The history of video games is littered with many franchises that have fallen by the wayside due to failed companies, bad marketing, or rushed sequels that strayed from the vision of the original. Now this list is not going to be about the five most popular or highest grossing franchises that have sequels set up long before the current game is even past the beta phase. No, this is my look at five games, some part of franchises, that deserve a shot to be made on a modern console for a modern audience. Now before you roll your eyes so far back in your head you can't even finish reading this post, let me say I am not picking these games based on their obscurity or wacky randomness. No, these were games I enjoyed immensely as a child and would love to play new version of them today so that my children could know their joy. So here they are in no particular order, 5 Retro games that need a sequel on modern consoles!
Suikoden is a game franchise with a huge following that is just clamoring for a new main series game in the franchise. Spanning fives main title games and several spin-offs, the Suikoden franchise has made promises of a grand conclusion that so far it has failed to live up to. The fans of this game are so insistent that they want this series to continue they started a Suikoden Revival Movement! With a mix of RPG elements, real time strategy battles, a huge world spanning conflict, and deep personal stories of most of the 108 main characters this game has something for just about everyone. Like most of the games on this list a modern console version of Suikoden would make huge amounts of money and lead to a new generation falling in love with a series so many already hold dear to their hearts. Now I know a lot of executives would tell you turn based battle systems are outdated but I would counter that those people are morons. Turn based RPGs still do very well on handheld consoles and would still do well on home consoles if anyone had the balls to make one! I love Skyrim and Dragon Age just as much as anyone else but it doesn't mean I wouldn't love an old school RPG turn based system and I know thousands of game players who would agree with me.
Harvest Moon: Back to Nature is a game about a young man trying to save his granpa's farm after the passing of said grandpa. More than a simple farming simulator, this game is more of a life simulator. Sure the main focus is growing the farm, but you also have to make friends in the nearby town, possibly fall in love, and even participate in a town event or two. With every action taking up a certain portion of the day's time you have to manage not only your farm but your own play style to squeeze every last drop out of this fantastic game. I can only dream of a modern console Harvest Moon game with hundreds of different crops to choose from, tons of different livestock (I need me some Harvest Moon style pigs), several new and expanded festivals, loads of new recipes, a fuck ton of new people to meet with a possibility of choosing to live in one of several different towns from the franchises history, and a Dragon Age type of Harvest Moon Keep allowing the importation of finished games that add a rival/husband or wife of the character you married, and of course the ability to play as either a boy or girl from the get go. Just thinking about the possibilities makes me all tingly. With Natsume owning the rights to the name Harvest Moon and releasing a PC game Harvest Moon: Seeds of Memories to the disappoint of Harvest Moon fans everywhere and XSeed continuing the franchise as Story of Seasons on the Nintendo 3DS we may never get another console version of Harvest Moon and that is truly a tragedy. With Farmville and all its clones being so damn popular on Facebook you would think a console Harvest Moon would be a no brainer....I mean this could be the franchise to snag those "casual" gamers and bring them onto a modern gaming machine. Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo...wake up and smell the money!
Chakan the Forever Man was one of my favorite Sega Genesis games when I was little. The gameplay was brutal, the atmosphere dark and moody, and the character designs looked like the came out of a H. R. Gigar fever dream. With a premise that Chakan was so bad ass he defeated Death itself in a sword fight and was cursed to walk the Earth until all evils were vanquished how could this game not have a ton of sequels? I imagine a modern console version to be a mix of Skyrim and GTA with Chakan traveling the land destroying evil whenever he happens upon it. With a possibility of time skip DLC moving Chakan forward in time you could literally start off fighting evil kings and wind up taking down a presidential conspiracy! This game has so many possibilities that I'm dumbfounded that no one has picked up this license from obscurity and began work on a new version of it.
Sim-Earth was a quirky little game that had you trying to transform Earth, or one of the other planets in the galaxy, into a place that flora and fauna could thrive while also trying to create an intelligent species capable of traveling the stars. Now it was pretty complicated with a ton of sliders and thins you had to keep track of in order to get the planet just right which is why it probably isn't as fondly remembered as Sim City or other Sim games are. Well I say a modern console version with slimmed down controls, an option to control your animals a la the Sims, and some more precise control over what your planet looks like would go a long way to making this a home run. I mean this game was Spore and No Man's Sky before those games were even an idea floating in someone's head so why not give the originator of the genre a chance to reclaim the throne? Come on, who wouldn't want to create a planet were birds were the intelligent species at the top of the food chain and lived in tree houses that there monkey butlers kept tidy?
Shining Force was a SRPG that told a brilliant story and kept fans entertained with its huge strategic battles. The franchise has a lot of games in it, although only a handful are SRPGs with a lot delving into other RPG genres. Just like turn based battles it seems game executives think SRPGs are outdated and so the decision was made to change this franchise into something fans of the original despise. Just like Suikoden this series has a dedicated fan base still rooting out secrets and posting in forums about their love of all things Shining Force. A modern console version would up the battle count, increase the size of your battle force, add many more characters to recruit, and allow for DLC battles to be added to increase the replay factor.
Well there you have it folks, 5 Retro games that not only need a modern console sequel but fans are demanding it in many cases. Video game executives, if you happen upon this please listen to your customers and make these happen. You'll make a ton of money, we'll get games we want...everyone wins! Feel free to comment, like, share, or whatever other thing you kids do on your social media these days.
*All images are owned by their respective copyright holders and are used under fair use guidelines.
Suikoden is a game franchise with a huge following that is just clamoring for a new main series game in the franchise. Spanning fives main title games and several spin-offs, the Suikoden franchise has made promises of a grand conclusion that so far it has failed to live up to. The fans of this game are so insistent that they want this series to continue they started a Suikoden Revival Movement! With a mix of RPG elements, real time strategy battles, a huge world spanning conflict, and deep personal stories of most of the 108 main characters this game has something for just about everyone. Like most of the games on this list a modern console version of Suikoden would make huge amounts of money and lead to a new generation falling in love with a series so many already hold dear to their hearts. Now I know a lot of executives would tell you turn based battle systems are outdated but I would counter that those people are morons. Turn based RPGs still do very well on handheld consoles and would still do well on home consoles if anyone had the balls to make one! I love Skyrim and Dragon Age just as much as anyone else but it doesn't mean I wouldn't love an old school RPG turn based system and I know thousands of game players who would agree with me.
Chakan the Forever Man was one of my favorite Sega Genesis games when I was little. The gameplay was brutal, the atmosphere dark and moody, and the character designs looked like the came out of a H. R. Gigar fever dream. With a premise that Chakan was so bad ass he defeated Death itself in a sword fight and was cursed to walk the Earth until all evils were vanquished how could this game not have a ton of sequels? I imagine a modern console version to be a mix of Skyrim and GTA with Chakan traveling the land destroying evil whenever he happens upon it. With a possibility of time skip DLC moving Chakan forward in time you could literally start off fighting evil kings and wind up taking down a presidential conspiracy! This game has so many possibilities that I'm dumbfounded that no one has picked up this license from obscurity and began work on a new version of it.
Sim-Earth was a quirky little game that had you trying to transform Earth, or one of the other planets in the galaxy, into a place that flora and fauna could thrive while also trying to create an intelligent species capable of traveling the stars. Now it was pretty complicated with a ton of sliders and thins you had to keep track of in order to get the planet just right which is why it probably isn't as fondly remembered as Sim City or other Sim games are. Well I say a modern console version with slimmed down controls, an option to control your animals a la the Sims, and some more precise control over what your planet looks like would go a long way to making this a home run. I mean this game was Spore and No Man's Sky before those games were even an idea floating in someone's head so why not give the originator of the genre a chance to reclaim the throne? Come on, who wouldn't want to create a planet were birds were the intelligent species at the top of the food chain and lived in tree houses that there monkey butlers kept tidy?
Shining Force was a SRPG that told a brilliant story and kept fans entertained with its huge strategic battles. The franchise has a lot of games in it, although only a handful are SRPGs with a lot delving into other RPG genres. Just like turn based battles it seems game executives think SRPGs are outdated and so the decision was made to change this franchise into something fans of the original despise. Just like Suikoden this series has a dedicated fan base still rooting out secrets and posting in forums about their love of all things Shining Force. A modern console version would up the battle count, increase the size of your battle force, add many more characters to recruit, and allow for DLC battles to be added to increase the replay factor.
Well there you have it folks, 5 Retro games that not only need a modern console sequel but fans are demanding it in many cases. Video game executives, if you happen upon this please listen to your customers and make these happen. You'll make a ton of money, we'll get games we want...everyone wins! Feel free to comment, like, share, or whatever other thing you kids do on your social media these days.
*All images are owned by their respective copyright holders and are used under fair use guidelines.
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