Video Game Remake

Notice a difference?[1]

While some could argue that Video Games are an artistic medium on par with movies and Literature, most video games often fail to stand the test of time in the same way that other mediums do. As computer technology and game design is constantly evolving, many titles may start to look and play extremely dated in comparison to what's available, say, five to one years after its original release. So what's a developer to do? Easy: take the original game, upgrade the visuals so that they're on par with the current standards, add a few more recent gameplay mechanics, maybe fine-tune the levels a little, and presto, now you can convince the consumers to buy basically the same game they bought five to ten years ago! If you want to confuse them further, you can explicitly promote it as a Sequel to that game, despite having largely the same content. Just don't expect to be able to release it again five years later, unless it's a Compilation Rerelease.

Also an opportunity to change the original story to include Retcons that later sequels adopt, or update the Blind Idiot Translation into something more accurate and readable.

This is, obviously, a Sub-Trope of The Remake. If the original game was 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 because wii can.

Examples of Video Game Remake include:

Remakes

  • Games made by Eugene Jarvis fit this trope nicely. Examples include Defender 2000 for the Atari Jaguar (programmed by Jeff Minter, the guy behind the classic Video Game Remake Tempest 2000), reimaginings of Robotron 2084 for the Nintendo 64 and Playstation, and remakes of Defender and N.A.R.C. for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. Unfortunately, the latter two were terrible, and Jarvis disowned the N.A.R.C. remake.
  • Nihon Falcom revels in this, but fans outside of Japan get one given version at most, usually since many of the computer versions are for old Japanese computers like the NEC PC-88 and many MSX variants, though Ys SEVEN averted this tendency; it was made specifically for the PlayStation Portable instead of a PC platform, and that version was localized by XSEED Games within a year of its Japanese release. Those that did make it overseas tend to be fondly remembered, except for the two Legend of Heroes titles on the PS 1 and PSP that got skewered with a Blind Idiot Translation.
    • Ys Book I and II on the TurboGrafx-16 was a compilation remake of the original two PC-88 games. Later, they were remade on PC as Ys I and II Eternal/Complete, which was ported to PlayStation 2 as Eternal Story, and to DS as Legacy of Ys: I and II, and the PSP as Ys I & II Chronicles, with the last one done by Nihon Falcom itself. In Japan, the first game (but not the second) was also remade on the Sharp X68000.
    • Japan also got the two Falcom Classics compilations for the Sega Saturn. The first had remakes of the first Ys and Dragon Slayer games and Xanadu. The second had remakes of Ys II and Taiyou no Shinden Asteka II.
    • 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 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.
    • Ys III: Wanderers from Ys, Ys IV: Mask of the Sun and Ys V received remakes on the PlayStation 2, all released only in Japan by Taito.
    • Brandish: The Dark Revenant for the PSP gave the original game a most welcome graphical overhaul, rendering the game environments in splendid 3D.
  • Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes for GameCube, a remake of the original Metal Gear Solid on PlayStation. It was generally received well, but some harshly criticized the new over-the-top cutscenes, redone voice acting and music (taking out the series' iconic leitmotifs), and the fact that the newly introduced MGS2 gameplay elements removed much of the challenge of the original (most noticeably, the tranquilizer gun and first-person viewpoint).
  • Resident Evil for Game Cube (a.k.a REmake), a remake of the original PlayStation version. Another version was then released for DS, titled Resident Evil: Deadly Silence, but it was more of a straight port with some touch-screen elements.
  • Conker: Live and Reloaded on Xbox, remake of Conker's Bad Fur Day on Nintendo 64.
    • 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/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, 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 friends with the games, as the previous two generations of games were incompatible with the latest ones of the time.
    • There are also remakes of Pokémon Gold and Silver, titled HeartGold and SoulSilver. They feature the graphical style of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl/Platinum, Pokémon introduced since the release of the original Gold and Silver (with no restrictions against obtaining them like FireRed and LeafGreen had, which required the game to be completed), a few new areas (such as a Safari Zone, which was a feature Gold, Silver, and Crystal lacked that every other game in the series has, though the Bug-Catching Contest event was extremely similar), menus redesigned to use the touch screen, and an improved Kanto region (for example, the redone Kanto brought back areas from Red and Blue not in the original Gold and Silver, such as Viridian Forest and Cerulean Cave).
    • HeartGold and SoulSilver also add a crapload of new content. The fan-favorite walking Pokémon feature, new battles against Lance with Clair, Giovanni, and all sorts of others. It includes all the plotlines from Crystal, as well as Steven Stone and Cynthia. Gym Leader rebattling, tons more legendaries, Kanto and Hoenn starters, an extra HM (Rock Climb), brand new sidequests, new events like an Arceus creating a Pokémon and Celebi time-warping you, plus lots of backstory and photos. Seriously. Over Nine Thousand hours of new content.
  • The Tales (series):
  • 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 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.
    • The original Castlevania for the Famicom and NES had loose adaptations in the form of Vampire Killer for the MSX2 and Haunted Castle for arcades, as well as proper remakes such as Super Castlevania IV for the SNES and Castlevania Chronicles for the PlayStation. The latter is actually a port of a Japan-only Sharp X68000 version of Akumajo Dracula, with the option to change Simon's and Dracula's sprites.
  • 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.
  • Toward the end of the Adventure Game era, Sierra re-released some of their early classics with point-and-click interfaces (instead of the old text-parsers) and vastly upgraded graphics and sound.
    • In a rare example of a game being remade twice, Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards was originally a 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!
  • The early '90s game Myst was rereleased in 2000 as realMYST. The StrataStudio 3D geometry from which the original game's HyperCard scenes had been rendered were imported into a new realtime 3D engine and overhauled, allowing fluid movement instead of fixed "slide-show" locations, as well as weather effects and other non-static elements. it also included a new age to visit.
    • 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 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.
  • 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.
  • Both Super Robot Wars Original Generation games on the Game Boy Advance were remade and compiled into one awe-inspiring PlayStation 2 game (Super Robot Wars Original Generations), featuring a host of new gameplay elements and rebalancing, much improved visuals and a host of additional story elements, including a playable teaser for the sequel - something nobody even knew about until the game itself announced it after the end credits.
  • 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.
    • It was only the world of Super Metroid in that it added Crateria to the map; the map of the regions that existed in the original is largely unchanged from the NES game, at least in terms of general layout, Crateria itself was pretty much an original design, and Chozodia was totally new—it wasn't in Super Metroid either.
      • Chozodia is arguably the Wrecked Ship from Super Metroid. It has the Wrecked Ship area music remixed in an early section.
        • 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.
  • Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land was a remake of Kirby's Adventure for NES.
    • Kirby Super Star (also known as Kirby's Fun Pack) for the SNES also contained a shortened remake of the Game Boy Kirby's Dream Land.
      • Kirby Super Star Ultra, a remake of this game, not only adds new minigames, but four new game modes, including one where you get to play as MetaKnight, and one that's a remake of the first game's hard mode!
  • Wolfenstein 3D was a remake of the original Castle Wolfenstein, and was in turn remade as Return to Castle Wolfenstein. The upcoming release Wolfenstein is a sequel/remake of Return.
  • Tomb Raider: Anniversary, as referenced in the quote above, is a remake of the original Tomb Raider, featuring gameplay elements of the later games, along with some more debatable changes...
  • Square Enix is more or less a king of this trope. They have been known for porting/remaking games more often than they should.
    • The first two games in the Final Fantasy series have been remade for the Wonderswan, PS, GBA, and the PSP, with each new version having a bit more content than the previous.
    • And there was a Japan-Famicom compilation of the first two games near the end of the platform's lifespan.
    • However, the original Final Fantasy III for the Family Computer was remade only once for the Nintendo DS, using the system's 3D capabilities.
      • The DS remake has now been ported to iOS, as have the PSP versions of FFI and FFII.
    • That remake was followed by a Final Fantasy IV remake in the same vein, odd in the fact that a GBA Updated Rerelease existed only for a couple of years.
      • Those aren't the only remakes IV has. Theres a Wonderswan version, a Cellphone version and an "Easy Type" version (Which was similar, but not identical, to the version released on SNES outside Japan)
        • To date, Final Fantasy IV exists in the following incarnations: Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy IV Easy Type, Final Fantasy II, Final Fantasy IV PSX, Final Fantasy IV GBA, Final Fantasy IV WSC, Final Fantasy IV Cellphone, Final Fantasy IV DS, and Final Fantasy IV PSP. That is nine remakes/ports of the same game at the very least; I wouldn't be surprised if I am missing a couple...and yet, to this day, I still buy each and every one I can get my hands on...
    • Dragon Quest has seen its share of remakes as well. Fans outside Japan are now happy that remakes of IV, V & VI actually came over.
      • The remakes of the fourth, fifth, and sixth games will be the first time those games were released in Europe.
      • IV and V did have a remake for the PS 1 and PlayStation 2 in Japan. IV was planned to be released in the US, but was canceled due to the developer's closing of operations.
      • 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 classic storyline.
      • The first three games were remade for the GBC with I & II compiled and 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.
      • The original is now on the PSN for PSP and Play Station 3 so they have even less reason to remake it properly, especially given that, unlike most media, people who work in games get royalties. As long as the original can still move units like a boss, they have every reason NOT to port/remake it and a sizable quadrant of people who'd be against it.
      • Given that Square always tends to test out new hardware with rebuilds of old material, 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 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? Here's Proof.
    • The original Romancing SaGa is being remade for PlayStation 2 with simiilar battle system of Romancing SaGa 3. Totally works.
    • Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories, a Game Boy Advance game, was remade for PlayStation 2 in the international version of Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+ as Re:Chain of Memories. The remake was eventually released in North America by itself (two and a half years later!), but alas, not in Europe or Australia.
    • A Nintendo DS remake of Kingdom Hearts coded, a mobile phone game, was announced at E3 2010 (titled Re:coded) solely for the purpose of bringing it to international audiences.
    • 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.
  • Every game in the Super Mario Bros. trilogy has had two remakes: one in Super Mario All-Stars and the other in the Super Mario Advance series (except SMB1, which got a second remake in Super Mario Bros. DX for the Game Boy). The World games and 64 also have portable remakes.
    • In fact, Super Mario 64 DS may set the record for the most 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.
  • Wild ARMs: Alter Code F was a PS2 update of the original Wild ARMs, complete with 3D graphics, extra scenes, more playable characters, a battle system more in-line with the most recent series entry at the time (3), extra sidequests, the whole shebang...but a remarkably similar-quality translation.
  • 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 a new case which introduces two characters who would appear in 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 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 Japanese-exclusive.
  • Everything Spiderweb Software made from 1995 to 1999 has been remade in another engine at one time or another—first the four Exile games, in order, were remade in the Nethergate engine as Avernum 1-3 and Blades of Avernum, then Nethergate was remade in the Geneforge engine. It's uncertain as of this writing whether the trend will continue, as Avernum 4-6 were initially made with the Geneforge engine, and an engine to replace that of Geneforge has yet to be announced.
    • 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 eventually and will not only recreate the game from scratch, but include some material that was originally excluded from the original game.
    • Black Mesa in turn is the remake of the official remake, Half-Life: Source. It was created because fans were disappointed by the official remake merely being the original Half-Life ported to the Source engine with the same textures and models; HL:S merely had enhanced lighting, water and particle effects.
  • Diddy Kong Racing, originally a Nintendo 64 game, was remade on the Nintendo DS. (with Banjo and Conker replaced by Dixie and Tiny Kong as they are both owned by Rare, which is now owned by Microsoft)
  • Prince of Persia Classic, on Xbox Live Arcade and PSN, is a remake of the original 2D game with graphics similar to the Sands Of Time trilogy.
    • 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.
      • With that said, the SNES port alone can be considered a remake of sorts, with new levels added, old levels redesigned, and many more Boss Battles.
  • 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.
    • The iPhone version of Double Dragon, made by Brizo (the developers of the South America-exclusive Zeebo version), features all new graphics and moves, four stages based on the original arcade game (with Abobo, Burnov, Chin, and Willy as bosses, all returning villains from previous games), and two new stages with new female bosses. (Lavis and Deena).
  • Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix is a remake of the original Super Street Fighter II Turbo developed by Backbone Entertainment with graphics drawn by Udon and a remixed version of the original soundtrack by the Game Music community at OverClocked Remix.
  • The original arcade Bubble Bobble has been ported to the Game Boy Advance and the Nintendo DS (in the "old/classic" modes of Old and New and Revolution respectively).
  • Various game studios and fan groups have been re-making X-Com: UFO Defense for well over a decade.
  • Fire Emblem: 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. 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 fan of the Wing Commander game Privateer made a re-make of it, unimaginatively called "Privateer Remake".
    • 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.
  • The Lost Vikings 2 was remade as Norse by Norsewest: The Lost Vikings Return for the next generation of consoles a mere year after it appeared on the SNES in 1995. The gameplay and level design remained the same, but the sound effects, music and graphics were completely redone. The remake also implemented FMV and voice acting.
  • Klonoa: Door to Phantomile was remade as Klonoa on the Wii.
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled for Xbox Live Arcade. Basically the arcade hit, now in 3D (but still sidescrolling) and a new soundtrack that polarized the nostalgics.
    • Notably, Turtles in Time's SNES port received an added stage and several new and/or replaced bosses - Re-Shelled is based on the original arcade game, and as such is missing these features. This has been the primary complaint many critics have raised about the remake, most notably the Irate Gamer, who doesn't even seem aware the original arcade game exists.
  • Phantasy Star and Phantasy Star II both received remakes for Japanese audiences on the PS2, as part of Sega's "AGES 2500" series. They were originally to be released in the US with a remake of Phantasy Star IV, but said remake was canceled, and any plans to release either existing game in the west have never been addressed since.
  • The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition seems to straddle this trope and Updated Rerelease: The game is essentially the same as the original, and even has all the old visuals still intact, but also adds brand-new redrawn graphics, rearranged music, a cleaner user interface, and a full voiceover soundtrack performed by the cast of The Curse of Monkey Island.
    • And now LeChuck's Revenge has gotten one too. It also includes a commentary track by the three original Monkey Island designers, Tim Schafer, 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: Friends of Mineral Town for the Game Boy Advance is a remake of Back To Nature for the PlayStation, which reused the characters from Harvest Moon 64.
    • 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 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 harder.) A PSP remake of 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.
  • Snatcher was originally released in Japan for the PC-88 and MSX2 computer platforms in 1988. The original versions were pretty advanced for their time, but lacked voice acting and were rushed for release, resulting in the omission of the game's final act. The game was then remade as a Super CD game for the PC Engine in Japan titled Snatcher CD-ROMantic in 1992, which was the basis for the localized Sega CD port in 1994. The game got further remakes for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn in Japan in 1996.
  • The Sting RPG Riviera: The Promised Land started life as a Wonder Swan game, then got ported to the Game Boy Advance with upgraded graphics and music, and still later was ported to the PlayStation Portable with upgraded resized and filtered graphics, more and improved CG scenes, enhanced and arranged music, and full voice-acting of the dialogue.
    • 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.
  • Punch-Out!! for the Wii is a "remake" in the truest sense of both the word and the trope. That is to say it's a "remake" of an older video game (specifically the NES version) in the same way as a movie or TV series being a remake of an older movie or TV series.
  • The Atari Jaguar had quite a few of these. In addition to the aforementioned Tempest 2000 and Defender 2000, there was Breakout 2000, Missile Command 3D, Hover Strike (To Battlezone 1980) and the less retro Lynbx games Checkered Flag and Blue Lightning.
  • 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.
  • Lunar: The Silver Star has been remade several times, first as Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete on the PlayStation, then as Lunar Legend on the Game Boy Advance, and then the Silver Star Story version was again redone as Lunar: Silver Star Harmony on the PSP.
  • The classic 1987 videogame Pirates! was remade for Windows in the mid-90's as Pirates! Gold. It featured 640x480 graphics, mouse control, midi sound and a variety of new bugs, but was almost entirely unchanged as a game. Then in 2004 the game was remade again as Sid Meier's Pirates!, but so much was enhanced that many consider it to be superior to even a timeless classic as the original.
  • Nintendo had The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time remade for the Nintendo 3DS, with a graphical overhaul and the 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).
  • Rare's classic Perfect Dark had the graphics cleaned up and released on the XBOX 360 in March 2010. The protaganist, Joanna Dark, has apparently been based on the Japanese version's Asian looks rather than resembling the original Western game's promo art or the look she sported in Zero, where she was portrayed as a futuristic Kim Possible.
  • Again in 2010 another Rare classic GoldenEye, was a remade by Activision for the Wii. The new GoldenEye features Daniel Craig's Bond replacing Pierce Brosnan's and the story is being altered to fit the more modern setting.
  • Battletoads in Battlemaniacs for the SNES is a shorter, easier remake of the original Battletoads. Its stages (not counting the new bonus stages) are clearly based on six of the levels from the NES game, though with some very radical differences (e.g. stage 5 of Battlemaniacs is like "Clinger Winger" done Minecart Madness style, with a few jumps added and no Boss Battle).
  • Gauntlet (1985 video game): Dark Legacy is essentially a remake of Gauntlet (1985 video game): Legends, as it has the same characters, levels, abilities, gameplay mechanics, and story of Legends, but also new characters, new levels, new abilities, new gameplay mechanics, and an extended ending leading up to a new final boss.
  • Jumper Redux, the remake of the original Jumper remade in Game Maker 6 and including its capabilities for special effects, network multiplayer mode and remixed as well as new original music.
  • After Delta Tao bought the rights to the Dark Castle series, they released Color Dark Castle, a graphically enhanced version of the first game.
  • Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary appears to be mainly a graphical upgrade, with several gameplay enhancements including online co-op.
  • Meikyuu Sinwa/Eggerland 2 for the 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.
  • The Play Station 3 version of Medal of Honor 2010 includes an HD remaster of Medal of Honor: Frontline, which has numerous gameplay enhancements including the "iron sights" aiming featured in many modern shooters.
  • 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.
  • The TurboGrafx-16 version of The Tower of Druaga had 60 redesigned floors now depicted in Three Quarters View, and a lot of new treasures, many of which had to be equipped to be used. It also eliminated two of the more frustrating features of the arcade game: the floor timers and the bad potions on certain floors.
  • Gunstar Super Heroes is an...odd case. Plot-wise, it's a sequel, but it's a massive case of History Repeats to the point that it's effectively a remake as well—almost all the same events happen again with new versions of the same characters, only there's more story surrounding everything this time.
  • Ace Combat 2 got one in the form of 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.
  • Blaster Master: Enemy Below is nominally a sequel to the original NES game and features some new gameplay elements and redesigned levels, but is otherwise very similar to the original, particularly with regard to graphics and sound.
  • 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.
  • FHBG is an expanded remake of a game made for an NES game development contest that had itself been remade for Robert Pelloni's aborted "nD" handheld.

References in Other Media

  1. ↑ Yeah, the screenshots are in totally different areas of World 1-1! The one on the right is near the first set of blocks, and the one on the left is further in the level!
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