You love ’em, you hate ’em, and the industry can’t get enough of ’em. They’re remasters and believe it or not, they’re an even older practice than you’d think, some of them more than others. Long before slapping “remaster” on the cover was a fad, these games put the “master” in “remaster” before it was cool. We gave you five fabulous remasters to pick from. Now, here are five more.
5) The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay
The original version of this game was released in 2004 for the Xbox and Windows and was one of the few licensed games that did fairly well both critically and financially. In 2009 Starbreeze Studios was kind enough to include it with their sequel, Assault on Dark Athena. The remake added enhanced visuals, a multi-player component and some additional single play content. It also allowed gamers who never owned an original Xbox to play both the games in the franchise, on the Xbox 360, PS3 or PC.
4) Bully
Rockstar’s opus Bully was released in 2006 for the PlayStation 2 and immediately became a cult classic, so much that Rockstar decided to bring it the next series of consoles. This time Rockstar gave Microsoft and Nintendo the exclusive with Bully: The Scholarship Edition, in 2008. The new edition contained content not released in prior versions, new clothes, missions and characters were added.
They also made some changes in the script, and replaced the voice overs with higher quality versions. More lines for the NPC’s were added in addition to some single player mini games. Achievements were of course added much to the excitement of Achievement Hunters everywhere.
3) Conker’s Bad Fur Day
Conker’s Bad Fur Day is a Rare gem created for the N64 and released in 2001. The game has become a cult classic and is unfortunately hard to find now. After Microsoft’s acquisition of Rare, they decided to release a remake of their crass game, they released Conker Live and ReLoaded in 2005 for the Xbox. The game featured better graphics, better controls and a better camera.
It also included a multi-player portion, most likely to show off Xbox Live at that time. At one point I was playing both of these games in tandem, and the Xbox version is so much easier to control and enjoy. Should you have a choice grab that Xbox version, I’m enjoying that one a tad bit more.
2) Skies of Arcadia
Sega’s high flying pirate RPG was originally released on the Dreamcast system in 2000. Unfortunately due to the failing console not may people got to enjoy this game. Nintendo scooped up the remake by Sega for the GameCube in 2002 which sported better visuals, quicker load and save times. Skies of Arcadia: Legends also has once less disc than the Dreamcast version, but having a lesser disc hurt the music quality.
I also played these two versions back to back and the remake is exactly the same storywise and scene-wise, they didn’t move or change anything that I saw. The game’s even easier to play on the GameCube though, if you can find a copy.
1) Resident Evil
I believe that Resident Evil is the only game to have been remastered three times. The PlayStation classic that was originally released in 1996 has had two major remasters since then. I’m not here to talk about the recent one, but the one that was made specifically for the GameCube in 2002. I’m a bit partial to this game seeing as it was the sole reason I bought a GameCube before I got any other system from that generation.
The game wasn’t just a cheap port either, Capcom rebuilt that entire masterpiece from the ground up and man was that game pretty, it still is. Capcom also didn’t just remake the exact same game either, they added story elements and new scenes and areas to explore, so someone who had the original memorized was still a little in the dark about new Spencer Mansion.
Now we are knee deep in remasters and remakes, which makes choosing what to play even tougher. I am very excited for Resident Evil 0 remastered and of course the recently announced Final Fantasy VII remake. These are two games that I’m yet to get through, I start them at least once a year, but just cannot seem to get very far, or something else takes my interest. I’m hoping the new incarnations will be able to keep my interest.
What are some of your favorite remasters? Let us know in the comments below.
