Remakes and Remasters
A desk of chaos guide
Whatever the reason it was COVID, maybe boredom or they just realized there is money left on the table. Gaming companies have for the last few years been churning out remasters like a Hersey chocolate bar. The thing with that is the idea of what is a remake and a remaster. The words have been used interchangeably since this whole trend started, that is not exactly a good thing as it may fool people into thinking that a remake is just a remaster.
So, it is with that in mind today we’re going to try and define each of these terms, what makes each one each, and if and why you should try and develop a discerning eye for the marketing behind things. I do want to make this clear also: a remaster is not bad by any means, it’s just another side of the coin and should be acknowledged accordingly. So, with that let’s get into it.
Remake
Definition: to make anew or in a different form (from Webster)
So a remake should do things differently, it’s in the definition and in many ways to be expected. But what examples can we look at to show us the way? Well, the true answer came years ago…
Example 1: Final Fantasy VII: Remake
Final Fantasy VII is a lot of things and has been a highly requested redo as graphics and technology have advanced beyond what was capable of during the PS1 era. Everyone finally got their request in 2020 when we got the graphic overhaul we wanted in FF7 Remake…
Except it was a bit more than that, we got a much more fleshed-out world, and an overhaul in gameplay (it went from turn-based to semi-real time.) As were new ways to gain summons and some mini-games (though not nearly as many as its sequel) and the plot diverged a little bit also. Now, does this benefit from the fact it has been years, and trends in gaming have changed? Yes, and that isn’t a bad thing. Some of the people behind the old game are involved and also realize they could expand upon a game that they were unable to do with its original release. So much so, that it will now make up THREE separate games.
Example 2: Metroid: Zero Mission
Nintendo is no stranger to doing remakes, depending on the timeline you view, some could even argue they saw the trend years ago. One of the most beloved and at times feels like ignored franchises in their catalog, had its first release redone for a more modern era. Let’s be honest here first of all: the first Metroid while at its time great hasn’t aged well and can be viewed as a bit slog and also tedious. Zero Mission took the skeleton of the original and put it through some sort of cyberpunk operation where it got parts replaced to make it better or more modern.
When you first start getting upgrades you also find a lot are untranslatable, the ones from the original game still work mainly as they did and beyond that, nothing changed. One could even argue that the first half of the game is rather brisk in its pacing as can easily get to the final area within a few hours of your play-through. Once you do the escape in the original a cut scene plays that shows Samus take her suit off as her ship is suddenly shot down. Stripped of your power suit and upgrades and only having a pistol that will at best stun enemies. You begin an almost Metal Gear Solid like Metroid, or should it be Metroid Gear Solid?
So it adds new gameplay elements as well as a new interesting endgame that we did not see until now. It also does the lifting of adding in events from a Manga that puts those scenes into cannon for the universe among other things. Also if you feel the need to compare it to the original the OG game is unlockable as well once completing some requirements. Nintendo would do this with the sequel Metroid 2 and remade it into Samus Returns but I feel this is the best example of a remake from Nintendo. Take what works and improve it add some twists also to shake things up and even add things you could not to an original.
Example 3 Mortal Kombat 9
Okay, so this one may be a lot less popular than the other two when it comes to remake, but I would argue that this game does a lot of what we look for in a remake without even realizing it. I will say the emphasis is more on 9 than the others, and I will admit that it is also using story to do a lot of heavy lifting to make the remake idea work. But still, I wanted to present various ways we’ve gotten remakes.
Mortal Kombat 9 follows up on Armageddon where Raiden is about to lose to Shao Khan as he becomes the victor and thus ruler of all realms. Raiden in desperation casts himself back in time to the original tournament and begins to tweak things that were supposed to happen. The result is a lot of shit goes bad and probably so bad The Doctor rode by in the TARDIS and was confused on just how you could fuck this up so bad.
As 9 is a sort of redo of the first three games it also brings with it a more solid base to work on when it comes to gameplay, we have X-ray attacks which would be a character’s super more or less, and they have burnable parts of the bar for EX attacks. It also presented new takes on old characters like a fully human Smoke and a cyborg version of Sub-Zero among other things. The ending is also pretty much an “oh we fucked up good” kind of thing with what is revealed and continues into the next two games.
Still, this is a great entry and starting point for new people who want to try Mortal Kombat. The originals are classics for a reason, but when you run out of ideas sometimes it is smart to go back to basics...just don’t do it twice, we just need to look at MK1 for that….
Remaster
“To create a new master of especially by altering or enhancing”
Okay, so this is where we need to be very specific, a remaster is something that takes much if not all of the original and just punches it up a bit via graphics or sound but not in gameplay.
Example 1: Shadow of the Colossus (PS4)
Bluepoint games have been known as the go-to team for a lot of remaster collections and also for putting some flair and other tweaks into a project. But they also wanted to try and push limits and wanted to challenge themselves, even after doing a remaster of the original on PS3 they seemed not satisfied. Taking all the assets and rebuilding them from the ground up and also retaining the same gameplay as the original resulted in one of the most stunning games of its time getting a second life of awe and breathtaking visuals. All while still retaining the gameplay. Granted there was a redone scheme to better accommodate people. But if we can all alter our control schemes it’s not groundbreaking just a quicker way of doing it perhaps.
They even used the PS2 code in the game so it checks off all the things a remaster has, updated graphics, rebuilt from the original assets, and kept the same play that made it work back then. When I look at remasters, I compare them to this, if it does anything different well we have cause to consider it a remake at that point.
Example 2: Mass Effect Trilogy Legacy Edition
Mass Effect was lauded at the time for its RPG elements and carrying over data from game to game making it in some ways you’re own play, things you did in the first game can have an impact in games 2, and 3, and so on. It was also one of the first games to use DLC to expand on plots and set up threads for the next games. Released over the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 era of consoles, it was beloved and I guess if the third game pissed you off cause of how it ended well nothing we can do about that.
On the transition to the last and current generation, Bioware released a collected edition of the game, each game, and the DLC for each all packed onto one disc so you can just keep on going as soon as you finish the other game.
The gameplay is by and large the same, though the first game is where a lot of the actual lifting of a remaster was truly done. They cleaned up the graphics and made them more in line with 2 and 3. They also did some minor gameplay tweaking to make the game move a little faster as let’s be fair the mako stuff got tedious real quick. Once we got to the second and third games. The graphics did get a bit of an update but the rest of the game, bad endings, and all we’re retained. It’s not quite a bare-bones basic remaster as usually there is behind-the-scenes stuff included that this one is lacking. But the fact there was speed-up load times, some continuity added to the series with the updating of the first game, along with access to all the DLC and pre-order bonuses included balanced it out in the long run. If you ever wanted to give these games a try, I’d say play this one as its quality of life improvements will make the game feel much more speedy than the old versions.
Example 3: Metroid Prime Remastered
I felt it fitting to finish this with another Metroid game, when this was announced it was kind of out of nowhere. When you play it you can still find yourself hooked into the original gameplay and only controls were tweaked to fit with the Switch controllers. Graphics were punched up accordingly and beyond that, the game remains as faithful to the original as you’d hope. Like the other games on the Remaster list, it doesn’t mess with anything preserving the game as it is, and just punches up the graphics to modern with some quality-of-life stuff, if it is even needed.
There isn’t much else to say about this one, it fits all the requirements in my eye, but it did not do the insane lifting that the first game we talked about did.
A note about marketing and the word “remake”
So, if you haven’t noticed I left off some games, and I want to focus on one series mainly for this part and it is to prove my point that you need to be aware of what is what: Resident Evil.
I think the remasters of Resident Evil 2 and 3 are great, but they are just that NOT REMAKES. Sure they do some tweaks the one that sticks out is Mr. X stalking your ass, but while it may have been included earlier. It is more or less the same running around the map praying you don’t run into him as you’re trying to get to the save point. Now, as for Resident Evil 4, that is something that has pissed me off. It has been heavily marketed as a remake. If you check my review, I point out how there is a very half-assed and done after a section stealth mode. It is more or less the same game with modern graphics. While again, this is not a bad thing; it is very misleading, and also I felt from the start Resident Evil 4 never needed a remake, remaster sure but this is not a remake it is a remaster. If they used that stealth thing more then maybe we’d have a conversation for sure. But beyond this, it is the same game you played on your GameCube, your PS2, your Wii, your PS3, etc.
I hope this post helps make the case to you the reader to understand why this difference should be made more. There is nothing wrong with remasters in the slightest, some games have benefited from them even I’d argue. But a full remake is something much larger and has to be different enough from the thing it originated from while still maintaining aspects of the original in question. Going forward on the desk if we review or talk about a game that has this problem, we will be using this as a basis for our Is it a remake or remaster dilemma.
Now for those of you who are asking, what about a reboot or a redo on something, well that’s a topic for another day, and for now not as relevant, but I’m sure we’ll get there at some point…
-The Chaos Director
