Every year our beloved video games we played as kids are being remade to suit the times of the available hardware by receiving massive face lifts. Recently we’ve seen the revival of XCOM from our childhood memories.
Conversely there are games made in modern times created in 8- or 16-bit to bring back the nostalgia, some of these show up in the Humble Indie Bundle or as a Kickstarter project.
But what if we look at something seemingly foreign, modern video games remade with a retro twist? Check out what games our staff here at NFG thought should be made in a more pixelated form.
Daniel:
We look back on our retro gaming experiences with much love. Some of it is the nostalgia-tinted glasses of our youth before we became jaded. Now it’s all grizzled space marines in a post apocalyptic future protected by chest high walls.
That’s why I would love to see the Gears of War series re-created in 8-bit or 16-bit graphics. The character development was already two dimensional *cheap shot* and blocky so why can’t we retro the rest of the game. This may be an opportunity to inject more colour into the game, yet I wouldn’t be fussed if it remained mostly brown and grey.
Barley different sprites for the locusts moving around the map in a top-down view. Lots of chest high walls, though because of the graphics limitation these would be impassable and more like actual walls. Maybe we can have the advanced physics engine of Space Invaders so the walls can be destroyed by repeated fire. Lambert can flash yellow and explode causing the whole screen to flicker white, a greater recepie for seziures has not been fathomed outside of Japan.
Ion Squared:
I went over this a few times in my head thinking of game after game that I’ve played and coming short. Ultimately the answer came from a game I’ve never played but have seen so much of I think it would be perfect. The characters and play mechanics of Portal would translate so well into a top-down 16-bit 2D puzzler.
If anyone can remember the game Goof Troop for SNES, that is the image that immediately springs to mind. I highly recommend giving the game a try if you can hunt it down. It was a fantastic example of how a game need not be violent to entertain and had some truly mind bending puzzles to decipher, plus it offered up co-op play – always a winner where I’m concerned.
Granted Goofy and his son Max would be replaced by existing or brand new characters in the series constantly being taunted and tormented by their cruel and manipulative overseer. Hand your protagonist a portal gun and set them free to explore their 2D prison.
Not sure how people would feel about reading all the constant narrative but I imagine with the incredibly talented team that wrote for the portal games they’d do a fantastic job inserting their particular brand of comedy. Alternately just drop Goofy and Max into the world of Portal and watch those wholesome little suckers try and work their way out of that one, it worked for Kingdom Hearts after all.
Matty D:
Assuming that Solitaire is not an acceptable answer I would vouch for a title that is, more than anything, mentally exhorting. Games of late have, arguably, been watered down in terms of forcing problem solving skills on the part of the player and, instead, place emphasis on graphics. As 8- and 16-bit graphics are as appealing as a cement brick to the forehead, creativity and the overall challenge are what will draw in appeal.
Perhaps then something from the Total War series? Reinvented into a turn based style war simulator, little movable blocks with icons plonked on top of them (representing unit type) could represent platoons.
Players would be tasked with outwitting and outmanoeuvring opponents. Turn for turn the players’ unquestioning legion of movable blocks could bleed tickets out of enemy blocks they are ordered to engage (taking in to account numerous factors as to the engagement: unit type, position, morale and so on). Oh the horrors of war. It would be almost like Risk but more expensive. And not nearly as fun.
I would design this game as I am an expert on all matters historical. I know this because I watch the History channel. More than you I’m sure. Did you know that aliens wrote the American constitution?
Senior Stiv
I would love to see the Left 4 Dead series in a 16-bit version of the game. It would be a 2D side scroller with all of the co-op fun of the original game. All of the weapon pick-ups and additional items would fit in perfectly with the gameplay for a co-op side scroller. The specialized zombies could be easily translated over with their powers, still dragging and puking on team members.
Or it could still totally be done in a Doom fashioned first person shooter, either way would still make this game awesome.
If you’re a fan of retro gaming, take a look at what childhood video game memories our staff have. Let us know what you would want to see remade in the comments below.
