History Main / VideoGameRemake

*** [[{{Woolseyism}} Holmcross, yes.]] The tons of grammatical errors and awkward phrasing, no. It was made even worse by the fact that it wasn't released in North America until [[NoExportForYou two years after its original release in Japan]], a gap longer than most ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' games, and yet the translation seemed like it was all done in a month.

->''"If you go to Website/{{Kickstarter}} and say the name of a popular game from the mid-[[TheNineties nineties]] followed by the word "remake", money will be thrown at you with such force that you'll resemble a currency-themed cousin to Pinhead from ''Film/{{Hellraiser}}''."''
-->-- '''''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation''''', ''RiseOfTheTriad''

* ''{{Gauntlet}}: Dark Legacy'' is essentially a remake of ''{{Gauntlet}}: 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, [[spoiler:and an extended ending leading up to a new final boss.]]

->''"But on the other hand, if you go to Website/{{Kickstarter}} and say the name of a popular game from the mid-[[TheNineties nineties]] followed by the word "remake", money will be thrown at you with such force that you'll resemble a currency-themed cousin to Pinhead from ''Film/{{Hellraiser}}''."''

* ''[[ManaSeries 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.

This is, obviously, a {{subtrope}} of TheRemake. If the original game was [[NoExportForYou only released in one country]], the publisher may then actually take a chance of releasing the remake to other markets as a ForeignRemake. Alternatively, if the game was specifically remade so it could be exported to another country, that's RemadeForTheExport. If the fans decide to remake the game themselves on a new engine, that's a FanRemake. Distinct from the UpdatedRerelease, 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. The [[InvertedTrope inversion]] of this concept is the VideoGameDemake, which ''downgrades'' the graphics.

* ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}: The Dracula X Chronicles'' is a remake of the unreleased-in-the-West ''RondoOfBlood'', with the original ''Rondo of Blood'' and its sequel, ''SymphonyOfTheNight'', included as {{embedded precursor}}s.

** The original ''VideoGame/{{Castlevania|1986}}'' for the Famicom and NES had loose adaptations in the form of ''Vampire Killer'' for the [=MSX2=] and ''VideoGame/HauntedCastle'' for arcades, as well as proper remakes such as ''SuperCastlevaniaIV'' for the SNES and ''CastlevaniaChronicles'' 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.

* Creator/{{Falcom}} revels in this, [[NoExportForYou 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 PC88, though ''VideoGame/{{Ys}} SEVEN'' averted this tendency; it was made specifically for the PlayStationPortable instead of a PC platform, and that version was localized by XSEEDGames 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 PS1 and PSP that got skewered with a BlindIdiotTranslation.

->''"But on the other hand, if you go to Website/{{Kickstarter}} and say the name of a popular game from the mid-[[TheNineties nineties]] followed by the word "remake", money will be thrown at you with such force that you'll resemble a currency-themed cousin to Pinhead from ''Film/{{Hellraiser}}''."

->''"Gaming culture has a curious relationship with its history. On the one hand, you have console manufactures saying, 'Backwards compatibility, what's that? You don't wanna play any of them five million provably-good ''old'' games, granddad; all the cool kids exclusively play the five or six ''new'' games for the ''new'' consoles that have less gameplay features but prettier lighting! Check '''that''' shit out! I think I just came though my butthole because my cock was too busy pissing itself!" But on the other hand, if you go to {{Kickstarter}} and say the name of a popular game from the mid-[[TheNineties nineties]] followed by the word "remake", money will be thrown at you with such force that you'll resemble a currency-themed cousin to Pinhead from'' {{Hellraiser}}."

* Both ''SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration'' games on the GameBoyAdvance were remade and compiled into one awe-inspiring PlayStation2 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.

** ''[[SuperRobotWarsAdvance Advanced Portable]]'', ''SuperRobotWarsCompact'', and ''[[SuperRobotWarsCompact2 Super Robot Wars Impact]]'' also count, the latter having been compiled from ''three'' [=SRWs=]

* ''Videogame/ProjectM'' is a [[GameMod mod]] of ''SuperSmashBrosBrawl'' that's a FanRemake of ''Melee'''s (the previous entry in the series) gameplay, as well as a balance update.

->''"Gaming culture has a curious relationship with its history. On the one hand, you have console manufactures saying, 'Backwards compatibility, what's that? You don't wanna play any of them five million provably-good ''old'' games, granddad; all the cool kids exclusively play the five or six ''new'' games for the ''new'' consoles that have less features but prettier lighting! Check '''that''' shit out! I think I just came though my butthole because my cock was too busy pissing itself!" But on the other hand, if you go to {{Kickstarter}} and say the name of a popular game from the mid-[[TheNineties nineties]] followed by the word "remake", money will be thrown at you with such force that you'll resemble a currency-themed cousin to Pinhead from'' {{Hellraiser}}."

** ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' has seen its share of remakes as well. Fans outside Japan are now happy that remakes of ''[[VideoGame/DragonQuestIV IV]]'', ''[[VideoGame/DragonQuestV V]]'', and ''[[VideoGame/DragonQuestVI 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 [=PS1=] and [=PS2=] 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 LevelGrinding to its [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny classic storyline]].
*** The first three games were remade for the GBC with ''[[VideoGame/DragonQuestI I]]'' & ''[[VideoGame/DragonQuestII II]]'' compiled and ''[[VideoGame/DragonQuestIII III]]'' as a cartridge itself. They were even remade for the Super Famicom in Japan.

While some could argue that {{video game}}s 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 media 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, [[AnimationBump upgrade the visuals so that they're on par with the current standards]], add a few more recent gameplay mechanics, [[ChaosArchitecture maybe fine-tune the levels a little]], and presto, now you can [[RevenueEnhancingDevices 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 [[ViewersAreMorons to be able to release it again five years later]], unless it's a CompilationRerelease.

->''"A dark, dystopian world run by sinister corporations, where love, ethics, and human dignity all take second place to the emotionless pursuit of profit at all costs. Only {{in a world}} as morally blank as this would anyone consider remaking ''{{VideoGame/Syndicate}}'' as a first-person shooter. (Do you see what I did there?)''
-->--'''''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation'''''

* ''VideoGame/EarthwormJim'' EJ1 had a remake on the (deep breath) SEGA CD Game Boy Game Gear Master System Game Boy advance (gasps) and PC EJ2 Had a remake on the Saturn and Playstation

* ''VideoGame/DuckTales'' is getting one in Summer 2013, with the expected graphics update and voice work from ''the original cast of the cartoon series''.

* ''VideoGame/DuckTales Remastered'', a remake of the original NES game for the XboxLiveArcade, PlaystationNetwork and WiiU eShop. Some of the characters in the original go from minor cameos to full-brown appearances and in addition, you can actually swim in [=Scrooge McDuck=]'s money bin, as it is a all-new playable area. Oh yes, and the game features brand new voice acting work done by most of the original actors from the animated series--including Alan Young, who has provided the voice for [=Scrooge McDuck=] in almost every Disney game, TV show and movie since 1983.

* ''VideoGame/TheSecretOfMonkeyIsland: Special Edition'' seems to straddle this trope and UpdatedRerelease: 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 VideoGame/TheCurseOfMonkeyIsland''.
** And now ''[[MonkeyIsland2 [=LeChuck's=] Revenge]]'' has gotten one too. It also includes a commentary track by the three original ''MonkeyIsland'' designers, TimSchafer, [[TelltaleGames 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.

** ''Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D'', a remake of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'', was released in 2012. Although, it fell short in its promise, and the final product became more of a ''PolishedPort''.

* ''Conker: Live and Reloaded'' on Xbox, remake of ''VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay'' 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.

* ''{{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)

** ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar'' (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 [[SoCoolItsAwesome you get to play as Meta Knight]], and one that's a remake of the first game's ''hard mode''!
* ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D'' was a remake of the original ''CastleWolfenstein'', and was in turn remade as ''ReturnToCastleWolfenstein''. The upcoming release ''VideoGame/{{Wolfenstein}}'' is a sequel/remake of ''Return''.

* Every game in the ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' 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 ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld World]]'' [[VideoGame/YoshisIsland games]] and ''[[SuperMario64 64]]'' also have portable remakes.
** In fact, ''Super Mario 64 DS'' may set the record for the most [[SuperTitle64Advance 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.

* ''NightsIntoDreams'', one of the ill-fated Sega Saturn's best [[KillerApp 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 [[NoExportForYou Japanese-exclusive]].

* ''VideoGame/BlackMesa'', a fanmade remake of the original ''VideoGame/{{Half-Life|1}}'' created as a GameMod for the Source engine, which after a [[ScheduleSlip long]] [[{{VaporWare}} wait]] has been released, aims to not only recreate the game from scratch, but include some material that was originally excluded from the original game.

* ''DiddyKongRacing,'' 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)

* ''FireEmblem: [[FireEmblemAkaneia 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. [[MarthDebutedInSmashBros Maybe now the noobs will quit asking "Is Marth in this game?"]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Klonoa}}: Door to Phantomile'' was remade as ''Klonoa'' on the Wii.
* ''[[VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesTurtlesInTime Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled]]'' for XboxLiveArcade. Basically the arcade hit, now in 3D (but still sidescrolling) and a new soundtrack that polarized the nostalgics.

* ''VideoGame/{{Donkey Kong|94}}'' for the GameBoy. 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.

* For Creator/{{Atlus}}, the ''VideoGame/{{Persona}}'' series and the PSP are a match made in Heaven. ...Though, considering [[Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei 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: VideoGame/{{Persona}}'', is a straight port of ''Revelations: Persona'' for the PSOne, with improved localization and an updated UI. There's also a remake of ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' for the PSP (known as ''Persona 3 Portable''), featuring gender selection, story modifications depending on gender (including Elizabeth's SpearCounterpart), 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'' ''[[NintendoHard harder]]''.) A PSP remake of ''[[VideoGame/{{Persona 2}} 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.
** Continuing the tradition, {{VideoGame/Persona 4}} get's a remake for the PS Vita, as Persona 4: The Golden. It has its own buttload of new things, from new costumes, to new cutscenes, new social links, new Personas, and new ways in which to end the game on [[BadEnd a totally sour note]].