Video Game Redux #1
Street Fighter IV, Super Mario Galaxy, Resident Evil 27: Zombies in Time. If there’s one formula that the videogame world believes in it is that if a game is a success once, it will be over and over and over again. While this is not exactly the case; some games of the past should be remade by today’s standards.
Starman and Kin Corn Karn have poured through their library of games to bring you a few of their choices for potential remakes, hidden gems that should be brought out once more for the current generation of gamers. Read, comment, and leave your own video game ideas behind.
Starman: Hot Chase - Arcade
Original Game: You probably haven't heard of this game. In an ocean of arcade games with steering wheels, it was probably overlooked a great deal. Created in 1988 by Konami, it involves you driving a Porsche (the video game car of the 80s) as fast as you can to various checkpoints. Sounds like any other driving game, right? Well they added a twist: your car has a bomb in it. If it explodes, well no one is walking away from that one. Along the way you are being hunted down by helicopters, military checkpoints and have other obstacles such as railway crossings and traffic to deal with.
Next Generation Game: Of course the premise would be the same. You are a secret agent behind enemy lines; a foreign nation has captured your awesome spy car and you. You manage to escape but it appears your car is wired to explode unless you make it back to base! With current 3D we all know that a driving game can be fast and great looking, borrow elements from the Burn-Out series (crashes with crazy amounts of particle effects) and you would have a solid and fun game. I am on the fence though, would it be better served as "sandbox" type of game where you have an entire city, nay; country to drive around or should it still be fairly linear in terms of where you can drive to?
Chances of a Remake: Very little. Since Hot Chase isn't a title that people may have heard of, Konami will release the original online before any remake is done.
Kin Corn Karn: Shatterhand - NES
Original Game: It is the year 2030, and cybernetics have been finally been perfected by the government. Unbeknownst to the government, a group of scientists who worked on the project were really evil, and steal the technology with world domination in mind. Mwahaha! You play the role of Steve Hermann, a cop who was beaten to a pulp by this group, called Metal Command. After agreeing to go after them, you are outfitted with a pair of cybernetic hands with the ability to crush even metal with a punch. This was a platform game set over 8 stages, where you destroy everything with your fists. You get money from beating baddies, which can be used to buy power ups. You also find letters, which when you acquire three will give you a little robot buddy that will attack baddies with different weapons depending on which combination you got them in. Now, go HULK SMASH your way to victory.
Next Generation game: Already with a good story, Metal Command would return with newer technology. You would once again be recruited to become a one man wrecking crew. The game would be a free roaming 3D action/adventure title. You would still retain the hands, and the ability to climb any surface by punching into the walls for hand holds. You would also have a few weapons at your disposal this time; gun weapons some big blast weapons. And you would still have the robot, but this time he would be programmable. Commands would be sub screen issued. He could say follow you, or act as a sentry while you are searching rooms or buildings. Also hidden in each level would be info on the new technology of Metal Command, which if found could give upgrades to you and your robot. New weapons and commands for the robot, and tougher exoskeleton and more power to you punch, for example. The bosses would also be tough, ranging from other cyborgs to a giant mech that you would have to scale with your hands to find weak points to hit. Oh the fun this could be.
Chances of a Remake: Very little. This title was forgotten fast, and has never really mentioned since.
Starman: Ring King - Arcade
Original Game: On the other side of Hot Chase is a game plenty of us have seen in arcades - Ring King. Take a look at the screen shots and you will probably remember the goofy little sprites with strange haircuts and sometimes really strange color palettes. Ring King was by no means an excellent game; one might even call it frustrating. Still, it held a kind of charm with the graphics. You could pick styles of punches, had some stats to work with and even a stamina-recovery mini-game (if you can call button mashing a mini-game). Punch-Out!! for NES (review coming soon) may have been the best boxing experience at the time, but Ring King could be so much more.
Next Generation Game: Forget Fight Night Round whatever. The key to making a new Ring King would be to keep the same goofy feel to sprites. Then take it a step further and allow some great character customization; I am talking about dozens of hair-styles (from normal to super afros and mohawks), eye sets, trunks, gloves, etc. Do it in sprites as well! Whoa now, Timmy. Settle down. I know you like your 3D but if you look at games like Fire Pro Wrestling Returns on PS2, sprites are not a bad thing! Allow the selection of punches, dirty moves and even taunts to bring even more to the table. I want total control over my boxer and I also want to see some bizarre opponents like those in Punch-Out!! Some of the best boxing experiences have always been comical, save for Ready to Rumble boxing.
Chances of a Remake: Namco released Ring King on mobile phones in 2004 so the license is still out there. Maybe when the next generation Punch-Out!! drops on us on Wii someone will take a hint.
Kin Corn Karn: River Raid - Atari 2600
Original Game: You fly a jet over a river shooting down enemies from other planes to balloons. Don't crash into anything (including the canyon walls), and make sure to fly over the fuel markers or you will run out of fuel and die (duh). Very simple.
Next Generation Game: Man, what an overhaul we would need. I see the game taking place in the Vietnam war. You play various pilots who fly different missions to various locations. Sounds like most flying games, right. Sort of. You will have some missions that will require you to fly cover and bomb enemies while troops retreat. A different pilot you assume would fly some dogfight missions. Another would fly a helicopter full of troops to various drop points or rescuing them after being freed from POW camps. I don't see this a behind the cockpit type of game. You would be able to see the whole plane with an almost 3/4 rotated view so you can see the ground as well as sky. You can also take real damage to your plane, losing an engine or hitting the fuel line so you lose fuel. Planes would be harder to control after damage, making it harder to land or escape. If you can land your plane with damage, you can try to fix or call for back up. Depending on where you are, you would have a time limit as to how long the enemy would arrive and capture you.
Chances of a Remake: Slim. Although it did get a sequel on the Atari, and was re-released on Playstation 2 on the Activision Anthology, it hasn't been in the mainstream for too long.
Starman: Magic Sword Heroic Fantasy - Arcade
Original Game: The first two games may be considered mediocre at best, but not Magic Sword by Capcom. Side-Scrolling action adventure with some unique elements. You had your standard weapons, magic, etc; but along the way you rescue prisoners in the tower you are ascending to join you in your quest to defeat evil. These range anywhere from warrior women and wizards to ninjas and lizard men. It was not a complex game; you moved and hit as many enemies as you could. That's it. Now move it to next-gen and I think we may have a winner!
Next Generation Game: Hack n' Slash wouldn't look any better. I see something along the lines of Diablo II, only less demons and more heroic fantasy. You have your standard classes but also include the NPC classes from the original game (there's not enough ninjas in games lately). Instead of a dungeon crawl you are climbing a tower, a very complex tower! I want a tower so large it shoots up into the clouds, every floor and room a unique experience on its own. I can picture it very well. Magic Sword really could build up an amazing mythos if talented writers and designers got on board; look at games such as Okami. Though Clover Studios (the developers of Okami and a group within Capcom) no longer exits and most are now with a company called Platinum Games; it shouldn't be that hard to start something new and fresh...right?
Chances of a Remake: Capcom likes to surprise us now and then with updated versions of their games (Street Fighter IV), and while Magic Sword has been included on many compilation disks over the past couple of years; I remain doubtful Capcom will treat us to a new Magic Sword game.
Kin Corn Karn: General Chaos - Sega Genesis
Original Game: You take control of one two generals, either Havoc or Chaos. You take a group of soldiers with various abilities (dynamiter, grenade thrower, flamethrower, gun) into a single screen battle. There are various objects that can be blown up or used as cover. Using a mouse-type movement system, you move a cursor around the screen, moving the various warriors into position around the screen to attack. These will be in groups five. You can get commandos that you can control using the actual controller as well. The downside to the trade in mobility is they are only in groups of two. If you happen to cross paths with an enemy soldier while moving, a fistfight breaks out, where you have punch, kick and block. Medics can also bring soldiers back to life on the field. You fight your way across a map, trying to get to the other generals stronghold and defeat him. All this over a comic book.
Next Generation Game: First off, you would have bigger environment. It would take you about 10 mins to get from one end to the other. And they would have more objects to interact with. You could actually hide in the back of army trucks. Or hide in crates and have the ability to move them when you are inside (ala Metal Gear Solid box). Boxes would have funny things written on them as to what is inside. You could also lay traps, some being big (like explosives) to just funny (like a trip wire, when activated, send a boxing glove out of the ground and into your nuts). There still has to be humor with this game. Graphics would not be like real life scans, but more cartoony. And you have some awesome facial expressions (like the nads glove would have to be hilarious). I see this as being almost a three or four player team tops. Any more would get confusing. Add in two player (either against or co-operative), and this could have some legs.
Chances of a Remake: Pretty much zero. Nothing has really been said of this game after it came out. A real shame though.
Starman and Kin Corn Karn have poured through their library of games to bring you a few of their choices for potential remakes, hidden gems that should be brought out once more for the current generation of gamers. Read, comment, and leave your own video game ideas behind.
Starman: Hot Chase - Arcade
Original Game: You probably haven't heard of this game. In an ocean of arcade games with steering wheels, it was probably overlooked a great deal. Created in 1988 by Konami, it involves you driving a Porsche (the video game car of the 80s) as fast as you can to various checkpoints. Sounds like any other driving game, right? Well they added a twist: your car has a bomb in it. If it explodes, well no one is walking away from that one. Along the way you are being hunted down by helicopters, military checkpoints and have other obstacles such as railway crossings and traffic to deal with.
Next Generation Game: Of course the premise would be the same. You are a secret agent behind enemy lines; a foreign nation has captured your awesome spy car and you. You manage to escape but it appears your car is wired to explode unless you make it back to base! With current 3D we all know that a driving game can be fast and great looking, borrow elements from the Burn-Out series (crashes with crazy amounts of particle effects) and you would have a solid and fun game. I am on the fence though, would it be better served as "sandbox" type of game where you have an entire city, nay; country to drive around or should it still be fairly linear in terms of where you can drive to?
Chances of a Remake: Very little. Since Hot Chase isn't a title that people may have heard of, Konami will release the original online before any remake is done.
Kin Corn Karn: Shatterhand - NES
Original Game: It is the year 2030, and cybernetics have been finally been perfected by the government. Unbeknownst to the government, a group of scientists who worked on the project were really evil, and steal the technology with world domination in mind. Mwahaha! You play the role of Steve Hermann, a cop who was beaten to a pulp by this group, called Metal Command. After agreeing to go after them, you are outfitted with a pair of cybernetic hands with the ability to crush even metal with a punch. This was a platform game set over 8 stages, where you destroy everything with your fists. You get money from beating baddies, which can be used to buy power ups. You also find letters, which when you acquire three will give you a little robot buddy that will attack baddies with different weapons depending on which combination you got them in. Now, go HULK SMASH your way to victory.
Next Generation game: Already with a good story, Metal Command would return with newer technology. You would once again be recruited to become a one man wrecking crew. The game would be a free roaming 3D action/adventure title. You would still retain the hands, and the ability to climb any surface by punching into the walls for hand holds. You would also have a few weapons at your disposal this time; gun weapons some big blast weapons. And you would still have the robot, but this time he would be programmable. Commands would be sub screen issued. He could say follow you, or act as a sentry while you are searching rooms or buildings. Also hidden in each level would be info on the new technology of Metal Command, which if found could give upgrades to you and your robot. New weapons and commands for the robot, and tougher exoskeleton and more power to you punch, for example. The bosses would also be tough, ranging from other cyborgs to a giant mech that you would have to scale with your hands to find weak points to hit. Oh the fun this could be.
Chances of a Remake: Very little. This title was forgotten fast, and has never really mentioned since.
Starman: Ring King - Arcade
Original Game: On the other side of Hot Chase is a game plenty of us have seen in arcades - Ring King. Take a look at the screen shots and you will probably remember the goofy little sprites with strange haircuts and sometimes really strange color palettes. Ring King was by no means an excellent game; one might even call it frustrating. Still, it held a kind of charm with the graphics. You could pick styles of punches, had some stats to work with and even a stamina-recovery mini-game (if you can call button mashing a mini-game). Punch-Out!! for NES (review coming soon) may have been the best boxing experience at the time, but Ring King could be so much more.
Next Generation Game: Forget Fight Night Round whatever. The key to making a new Ring King would be to keep the same goofy feel to sprites. Then take it a step further and allow some great character customization; I am talking about dozens of hair-styles (from normal to super afros and mohawks), eye sets, trunks, gloves, etc. Do it in sprites as well! Whoa now, Timmy. Settle down. I know you like your 3D but if you look at games like Fire Pro Wrestling Returns on PS2, sprites are not a bad thing! Allow the selection of punches, dirty moves and even taunts to bring even more to the table. I want total control over my boxer and I also want to see some bizarre opponents like those in Punch-Out!! Some of the best boxing experiences have always been comical, save for Ready to Rumble boxing.
Chances of a Remake: Namco released Ring King on mobile phones in 2004 so the license is still out there. Maybe when the next generation Punch-Out!! drops on us on Wii someone will take a hint.
Kin Corn Karn: River Raid - Atari 2600
Original Game: You fly a jet over a river shooting down enemies from other planes to balloons. Don't crash into anything (including the canyon walls), and make sure to fly over the fuel markers or you will run out of fuel and die (duh). Very simple.
Next Generation Game: Man, what an overhaul we would need. I see the game taking place in the Vietnam war. You play various pilots who fly different missions to various locations. Sounds like most flying games, right. Sort of. You will have some missions that will require you to fly cover and bomb enemies while troops retreat. A different pilot you assume would fly some dogfight missions. Another would fly a helicopter full of troops to various drop points or rescuing them after being freed from POW camps. I don't see this a behind the cockpit type of game. You would be able to see the whole plane with an almost 3/4 rotated view so you can see the ground as well as sky. You can also take real damage to your plane, losing an engine or hitting the fuel line so you lose fuel. Planes would be harder to control after damage, making it harder to land or escape. If you can land your plane with damage, you can try to fix or call for back up. Depending on where you are, you would have a time limit as to how long the enemy would arrive and capture you.
Chances of a Remake: Slim. Although it did get a sequel on the Atari, and was re-released on Playstation 2 on the Activision Anthology, it hasn't been in the mainstream for too long.
Starman: Magic Sword Heroic Fantasy - Arcade
Original Game: The first two games may be considered mediocre at best, but not Magic Sword by Capcom. Side-Scrolling action adventure with some unique elements. You had your standard weapons, magic, etc; but along the way you rescue prisoners in the tower you are ascending to join you in your quest to defeat evil. These range anywhere from warrior women and wizards to ninjas and lizard men. It was not a complex game; you moved and hit as many enemies as you could. That's it. Now move it to next-gen and I think we may have a winner!
Next Generation Game: Hack n' Slash wouldn't look any better. I see something along the lines of Diablo II, only less demons and more heroic fantasy. You have your standard classes but also include the NPC classes from the original game (there's not enough ninjas in games lately). Instead of a dungeon crawl you are climbing a tower, a very complex tower! I want a tower so large it shoots up into the clouds, every floor and room a unique experience on its own. I can picture it very well. Magic Sword really could build up an amazing mythos if talented writers and designers got on board; look at games such as Okami. Though Clover Studios (the developers of Okami and a group within Capcom) no longer exits and most are now with a company called Platinum Games; it shouldn't be that hard to start something new and fresh...right?
Chances of a Remake: Capcom likes to surprise us now and then with updated versions of their games (Street Fighter IV), and while Magic Sword has been included on many compilation disks over the past couple of years; I remain doubtful Capcom will treat us to a new Magic Sword game.
Kin Corn Karn: General Chaos - Sega Genesis
Original Game: You take control of one two generals, either Havoc or Chaos. You take a group of soldiers with various abilities (dynamiter, grenade thrower, flamethrower, gun) into a single screen battle. There are various objects that can be blown up or used as cover. Using a mouse-type movement system, you move a cursor around the screen, moving the various warriors into position around the screen to attack. These will be in groups five. You can get commandos that you can control using the actual controller as well. The downside to the trade in mobility is they are only in groups of two. If you happen to cross paths with an enemy soldier while moving, a fistfight breaks out, where you have punch, kick and block. Medics can also bring soldiers back to life on the field. You fight your way across a map, trying to get to the other generals stronghold and defeat him. All this over a comic book.
Next Generation Game: First off, you would have bigger environment. It would take you about 10 mins to get from one end to the other. And they would have more objects to interact with. You could actually hide in the back of army trucks. Or hide in crates and have the ability to move them when you are inside (ala Metal Gear Solid box). Boxes would have funny things written on them as to what is inside. You could also lay traps, some being big (like explosives) to just funny (like a trip wire, when activated, send a boxing glove out of the ground and into your nuts). There still has to be humor with this game. Graphics would not be like real life scans, but more cartoony. And you have some awesome facial expressions (like the nads glove would have to be hilarious). I see this as being almost a three or four player team tops. Any more would get confusing. Add in two player (either against or co-operative), and this could have some legs.
Chances of a Remake: Pretty much zero. Nothing has really been said of this game after it came out. A real shame though.