16 Remakes Of Old Games That You Have To Play

Can you recall your very first experience? When in GTA did you first realize you could play by your own rules and indulge your darkest impulses? When you discovered the Lightning Gun in Quake and used it to electrocute a room full of enemies, how did you feel? Remember when you were playing Tetris and you cleared an entire screen, but before you could celebrate, another block fell?

These fleeting seconds will never be recaptured like crying. While it’s raining. You wish you could rewind time so you could play your favorite games for the first time all over again.

You certainly can, in fact. This has been one long, self-indulgent pity party designed to make the following cynical points: The era of video game remakes has arrived, ladies and gentlemen. And, after all, why not? As opposed to movies, video games can’t be easily remade. Both fresh actors and a new script are unnecessary. Reconstructing upon the current skeleton is all that is required.

Everything from the hardware to the visuals to the music has improved, yet the core elements that made a game great in 1984 remain the same in 2014. What makes a video game outstanding is its gameplay. Everything from the gameplay to the story to the level design was carefully crafted. The things like this are what make us swoon.

So as to demonstrate this, we have compiled a list of 16 of our favorite video game remakes. Video games that have been given a new look or are otherwise modified significantly. All of these are excellent takes on genuine classics, and they hold their own against or even surpass their originals.

1. The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition

Should we expect perfection from a recreated game? The case for re-visiting The Secret of Monkey Island, originally released in 1990, is strengthened in the special edition released in 2009.

Naturally, a point-and-click adventure like Monkey Island, with its programmed puzzles, static screens, and simplistic character animation, would fit the bill. However none of this should detract from the accomplishment itself.

The 2009 update to what was already a classic goes beyond cosmetic changes like font and image resizing. It’s a do-over of the original that faithfully revives the high points while radically improving upon the flaws.

All the “wake the dreamer” features have been removed, such as the original’s 256-color palette and 8-bit music. In their place are hand-drawn visuals, a reworked soundtrack, and newly recorded voice acting.

The Secret of Monkey Island’s offbeat humor, well-rounded gameplay, and engaging storyline have earned it a place on many critics’ lists of all-time favorite games. Its continued prominence is ensured by the Special Edition, which is playable on so many other systems.

2. Doom 3

So to be clear, Doom 3 from 2004 was a reboot, not a remake. One that many reviewers felt fell short of their expectations. No way could that be true. The original Doom, which is now 20 years old, was a game changer for first-person shooters. Doom 3 would have had to laser beam Cacodemons straight onto the retinas of its players if it was going to live up to the inventiveness of its inspiration.

The catch is this, though. Though it’s been nearly a decade since its release, Doom 3 still has the same claustrophobia, creepiness, and pandemonium as the first Doom, and it looks great thanks to the BFG edition for PC, which updates the game’s lighting, sound, and textures to run smoothly on modern computers.

Some reviewers complained about the game’s excessive use of corridor battles and jump scares, describing them as “moments of fear” when a previously empty chamber suddenly exploded into darkness, releasing a swarm of hostile NPCs. I mean, duh, the source material did, too. That’s Doom. This is exactly the point.

3. Legend of Grimrock

Dungeon Master, born in a golden age, was an Atari ST classic that challenged players’ brains and strength as they descended into the depths of a Medieval castle.

The 3D worlds in the 1980s RPG and its equally acclaimed sequel, Chaos Strikes Back, were rendered in 2D. You never felt less than utterly immersed in a world where everything from animating skeletons to poisonous fungus to bloodthirsty mummies could be lurking around the corner, even if your four-person group was limited to 90-degree turns on a step-by-step grid.

Legend of Grimrock, available in 2012 for Mac and PC owes it all to Dungeon Master. The gameplay is redesigned from the ground up, not just the levels. Grimrock’s landscapes and monsters are 3D, although the grid is still present.

Grimrock is the benchmark by which remakes should be judged; it is punishingly difficult even on medium, but rewards you with nostalgic warmth at every turn. Some nods to the past combined with fresh ideas for the future. You can also play Dungeon Master again with the help of a supplemental mod.

4. Tomb Raider Anniversary

When in 1996, when Tomb Raider was released, the game was ambitious thanks to its expansive environments, polygonal 3D, and Lara Croft’s sharp weapons. Although you were undoubtedly mesmerized by all that sharpness, you may have forgotten that puzzle solving and exploration play a larger role than you originally thought. Despite Lara’s later killing of countless species over seven continents, gunplay played a less role in the first game. It improved because of it.

There have been a total of nine sequels, however only the 2013 reboot and 2007’s Tomb Raider: Anniversary are truly worth playing again.

It’s essentially a clone of the original, but with a new engine and improved mechanics (created for the seventh game in the series, Tomb Raider Legend).

Even while you can find everything you’d expect, there’s a lot more to discover thanks to the environments’ shimmyable walls and poles and ropes. Also, Lara is a more complete person now, both physically and mentally. There are many famous games you can play and reminisce, play more pacman 30th anniversary.

5. Elite: Dangerous

I have no shame in promoting a work-in-progress video game. Although prior experience has shown us that extremely high expectations are usually ground into a sour mush of disillusionment, this is Elite we’re talking about. It was this open-world space-exploration game that made personal computers a necessity in the 1980s.

All of the above were accomplished in under 49 KB, including a 3D space flight simulator, trading, fighting, and nearly endless globe exploration. This game was Grand Theft Auto III 17 years before GTA III was released. Outside of Earth.

Elite is finally returning to PC after much back and forth between the game’s original developers over license issues. Kickstarter backers helped make the release of Elite: Dangerous possible, and it will hit PCs and consoles in March of 2014.

Video previews have shown a futuristic take on the Elite franchise that has being marketed as a sequel. The realistic visuals of the sequel improve upon the original’s attention to detail and real-world mechanics, which made the game so addictive. If you just can’t wait, though, you can always sign up for the alpha test and get to playing right away. You’ll spend no more than £200…

6. GoldenEye 007: Reloaded

The 1997 Nintendo 64 shooter GoldenEye 007. It was praised for its gameplay and visuals. For a movie adaptation of a series that was getting old at the time, it holds up very well.

By casting the rugged Daniel Craig as Bond, GoldenEye 007 had a makeover, debuting on the Wii in 2009 and later making its way to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2011. The new GoldenEye, which featured Craig’s face and voice, was a streamlined remake with improved dynamics and a more accessible gaming system. A sow’s ear cannot be created from a silk purse, but the structure itself provided a good starting point.

7. Black Mesa

What do diehard fans do when they can’t stand the suspense any longer? What you should do is recreate the first Half-Life.

Remade in Valve’s Source engine, Black Mesa is a reimagining of the classic, story-driven shooter. Completely free, produced with plenty of hugs and kisses by a group of dedicated fans who are currently working to fix every last bug in the original Half-Life 2 for PC, this conversion is a labor of love. The initial version is available for download now, and a second, improved version will be available on Steam very shortly.

8. Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

As one of Microsoft’s earliest excursions into the gaming industry, Halo: Combat Evolved may sound like a sequel, but it was really the first game in the series. The Xbox version was a critical darling, with 5 million copies sold.

A new graphics engine enables improved player models and cranks up the visual polish for this anniversary edition, making it more of an upgrade than a remake. This Xbox 360 Halo game should be your go-to if you can only play one.

9. Prince of Persia Classic

Although the 3D “Sands of Time” trilogy has its moments, the original 2D platformer remains the most endearing entry in the series, much like the Tomb Raider games spawned a slew of sequels.

A remake of the 2D PoP using a 3D engine was released in 2008 for PlayStation and Xbox, and later for iOS and Android, 19 years after the original’s release. Prince of Persia Classic is just as enjoyable as the original because it faithfully recreates its levels.

10. Another World 20th Anniversary

Two distinct types of gamers exist. There are two kinds of people: those who love Another Planet and those who are incorrect. Although it was out before Half Life, this adventure platformer contains a plot involving scientists in danger and aliens from another realm.

New and improved editions came out in 2006 and 2013. The Anniversary Editions were upgrades rather than remakes, keeping the original code while adding new sound and repainted backgrounds to the original polygon graphics that made the games so popular in the first place. Its visuals and playability are on par with those of any modern indie side scroller.

11. Mushroom Kingdom Fusion

When there is room for a kabillion remakes, why settle for just one? What we have here is a fan-made PC game called Mushroom Kingdom Fusion, which combines elements from a number of well-liked console series.

Although the gameplay is directly lifted from Super Mario World, the game features a wide variety of levels based on other popular franchises such as Super Bomberman, Metal Gear Solid, Mega Man, Wolfenstein, Prince of Persia, and more. You can take control of a wide variety of characters, including Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog, Link, and many others. That’s just incredible and completely out of your mind. One other thing: it’s free, albeit a bit of a pain to set up.

12. Bionic Commando Rearmed

Yet another 2D platformer to get a makeover, this time the side-scrolling classic from the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It’s a complete remake for the PC, and they managed to keep most of the original gameplay intact by comparing pictures from the original game. Even though it’s driven by modern code, the retro 80s aesthetic and unique mechanics remain.

Ironically, creators Grin rebuilt the game to promote a complete 3D reboot of the series just a few months later, and although fans and critics alike adored Rearmed, the Bionic Commando reboot was widely panned. Result? There was a follow-up to BC Rearmed, but not to the more sexually charged remake.

13. Return to Castle Wolfenstein (2001)

It may be said that Castle Wolfenstein has had more reboots than any other game. The first game was a 2D overhead stealth action adventure in which the protagonist had to get out of the eponymous castle while dodging evil Nazis.

Before Doom, ID had a first-person shooter called Wolfenstein 3D. With the transition to 3D, the gameplay mechanic shifted from stealth to full-on gun battles in the hallways.

There have been two “sequels” to Wolfenstein 3D, the first in 2001 with Return to Castle Wolfenstein and the second in 2009 with Wolfenstein, both of which feature improved graphics and gameplay. If we had to choose between Return from 2001 and the somewhat dull sequel from 2009, we’d go with Return. Although being as old as some of the classics on our selection, the gameplay is far greater.

14. Sonic the Hedgehog 2013

The number of classic console games that have been converted to mobile devices is likely large enough that we could have filled a list of a similar size with them. And perhaps we will be able to accomplish that. Perhaps we can… But, for the time being, we must admit that few games are as on target as Sonic the Hedgehog 2013.

The best attempt yet to bring Sonic to mobile platforms like iOS and Android. Always staying true to the source material, the visuals are throwbacks designed with mobile devices in mind. Instead than starting from scratch, the music has been remastered. The Sonic 2 assets used for the load screens. Even yet, it’s fully rewritten from scratch, with no compatibility issues between old and new gear. This iPad app brings you a genuine Sonic adventure.

15. Leisure Suit Larry Reloaded

The 1987 film Leisure Suit Larry was a huge hit with audiences. To clarify, when I say “people,” I mean teenage lads. Objectified pneumatic tarts await you in sleazy settings in Larry, an illustrated text adventure in which you play the role of a 40-year-old software salesman. It’s possible that I’m exaggerating the benefits here.

In 2013, a complete recreation of Leisure Suit Larry was released, taking cues from the success of the Monkey Island series by replacing text navigation with a point-and-click interface and updating the visuals. While the greater execution helps to highlight all of Larry’s inherent problems, the film’s stubborn adherence to the original’s filthy narrative ultimately undermines the film’s overall effectiveness. But, as a genuine piece of gaming history — and one that has remained surprisingly popular — it must be experienced at least once.

16. Oddworld: New n’ Tasty

There are few games that can make you laugh one minute and scream into a trash can the next, and we can’t wait until the end of our countdown to reveal the winner.

When it came to platformers on the PlayStation, Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee was hands-down the best. It’s hard to imagine anything being more entertaining, aesthetically pleasing, or full of character than this. A re-imagining, however, with the help of 3D technology, has been in the works for five years… There are screenshots and a video showing that it is an accurate remake with slick HD visuals. In 2019, you may anticipate its release on essentially all gaming platforms.