So Final Fantasy 7, that's the remake gamers have been clamoring for since the days of the PS2, and now we're finally getting it. Sure it's great and all that we're finally getting that remake, but as I dug around the classics of gaming, I found a few video games that were simply too awesome to forget, but who never got the attention and recognition they deserved. These are games that DESERVE a remake as much (if not more) as FF7 deserved its remake.
1- Lunar: Eternal Blue. The original Lunar is practically the Patron of Game Remakes; EVERY generation sees at least one remake of the game. But of course, like any good game of its day, the original Lunar got a sequel: Eternal Blue. Lunar 2 was quite different to its predecessor, but at the same time, it pioneered several ideas that seem almost trite in RPG's today. Particularly, the game helped pioneer the Corrupt Church trope in gaming; or rather, the idea that an organized religion present in a video game could be rife with corrupt hypocrites and led by someone with evil intentions. Every game that played with this idea after 1993 can trace its influence back to Lunar 2.
This game was remade twice, one version for the Sega Saturn and another for the original Playstation. After that? Nothing. Lunar 1 has seen remakes for the PSP, the Game Boy Advance, smart phones, the original Playstation, and the Sega Saturn. I'm not saying the original game didn't deserve the remakes, but the sequel is just as good as the original! In fact, it might even be better than the original!
2- Act Raiser. Released before the Golden Age of the RPG started (with Final Fantasy 4), and before the SNES really became the Juggernaut of gaming we know it as today. The year 1990 saw the release of this grossly overlooked classic; a game that combines hack-and-slash platforming with Sim style city planning. A unique blend of two different forms of gameplay, Act Raiser was like nothing gaming had seen before and wouldn't even see again until Dark Cloud was released, eleven years later, by an unrelated company.
The game also made use of Judeo-Christian mythology mixed with some very subtle Hinduism; you controlled the Avatar of someone known as the Master, who is basically God. The world below had fallen to the influence of a demon called Tanzra (Satan), and it was up to the Master Himself to not only stop Tanzra, but to restore mankind to its glory. Made at a time where religion in gaming (especially on anything Nintendo) was considered a HUGE no-no, the game was beyond daring; it had balls of steel. A sequel was made, but it lacked the charm of the original. More on THAT on a future blog, though.
Why a remake? Because technology has improved to the point that a video game like Act Raiser can have so many elements implemented into it that, twenty six years ago, would have been inconceivable. Imagine being able to build, bit by bit, every individual house in a human city, allowing the player freedom to be as creative as he/she sees fit. The Master can wander through town and interact with every NPC available, allowing for new side quests and world building. The ideas are endless! We can remake the game, and make it far better than ever before!
3. Terranigma. This game had to be one of the most visually impressive games released on the SNES. There are many scenes in the game that are simply breath taking, especially considering they were done in 16 bit technology, using computers that are now weaker than the average smart phone.
One of the most striking scenes in the game happens a third of the way through. Ark, the hero of the game, has just finished destroying a monster, allowing him to restore plant life to the world. The game then focuses on a single, tiny seedling, growing in the middle of a barren, brittle world. It starts raining, and the tiny seedling grows and grows. The seedling becomes a daffodil, and then it produces its own seeds. The seeds get blown away by the wind, and the camera focuses on one of them as it flies across the world; at first blood red and barren, it slowly becomes the green, beautiful Earth we know and love. This scene is truly awe inspiring, and it was done in 16 bits. Imagine this scene done with today's technology. Truly, a masterpiece of visual story telling for the modern era!
4. Final Fantasy 8. The original was a love story where the words "I love you" were never once uttered. It was a human story devoid of voice acting that could show the different emotions that a person goes through as they speak. A story that couldn't benefit from facial expressions, from the subtle ways the eyes communicate what the tongue would not, relying instead on body language communicated through imperfect polygonal bodies. And that's not even getting into the highly flawed Junction system, which was tedious and time consuming. It deserves a remake that can tell the story as it deserves to be told.
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