Let's get right down to it. Over the years some franchises have dropped out of the spotlight and we're wondering why. There were tons to choose from but we finally narrowed it down to 10. A lot of entries had to be taken off because new ones ARE being made! Yay! This list is what WE want to see come back in order of what we want most, simple as that.
10 . Shenmue
2000-2002, 2 games
Shenmue was the must-own title on the Dreamcast back in the day. It blew away anything in it's time and wow'd us all with its story and mind blowing graphics. To this day it is still one of the best adventure games, possibly THE best, on a console of all time. The story was finished in Shenmue 2 on the xbox a couple years later but didnt add much to the overall game.
With a game like Heavy Rain having recently come out that has brought back the adventure game with a bang, a new Shenmue game could fit right into the mix. Maybe this time Ryu could bring us into the next decade; the 90's!
-Davie B
09. Kid Icarus (Nintendo)
1987-1991, 2 games
It's hard to beleive that in over 20 years Nintendo hasn't done anything more with poor Pit besides a cameo in Super Smash Brothers. Why Nintendo chose not to update this game along with Metroid (I've always considered them 2 peas in a pod), is something I can't figure out.
I could easily see a new Icarus game in the 3d platformer vein. Maybe Nintendo thinks it'd be too close to Mario or another franchise. Maybe Kratos has the Minotaur by the horns when it comes to Greek mythological games. But with Clash of the Titans being released soon now would be a perfect time to unveil a new Icarus game! Come on Nintendo! I have a sneaking suspicion that the big N will show off footage of a new Icarus game at E3 this year, but maybe that's just wishful thinking.
-Seanius
1990-1991, 7 games
Any kid PC gamer back in 1990 knew about Keen. Amazingly fun gameplay, a plethora of secrets and happy catchy music, these games had it all. Moving away from the ridiculous difficulty of the first 3 games, the latter half of the Keen games changed significantly and up'd the bar for Dos gaming. Unfortunately this is right at the time where Doom came out and PC gaming changed forever. Keen was chewed up by hungry demons and shooters ruled the PC.
Tom Hall has said if he ever gets the rights back for Keen he'd be all over a new Keen game. Seeing how many old school games are being re-released, remade or remastered for the PSN/Arcade/WiiWare, a Keen game would be more than welcome. I'd have a nerdgasm seeing a remake or continuation of the Keen series and I'm sure I'm not the only one. While we wait, we can always play Ceilick's amazing unofficial fan games that continue the Keen story.
-Davie B
07. Ultima (EA)
1981-1999, 9 games
Believe it or not, there was a time when the RPG landscape wasn't dominated by Japanese characters who's gender you couldn't tell. Before the rise of the JRPG gamers got their roleplaying fix with games on the PC. One series stood above all others & that series was Ultima.
Originally released in 1981, the series went on to spawn 8 sequels, several spin-offs & one of the first MMOs (which is still going today). Richard Garriot (aka Lord British) crafted some of the best stories to ever grace a computer screen. When his company Origin Systems was gobbled up by Electronic Arts the games began to suffer & most people would just like to forget the last 2 games in the series. It's sad that this series went out with a wimper instead of a bang.
The rise in popularity of games such as the Elder Scrolls series, Dragons Age:Origins, & the resurgence of Fallout makes me think it's the perfect time to let Lord British finish his beloved series the way he always wanted to. I'm sure it'll never happen since EA owns the rights to the series, but a fan can dream can't I?
-Seanius
06. Sierra Series'
King's Quest, Space Quest, Police Quest, Hero's Quest (later changed to Quest For Glory). These games & their sequels were the adventure games that I cut my young gaming teeth on. These games along with the LucasArts adventure games (see Dave's write-up on them) pretty much defined adventure gaming as we know it.
The text parser, at least to me, is what made these games so great. The abiltity to type anything into the game & see what you get a result for was great fun (especially for kids trying out dirty words). Sometimes it was a source of frustration, but usually you could get a hint about what to do by typing "look" & getting a brief description of the screen you were on. Later on these games adopted an icon based interface & lost some of their luster. I doubt that game developers would want to bring back the parser, but for these sort of games I think it'd work. Imagine if Scribblenauts had pictures of the items you could choose from instead of being able to write down objects? It would really take away from the appeal of that game, and it would do the same for the Sierra games as well.
With Activision recently shutting down a fan-made sequel to King's Quest (boo!) maybe there's a snowball's chance in hell of these games coming back, but I'm not holding my breath.
-Seanius
05. Chrono Series
1995-1999, 2 games
If theres one game that most RPG fanboys can agree upon it's Chrono Trigger. One of the best of its time, it featured an awesome interweaving storyline spanning multiple times and places. The characters are lovable and the froggies are huggable.. or something. Chrono Cross on the ps1 in 1999 set the bar for beautifully drawn backgrounds and landscapes. It was a great Christmas revieving Chrono Cross and playing it non-stop well into the new year. It also featured one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard in a game.
With lots of great jrpg's still coming out (hey i liked Blue Dragon!) it would be awesome to see another Chrono game. I'd love to see a game rival Eternal Sonata's beauty and a Chrono game would be a great choice.
-Davie B
04. Sega Series'
Sega were the undisputed champions of 16-bit era platforming. It's amazing graphics and speed brought us great games like Shinobi, Sonic,Vectorman and Wonder Boy. Almost anything Sega touched back then in terms of platforming was gold. Although today is a different story. Having great success with more arcade style games, (Super Monkey Ball) Sega have almost all forgotten about their great Genesis franchises. They have however tried to bring back the old glory, churning out multiple 3D Sonic games, a couple of Shinobi's ect, but none have come close to what they used to be.
Sonic 4 is on the horizon and could begin a new slew of 2.5D platforming goodness. Tons of old classics are thriving on the PSN/Arcade/Virtual Console, and a good amount even have been remade and updated. With a Bonk sequel coming, now is the perfect time for Sega to start revamping their old franchises in 2.5D glory. Seriously, just imagine how much "awesome" a 2.5D Vectorman will bring us. Nows the time Sega. Now is your chance to shine once more!
-Davie B
03. X-Wing Series(Lucas Arts)
1993-1999, 4 games
What boy growing up in the 70s & 80s didn't dream of being in Luke Skywalker's X-wing & blowing the Death Star to kingdom come? X-Wing gave all us rebel alliance wannabes exactly the chance to do that back in 1993. Shooting down TIE fighters, making suicide runs against Star Destroyers & attacking the Death Star was a fanboy's dream come true. Sean fun fact: This was the first game I bought for my 486 back in the day! I actually bought it a few days before I got my pc.
Imagine a graphically updated version of this game! Throw in multi-player, co-op, vs missions, a ranking system, ways to unlock various ships & I'd be the first in line to buy this! LucasArts I'm begging you! MAKE THIS HAPPEN!
-Seanius
02. Lucas Arts Series'
With respect to Sierra's great point and click adventure games, Lucas Art's owned the genre. With absolute classics like Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island, nothing can top them with the undisputed crown of adventure games. Recently there has been a revival of these games with the remakes ans sequels to Monkey Island and Sam and Max. There are still a tons of amazing stories to be told, not all of them comedies. Although who wouldnt love to see the next chapter in the Maniac Mansion series? And wheres our Grim Fandango sequel! There is just too many here to mention, but all are worthy of sequels in some manner. But this might be the ramblings of a fanboy.
-Davie B
01. Jedi Knight Series
1995-2003, 4 games
Yes it's another Star Wars game. And yes it needs to be updated!
Sean Fun Fact: Dark Forces is the game that made me upgrade my 486 from 4 meg of RAM to a whopping 8 meg of RAM to meet the game's system requirements.
Basically everything that I wrote about X-wing can be applied to this title as well. FPS sell like hotcakes on all consoles (except the Wii) & all LucasArts would need to do is some updating & some new game modes & they'd make a boatload of cash. Another game I'd be the first in line for.
-Seanius
Great post guys! That was a fun read.
ReplyDeleteRidiculous quest there. What occurred after? Take care!
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