After reading two great remake wish lists from Tyler and Ethan, it is now time for me to throw my proverbial hat into the ring. I will give you all what you’ve been asking for. 10 games if remade, that would change the landscape of gaming forever. Buckle up because, like my good friend Jeff, I am going deep into my bag for this list.
10. Pro Pinball: Big Race USA
Remember back in the day when pinball simulation games were super popular and the best? Why not bring those days back so we can get another taste of the 90s? Now you might be asking which pinball game it would be? Let me tell you about a little game called Pro Pinball: Big Race USA. The incredible story of a taxi with dreams of winning the coveted Big Race USA. You travel across the country, meeting wacky characters, training to get faster, and eventually getting to the big race, which is super hype. This game was on PS1 and honestly holds up very well but would benefit from a shiny new coat of paint, dialing in the physics, and improving on the charming cutscenes. Honestly, just bring the 90s back.
9. Guardian’s Crusade
I have a responsibility to put my first ever JRPG on this list. If you know my lore well, you know that I have one of the most niche first JRPGS ever. While everyone was playing Final Fantasy, I played a hidden gem called Guardian’s Crusade (Knight & Baby in Japan). I’ll be completely honest: I played this game again last year, and it is being carried by nostalgia pretty hard. Despite that, I think if it gets some updated graphics and fleshed-out mechanics, it has a super charming and cute story. The game revolves around you training a very adorable baby monster up as you travel across the world to return it to its home. While the Og game is pretty simple, I think you could really expand this element and have a fun and interesting training and raising mechanic. Also, I still contend that it has one of the most unique magic systems in a game. By the way, the soundtrack slaps so hard. This one def won’t happen, but man, I’d be so hyped if it did.
8. Yu-Gi-Oh! The Duelists of the Roses
Remember Yu-Gi-Oh!? Remember when you didn’t have to read a novel to understand what a card did? Now you might think I’m about to say forbidden memories (great game btw), but you would be wrong. Hear me out: why not make Yu-Gi-Oh! a tactics/chess style game on top of just the cards? You might be super confused by what in the world that means, which is understandable. Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist of Roses is one of the greatest card games ever. Instead of the classic format where you and your opponent have a side where you play your cards, this game has a grid with tiles where you play your card face down and move it across the board like chess. Each tile is a different biome, like forest, ocean, mountain, etc. As you can deduce, depending on your monster they can get a bonus on certain tiles. You have 1 card dedicated as your commander, which is essentially your king; the way you win is by attacking the other player’s commander until they run out of life points. Honestly, you should just look up a video; it’ll make a lot more sense. They need to bring this style of gameplay back with new cards. It was such a blast.
7. NFL Street
Madden has sucked for a really long time. It is sad to see the king of sports games at one point fall from grace and turn into a casino for children. They only ever focus on the ultimate team, which I’m pretty sure is a billion-dollar industry at this point. How do we fix this? Let me tell you about a little game called NFL Street. This is football at its best. An arcade-like feel with players who look like they jumped straight out of a comic book, completely styling on each other. The game has a whole pick-up football style where the players are in casual clothes, the fields are everyday places like the beach or park, and taunting is not only allowed but a vital mechanic of the game. Honestly, all we really need is to bring this game back with updated rosters and online, as it is still just as fun to play today as it was in 2004.
6. Choro-Q
Have you ever watched Disney Pixar Cars? Have you ever played a JRPG? There is a game that is both of these smashed into one. Ladies and gentlemen, I present Choro Q. You play as a humble car in a small town who has big dreams of joining a racing team and winning the Grand Prix. You work your way up to this goal by doing insanely wacky side quests and races to earn money to upgrade yourself and get to higher tiers of competition. I need to come clean again, though. I also played this game last year, and the nostalgia glasses are thick. The amount of typos in this game is hilarious. That being said, the foundation is here, the racing is super fun, the soundtrack is awesome, and there are characters. If we tighten the story up and flesh out some of the details, this game would be so freaking good. There is nothing more hype than finally making it onto a team or racing in your first Grand Prix against your best friend/rival. I’m telling you, if this game ever got a proper remake, it would be an all-timer.
5. DC Universe Online
We currently live in an age where superheroes are a bit played out. I completely get it, but you have to hear me out on this one. You might gasp when you hear this, so prepare yourself because I am about to list an MMO. DC Universe Online was such a banger in its day. I think it’s actually still being played today. This game had one of my favorite character creators of all time, where you got to literally make your own superhero. You could also pick to be a hero or villain, which was very cool. I remember my friend and I would write up backstories for each of our characters that described how they got their powers. This game could definitely use a visual update and refresh to its customization and power selection. How cool would it be to make your own superhero and run around in an updated Gotham City as Batman sends you on a bunch of quests? That sounds like a great time to me.
4. Toy Story Racer
I just replayed one of my childhood favorites again, and I think this is such a slam dunk remake. Toy Story Racers is such a fun PS1 kart racing game. It has everything you want. The iconic characters, racetracks from the movies like Pizza Planet, and all the power-ups you could ever use. They also do a great job of having a variety of game modes instead of just simple races, like knockout modes. This is such an easy one to remake. All you do is keep the same structure, add the newer characters, new locations, and maybe spruce up the mechanics by having each character have a unique ability or something. Toy Story just came out with a new movie. Why not continue to milk the property by remaking such a slept-on kart racing game?
3. Lego Racers
I am going to keep it rolling (pun intended) by suggesting another racing game. Lego games have always done well as long as I can remember. Lego Racers needs to make a comeback, though. The first LEGO Racers game was such a blast even though it was simple. Each level had a fun theme and boss. I still contend that Rocker Racer is one of the most difficult bosses I’ve ever played. As a Ps1 game, it could use a visual refresh as well as an expansion on the power-ups and mechanics. Lego games today look so freaking good; I could only imagine if they put a little bit of the infinite Lego money into making a new racer game.
2. Burnout Revenge
Keep the pedal down. All gas, no brakes. Bring back Burnout. With the recent success of Star Wars Galactic Racers, it has put me in the mood for the old Burnout games. Most people’s favorite was Burnout 3, which was great; my personal favorite was Burnout Revenge. Whichever one you remake, we need to bring back the high-octane, incredibly addictive, and heart-pounding style that Burnout was known for. Between the soundtrack blaring and the explosive crashes, I think this remake would be incredible. This remake could look amazing visually as well if put in Unreal Engine 5. If done right, a Burnout remake could give Forza a run for its money.
1. Mass Effect
Last but certainly not least, I have to put my favorite series of all time on here: Mass Effect. This probably has the highest probability of being remade at some point compared to all the games previously listed. Mass Effect could benefit so much from a complete remake. Again, you have the foundation of having one of the richest and coolest universes; all you have to do is update the pieces that are lacking. The main areas in my mind are the visuals (of course), the gameplay, and the dialogue mechanics. Updating the visuals is self-explanatory. This game would look breathtaking in a modern engine with the highest quality assets. The gameplay was always one of the weaker parts, in my opinion, when playing these games. I think the shooting could be tightened up, as well as really expanding the options available to the player in terms of upgrades, weapons, and powers. As the series went on, it felt less and less like an RPG in terms of the actual abilities and gear you got. Lastly, I think they could fine-tune the dialogue options and overall relationship mechanics. At the time it came out, it was the best games had to offer, but I don’t think it quite holds up as well as I would like it to. You can really start seeing behind the curtain after playing it multiple times, and honestly it usually comes down to just picking the blue or red option. It would be great to create some nuance in the options; you can pick something other than just good or bad. Also, maybe the most important opportunity this provides is to fix the ending of this trilogy. All these years later, I still cling to the indoctrination theory like the blanket we all had as children. A well-done, completely remade Mass Effect would be an actual dream come true for me.