We can't always get what we want, eh?
One of the beautiful things about having a voice on a site like Game Revolution is that, no matter how many games get HD reboots, I can yell about the games that were passed over like a spoiled brat. Thankfully, NiGHTS Into Dreams is getting the updated port it deserves, which takes away one of my personal top picks. But I have more… I always have more.
Especially when it's decided that a new Killer Instinct isn't going to be brought out anytime soon. *grrr*
So with that spirit, here's a select few games that deserve a second look on modern consoles, but so far haven't received the support or attention they should get. Feel free to ad your own in the comments below, or FEAR THE WRATH OF SEAMAN.
1. Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem (Gamecube)
I know the Gamecube isn't really "retro" yet, but with the Wii U on the horizon it's about to fit into the "Two-Generation Rule" brought about in an earlier entry in our series (and already fits the "Ten-Year Rule"). As interesting as it was, I'm willing to bypass a few months and claim Eternal Darkness on this list.
Combining a unique time-bending storyline and bar-none best player psych-outs to ever be attempted in gaming, ED definitely flew under the radar enough that it's due for a full-on HD re-release. The package was already beautiful on the GC, and some of the effects might be dated (how funny would it be, though, to see "controller unplugged" on a platform with wireless controllers?), but the genuinely troubling experience of the game itself makes it worthy of seeing the light of day once again. That bathtub still haunts me. *shudder*
2. Taiko Drum Master (PS2)
There's something I enjoy about games with unique controllers, even if it's unique enough that you know you'll never use them for another game (unless you're one of those crazy people to try like playing Halo with a Rock Band guitar). Taiko Drum Master is one of those: Play this traditionally massive drum with cute, little plastic drumsticks on a cute, little plastic drum, making sure to hit the inside and edge of the drum with the beat.
It's a rhythm title that wouldn't be too hard to emulate… use the same method with the Wii with Samba De Amigo and use a slightly-turned movement or something instead of actually hitting the drum itself, and that's perfectly acceptable!
Specifically, this is for the people that think Dance Dance Revolution is for the way too fit people cowards of the rhythm game genre. Plus, who doesn't love a taiko drum with a kyoot-kitty-ish face and dancing drumsticks singing along to the theme from Katamari Damacy?
3. Seaman (Dreamcast)
Crazy name? Check. Sarcastic "main character?" Double-check. Leonard Nemoy introducing your new best friend? QUINTUPLE-CHECK. How cool is it to have Mr. Spock introducing you, the player, into a scientific "experiment" involving a sarcastic jerk of a fish?
Specific to the Dreamcast back in 2000, Seaman came with its own microphone because it wasn't truly a game. It came out in the era of Tamagotchi and other, less popular virtual pets (like those Gobots of the VP world, Digimon) and never quite gaining a foothold outside of the group that enjoy showing their friends stuff they find cool. "Hey, I have a virtual pet too, but mine's more like a sarcastic bastard that doesn't even really like me, nor anything outside his tank. He might even be racist. I hesitate to ask certain questions for fear of the answers." Classic.
4. Road Rash (Various)
This is one title that doesn't necessarily need a port so much as a reboot. EA's Road Rash was one of the first battle-racing games to hit the market—a genre now dominated by turtle shells and dainty princess types—and I admit, I spent a fair amount of time on a PC port of the game back on a Windows 95 machine years and years ago. Sure, it's not particularly deep. Can a story be added to it? Maybe, but would it change anything? (ANSWER: No, it wouldn't. At all.)
All I would desire in an updated title is more weapons, better physics, and some identifiable roads on which I can beat the hell out of another biker and watch them explode as they hit the tarmac. It can be a download-only and cheap with one or two bike brands and exploding helmets, I don't care! I just want to stick a metal pipe in the wheel of a motorcycle and watch a dude going 100 mph fly like a ragdoll! That's not too much to ask in this generation, is it?
5. Incredible Crisis (PSOne)
Every day, somebody on this planet has the "worst day ever." In Incredible Crisis, an entire family has theirs. Giant rolling iron balls, massive spiderwebs, massages dangerously close to infidelity, bad wolves and golden pigs—you know, mostly the regular stuff a suburbanite Japanese family would have to deal with on a regular basis—and on grandma's birthday, no less. Seriously, what gives?
Mini-game collections have been plentiful this generation, but most of them just aren't very interesting. Micro sports games, carnival games (like the aptly/boringly titled Carnival Games on Wii)—none of them seem to tell much of a story, much less one as wacky as IC. So why not give the world a new story about housewives finding themselves behind the stick of a jet fighter and the elder daughter being playfully abducted?
Now it's YOUR turn, GR community! What games or series do YOU want to see in updated form?
