Throughout February, we’ve looked at the best and worst of HD remakes. However, there are decades worth of games that would benefit greatly from an HD facelift and a reinvention of their controls. The VGW staff wants to share what we believe are the most deserving of the HD port.
Brian Shea // Editor-in-Chief
Wii Mario and Zelda Games
My wishlist isn’t so much about focusing on one game as much as it is focusing on a concept: bringing some of the most beloved Wii titles to Wii U. Not only would the games benefit from a visual upgrade, but offering them with more accessible controls could cause many die-hard fans to dive back in to experience the adventures all over again. While there are a bunch of Wii titles that would benefit from this upgrade (I’m looking at you Donkey Kong Country Returns, Kirby’s Return to Dreamland, Metroid Prime Trilogy, and Sonic Colors), I want to focus squarely on Nintendo’s two biggest franchises: Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is probably the most obvious choice due to it being the game that has the most to gain from an HD remake while already possessing the best graphics of the four games I’m highlighting. A lot of people consider the Wii Motion Plus-centric controls to be perfect for Skyward Sword, but there are also many who are turned off by the control scheme. If Nintendo were to release a Skyward Sword HD with the option to control Link with either Wii Motion Plus or the more conventional controls of the Wii U GamePad/Wii U Pro Controller, it would likely draw in a bunch of the people who missed out on this gem the first time around because they were turned off by the control scheme.
The other three games I want to touch on in my wishlist are Zelda: Twilight Princess, Super Mario Galaxy, and Super Mario Galaxy 2. Luckily, none of these games would require any kind of radical control overhaul, as the Mario Galaxy games already use minimal motion controls, and Twilight Princess already has great traditional controls as shown in the Gamecube version of the game. The main sticking point for these three games would be bringing their visuals into HD on the Wii U, but I truly think it would be worth it for Nintendo after the huge success of Wind Waker HD.
Of course, I’d sacrifice all of these if Nintendo would just give us Pokemon Red/Blue remakes as full-fledged Wii U RPGs, but I think we’re pretty sure that isn’t in the plans anytime soon.
Stu Strock // Associate Editor
Breath of Fire Series
The concept of porting older games into the HD era is one that always sets my mind’s gears into motion. I have to wonder, if I were given the chance to bring my classic favorites to life, which would I pick? I could pit all of my favorites against one another, in hopes that a methodical process of elimination would fairly reveal a winner, but that would be pointless — I already know who the winner would be. When you see HD reskins of fan favorites, you see 3D games with improved textures, but what I want is a trip back to the era of 2D sprites.
Breath of Fire is far and away my long-time favorite RPG series, and its original PlayStation installments, Breath of Fire III and IV, are standout winners. I wouldn’t ask for Capcom to change a thing beyond sharpened visuals. A glance at the crisp visual fidelity of a game like The Banner Saga, and you can imagine where I’m going with this. The thrills of combining elemental magics into explosive new spells and turning the tide of battle by transforming into a massive dragon, all with the sharp style of an animated feature film.
Few things would please me more than a high def return to the brilliant, beautiful stories and characters of Breath of Fire III and IV, and maybe releasing these old favorites to a new generation would spur Capcom into bringing the series back to console gamers.
Matt Heywood // Staff Writer
Shining Force 1 and 2
The Sega Genesis featured two of the best tactical RPG games ever made in Shining Force 1 and 2. Taking control of a yet unrealized hero while building up a loyal following of fellow combatants offered some of the most rewarding 16-bit gameplay during the 90s. Replaying battles to grind XP has never been more fun thanks to the franchise’s promotion feature that allowed you to upgrade members of the Shining Force with a new visual design and battle animations for your efforts. The iconic battle music is more than likely still embedded in the minds of all gamers who played through the Genesis Shining Force titles as well, making it a highly memorable franchise from a simpler era of gaming.
The HD era hasn’t really offered up a tactical RPG experience worth losing yourself in, so remaking the Shining Force series with modern visuals would surely get long time fans in a tizzy. It wouldn’t need to be a massive undertaking either. A simple HD overhaul of the art assets would suffice, something similar to what has been done for games like Final Fantasy III, and more recently Final Fantasy VI. The nostalgia factor alone would be too great to pass up a chance to revisit the Shining Force series with a 1080p skin, so it would be a gift from the game gods if this dream project ever came to fruition.
Craig Munn // Staff Writer
Super Mario Sunshine
If I were to pick just one game from my repertoire of “classics” that deserved a HD upgrade, I’d have to go with Super Mario Sunshine. Namely, because it was perfect. I lost hours, days, weeks to this game in my teens, whether it was to red coin hunting, exploring the various vacation locales or cleaning up paint, no other game has managed to captivate me, with a core mechanic which is simply a glorified fire hose.
It was interesting to see one of gaming’s greatest villains take a back seat, only to watch a story of father-son pride blossom. It was heartwarming, regardless of their alignment, and added a great sense of humanity to a character constantly singled out as a monster. Not only this, but it put a great spin on a strained franchise, and breathed fresh life into the Mario saga.
As one of the Gamecube’s standout “must-haves,” it only served a relatively small install base, and deserves to be enjoyed and played by gamers all over. And with the inevitable up-scaling, camera fixes, and control tweaks, Super Mario Sunshine could be one of this generations most colorful and imaginative platformers, re-imagined in glorious HD.
Lucas Smith // Staff Writer
Xenosaga Trilogy
Spoiler Warning: Youtube link has major spoilers for Xenosaga 3
There are plenty of games ripe for the HD treatment but none more deserving than the Xenosaga trilogy. Though it wasn’t a well known series, it received critical acclaim for its characters and storytelling. Originally derived as a septilogy, it was reduced down to a trilogy after disappointing sale for the Xenosaga 2. Despite this, the creators still managed to successfully tie up many of the series’ loose ends.
Not only would an HD port allow them spruce up an already beautiful looking series but it would also allow them to release the unedited version in the west. The Xenosaga trilogy, especially the third, is considered to be one of the worst offenders when it comes to censorship for a western release. Content of the scenes were censored but sound effects were left in. This left many emotional scenes feeling unintentionally hilarious.
Censorship aside, the Xenosaga trilogy was among the best of the PlayStation 2′s arsenal of JRPGs that many never had the opportunity to play. Not only would this give newcomers a chance to experience but it would give veterans a chance to play the definitive version.
Keith Mathias // Community Manager
The Legend of Dragoon
Released in 2000 for the original PlayStation, The Legend of Dragoon built upon the legacy of the great JRPGs of its generation. While its plot might not have been the most original or the writing as high quality as some other notable franchises, where The Legend of Dragoon excelled was in its combat. Providing turn-based combat with the added twist of timing-based “additions,” battles were often a spectacle to behold, and required more than just passively scrolling through menus. Given an HD treatment, these battles could become even more of a spectacle, as improved animation and a greater attention to detail could render the already entertaining additions even more enjoyable. Combined with a more visually impressive Dragoon transformation, fighting would truly be a spectacle to behold.
Of course, a remake would also allow some of the game’s issues to be addressed, primarily the ridiculous amounts of precision required to execute many of the additions in combat. Plus, paring down the random encounters could make the game much more enjoyable, as it would relieve a great deal of the fatigue that set in when moving from location to location. Though the game did see a release on the PlayStation Network in in May 2012, a true remake would create a much more enjoyable experience, not just a pleasantly nostalgic one.
Sam Cline // Staff Writer
Knights of the Old Republic
BioWare’s Knights of the Old Republic series will forever be one of my top 10 gaming experiences in history. The rich storylines with well balanced gameplay and RPG elements make it a must for any fans of the Star Wars universe.
An HD set of the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series made for PlayStation 3/Xbox 360 would be great, but the sheer level of detail that could be packed into a current generation console versions of these titles is mouth watering. My favorite characters throwing light sabers and force choking people in 1080p? Awesome. Fingers crossed.
Dan Tunnicliffe // Staff Writer
Diddy Kong Racing
After hours upon minutes of contemplation and a failed paragraph on Banjo Kazooie after realizing there was a HD port, the game I would most like to see with a HD port would be Diddy Kong Racing. A racing game on the N64 with equal parts charm, character, and great gameplay.
A great selection of characters starred in an entertaining story mode that had players racing across land, air, and sea collecting balloons to open up new tracks and courses. The colorful and diverse level design–along with the aforementioned cast–would look great with a crisp HD sprucing up. With Rare now a subsidiary of Microsoft a Diddy Kong Racing HD release would be a great addition to the Xbox Live Arcade (though we highly doubt Nintendo would allow Diddy Kong to appear on an Xbox console).
Perhaps it could just be nostalgia but in my opinion we are yet to see a finer racing game, and with such little competition for fun arcade racers on the Xbox at the moment a HD release could be a profitable venture for all parties involved. Sadly, there’s a lot of red tape that would need to be crossed in order for this to ever happen.
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While there are far too many games out there that deserve an HD port, we’ve only listed a few here. Don’t see your favorite game on here? Let us know what game you’d like to see receive an HD port in the comments!
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