remake
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Mech porn: Hella Front Mission screenshots
Though you wouldn't know it by the amount of advertising Square Enix has done so far for Front Mission, a total equal to nothing, the mech-filled SRPG stomps into stores next week. Those familiar with the series will agree -- as far as SRPGs for the DS go, this is the best one coming out in North America this year. Just to make sure we've swayed as many of you over as we can, we have updated our gallery with over 65 new screenshots and artwork images from this remake of the original, never-been-localized SNES/PS1 game. If you prefer your pictures moving, Square Enix has also swapped out its completely uninformative, six-minute clip of a building exploding in slow-motion with a new English trailer at the official Front Mission site. %Gallery-4781%
DS Daily: What drives you to want remakes?
We're still thinking about remakes today on DS Fanboy, and, as we looked over Alisha's profiles of your top choices for future remakes, we wondered what motivated people's interest in having games remade. So we're just asking you. Do you call for remakes of old games because you want to play them again in an updated form, or because you missed them the first time? Or a little of both?
Super Odd Chrono Snatcher: Your choices for DS remakes
DS Fanboy readers have excellent taste, and we all know it. After all, you own the greatest handheld in the world, and hey, you're here. But if that's not enough to convince you, then the winners of the recent most-desired remakes poll should do the trick nicely. DS Fanboy readers chose four very different titles as candidates for the rampant remake craze, and each game has the potential to be a fantastic DS game in its own right. Let's just hope the right people are paying attention.Out of a field of seventeen titles, all chosen by the readers, Chrono Trigger, Snatcher, Super Smash Bros. and Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee were selected as the best choices for future DS titles. Now we're here to tell you why.
Friday Video: Celebrating remakes
Lately, we've had remakes on the brain, and foremost among them seems to be Final Fantasy IV. Maybe it's just because we're crazy about the franchise, but we also like the love and care that Square Enix puts into their remake efforts. Due to that, the trailer from this year's TGS just doesn't get old, which is why we've decided it deserves a place in this week's video spotlight.
DS Daily: What drives the remakes?
Yesterday, we put up the first part of a two-part series about the flurry of remakes that are headed to the DS, and today, we'd like to pose the same question to you ... or at least, part of it. What do you think is driving the remakes on the DS? Sure, remakes come to every system for a variety of reasons, but the DS seems to be home to a lot of games, and we think it's for a variety of reasons. What's your opinion? Sales? Popularity? Technology? Portability? Or something else?
Age of Remakes: Roundtable discussion, part 1
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/Games_bloggers_on_the_DS_remake_craze'; Remade versions of classic games are popping up on the DS at an alarming rate-- just today, we've seen DS versions of the original Fire Emblem and what is increasingly likely to be a remake of Kirby Super Star (rather than a sequel). We've been exploring the phenomenon recently, polling you as to your dream remakes (dreamakes? ... No.) To delve a bit deeper into the world of remakery, we decided to hold a roundtable in the style of Siliconera's "From Around the Interweb" series (in which we happily participated). We've gathered the best and brightest (and, of course, most willing to chat) from the gaming community to discuss what's driving the trend of remakes, how this effects us and the game industry, and what they'd like to see a DS-ified version of. We actually received so much excellent material that we're splitting the panel into two parts. Today's participants are Game|Life's Susan Arendt, Siliconera's Spencer Yip, and Gamasutra and Insert Credit's Brandon Sheffield.
Front Mission DS site slowly explodes into the internet
Two weeks away from Front Mission DS's release, Square Enix has introduced the SRPG's official North American site with a bang -- a drawn-out, "exploded bits hanging in the air for what seems like an eternity" bang. A bang that consists of a five-plus-minute movie in which nothing about the game is revealed.If you poke around the site, though, there's a lot of material there to help you get hyped up about this remake of the Front Mission series' first title. In addition to information about its setting, story, and characters, you'll find four short clips demonstrating Wanzer (mecha) customization and combat, all of them significantly more substantial than the explosion video arbitrarily embedded on the main page. %Gallery-4781%
Poll results: Remakes of choice
Our celebration of the age of remakes continues as we reveal your choices for games that need to be given the DS treatment. The full poll results are located after the jump, but we probably don't need to tell you that we chose correctly when putting together the boxart mockups above. Chrono Trigger blew everything else out of the water among the mainstream titles, with Super Smash Bros. picking up a distant second. Among our lesser-known titles, things were a lot closer. Snatcher won -- which means all is right with the world -- but the battle for second was decided by a mere four votes. We're always happy to be reminded of just how diverse taste are among our readers!Check back later in the week for a wealth of coverage on remakes, including the profile of the four winning games and what we would like to see in a DS remake.
DS Fanboy poll: Remakes of choice
Earlier this week, we asked you, our dear readers, to discuss games you'd like to see given a spit and a polish for the DS in this age of remakes, and as usual, you came through in a big way. In fact, you gave us so many fantastic suggestions that we've decided to split our selected list into two polls instead of just doing one. We can't include everything suggested, obviously, but we've prepared a selection of bigger releases and more obscure titles, and we're going to let you vote every day, just in case you want to throw your support behind more than one game. Once you've voted, we will profile the top two results from each poll and examine exactly why they would be well-suited to our favorite handheld. So try to vote for the titles you think are the most suitable, those that would most benefit from the kind of treatment we're seeing with the Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy titles ... and hey, vote for the games you'd just like to see in portable form as well.And if you just can't decide ... well, that's why we're letting you vote more than once! You can vote your heart and your brain, and the cream will rise to the top.
If they have to remake something ....
The age of remakes is upon us. If you're a DS owner, you can hardly escape it ... if you even want to! After all, Square Enix is certainly supplying us with plenty of remakes that promise heretofore unknown levels of awesome, but they're not the only ones crafting games both new and old for the world's best-selling system. Everyone wants a piece of the DS pie, but the question is, which pies are we interested in? There are a lot of games out there, after all, and while we love the Wii's Virtual Console for bringing that (mostly, usually) authentic retro experience, the list of games that could benefit from an update or touchscreen functionality is extensive. We would like to look more closely at what our readers would like to see redone, and why. List your choices. Put on your debating hat and get ready to defend your favorites. From the list you provide, we will select a final list that we'll post as a poll in the coming days, in order to find out which remake possibilities can beat out the rest in a fanboy fight of epic proportions.
No Final Fantasy VII -- for now
Square Enix told petitioners yesterday that their pile of signatures was in vain -- there are "no current plans" to produce a remake of the wildly popular and much-in-demand Final Fantasy VII. Of course, earlier this year, Final Fantasy III producer Hiromichi Tanaka did not rule such a remake out, but merely said it was a matter of timing. By timing, we can only assume that Square Enix means to go through Final Fantasy V and VI first, after finishing up with the fourth installment of the series, which is as it should be. Right, Square Enix? Right?... please?The sheer size of the title is often cited as a reason such a remake may be unsuitable for the DS, but we would just like to point out that such obstacles are not insurmountable. After all, Archaic Sealed Heat, our favorite game that we've never seen, is set to be released on a larger-than-normal game cart.
More than just Dragon's Lair coming to the DS
We all knew that Dragon's Lair was going to be making an appearance on the DS. Now, we know when. Dragon's Lair, along with its sequel Dragon's Lair II, will both be gracing the handheld come early 2008. Not only that, but Conspiracy Entertainment also scored the rights to publishing Space Ace (our preferred title out of the lot) on the handheld as well.Nothing much on the Space Ace port and all of the features in Dragon's Lair were previously confirmed. So, be sure to keep an eye on DS Fanboy for future updates on these games.
Arika's Ketsui DS trailer is boss
Though Nanostray and its sequel have kept the shoot-em-up genre alive on the DS, their action seems watered down when compared to Japanese-developed shmups. Even with its bullets slowed and patterns simplified, Ketsui's arcade-to-DS remake is remarkably more frenzied than Shin'en's efforts.We're not sure yet whether or not developer Arika plans to restrict Ketsui DS to just a boss rush mode due to hardware limitations, but even Mihara, the main man behind the game's handheld production, has reportedly admitted that this would be "a bit of a waste if it was made as such." Either way, after watching the promotional trailer above, we hope Arika will find some way to commercially release the title. See also: BulletGBA shoots us in the face[Via NeoGAF]
Online done right: International Track & Field
When Konami announced that its rumored remake would be for Track & Field, we had to excuse ourselves and spend some alone time in our cars, sobbing, coming to terms with the fact that we'll never receive another Boot Camp or Rocket Knight Adventures title. Our whimpering quieted a bit when we heard that the Olympic-themed game would have guest appearances from other Konami franchises like Silent Hill, and we might have even smiled a little when we saw that Sparkster was on the roster.The most promising thing we've read in previews for New International Track & Field, however, is its commitment to providing a robust online experience. Players will be able to battle against up to three opponents, enter custom tournaments and official competitions, and grab downloadable content, all with Nintendo's WiFi Connection service. There will also be leaderboards and an in-game ticker tape that updates you on the progress of your friends and rivals. Developers, take note: This is how you add online support to your DS games. %Gallery-6247%[Via IGN]
Track & Field screens cross the finishing line
Without starting a riot, we'd like to point out that our love of games extends to those titles that don't grace Nintendo platforms. For example, Silent Hill. The franchise is one we absolutely love and will play every installment in. That's why the inclusion of Pyramid Head (in the screen to your right, far left) has us thinking there might be some charm to this title yet. Screens including the big guy (although he's quite short in the screen there) can be found here.Courtesy of Joystiq, we've got some more screens (better ones, actually) in our gallery below. Also, there's the first teaser trailer for the game past the break. %Gallery-6247%
More comparisons between FFIV 3D and the original game
The latest issue of Shonen Jump has a page of new CG artwork and cutscene screenshots from Square Enix's 3D remake of Final Fantasy IV, previewing a game that we likely won't receive until next year. If the release schedule is anything like Final Fantasy III's (DS), we'll have to wait three months after the game ships in Japan before a localized version hits North America.Siliconera sectioned off the characters, and compared the images with their counterparts on the original SNES game. Cecil doesn't seem to have lost any of his femininity, and Kain's dragoon outfit looks just as badass as ever! You can check out the rest of the juxtaposed pieces at Siliconera, but we've got the original Japanese magazine scan after the post break.Also see: FFIV 3D remake compared with original 2D games
The Dragon Quest IV info keeps flowing
Square Enix is not wasting any time getting information about the forthcoming remake of Dragon Quest IV out -- another three page set of scans has turned up, with even more screens (and a lot of the character art we've seen before). Each time we catch a glimpse of this, we're more and more convinced that it's going to look even better than the Playstation remake -- there are a lot of subtle differences that seem to improve upon the look of that last version.The original set was scanned as one image, but we've broken it up into the individual pages for you (or you can hit the original here) after the jump. As usual, you can click through for higher resolution images.
Conjecture Countdown: 11 days to go
Even with a diminished E3, there's no controlling the wave of rumors that hit the Internet every year before the show. Why fight it? From now until E3 hits, we'll be posting one piece of wild speculation every day. Some may be patently ridiculous, and others just might turn out to be true. Even some of the ridiculous ones might turn out to be true! Rest assured, everything will be totally made-up and unfounded. Except, of course, when we speak about all the ass Reggie is going to kick. That part? Totally true.Rumor: Square Enix will announce their plans to remake some games for the DS!
Metareview: Hoshigami Remix
Hoshigami Remix may look a little bit like Final Fantasy Tactics, but apparently that's the bitter end of all similarity. The best thing we can say here is that the reviews are packed with hilarity. The bad reviews say good things, and the good reviews seem delivered with disdain. It's like everyone signed a pact to be as confusing as possible!But when it comes to the scores, we're disappointed -- a less-than-good SRPG on the DS just seems like a waste, considering the platform is so well-suited to the game type. Some of you reported difficulty finding Hoshigami Remix in stores this week -- and upon reflection, that may not be such a bad thing.RPGFan -- 70%: "I did not enjoy playing Hoshigami: Remix. I did not find it fun. I found it irritating, monotonous, and cruel. There is a dedicated fanbase for this game, however, and if you're one of them, you will love the port. Also, if you play on Easy mode, none of the enemies can use Coinfeigms making most of the game a joke. I played on Normal and found the difficulty to be very uneven. Overall, you'll need to figure out for yourself whether or not you are the type of person who would enjoy Hoshigami: Remix. Most likely, however, you're not."Games Radar -- 40%: "Almost all of these annoyances were present in the original Hoshigami, which is perhaps the most aggravating part of Remix. Despite all of the criticism levied against the original, the remake team failed to fix what needed to be repaired most. That's not to say there aren't any gameplay improvements - revival magic, once rare in the original, is available right off the bat, the stylus-controlled interface is quite intuitive, and you're allowed to save far more frequently (though there still isn't an in-battle quicksave feature). But in the end, these miniscule improvements tacked onto a broken game are like repairing a wrecked car with duct tape."1UP -- 55%: "Basically, if you approach the game the wrong way, the newly tweaked difficulty will become a moot point by the time you get halfway through the game. Unfortunately, though, concentrating early on building your magical skills (which is really the best way to go) makes the first half of the game that much easier. Too easy, really. You'll be able to perform spells that your enemies just can't handle at that point in the game, thus wiping out entire armies in the blink of an eye. With all that being said, Hoshigami Remix is a satisfying role-playing experience, as long as you know what you're getting yourself into. Hardcore players may actually lament the slight ease in difficulty and the fact that the game doesn't give them the character development freedom it really should. But as far as portable RPGs go, you could do a lot worse than Hoshigami."
Turrican remake released, rocks you like a Hurrican
German programmer Poke 53280 has just released a freeware remake of the classic Commodore 64 game Turrican for the PC. The Metroid-esque title (that feels a lot like Contra at times) Hurrican is packed with vast, non-linear levels filled with weapons to find and swarms of enemies to use them on. The control scheme is a bit complex with several button combinations to memorize, but us old-school gamers are used to putting in effort to squeeze more fun out of our games. Download Hurrican (40MB, Windows).
