20 years ago when I got my hands on the first PlayStation, there were alot of great games that made my childhood great. From Crash Bandicoot to Final Fantasy to Metal Gear Solid, all gave me those lasting wonderful memories. I won’t forget the time when (spoiler alert) Aerith was killed by Sephiroth, Metal Gear Solid wowed me with its 3-dimentional mechanics, and how Resident Evil scared the shit out of me.
With the success of Crash Bandicoot N Sane Trilogy, we might expect alot of developers to open their eyes on remastering games. One example of this is the upcoming Shadow of the Colossus, a successful PS2 game that pushed the limits on what a the console can do. Now with today’s technology, we can expect a lot of improvements especially with its visuals. Shadow on the PS2 was already great, but I have high hopes that this will be again successful when its remaster version launches.
But why do studios want to remaster such games? Do we really need it? Do we really want it? Is it a great idea? My opinion is yes.
Being able to play old games gives you that nostalgic feeling that awakens your childhood memories and lets you remember why you love that game so much in the past. The feeling when you still remember hidden items or how to finish each level, that what makes remasters great. Adding some modern elements to those games like online features, challenges and getting trophies.
There are different kinds of remasters found in the game industry today, some are just HD remastered like Call of Duty or the God of War trilogy, putting full 1080p resolution and 60 frames-per-second. Yes, some people may not like it because of how they sell it at a full price. I’m actually okay with the full price for a remaster game given that I haven’t played some of it on the last-gen console, like Sleeeping Dogs, I don’t need to buy the last-gen console just to enjoy the game, and besides the game was still great.
One kind of remaster that I know are those games that were made from an older engine, re-releasing it again with current graphics engin. Examples are Resident Evil, WipeOut, and the latest Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, these are older classic games with the same game mechanic with a visual upgrade.
For an old gamer like me, I love this type of remasters. It allows me to play through the series again with a big nostalgic punch. Some may not like it because they find them outdated, but for a person like me, I love playing the series again.
Remasters are getting popular and the number of gamers are increasing. Even though the price of some of this games are unacceptable to others, people still are buying it for the sake of nostalgia. Not all games can make you feel like a kid again and not all titles can last a decade, I’m glad were living in a world where anything is possible now, I’m hoping to see a lot of fully remastered games in the future.