We’re seeing a trend where publishers will revive old fan favourite series, or test the water with a remaster or releases of a classic game.
But this is Retro Game Boards, so going even further back, there’s been many instances where IP change hands and a new publisher or developer takes stewardship of a game series.
So which series revivals nailed it?
I’ll start with: post-Compile Puyo Puyo
I went on a Puyo Puyo kick last year, and was shocked by how good Puyo Puyo Fever is, given it was the first game to be wholly developed and published by Sega and Sonic Team. While the Tsu ruleset ultimately won out, it’s impressive how Sega continued to nurture the series, which remains a mainstay esports title in Japan decades on.
Fever successfully introduced a new art direction, new characters, the new Fever ruleset (which is frantic and fun), and new music from Sega Wavemaster. All four of these core aspects continue to be featured in the modern games, cementing their success.
The Wonder Boy III remake really was top tier indeed, and came at the cusp of the retro remaster craze to show everyone how it should be done! Was disappointed with Monster Boy, a case of too much content, which is a shame as the presentation was fantastic, but it speaks volumes how little I remember about it despite having spent significantly more time with it than the much more focused WBIII.
Having watched this today, there’s an obvious one: Excite Truck. Monster Games absolutely nailed the spirit of ExciteBike, and it’s great to see someone really understand what makes it such an entertaining but rewarding racer, just like its Famicom/NES predecessor.
Oh man Excite Truck is some of the most fun I have ever had.
It’s a weird one though, it’s a revival of the brand, but has almost nothing pose to do with the series. Different vehicle, vastly different gameplay, the presentation is so different too. And then they fluffed it with Excite Bots, so many poor decisions on that.
