Video game remake
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A video game remake is an updated re-released version of a previous video game. Typically, a remake shares essentially the same title, gameplay, and story elements of the original game, but also improves on technical aspects such as graphics, sound, and the user interface.
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[edit] Definition and history
A remake of a video game is any attempt to re-interpret an earlier work with original assets, while maintaining story fundamentals and, typically, basic gameplay elements. Games that use an existing brand but are conceptually radically different, such as Battlezone (1998), Defender (2002) and Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) are usually regarded as reboots rather than remakes.
Until the late 1980s, the remake concept was alien to gaming. Due to limited and often highly divergent hardware, games appearing on multiple platforms were often entirely remade. These may sometimes be retroactively considered remakes, and the distinction is difficult, but they can be distinguished from later remakes largely by intent. A conversion is created with the primary goal of tailoring a game to a specific piece of hardware, usually contemporaneous or nearly contemporaneous with the original release.
The earliest remakes to be recognized as such were attempts to modernize games to the standards of later games in the series, even on the same platforms as the original. This started with Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness, a remake of the original, which appeared on multiple platforms, including the Apple II, the same platform the source game originated on. Also among the first to pioneer the remake were Sierra's early-'90s releases of King's Quest, Space Quest, and Leisure Suit Larry. These games used the technology and interface of the most recent games in Sierra's series, and original assets in a dramatically different style. The intent was not simply to bring the game to a new platform, but to modernize older games which had in various ways become dated.
Remakes were also sometimes used as a means of continuing properties that had not spawned ongoing series. Galaga '88 and Super Space Invaders '91 were both attempts to revitalize aging arcade franchises with modernized graphics and new gameplay elements, while preserving many signature aspects of the original games. In the mid-'90s, Atari released a series of remakes with the 2000 brand, including Tempest 2000, Battlezone 2000, and Defender 2000. After Atari's demise, Hasbro continued the tradition, with 3D remakes of Pong, Centipede, and Asteroids.
As the gaming audience has aged, retrogaming and nostalgia have become popular leading to an increase in the amount of remakes released. Sega launched the Sega Ages line for PlayStation 2, initially conceived as a series of modernized remakes of classic games, though the series later diversified to include emulated compilations, as well as a remake of Fantasy Zone II that was done strictly with technology available at the time of its original release—a unique take on the remake concept. The advent of downloadable game services like Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network have also led to a new wave of remakes, as the platform allows companies to sell their games at a lower price, seen as more appropriate for the smaller size typical of retro games. Some XBLA and PSN remakes include Bionic Commando Rearmed, Jetpac Refuelled, Wipeout HD and Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix.
[edit] Controversy
Often changes made in remakes are scrutinized, by the purist and/or traditionalist communities, as being unnecessary or frivolous, such as the addition, alteration, or removal of plot elements, characters, voice acting, or new features. Sometimes, significant technical changes, such as a transition from 2D to 3D graphics, result in a change in the style and feel of a game even if these are intended to remain similar. For example, Wild Arms Alter Code: F, a 3D remake of Wild Arms, was felt by many[who?] to less effectively convey the artistic style and feeling of the 2D original, which has resulted in the term "Alter Code F treatment".[citation needed]
In other situations, the features added by remakes fundamentally change the way the game is played. For example, in Metal Gear Solid, the challenge in the first boss fight comes from the fact that the boss is off-screen and the player must alternate between looking in first-person mode and then shooting before the boss moves. In Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, the player is able to fire weapons from a first-person viewpoint. This allows the player to see the boss and fire a gun at the same time, thus eliminating some of the fight's challenge.[1]
[edit] Unlockable originals
Although the original game is usually not included with their remakes, some enhanced remakes do include their respective original versions. For example, Metroid: Zero Mission for the Game Boy Advance includes the original Metroid for the NES as an unlockable.
[edit] "Demakes"
The term "demake" was coined by Phil Fish[2], aiming to describe a remake of a game to a less-capable platform than the original. Demakes allow amateur video game designers to implement the concept and feel of a complex, high-budget, professionally made video game, albeit in a simpler form–something that would not otherwise be within their capabilities. Popular demakes include Portal's Flash version, or Gang Garrison 2, a pixelated demake of Team Fortress 2. For much of the 1990s in China and Hong Kong black market "demakes" of popular contemporary hits for the PlayStation and other "next-generation" systems were often made for the NES— the system that many Chinese continued to own and purchase because of its comparative cheapness.
[edit] "Lazy ports"
The term "lazy port" describes a release of a game on a more capable platform with the original form completely or nearly intact. They first appeared on the PlayStation. A notable example includes the SNES trilogy of the Final Fantasy series and Chrono Trigger. Since the sixth generation console era, lazy ports came in archive titles, such as Mega Man Anniversary Collection, Sonic Mega Collection, and Namco Museum.
