With so many developers resorting to various collections, remasters, and ports of their previous games, I think it's safe to say that we all feel a little burnt out. "We want new IPs," we cry from our keyboards. We want something original. Is that too much to ask?
However, just recently Capcom announced the Disney Afternoon Collection, featuring six of their classic NES titles. For those of you too young to remember, Capcom's licensed games are standouts among the glut of garbage games we had to wade through in the late 80s/early 90s. The collection features DuckTales, DuckTales 2, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, Rescue Rangers 2, TaleSpin, and Darkwing Duck.
I was lucky to get in on the NES collecting scene before the prices of those games skyrocketed. If you were to try to procure those six games on their original cartridges today, you'd be spending more than what it costs for a PlayStation Pro system. So, needless to say, $20 for six of Capcom's best games on the NES is a steal.
This announcement got me to thinking, and even though I too am guilty of sometimes complaining about the constant ports, remasters, and collections, there are a few series and games I wouldn't mind seeing getting a second chance on current systems.
The Dead Space Collection
Dead Space 2 is my personal favorite in the series. It was more action packed but still kept you checking around every corner to prevent any unwanted scares. Dead Space 2 is to Dead Space what Aliens is to Alien. Similar idea, same threat, but more things blowing up. Dead Space 2 was the exact opposite to me in terms of stress level, I actually beat this one in three sittings, I couldn't put it down. It also has one of the best opening sequences I've ever played, and that very well may be the scariest part of the entire game.
Dead Space 3 is the black sheep of the franchise, but I liked it quite a bit. People seemed to be down on the optional cooperative scenarios, which I didn't mind. The one criticism I do agree with is the crafting system. The previous two games had ways to upgrade weapons, and that was great, but I couldn't get a hang of the crafting aspects and after a while just stopped caring. Just make the plasma cutter more powerful, that's all we need. The game was also somewhat non-linear, and had several crafting or upgrade items that could be found if you chose to take on side missions. We can ignore how silly the final boss was...actually, EA, if you just want to retcon that part out with some extra content (like you did with Mass Effect 3), I would be alright with that.
Since this is a collection, it should go without saying that I would expect all DLC to be included in the package.
As an added incentive for PS4 owners, how great would it be if the Wii game, Dead Space Extraction, could be optimized for play on PlayStation VR?
The Contra Collection
Listen up, Konami. I'm going to say this real slow so you'll understand:
I. Will. Give. You. Money. To. Play. Your. Classic. Franchises.
It's as simple as that. I don't care if it's just a cash grab and you give nothing more than the bare bones on all of these games. I don't care if you put in any fancy-pants museum features or concept art or any of that. Just let me play the Contra games in one collection. It doesn't even have to include every Contra game, just the good ones is all I ask.
This collection should be comprised of Contra and Super C (the NES versions, not the arcade), Contra III: The Alien Wars, Contra Hard Corps, Contra: Shattered Soldier, and if they can make it work, Contra 4.
I know I already said they don't have to throw in any extras, but it would be nice if they threw in the original Probotector versions of the games as well.
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars Remastered
The Grand Theft Auto series has always been hit or miss for me. My introduction to the series was Grand Theft Auto III, which I loved. I enjoyed the follow up, Vice City, even more. San Andreas did nothing for me, I think GTA IV is the most overrated game of the last generation, but GTA V is outstanding.
Then there's this plucky little standout title they originally made for the Nintendo DS and then ported to the PSP. I remember there being a number of people both shocked and/or confused at the idea of a mature rated title appearing on Nintendo's kid-friendly handheld. It is a bit strange, I suppose, but I'm glad Nintendo allowed it, because Chinatown Wars is my favorite game donning the Grand Theft Auto name.
Not only does the game return to its PSone roots with the top-down perspective, but the game within the game (i.e. the drug dealing) is really well done. As terrible as it sounds, I became downright enamored with becoming a drug dealer in this game. I was constantly on the lookout for someone selling drugs low and then finding someone to sell them to for profit. But it wasn't always that easy, sometimes the person selling or buying the drugs would be an undercover police officer, and you'd have to shoot your way out of the situation.
The game's setting was a nice change of pace from the typical giant metropolis you see in the console GTA titles, and the driving and shooting was serviceable enough to never be frustrating. I would gladly pay $20 for a downloadable version of this game on current consoles.
Mega Man X Legacy Collection
This one is a bit of a cheat because it already exists as a collection on the PS2 and GameCube, but so did the original Mega Man collection, and I bought those again when they were released on current systems, so why not do the same with the Mega Man X games?
When the Mega Man Legacy Collection was released back in 2015, I was a bit disappointed that they stopped with the NES hexalogy and didn't give us all ten games that fall under the Mega Man banner, especially when you consider just how amazing Mega Man 9 is.
But the Mega Man X series is the real deal. I had fallen off of Mega Man after the NES, but having gone back and played a first few entries in the X series, their superiority is evident. Everything got better: the music, the boss weapons, the bosses themselves, the level design, and an added incentive to explore each level for upgrades.
Some might say the series eventually took a wrong turn and just kept going, but when you look at Metacritic scores, only one game in the series (Mega Man X7) received below average scores, while most hover in the 70s or higher.
I have no knowledge of how the original Mega Man Legacy Collection performed for Capcom, but I would imagine the cost to produce the game was fairly low, and I can't imagine the amount needed for this collection would be much greater, so perhaps it's worth the risk.
The good news is that there are several ways to play these games outside of their original means, which is a good thing, as Mega Man X2 and X3 are two more games that will put a decent hole in your bank account, but it would be great to have them all in one place with some bonus material.
The Castlevania Saga
Few series hold as special of a place in my heart as Castlevania. The original game was one of the first video games I ever played, and even though I didn't beat for the first time until last year, it's a game that I revere as highly as games like Super Mario Bros. 3 and the aforementioned Contra. The only problem here is that Konami hates us. With a fiery passion, they hate us.
There are two problems this collection faces. First, there are nearly 20 games in the series chronology, and a lot of them play exactly the same. As much as I enjoy the 'Metroidvania' genre, I try to abstain from playing too many of them in short periods of time. They eventually become cumbersome. Secondly, if we're trying to get every main entry in one collection, we're looking at 3D games that wouldn't work too well on a handheld, or a console release with three titles designed for the Nintendo DS hardware. Of course, the latter of those two seems like an easier fix, especially when only Dawn of Sorrow made any real use of the DS touch screen.
We'll forego the Lords of Shadow series, as it's a different timeline and two of the three games therein are mediocre if I'm being generous.
It's a shame that Konami doesn't look upon their franchises with the same lens as their fans, and I hate to think of this once mighty series of games going out with zero fanfare. The last canonical Castlevania game in the original timeline was Order of Ecclesia, which, despite being one of my personal favorites, isn't the unintended sendoff the series deserved.
I can only hope Igarashi doesn't do with Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night what Inafune did with Mighty No. 9, and that it'll be a proper spiritual successor to the Castlevania name.
What other collections, ports, or remasters would you like to see?
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