Good or Bad for gaming; Remakes

[Lee]

So after the history threads and the greatest games of all time, I have decided to do a series on whether certain aspects of gaming are good or bad. The first one I shall be on gaming remakes.

The first remake I ever remember playing was Super Mario allstars for the SNES. In it were Super Mario Bros 1-3 plus the previously unreleased Super Mario Bros 2; the lost levels. With that it removed the glitches, tidied the graphics and brought us saves to the Mario series.

Now with the DS we've had a few remakes; Mario 64, Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy's, Dragon Warrior/Quest all ones which I own and then there's been remakes of MegaMan and Street fighter II to name a few more.

So I ask...is it a good thing or is it a bad thing?

BAD THING

Often changes made in remakes are scrutinized, by the purist or traditionalist, as being unnecessary or frivolous, such as the addition, alteration, or removal of plot elements, characters, voice acting, or new features. With 2D to 3D remakes, such as Wild Arms Alter Code: F, some feel 3D doesn't effectively convey the same artistic style or feeling as 2D.

So is a remake destroying the original?

GOOD THING

You're bringing a game to a whole generation. The original Fire Emblem was released in 1990, in 2008 it was remade and released on the DS, new graphics added to it, just brought the game up to date for younger gamers.

The main thing I love about remakes is this...a remake will usually get released on all three gaining territories. Why's that good? I'm int eh EU territory, now I can play the early fire emblem, final fantasy, Dragon Warrior among other things. It's for this reason I think it's a good thing (but some games should never be remade, like OOT!)

 

[Sparky]

I am torn inbetween here. sometimes its good, sometimes its bad. take GTA for instance, when it came out on playstation it was done in that crap birds eye view. but when it was remade into GTA3 it started of one of the most popular games of the year. that was a good decision to remake it, becouse otherwise we might of been playing GTA4 in the same way.

but in some ways its just like movies. some things are best left alone. who cares if there is some tweaks that could be made to make it look better, its still popular. leave it alone. there is no need to destroy something that needn't be fixed.

So i really don't know i am torn between both ways.

 

[CCS]

It can only be a good thing. If a game is remade all the fans of the games will get all excited and happy. That brings buzz to video gaming. Even if the remake failed nothing bad can come from it. The fans would just say it's not as good as the original, then throw it down never to be touched again. And even if the remake is panned by critics, any publicity is good publicity.

 

[klunderbunker]

I'd say that remakes rarely actually occur. Just about every game is just a new entry into the series. What would you really define as a remake? Just putting an old game on a new generation system and adding, not changing, but adding a few new levels? I'd hardly classify taht as a remake. Look at a game like Zelda for instance. The original has several pieces of the Triforce missing, you go get them, add hearts and weapons and eventually face Gannon. The idea in say, Ocarina of Time is in essence the same thing: you get medallions, add hearts and weapons and face Gannon. That sounds pretty much like a remake to me, but no one that knows anything about gaming would call OoT a remake of the original. It's just a continuation of the series, which is a good thing if the series or just the individual game is good. Overall I'm not sure remakes exist, but if they exist in the first sense I mentioned, then they mean very little.

 

[Lee]

Regarding what constitutes a remake...it's a game that has been remade for a different console. For example;
Super Mario Allstars had the remakes of Super Mario 1-3
A lot of the final fantasy games have been remade,and Dragon Quest is being remade. Regarding Zelda; Links awakening was remade for the GB Color as Links awakening DX and Link to the past was remade to the GBA. You can use the term remade or repackaged or enhanced really. Essentially it's taking the game, the same plot, the same things you have to do and maybe changing how it looks, maybe adding a few extra bits in. I hope that answers your question.

 

[Kashagi]

To a comment made earlier, GTA3 is not a remake, as was stated in the definitions of the following comments.

But anyway, true remakes in games seem rare, and personally, I am all for it. If its a bad remake, I simply wont play it but if we get an amazing remake, its like the game gets another shot at wowing a new generation. While if the remake flops, well the people who remember the original will still think of it as a great game and hate the remake.