Conservation is a big problem in the video game industry. Older game consoles are hard to buy and old cartridges and disks are prone to rot and decay. Remakes and remasters are paving the way to keep these old games alive, and the Nintendo Switch, is offering a ton of exciting remakes in the not-too-distant future.
In Februarys' Nintendo Direct, a lot of excellent games were announced. Among the big new titles were also plenty of games returning from the 90s for the first time, some of which weren't even available on a Nintendo console originally.
Originally scheduled for release last year, the return of the Advance Wars franchise has been a long time coming. Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp is a remake of the first games on the Gameboy Advance. The Wars series sits alongside Fire Emblem as strategy games by Intelligent Systems. Like that series, it has roots on the original Japanese NES.
The Wars games have been beloved by fans for their punchy strategy combat. Unlike Fire Emblem, which penalizes character death heavily, troops in Wars are much more disposable. The characters in Advance Wars are just as beloved as any Fire Emblem character, though. Fans are excited to see these characters with voice acting for the first time April 8th.
One of the most unexpected revivals was Front Mission 1st. It seems that with the success of Final Fantasy VII Remake Square-Enix is remastering a lot of their backlog. There are several games on this list from them. but the return of the Front Mission series is certainly a welcome surprise.
This strategy RPG started on the SNES but is most well known from the original Playstation. It was praised for its mech combat with the unique ability to target any part of enemies. The series and FromSoftware's Armored Core were considered the go-to mech franchise in the '90s. While fans are excited about 1st, the announcement of the generally more popular 2nd remake is more exciting.
Another franchise that fans have been waiting to return is Prince of Persia. The originals from the 80s set a precedent for animation in games. The 2000's entries also did a lot to inform how fluid movement should work in 3D games.
Sands of Time was definitely the standout title from this period, with its time manipulation mechanics. But also the way that The Prince moved later inspired the way Assassin's Creed did its parkour. A remake/remaster has been announced for a while now but fan backlash to its look seems to have sent it back into development. Hopefully the remake will be just as great as the original.
.hack is a series of RPGs by Bandai-Namco that take place inside a video game. It predates the Sword Art Online series and is praised for its complex world-building. The most recent entry, .hack//G.U. Last Recode is coming to Nintendo Switch in March 2022. This will mark the series' first European release.
Last Recode contains the first three .hack//G.U. games that were originally released for Playstation 2 but this edition also adds additional content. It re-balances the combat and adds quality of life features to make the game easier for newcomers.
Pac-Man's one of gaming's biggest enduring mascots. The simple maze navigating gameplay has been good enough that the Pac-Man series has seen several console releases. Pac-Man Museum from 2014 aimed to be a big compilation for the character. Its upcoming sequel, Pac-Man Museum + seems like an even more exciting product.
The game is an arcade simulator that lets players try out fourteen different Pac-Man games. The framing device allows players to re-experience arcade glory days, and also helps justify some quality of life features in some of the games. The games on show include classics like the original, obscure games like Pac-Motos, and even the recent Pac-Man 256.
Klonoa was a series of platformers created by Bandai-Namco. Despite reviewing well, the series never had outstanding success and its sequels only had a limited release. As a result, Klonoa is one of the Bandai-Namco games fans most wanted to see have a revival.
Klonoa Fantasy Reverie is the comeback fans have been hoping for. The rabbit like character explores various dream worlds with wind powers. The collection includes the first game, which tells the origin story, and the second, which introduced the rest of Klonoa's supporting cast.
Live A Live is a classic JRPG, and one of many great games which never got localized. The game was the spiritual predecessor to the beloved Chrono Trigger, sharing many staff and themes. Like Chrona Trigger it takes place over many different eras, but instead of time travel Live A Live is a generational saga.
The game features eight playable characters, each with unique gameplay and plot. It ranges from caveman to wild west, to robot in the future, to professional wrestling. But it's the player's job to find the one thing that links them all together. This classic is finally getting a remake and it's coming out later this year.
Movie tie-in games have a bad reputation, but sometimes games come along that really break out into their own. The 90s PC adventure game based on Blade Runner is one such game. The game was praised for capturing the vibe of the original film but unfortunately, legal troubles kept it from being re-released until 2019.
Thankfully, the game is getting remade for all modern platforms by Nightdive Studios. Players will soon get to experience the games' cyberpunk aesthetic and a real-time 3D world full of things to explore. It's been delayed due to technical issues, but hopefully fans don't have to wait much longer.
Capcom is known well for its extensive arcade library, especially its fighting game output. However, plenty of those games were never released outside of arcades. At least before the recent Capcom Fighting Collection, which aims to bring these classics to modern gaming. These aren't just ports, but full remasters with new features like online and training mode.
The game will have ten different fighting games in it including the entire Darkstalkers series, Capcom's monster-themed fighter. Street Fighter II and the Puzzle Fighter spinoffs of course also make an appearance. But the real surprises are Red Earth and Cyberbots, which have never gotten ported before now.
Chrono Cross is the sequel to beloved SNES RPG Chrono Trigger and while not as beloved, it's still a fan favorite. The game takes the original's scale and vastly expands on it. While the original had many different eras to travel to, this game focuses more on a large variety of party members and two extremely detailed alternate timelines. The game is finally getting the remaster it deserves coming to Switch soon.
The remaster will include plenty of quality of life features like the ability to skip battles and a remastered soundtrack. But most exciting is the full translation of Radical Dreamers. Radical Dreamers was the inter-quel between Trigger and Cross that only released into Japan and laid the blueprints for this adventure. Getting to experience a refurbished classic and a completely new adventure make this one of the most exciting remasters coming soon.
