and PC.
6 TONY HAWK'S PRO SKATER 2
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 is another game on the list that to this day remains as one of the highest-rated video games of all time on Metacritic. Skating games have been lacking for a while now, a sequel to Skate 3 is nowhere to be seen, and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 was a critical failure. So, why not bring back a beloved classic?
Pro Skater 2 released one year after its predecessor and introduced better visuals and gameplay improvements over the original such as larger environments, customization, and five game modes including Career Mode, Free Skate, Simple Session, Multiplayer and the Level Editor.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 is available on PlayStation, PC, Xbox, Game Boy Colour, Game Boy Advance, Dreamcast, Nintendo 64, and iOS.
5 STAR WARS: KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC
The Star Wars franchise has had a number of beloved games on previous generations from Star Wars Jedi Knight II coming to PS4 and Switch later this month, Republic Commando, and even Star Wars Episode 1: Racer. BioWare’s Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic stands tall above the rest as not only one of the best Star Wars games ever made, it's also a brilliant RPG that still holds up today.
Fans begged for years to get a third Battlefront game and weren’t all that happy with what they got in the reboot. And with BioWare focussed on Anthem and the upcoming release of Dragon Age 4, unless a new studio takes over, it’s not likely we’ll see a sequel. However, BioWare and EA could quite easily hand the task to another studio under the banner for a full-scale remake of the original. We could really use more great Star Wars games, now that Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is up for preorder.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is available on Xbox One (Backward Compatibility), Xbox, PC, Mac, iOS, and Android.
4 THE ELDER SCROLLS III: MORROWIND
Skyrim is one of those runaway success stories that put The Elder Scrolls series on the map in a way that previous games never dreamed of. You can dress up as Link for crying out loud. A sequel to Skyrim,the currently untitled Elder Scrolls VI is in development at Bethesda and The Elder Scrolls Online is continuing to find success, but it’s been a long time since fans were able to play a proper single-player RPG entry in the series.
One brilliant game that’s a little harder to get a hold of and one that deserves a remake is The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. Morrowind wasn’t without its floors from glitches, too clunky gameplay and a messy journal system. A remake of Morrowind could reinvent the original, fill the gap before TES6, and also tie in perfectly with the ESO Morrowind expansion that released two years back.
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is available on Xbox and PC.
3 POKEMON SNAP
Pokemon Snap, a first-person on-rails game about taking photos of Pokemon in the wild, managed to win the hearts of some fans like no game ever had. Pokemon Snap released in the prime of Pokemon, the early 2000s, when multiple mainline entries were out, the anime and film series was running strong, and more experimental games were coming to Nintendo 64 games like Pokemon Stadium.
Sure, Pokemon Snap is a little weird and goofy, and it’s not going to replace the traditional RPG series but it also doesn’t need to. A sequel would be a great idea in the same way that Super Mario Maker 2 was - add new Pokemon and features to a formula that already works. If Nintendo won’t do that if, for nothing more than nostalgia’s sake, this incredibly fun and adorable spin-off deserves another day!
Pokemon Snap is available on Nintendo 64, Wii, and WiiU.
2 THE SIMPSONS: HIT & RUN
Another remake we desperately need for the sake of nostalgia is The Simpsons: Hit & Run. No one was calling out for a remake of MediEvil or Parappa the Rapper but we’re more than happy to receive them, with the former only a month away from release.
Hit & Run sadly doesn’t hold up all too well these days whether it the gameplay or graphics, which is unfortunate and even more of a reason for a complete remake. A Simpsons themed GTA-clone set in an open-world Springfield? Yes, please! Not to mention, Hit & Run was a critical and commercial success.
The Simpsons: Hit & Run is available on PS2, PC, Xbox, and GameCube.
1 SYPHON FILTER
Before Days Gone and Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Sony Bend Studio was known for the third-person shooter series, Syphon Filter. Across the PS1, PS2, and PSP, Syphon Filter spawned six games, with the original being praised for its deep, immersive plot, focus on stealth tactics, and gameplay innovation.
Syphon Filter was very successful at the time of release but was overshadowed by other popular shooters such as Metal Gear Solid and GoldenEye. It didn’t help either that it’s two mainline sequels failed to capture the same magic, which ultimately led to the series downfall and subsequent ending.
Syphon Filter is available on PlayStation, PS2, PSP, and PlayStation Classic.
Some will argue that the industry should focus on creating new experiences and new franchises and to be completely honest, that argument is valid. However, it doesn’t need to be one or the other. New games and experiences are great and will always be there but there’s also a never-ending number of classics that either can’t be played anymore or that most won’t get the opportunity too. Bringing fan-favourite games and media forward so that a new generation of players can experience what others did before them is just as important.