The Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy has racked up 6 weeks at Number 1 in the UK charts and now holds the title for the PS4 exclusive that has spent the longest at the top of the charts, beating out The Last Of US. It certainly deserves it. The attention to detail and level of care that Vicarious Visions have put into recreating the trilogy certainly shines through. Needless to say, it has been a resounding success for Activision who think that more beloved franchises from yesteryear could get the same treatment. I imagine many other publishers are looking at the sales of the N. Sane trilogy and are thinking the same thing too.
But what should be next? What other franchises as big as Crash Bandicoot deserve to be rebuilt for the modern day gamer? Well, we have a few suggestions…
Spyro
It’s the obvious next step, right? Activision also own the Spyro franchise and have been utilising him as part of the Skylanders universe as of late. While that might feel like a sad fate for everyone’s favorite gaming dragon, it does mean that Spyro is a name that both kids and adults know. If Activision are looking for other franchises to remaster, they needn’t look any further than what’s already in their lap. Spyro had 13 solo outings across the PS1, Gameboy Advanced, Nintendo DS and the PS3 but I think the majority of fans would love a remake of the original trilogy – Spyro, Ripto’s Rage and Year of the Dragon – to modern day standards.
The Die Hard Trilogy
The Die Hard Trilogy had it all. A light gun shooter, a third person run-’n’-gunner with fully destructible environments and a Crazy Taxi-esque racer. It was one of the crowning jewels of the PlayStation 1. How exactly this remake might come about is a mystery because the game was published by Fox Interactive which was bought and folded by Vivendi. Still, who ever holds the rights to The Die Hard Trilogy might want to look at resurrecting this collection that has no end of nostalgic connections.
Croc & Croc 2
Another Fox Interactive title that deserves to be revisited is Croc. When it released on the PS1, Sega Saturn and PC, the 3D platformer received mixed critical reviews but went on to be a childhood favourite for many gamers. Sure, it was no Mario 64 but it certainly had its fans that would probably just at the chance to play as the anthropomorphistic Crocodile once again.
Klonoa
While we’re on the subject of colourful animal protagonists, it’s certainly time that Klonoa dusted off his baseball cap and got back in on the action. This suggestion actually makes a lot of sense because there’s apparently a film adaption in the works at animation production company Henshin. A remake of the Door to Phantomile which has become something of a cult classic would certainly make many people happy.
Syndicate & Syndicate Wars
EA had already tried to revitalise the Syndicate franchise with the ill fated 2012 first person shooter that sold a poultry 150k copies. The thing is, the Syndicate games that were created by Bullfrog (RIP) we’re absolute classics and, here’s the important part –//THEY WERE NOT FIRST PERSON SHOOTERS\\–. EA would be better served by remaking the original Syndicate or Syndicate Wars because the mechanics and play style that they employed are still the standard of strategy combat games today.
Banjo-Kazooie
The Rare Replay collection was a wonderful stroll down memory lane and allowed us to replay the classic Banjo-Kazooie games of yesteryear – But we want more. Yooka-Laylee admirably displayed what it would be like to play an N64 3D platformer made to modern day standards and we can but hope that Microsoft have taken note and are investing in new Banjo-Kazooie or a remake of the original adventures.
Legacy of Kain
The Legacy of Kain series has had a rough ride since the heady days of Blood Omen & Soul Reaver. After Legacy of Kain: Defiance failed to light up the charts, the series was put on hold with 2 in-development sequels – The Dark Prophecy in development at Ritual Entertainment & Dead Sun at Climax – cancelled. There was a brief glimmer of hope for fans of the series with the multiplayer game Nosgoth but even that failed to exit the Beta stage and was cancelled in 2016. The fact remains that the Legacy of Kain franchise is being criminally underutilised by Square Enix and fans, me included, are chomping at the bit for more or, even better, a remake of the original Blood Omen & Soul Reaver games.
Timesplitters
Okay. So you might have heard about TimeSplitters Rewind. If not, it’s a fan-made remake of the original multiplayer maps and characters for CryEngine 3 and – here’s the kicker – it has the blessing of IP owner Crytech. The only downside is that the people doing the work – the coders, designers and artists – can’t earn a penny from it. It’d be fantastic if Crytech could take development of Rewind under their wing, pay the guys and gals working on it right now and give it a full release like it deserves. Instead, we’re likely to get a cut down product made pro bono. Timesplitters deserves better. It deserves as much attention as Crash got with the N. Sane trilogy. Make it happen Crytech.
Shenmue I & II
How this hasn’t been announced yet is a miracle. With the development of Shenmue III in development and the beloved series once again standing proudly in the spotlight, SEGA are missing a huge opportunity to reinvigorate the IP. Releasing a remake of Shenmue I & II for current generation consoles before the 3rd instalment drops would likely make a tidy profit and would put Shenmue back on the map. We know you’re investigating it and it’s all but confirmed but… COME ON ALREADY!
Conkers
Microsoft don’t seem to know what to do with Conkers. The Young Conker game for Hololens might as well not be a Conkers game at all – it’s missing the mature themes and abrasive attitude we came to love – and the sarcastic squirrel’s appearance in Project Spark was abruptly cancelled. Microsoft – Give the people what they want. Remake Bad Fur Day or Live and Reloaded. Please.
Chrono Trigger
While I’m normally averse to remaking the absolute classics, I’ll make an exception for Chrono Trigger. Hell, we’re getting a Final Fantasy VII remake. Why can’t we get a remake of the RPG that is hailed by GamesRadar, IGN, GameSpot etc as the greatest ever? There’s a whole generation of gamers out there that don’t have the means to play Chrono Trigger and a simple port of Chrono Trigger might be enough.
MDK
DOOM is back. Wolfenstein is back. Quake is back. Duke Nukem is… Well, 3 out of 4 isn’t bad. Most of the great shooters from the “good ol’ days” have returned with a vengeance in the past few years but MDK is still stuck in the 90’s. Sure, it was never a critical darling on the scale of its peers but it was a commercial success and still holds a special place in some gamers hearts.
Discworld
The point and click genre has been going through a bit of a resurgence as of late with classics such as Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle and Grim Fandango getting a remaster as well as a number of new titles seeing a release. The Discworld point and click games are being criminally ignored however. Sure, they were tough games but surely Discworld, Missing Presumed and Noir deserve a second chance. It’s coming up to the 35th Anniversary of the day the 1st Discworld book was published and next year would have marked the late, great Terry Pratchett’s 60th Birthday. It’d be great to see his characters brought to life once again in Video Games to celebrate his works.
Got suggestions of other classic game franchises that deserve the love and attention that have been afforded to the Crash N. Sane Trilogy? Head to the comments section and sound off.
