Video game remakes are an interesting topic sometimes. It feels like companies are too eager to make an easy buck by remaking games that don’t even need to be remade yet; looking at you, The Last of Us Part 1. That said, remakes are a great way to relive favorites from your past, enhanced and fixed for the current day. We’re not talking about simple remasters or ports. From the ground up remakes can revitalize a franchise or game that deserves to be experienced by more people. Here are ten video games that are currently in need of a full remake.
10 video games that need a remake
Banjo-Kazooie
Needless to say, Banjo-Kazooie fans have been waiting a long time for the bear and bird to have a new game. They had a moment in the limelight again when they were added to the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate roster, but then promptly went quiet again. While we would love Banjo-Threeie to come out finally, we want to see the first game be totally remade to try and generate excitement for that new entry. Toys For Bob is working on something with an Xbox IP, so if that’s not a new Spyro the Dragon game, hopefully, they are remaking Banjo-Kazooie. If so, expect to hear about this in the next few years.
Burnout 3: Takedown or Revenge
Nowadays, the only prominent racing representation in gaming is Mario Kart and simulation racers like Forza or Gran Turismo. While that’s fine for those dedicated crowds, those of us who like arcade racing would love a return of Burnout. These games focus on racing aggressively and causing your opponents to crash. It’s high-speed chaos, and we absolutely love and miss it. We think Burnout 3: Takedown is the best entry in the series, but we’d be plenty happy with Revenge as well.
Chrono Trigger
Square Enix has been in an interesting swing with their turn-based RPGs lately. Games like Octopath Traveller and the early Dragon Quest video game remakes have an art style that appeals to those who love pixel art. A Chrono Trigger remake could look gorgeous with this attention, and many people would throw money down to play it again. It’s only one of the best turn-based RPGs ever made and could be a brilliant way to honor the life of the late Akira Toriyama.
Dino Crisis
The easiest way to describe Dino Crisis is if Resident Evil was invaded by dinosaurs instead of zombies and biological monsters. Capcom has been on a roll in recent years remaking the Resident Evil games in the third-person over-the-back camera. Take that formula and apply it to Dino Crisis, and you have the potential to build a second horror series that continually brings in money.
GoldenEye 007
Many of the games on this list have something about them that has aged poorly. For some, it’s the art style, and for others, it could be the gameplay or controls. With GoldenEye 007, it’s a little bit of everything. Originally released on the Nintendo 64, this is one of the ugliest games looking at it today, and it wasn’t necessarily a great looking game for the time either. The N64 controller was not made for first-person shooters, making the control scheme tough to translate to a controller today. The re-release on Xbox did about as well as it could, but even that is a bit rough at times. A full remake of this video game could take James Bond to new heights, though we doubt it will ever happen. Here’s hoping the 007 game IO Interactive is working on will be great.
Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy
For as willing as PlayStation is to remake games that don’t need it, like The Last of Us Part 1, the first Jak and Daxter game could really have used some love and attention. Before Jak went through an edgy transition in the sequels, this was a brilliant 3D platformer. You can play a remaster of it on PS4, but controlling Jak is a little off. The feel of platformers has vastly improved since the PS2 controller, so we would like to see Jak and Daxter get some smoother feeling movement alongside a jump in visual fidelity and new animations and cutscenes. The Crash Bandicoot N Sane Trilogy treatment here would work wonders.
Rayman 2: The Great Escape
Ubisoft is completely fine with leaving Rayman in the dark following the Rabbids’ emergence, which is honestly super sad. Alongside Rayman Origins and Legends, Rayman 2: The Great Escape stands toe-to-toe with the best platformers out there. This game has already been re-released with some pretty poor ports. Give Rayman the respect he deserves and give a full remake to pretty it up, and please, Ubisoft, stop abandoning him in favor of the Rabbid overlords.
Sonic Adventure 1+2
As much as it’s the cool thing to join the crowd that says the Sonic Adventure games are terrible, there’s a very dedicated group of Sonic fans who still love these games, us included. Video game remakes of the Sonic Adventure games that focus on fixing up animations, cutscenes, voice acting, and smooths up the gameplay would be perfect for players who grew up with these games. They’re definitely rough to look at today, but they can show their charm with work from the right team put into them.
The Simpsons: Hit & Run
It has been over 20 years since The Simpsons: Hit & Run was released. To this day, it stands up there as one of the best licensed video games ever made. It’s Grand Theft Auto in Springfield. Sure, this isn’t necessarily America’s favorite family anymore, but you could find a lot of people who enjoy these days of the show. Fans have already shown their ability to make the game look very much like the show, but we want a full AAA effort put into it.
Twisted Metal PS1 games
We can’t believe that PlayStation still hasn’t released a new Twisted Metal game following the series on Peacock. In a gaming industry dominated by live service multiplayer games, namely battle royales, this series is primed to thrive in that area. Even if we don’t get that, video game remakes of the original PS1 games would be awesome. Make everything prettier and update the controls and you have a brilliant look back at 90s gaming as well as a unique experience you don’t see much these days. Car combat is an exceedingly rare genre. Include the first three games and have Small Brawl as an unlockable bonus, and you have our heart, Sony.
