Top 10 Video Game Franchises that Deserve a Comeback

We don’t get a heck of a lot of dinosaur games these days. Well...nothing as memorable as “Dino Crisis”. However, it’s understandable why we stopped seeing this series. The last two games, “Dino Stalker” and “Dino Crisis 3”, were critical flops, which would be enough to make a studio freeze an IP. Then again, that was nearly twenty years ago, and times have changed. Now that “Resident Evil” & “Devil May Cry” have seen a successful resurgence with the amazing RE Engine, maybe it’s time Capcom brings back its dino-shooter for a reboot. Now is the time to reintroduce “Dino Crisis” to the world in all of jurassic glory!

We know Bungie as the studio behind “Halo” and “Destiny”, but it’d be interesting to see the company dig up an IP from its past. While we also considered “Marathon” to be on this list, we’d much rather see a new installment of “Myth”, a real-time strategy tactics game that had a steep learning curve, yet was immensely fun once you got the hang of things. Unfortunately, the franchise was short-lived, lasting three games over the course of four years. With classic strategy games like “Age of Empires” and “Civilization” seeing continued success today, we have a feeling “Myth” would find a healthy following of its own should it be resurrected.

What is there to NOT love about “Bubble Bobble”? You get to play as a couple of adorable, bubble-blowing dinosaurs, collecting fruit and gems on decoratively-designed levels. It’s such a delight to play! Sadly, this is one of many series that have fallen victim to lack of game preservation as developer Taito lost all of the game’s original source code. So, we won’t be seeing any official port or re-release anytime soon. However, Taito or parent company Square-Enix could give the franchise the same treatment Namco has given “Pac-Man”; put a new spin on the classic formula, maybe a rougelite similar to The Binding of Issac? Whatever “Bubble Bobble’s” future looks like, we hope it isn’t spent in the digital void of no return.

Of all the classic “Star Wars” games we’d want, “Rogue Squadron” is at the top of our list. These were the games that made you feel like you were a part of the galactic dogfights, giving you the chance to pilot your very own X-Wing. If this franchise were to rise from the dead, we’d be facing a major caveat - EA still owns the “Star Wars” license, and they rejected a similar looking Star Wars game concept by Double Damage. Although, at E3 2019, Limited Run Games announced they’d be releasing collector’s editions of classic “Star Wars” games. Unfortunately “Rogue Squadron” wasn’t on the list, but maybe the success behind this could determine the franchise’s future.

“Jak & Daxter” could have easily been overshadowed by Naughty Dog’s previous cartoon platformer, “Crash Bandicoot”, but the franchise has been known as one of PS2’s best. Sadly, we haven’t seen much of “Jak & Daxter” in the past decade, not since “The Lost Frontier” launched on PSP and PS2. Sure, we can relive the explosive action and vibrant worlds thanks to the PS4 re-releases, but we’d love to see the IP handed to another studio for a sequel or reboot. We long to come back to the action-platformer; however, with Naughty Dog moving on to games like “Uncharted” and “The Last of Us”, there’s no telling when we’ll see this dynamic duo again.

Conker, Conker, Conker… Where have you gone? The last time we got to spend time with the foul mouth, alcoholic red squirrel was in Microsoft’s “Project Spark”. When he was the star of the uninspired, kid-friendly expansion, “Conker’s Big Reunion”. There was also the footage for “Young Conker” tech demo in 2016, but...we don’t talk about that. Microsoft just hasn’t done anything with our foul-mouthed rodent since remaking the N64 classic as “Conker: Live & Reloaded”, on the Xbox. Every attempt to bring him back has been to appeal to kids, but fans knows Conker should be anything but family-friendly! Let’s just hope Microsoft finally realizes this.

Throughout the current console generation, we’ve received a healthy helping of remasters for PS1 franchises. These include: “Crash Bandicoot”, “Spyro the Dragon”, “WipeOut”, and “MediEvil”. However, “Twisted Metal” has had a glaring absence for over seven years, with the last game launching on PS3 in February 2012. Vehicular combat games may not have sold an astronomical number of copies, but “Twisted Metal” always had something special with its level design and dark humor. Here’s hoping the TV series from PlayStation Productions will pull in enough fans to warrant a new game.

To those of you who are sick of hearing people demand “Half-Life 3”, we’re sorry...sort of. Look, hear us out. There are reasons why we’ve spent the past twelve years begging Valve to continue the story of Gordon Freeman. “Half-Life 2: Episode 2” ended on a major cliff-hanger, leaving many questions unanswered. In recent years Valve seems to have all but stopped developing games in favour of focusing on Steam, and they’ve gotten a little too complacent over the years with relying on that service as their main revenue source. But with Epic Games sweeping up PC exclusives left and right, now is the time for Valve to get more competitive and Half Life 3 SHOULD be their first step.

“F-Zero” has been gone for so long that Captain Falcon has become more of a “Smash Bros” character than an “F-Zero’s” hero. The last game from the futuristic racing franchise came out in 2004 - “F-Zero Climax” for the Game Boy Advance. Unfortunately, Nintendo doesn’t seem too keen on bringing the series back. Shigeru Miyamoto has admitted that he isn’t sure what else Nintendo could do to make “F-Zero” interesting. The closest we’ve gotten to a new instalment was in 2011 when Nintendo approached Criterion (yes, the same Criterion owned by EA) to build a demo. Here we are, eight years later, and we only have some tracks and a kart in “Mario Kart 8” and a whole lot of Falcon Punches to dish out.







Before we call out our most overdue franchise, here are a few Honorable Mentions…



“Wing Commander” (1990-2007)





“Legacy of Kain” (1996-2003)





“Ultima” (1981-99)





“Final Fantasy Tactics” (1997-2013)





“Monkey Island” series (1990-2010)

The bear and bird have been gone for far too long. The duo’s final game was the polarizing “Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts”, which was a good game on its own merits, but was NOT the game that was teased at E3 2006. Needless to say, fans were not happy, and the series has been dormant ever since. However, with the recent, mind-blowing news of Banjo & Kazooie coming to "Smash Bros. Ultimate" the future is looking brighter than ever! Head of Xbox Phil Spencer himself has been clamouring for this opportunity, and even recently had Xbox One exclusives “Cuphead” & “Super Lucky’s Tale” released on Switch. Does this mean we'll be getting a brand new game? Or a remaster of the original games on Switch? Only time will tell!