With PsN, XBL and even Steam, games from our past seem to be returning to see the light of day once again. It’s nice to see these games returning but for some gamers, we already own the original game. Why should we put more money into a game that we already own on a retro system?
Take Marvel vs Capcom 2 for instance. This game is loved by many and it finally went up on XBL and PsN. I own this game for the Dreamcast yet I still wanted to play it on XB360. I used to play it with friends in my apartment but now that it’s on XBL, I have a chance to play it with people that I have never met before and those friends who now live further away. An online element was added to an already great classic and as well as a high definition look.
Now take Sonic Adventure, a game that was also released on the Dreamcast back in 1998 and later on the GameCube. This game launched on XBLA and PsN recently as a port. Nothing of the game has changed and it looks just like it did back in the day. Its great to relive memories of the past but with nothing new to an old game, what’s the point? Especially if the game wasn’t good to be begin with, why should someone pick it up and play it in the twenty-first century? I’m not saying that Sonic Adventure is bad, I’m just saying in general. If a retro game from the past was only sub-par or bad and it gets released today, do you think a few aspects of it should be changed and tweaked? Even if the game was fantastic back then, should it get a make-over?
Even 8bit games still have a place in today’s gaming world, take Mega Man and Scott Pilgrim, but a port is just a port. Not much was changed with MvC2 but it was those little things that made an already great game, better. Now what if it was released as a port from the Dreamcast version, with nothing new added, including online play. Would that game still be a popular download?
Should retro games that are released today get that small tweak or should they just be ported over as they were back then. Or does it all come down to the game?
