10 Worst Video Game Remakes That Should Never Have Been Made
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VOICE OVER: Riccardo Tucci
WRITTEN BY: Caitlin Johnson
If you can't exceed the original, what's the point of even doing a remake? For this video, we'll be looking at the worst video game remakes out there that should have never been made. Our list includes “Secret of Mana” (2018), “Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes” (2004), “MediEvil: Resurrection” (2005), “GoldenEye 007” (2010) and more!
Script written by Caitlin Johnson
Welcome to MojoPlays and today we’re looking at video game remakes that were worse than the original.
For this video, we’ll be looking at the worst video game remakes out there that should have never been made.
Be sure to share your least favorite remakes in the comments!”
Though it was a little rough and the victim of a tumultuous development cycle, the original “Secret of Mana” on the SNES still managed to become one of the console’s most beloved games. This made it a prime candidate for an updated remake, and in 2018, that’s what happened. Unfortunately, everything that made the original game so great had been removed. Developers abandoned the classic pixel art in favor of blocky, 3D graphics; they added Japanese and English voice acting that wasn’t synched with the characters; and, worst of all, the entire soundtrack was redone. It was widely regarded that only people who hadn’t played the original would like this inferior remake.
As one of the most revolutionary games in history, it was only a matter of time before “Metal Gear Solid” was ported to other consoles. In 2004, an ambitious remake was released for the GameCube, but it wasn’t as successful as the original. While not a bad game, many of the changes didn’t improve it much, particularly the fact that some gameplay mechanics that first appeared in “Sons of Liberty”, had been shoehorned into “Twin Snakes.” At the other end of the spectrum, some critics thought it should have been changed more and that the level design should have been switched up to maintain the challenge of the original. Nobody was completely happy with this remake.
When Sir Dan Fortesque rose from the dead for the first time, he starred in an instant hit for the PS1, a classic that – at the time – fired on all cylinders. But he’s been dragged back to life twice more since then, the first time for the aptly titled “MediEvil: Resurrection” in 2005. “Resurrection” was a mess, thrown together in just a year as launch shovelware for the PSP. This chaotic development cycle shone through every part of the game, but the worst-hit was the gameplay. A frenetic camera meant that just navigating the world was a chore, let alone engaging in combat. Playing “Resurrection” means dying non-stop because of the awful camera position.
A remake of a classic N64 first-person shooter published by FPS giant Activision seems like a great idea on paper, but the execution was lackluster, to say the least. While it was a relatively faithful remake that was still great fun to play with friends, it missed the mark a few times. The stealth system barely worked, the AI was dumber than most and, like many of the Wii’s titles, it was held back by the console’s technical shortcomings. But making it even more pointless was the fact that just a year after it came out, Activision announced a third remake, porting it to the Xbox 360 and the PS3.
In a time where cartoonish, charming platformers were king, Rare came out with the iconic genre parody “Conker’s Bad Fur Day.” The cutesy, 3D art style contrasted with some truly vulgar content to create an iconic game for the N64. And then, in 2005, Conker’s legacy was ruined when Rare released this remake for the Xbox. It was still fun, but the heavy censorship meant it couldn’t compare to the original. Many of the most memorable and hilarious obscenities were bleeped out or removed, much to the ire of fans. It still carried an M rating in spite of being toned down, however.
One of the best games released on the GameCube, “Luigi’s Mansion” has been a Nintendo must-play for decades. When they decided to make this classic available to a new generation of players in 2018, it could have been great. But “Luigi’s Mansion” on the 3DS didn’t live up to the original’s grand reputation. Though it introduced Gooigi as a new mechanic, which played a major part in “Luigi’s Mansion 3” on the Switch, it added something else that didn’t work too well: motion controls. Trying to aim the Poltergust 3000 with motion controls is easier said than done, and it’s incomprehensible why they went with this at all.
The second and third games in the “Silent Hill” series were chosen to be remade for the PS3 and Xbox 360, but developers Hijinx Studios faced problems from the start. The worst issue they came up against was that Konami, in all their wisdom, had lost the original source code. This meant they had to work with incomplete versions of both games to try and not only finish them to the standards of the originals, but improve them enough for the remake to be warranted. When they finally came out, they had new and, by many accounts, inferior voice acting, not to mention a pretty major glitch in “Silent Hill 2”: the game’s trademark fog, which provides the creepy atmosphere and makes exploring the town incredibly tense, was missing completely.
Nearly twenty years on, Blizzard announced they were going to be remaking “Warcraft III” with additional features, better graphics, and more polish than the first go-around. Unfortunately, “Warcraft” fans were outraged when the game released and it turned out Blizzard had broken their promises of what would actually be in it. “Reforged” was immediately review bombed for slights like the graphical downgrade, myriad bugs, and an overwhelming UI. But worse than simply putting out a bad version of a game that already existed, Blizzard also said all user-generated content in the game belonged to them. There’s disrespecting the fans, and then there’s “Warcraft III: Reforged.”
Plenty of retro games come across as incredibly dated now, and that’s even clearer when they’re the recipient of shoddy remakes that barely bother with modernization. “Double Dragon II: Wander of the Dragons” has been widely condemned as one of the worst Xbox 360 in existence – even the title doesn’t make sense. Worse than the dire story, hopeless gameplay and extreme framerate issues, however, is the fact that for some reason, using special moves gives you the bad ending of the game. This makes it even more boring than it would otherwise be, for no good reason.
Up there with other gaming icons like “Pac-Man” and “Tetris”, “Space Invaders” is one of the most popular and enduring video games of all time for a reason. It definitely wasn’t crying out for a gritty, 3D remake with an array of boring protagonists and an uninspired story – all the story you need is in the title, after all. But that didn’t stop Taito from revamping the arcade classic for the GameCube and PlayStation 2. The gameplay consisted of, once again, moving side-to-side and shooting endlessly spawning rows of aliens, bookended by bizarre and overly dramatic cinematics. You’re better off playing “Space Invaders” for free in your web browser than this mess.
Top 10 Video Game Remakes that Were Worse than the Original
Welcome to MojoPlays and today we’re looking at video game remakes that were worse than the original.
For this video, we’ll be looking at the worst video game remakes out there that should have never been made.
Be sure to share your least favorite remakes in the comments!”
“Secret of Mana” (2018)
Though it was a little rough and the victim of a tumultuous development cycle, the original “Secret of Mana” on the SNES still managed to become one of the console’s most beloved games. This made it a prime candidate for an updated remake, and in 2018, that’s what happened. Unfortunately, everything that made the original game so great had been removed. Developers abandoned the classic pixel art in favor of blocky, 3D graphics; they added Japanese and English voice acting that wasn’t synched with the characters; and, worst of all, the entire soundtrack was redone. It was widely regarded that only people who hadn’t played the original would like this inferior remake.
“Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes” (2004)
As one of the most revolutionary games in history, it was only a matter of time before “Metal Gear Solid” was ported to other consoles. In 2004, an ambitious remake was released for the GameCube, but it wasn’t as successful as the original. While not a bad game, many of the changes didn’t improve it much, particularly the fact that some gameplay mechanics that first appeared in “Sons of Liberty”, had been shoehorned into “Twin Snakes.” At the other end of the spectrum, some critics thought it should have been changed more and that the level design should have been switched up to maintain the challenge of the original. Nobody was completely happy with this remake.
“MediEvil: Resurrection” (2005)
When Sir Dan Fortesque rose from the dead for the first time, he starred in an instant hit for the PS1, a classic that – at the time – fired on all cylinders. But he’s been dragged back to life twice more since then, the first time for the aptly titled “MediEvil: Resurrection” in 2005. “Resurrection” was a mess, thrown together in just a year as launch shovelware for the PSP. This chaotic development cycle shone through every part of the game, but the worst-hit was the gameplay. A frenetic camera meant that just navigating the world was a chore, let alone engaging in combat. Playing “Resurrection” means dying non-stop because of the awful camera position.
“GoldenEye 007” (2010)
A remake of a classic N64 first-person shooter published by FPS giant Activision seems like a great idea on paper, but the execution was lackluster, to say the least. While it was a relatively faithful remake that was still great fun to play with friends, it missed the mark a few times. The stealth system barely worked, the AI was dumber than most and, like many of the Wii’s titles, it was held back by the console’s technical shortcomings. But making it even more pointless was the fact that just a year after it came out, Activision announced a third remake, porting it to the Xbox 360 and the PS3.
“Conker: Live & Reloaded” (2005)
In a time where cartoonish, charming platformers were king, Rare came out with the iconic genre parody “Conker’s Bad Fur Day.” The cutesy, 3D art style contrasted with some truly vulgar content to create an iconic game for the N64. And then, in 2005, Conker’s legacy was ruined when Rare released this remake for the Xbox. It was still fun, but the heavy censorship meant it couldn’t compare to the original. Many of the most memorable and hilarious obscenities were bleeped out or removed, much to the ire of fans. It still carried an M rating in spite of being toned down, however.
“Luigi’s Mansion” (2018)
One of the best games released on the GameCube, “Luigi’s Mansion” has been a Nintendo must-play for decades. When they decided to make this classic available to a new generation of players in 2018, it could have been great. But “Luigi’s Mansion” on the 3DS didn’t live up to the original’s grand reputation. Though it introduced Gooigi as a new mechanic, which played a major part in “Luigi’s Mansion 3” on the Switch, it added something else that didn’t work too well: motion controls. Trying to aim the Poltergust 3000 with motion controls is easier said than done, and it’s incomprehensible why they went with this at all.
“Silent Hill HD Collection” (2012)
The second and third games in the “Silent Hill” series were chosen to be remade for the PS3 and Xbox 360, but developers Hijinx Studios faced problems from the start. The worst issue they came up against was that Konami, in all their wisdom, had lost the original source code. This meant they had to work with incomplete versions of both games to try and not only finish them to the standards of the originals, but improve them enough for the remake to be warranted. When they finally came out, they had new and, by many accounts, inferior voice acting, not to mention a pretty major glitch in “Silent Hill 2”: the game’s trademark fog, which provides the creepy atmosphere and makes exploring the town incredibly tense, was missing completely.
“Warcraft III: Reforged” (2020)
Nearly twenty years on, Blizzard announced they were going to be remaking “Warcraft III” with additional features, better graphics, and more polish than the first go-around. Unfortunately, “Warcraft” fans were outraged when the game released and it turned out Blizzard had broken their promises of what would actually be in it. “Reforged” was immediately review bombed for slights like the graphical downgrade, myriad bugs, and an overwhelming UI. But worse than simply putting out a bad version of a game that already existed, Blizzard also said all user-generated content in the game belonged to them. There’s disrespecting the fans, and then there’s “Warcraft III: Reforged.”
“Double Dragon II: Wander of the Dragons” (2013)
Plenty of retro games come across as incredibly dated now, and that’s even clearer when they’re the recipient of shoddy remakes that barely bother with modernization. “Double Dragon II: Wander of the Dragons” has been widely condemned as one of the worst Xbox 360 in existence – even the title doesn’t make sense. Worse than the dire story, hopeless gameplay and extreme framerate issues, however, is the fact that for some reason, using special moves gives you the bad ending of the game. This makes it even more boring than it would otherwise be, for no good reason.
“Space Raiders” (2004)
Up there with other gaming icons like “Pac-Man” and “Tetris”, “Space Invaders” is one of the most popular and enduring video games of all time for a reason. It definitely wasn’t crying out for a gritty, 3D remake with an array of boring protagonists and an uninspired story – all the story you need is in the title, after all. But that didn’t stop Taito from revamping the arcade classic for the GameCube and PlayStation 2. The gameplay consisted of, once again, moving side-to-side and shooting endlessly spawning rows of aliens, bookended by bizarre and overly dramatic cinematics. You’re better off playing “Space Invaders” for free in your web browser than this mess.
