How Faithful Can a Remake Be?

[@QuilLocke]

The PS4 remake of MediEvil is a great remake IMO. While the visuals & controls are faithful, they are a bit clunky to get used to. The biggest reason why I love this remake is because you can play the original PS1 game as a completion bonus. I really wish more remakes would do this so they can easily preserve the original games these remakes are based on.

[@thatguynobodywants3716]

There's an option for using an alternative control layout.

[@brandonwilliams6119]

Advance Wars 1+2 Reboot Camp suffers the Cave Story issue too, the GBA graphics are timeless, easy to identify in a turn based strategy game where you’re constantly moving units on grid based maps. Reboot Camp made everything in ugly 3D and it never grew on anyone plus it didn’t do online multiplayer the best. Despite all the Zelda talk, I’m surprised you didn’t bring up Wind Waker, I actually do not like the overly bright visuals on the Wii U, the Gamecube version is the best for me personally. The Donkey Kong Country remakes on GBA are interesting, they add some new minigames, add voice lines to the characters, DKC3 brought back David Wise to compose the music for it. Super Mario RPG is one of my favorite recent remakes, it gives the game a new presentation, there’s an option for the original OST, and there’s even a bit of post-game content.

[@NeverSaySandwich1]

We need a proper remaster of Kojima's game Snatcher. I don't think a remake would ever do justice, but a remaster or at least a port to modern hardware would be awesome

[@WannabeMarysue]

as a fellow retro purist, i need to grit my teeth and bear it, grit my teeth and bear it (Nintendo DS purist)

[@lilili765]

Is the DS considered retro nowadays?

[@lpfan4491]

The DS originally came out 21 years ago. Many people already count the 3DS as retro-approaching and it only came out only 14 years ago.(We have to go by release date and not ending date because technically Genesis still gets new games, but that is 100% retro by now)

[@rafresendenrafresenden.1644]

The sonicfans already made SUPERIOR Sonic remakes.

[@smolbrendan5978]

sonic 3 air my beloved

[@Eddyoshi]

You seem pretty into game modding and PC spaces, so I'm surprised you didn't show any footage of the RE2 Remake Fixed Camera mod. Truly one of the coolest and most revolutionary mods I've ever seen (wish the games had included that as an option by default).

[@lpfan4491]

28:00 The physics? They aren't 1:1, but barely anyone cared outside of classic mode being a lazy inclusion. The big issue was that they were poor ports for the remakes that already existed and very rushed for the new Sonic 3 remake with questionable audio quality and significantly non-matching hitboxes and bugs. It got patched, but not to a full fix.

[@Jintenzo]

1:27 Wait OOT 3D uses the original code? I always thought it was just a very faithful remake.

[@juanfernandez1585]

I think this is why I hate Link's running animation in the 3DS version. It may look better, but it still feels just as clunky as the 64 version. It looks and feels like he's in slow motion in the remake and I hate it

[@inglorii]

i like to dive deep into games and learn about their intricacies, their development, the context in which they were made for etc. So I tend to play the OG versions before any remake. There are not a lot of games where I'm like "yeah. i'd rather only play the remake and never even think about the original again." Well, maybe Zero Mission is in that category.

[@ironhide3732]

man dude, you make AMAZING gaming videos, they cover a pretty large spectrum, and i love the extra specific, semi biased perspective you give, gives your channel that extra bit of personality that keeps it from being cold and clinical. keep it up man!!

[@Magic_Ice]

For Sonic Origins on PC, I highly recommend playing with the Ultrafix mod. It fixes nearly every minor issue with the game and is my favorite way to play the games.

[@murderman8578]

Honestly I never paid attention to issue since I never played it in an original form and would need a video to pinpoint them to notice the small differences

[@Magic_Ice]

@@murderman8578It is hundreds of small improvements. It’s difficult to notice just when playing but all in all it improves the whole game a ton even if you don’t notice everything.

[@SolidSnake684]

The perfect example for me would be the Shadow of the Colossus remake. SotC is one of my all time favorites, and the remake was fantastic because it was so faithful. But I still prefer the original because the atmosphere was altered slightly (alongside minute other changes). Its splitting hairs, but its enough for me to stay faithful to the game I fell in love with, and treat the remake as a fun alternate version. Generally, for beloved games I prefer a remaster, because all the small artistic details are usually left intact, while games I'm more on the fence for or havent played I prefer full remakes.

[@Mr.Welbig]

I'm just glad the soundtrack was untouched. No need to mess with perfection.

[@SolidSnake684]

@Mr.Welbig totally agreed. My favorite "character" in that game is the soundtrack. Really makes the experience

[@GhabulousGhoti]

I've grown more and more dissatisfied with remakes lately. I've played some great ones, like Ocarina 3D or Metroid Prime Switch, but too many have gotten too much wrong. I didn't like the art direction changes to the Xenoblade Switch remake, Shadow of the Colossus PS4 had similar art style issues mixed with unresponsive controls and a lot of bugs, etc. SpongeBob: Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated is probably the worst remake I've ever seen, it managed to run worse, look worse in several areas, had way more bugs that had no excuse at all (I straight up died in a cutscene when playing the game for YT), and had way sloppier controls that outright broke your relationship with the environment. It was made by incompetent devs who used fan made hacking tools without even bothering to credit the fan who made them until he reached out to ask what the hell was going on, that's the kind of remake it was. The only good thing I can say about that remake was that they kept Joe Whyte as Mr. Krabs - something I initially hated, but my wife and I made so many jokes about on KZbin that it eventually led to Joe Whyte being a semi-recurring guest on my channel.

[@bromax360]

13:50 Is it just me or is the footage of OoT on N64 kinda wrong? The colors seem super messed up 😅

[@thelastgogeta]

He mentioned that he uses filters at 14:05 but it was a bit odd to show the game with his preference for that section without a comparison even if other parts make it clear that it isn't how the game looks normally on almost any monitor (CRT included).

[@kendric_BUF]

​@@thelastgogetai think its the HDR capture being messed up. On his tv in person i bet it looks fine.

[@ink1931]

Might just be me, but in the case of MGS3’s visuals I’d say the original looks better because unlike the remake it isn’t just having the automatic lighting engine fill in all the gaps. You look at the original models, and not only are they incredibly well constructed but they have built in shading onto them making them strike that balance between illustrative and realistic. The remake is just using standard 3D models that all games use now with a realistic lighting engine to do most of the heavy lifting, which I think takes away some of the original’s visual intent. It’s why the Crash and Spyro trilogies look better on PS1 than PS4 to me, they didn’t have any lighting engines to set the atmosphere of the levels for them so they emulated the lighting and tones through color. Giving it an impressionistic feel that’s still appealing today. I think that’s an aspect of visual game development that’s been gradually lost on subsequent game generations after the 6th but that’s just my two cents.

[@null140]

I was surprised he didn't seem to understand why one would have some kind of attachment to the original graphics; he did hint a caveat of possessing only a 'non-artistic' appreciation... and yeah, that seems to check out. 'Improved' realism--fidelity to reality--does not art make! Re-paint Van Gogh's Starry Night for photo-realism and tell me that's a remaster or a remake of a piece of art, and something which isn't an insult & was worth doing & is an *improvement* over the original work! The hubris of the money-grabbers, and the art-blindness of joe public are a match made in our dystopian hell.

[@ink1931]

@@null140 Glad I'm not alone on this!

[@null140]

@@ink1931 definitely-in fact i’ve been thinking of making a video of my own basically exploring this issue and arguing my point, connecting several different spokes of a wheel that i would call the ‘remaster/ remake problem’-involving deliberately-induced technological ‘obsolescence’, unfaithfulness/ insult to art in games that are simultaneously regarded as ‘classic’ but also somehow ‘dated’, and the revelation of how proper CRT simulation (or use… hah) can show us that if only it were easy enough to buy a copy of an older game and a player for that game the way it’s easy to buy a CD of an old album and a CD player (let’s say an album recorded in 1960, on a format commercially released in 1986…) then we would realise the superfluousness of remakes and remasters; my argument is essentially that this phenomenon is a deliberately created problem (created by the platform of video games essentially being delivered via a constant consumerist-capitalist technological arms race; ‘this new platform is BETTER! it can do MORE! abandon the old platform! we know you LOVE the old game… imagine if you had BETTER!’…) anyway…

[@glitchinthesystem4798]

The reason why the MGS1 dialogue was rerecorded was because with the Gamebuce's power, you would have been able to hear outsides noises like cars.

[@lpfan4491]

That has nothing to do with power directly, just audio quality. People possibly would have complained if they just reused the same files from the original release rather than source files, but it would have been an option regardless and less controversial in the long run.

[@skepticaltile]

Links awakening, pokemon firered leafgreen and heartgold soulsilber, metroid zero mission, and shadow of the collossus are so well done that despite all their flaws i consider them straight up replacements to their original counterparts. Literally the originals can disappear from existence for all i care. I could nitpick these remakes for hours but if all remakes were even half as good as the ones i mentioned i would welcome every single one of them with open arms.

[@thelastgogeta]

I can definitely enjoy multiple cakes so to speak a decade removed from the release when there are a thousand games all called Bionic Commando (it is wild how portable, PC, arcade and even different console versions could be). Virtua Fighter 2 on the Genesis seems pretty fun for one example... However, I'd still prefer less remakes in the present and for any that exist to be much more loyal and have the original being included. For more arcade styled games, it doesn't matter as much as long as it is structurely sound but for almost anything else, it can really warp discourse about mechanics or lore, rarely comes close to fan attempts (the best ways to play Sonic 1-3 aren't Origins, it is fan mods based on the original games) and mainly serves to fill the pockets of companies who will sooner delist dozens games and DLC to force you onto a new version or port that doesn't exist than release a game on GOG. SEGA delisted a ton of games recently and my best case scenario for them remaking Sonic Adventure 1+2 is forcing the originals into a bundle, the remakes being quite good mechanically but having a lot of negative changes due to voice cast/direction, music licenses or even careless story changes to be in line with the current brand leading to us. Often enough, multiple cakes is a privilege for pirates or those who give into FOMO... I guess the mods would make it worth it at least...

[@swootproonce634]

I think patches could be in a similar boat. Like if you played the day one version of cyberpunk or Minecraft, you’d gat a very different experience than if you played today

[@Mr.Welbig]

Fr. I've had a few Eldin Ring fans tell me how their glad they finished some bosses before they got nerfed in a patch. Tells me even the devs think the games should be easier. :p

[@DenLeonRX]

Great video. Interesting topic

[@murderman8578]

I Really liked the SH2 remake due to being over the should combat when it comes to using guns and being able to land headshots on enemies and the gameplay being tactically more engaging

[@Light-20]

Imo the original Demon's Souls will always be superior to the remake. Sure the remake has more graphical fidelity but the original nailed down a very unique atmosphere the remake didnt recreate. Many visual changes like to the Adjudicator are also annoying, making the music more Bloodborne-y adds another hit to the atmosphere which ultimately just makes the remake an inferior version. A good version, but still inferior to the original.

[@Mr.Welbig]

Yeah that's the consensus from what I can tell. Shame as Demon's Souls was one of the most requested remakes for awhile. My bro who's a From Software nut still vouches the originals quality. Glad it's not completely stuck on PS3 anymore, thankful that PS3 emulation is getting better to keep the OG accessible.

[@Flpstrike]

I really wish that Cave Story 3D was ported to PC

[@thatguynobodywants3716]

You for being a Capcom developed game it's still surprising that they haven't approached Nintendo on remaking the Oracle games but, that may due to just Nintendo being Nintendo as always.

[@Hyp3rSonic]

I love Persona 3 Reload! (Also, Crash 1 Remake!)

[@McCheesy22]

Agree on the controls “close enough” smell test, but I gotta say that Mario All-Stars Mario 1 is worse than the original to me solely based on Piranha plants having extended hitboxes, making it impossible to make narrow jumps right over them like you can in the original

[@Mr.Welbig]

That'd be more of a collision issue for me. To be fair it is jarring in the original how much Mario would clip into a piranha without taking damage, but I get what you mean. Though I've only had an issue with it in 4-1.

[@321cheeseman]

I'm not too concerned with faithfulness in a remake unless that is, on its face, the goal of said remake. By all means, do something new. I think faithfulness comes up so much because whatever new direction the developers go in is often more poorly considered than whatever the original did, and comparison to the original is almost completely unavoidable. When a remake does very different things with the original material, and does so extremely well, like in Ys: The Oath in Felghana or Resident Evil (2002), people tend to not mind at all. I think people are actually just against what they consider obvious downgrades, not any changes whatsoever. Anyway, the remake the world most desperately needs but doesn't know it yet, is Stretch Panic remade in VR, and probably rebalanced to make up for how much better the game would control.

[@boygame1955]

Paper Mario the Thousand Year Door on Switch is better than the original.

[@garden6008]

The way I see it as long as it's still has the spirit of the original, is a good game, and you can recomend it to newcomers, its a good remake. purist can emulate the original if they want to, or mod the remake to be closer to the original. remakes are mostly for new players that want to try out the series but wont go back to the original for multiple reasons. to stop the flame from dying out so to speak.

[@thatguynobodywants3716]

The MSG3 version from the latest collection is not even a port, it's emulated.

[@whtiequillBj]

Since you brought up emulation. I feel companies should turn a bold eye to their use and stop remaking games as well as overhaul the system and end well established franchises in favor of new characters and new ideas.

[@julianx2rl]

5:50 - I can imagine it... And I don't like it.

[@mongeeman]

I always forget that you're a small KZbinr. Your videos are very good, my friend.

[@gamingwithahandicapreviews]

I’m all for remakes/remasters because not everyone has access to old consoles, there’s countless remasters I would love to see on PS5 and Nintendo Switch such as Pac-Man world 2, the Tak and the Power of Juju trilogy, Resident Evil one (again) Zelda oracle of ages and seasons and so on, now I’m lucky to have played all those games when they were new but what if people want to check out some of those titles I just mentioned what about them?

[@ros9764]

When it comes to Crash i think the physics for Crash 1 in the remake are kind of fucked up since he is more agile but Crash 1 is supposed to have more precise platforming than the rest of the games which is why i like it. I first played the remake and still like it a lot but playing the PS1 version feels more natural because of how stiff Crash is in the first game. It's the only instance i can think of where i prefer the character's moveset not feel very buttery smooth. Crash 2 is a game i would also rather play on PS1 but that's not really physics-related since he feels very agile in both versions. Even though Crash in the remakes has more animations i think some may argue that his presentation in the PS1 games is more expressive due to how stretchy he is compared to the remake like when he enters a portal in 2 and 3 example. When it comes to soundtrack i MUST go with the pre-console versions of the original. Josh Mancell's work is just as important to Crash's identity as the original triology is and most of the ost for the remake sounds like a remix of the bitcrushed audio from the ps1 games rather than using an enhanced version of the original pre-console audio and then elevating the tracks even further

[@Mr.Welbig]

I didn't want to spend much time harping on it but I'm still upset how several music tracks in N Sane are straight up missing audio samples in their arrangements. I remember how people were pissed because Hang Eight was missing a critical sound in the music which they then fixed, but several other tracks still suffer from the same issue.

[@ros9764]

@Mr.Welbig I knew people didn't like Hang Eight's remake (mostly because they were just copying Caddicarus' opinion) but i didn't know it was because they originally fucked it up and them fixed it. I prefer some of the tracks from the remake and Hang Eight is one of them because of the instruments not sounding as flat (even in the pre-console version). Also the fact that the original's intro kind of stops for a second and then continues the song always sounded odd to me. In the remake it has a smooth transition

[@ros9764]

@@Mr.Welbig My main issue with the remake soundtrack (talking mostly about the second game) is that the tone shift is completely different and some songs completely miss the point of the original. The most egregious examples for me are Unbearable and the Eel Deal bonus room. With Unbearable it went from an intense horror movie chase scene to making it very goofy-sounding (which is pretty funny and some may prefer that) and the Eel Deal doesn't even sound like you're inside a sewer in the bonus room. The original one had a lot of ambience and atmosphere and the remake seems to miss that essential part of the soundtrack

[@stormysoup1083]

I honestly don't see too much purporse in "faithful remakes", you'll never get more faithful than actually playing the original game and something will always be lost in the transition to remake so why bother?, just make a reinterpretation that compliments the original as opposed to one that aims to replace it, RE2 Remake is a really good example of taking the core concepts of an old game to make something new

[@ReffyReflet]

not tryin to start shit, but as someone who can easily take off ye olde rose tinted glasses this comment section is a HILARIOUS read. seriously, if you can appreciate what modern remakes do and bring to the table scroll through this comment section and have yourself a nice laugh. take a shot anytime you see someone mention yellow paint btw

[@rafresendenrafresenden.1644]

Hi he back

[@doot-doot-JJM]

I really like the pokemon remakes (other than the stupid Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl releases). I especially like the Omega Ruby/Alpha Sappire releases (especially the music).

[@upgamerFranzo]

35:06 this caused me to like the video

[@DE23]

one of the most befuddling examples of "could you not have just bundled in the original" is the super mario rpg remake. like. just slap a model of a snes into mario's house, make it so interacting with it lets you play the original, and reuse the nso emulator like it cannot be that hard.

[@321cheeseman]

But this would undermine Nintendo selling you the ability to play the old versions. Same reason NES games as furniture never reappeared after the GameCube Animal Crossing.

[@Mr.Welbig]

Gigachad Donkey Kong 64 with it's in game DK arcade machine. Probably why they don't want to re-release it.

[@Jack_InnaBox]

This is a loaded question, where do we even start? Remakes from the past 10 yrs have been total trash and cash grabs at the fans expense. They change-edit-censor the content from appearances to the story, raise the prices or cant even add the content. let's be honest, re2 remake was a tech demo more than it was a remake of RE2.. the remake ends after the first section when you go under-ground. (my example)

[@wurm4676]

So long as I can purchase the original on PC and not have to buy a whole system over and over idc if they remake something I enjoyed with the original.

[@glitchinthesystem4798]

6:20 Why should we give a shit about them?

[@MahouPoint]

remakes are to original video games kinda like what a one shot is to an actual serialized manga. the manga will always be more mainstream than the one shot. The one shot is for enthusiasts, artists that can suspend belief and see the ability of ones craft can be as a stand-alone. That said, eventually when things get more popular, things are going to be different. I dont think changes suck i just believe the dev studio made them because they found out their games work, just not in the way they originally envisioned, despite what retro game enthusiasts may think. I'm also really tired of seeing these videos. I think i see one once every day now, We get it, you types of players who cant accept change exist. I personally dont care.

[@jbba48]

Excelente

[@Zero-Saber]

PIRACY!!!

[@natejohnson6269]

Agreed. Keep it up, comrade!

[@themadhattress5008]

... Bloodborne

[@redfoxbennaton]

"2D sprite work never ages" My mom just made fun of me for playing Castlevania 2 asking why I'm playing such an old game on PS5?

[@DesenhoBoy]

I've come to accept that smoother gameplay and quality of life improvements matter a lot, making remakes and remasters 'always' better to actually play, but I can only enjoy them I turn off my brain and just consoom! as they always come with censorship, political propaganda and a lot less "soul". When I turn on my brain, I think of games as art that should be preserved to be enjoyed by current and future people. So I think games should only ever be faithfully remastered (improved visual and audio) and enhanced (improved gameplay, options and quality of life), that way you are for the most part playing the exact same game everyone else played. This thing of remaking games to temporarily revive a franchise or just so they can have their 15 days of fame before disappearing again is just sad... More and more that "souls vs souless" Crowbcat video will be seen as correct.

[@WeeG-bwc77]

You got 4 types of "remakes/remasters". The Revisionist Bad, The Cash-Grab Lazy, The Prime Remaster, and the RE1 Remake.

[@WheeledHamster]

The RE4 Remake is the " I made RE4 from memory," then "oh I remembered I left something out, $10 DLC please!"

[@BrochachoTheBro]

Desperately need Sega to get Nightdive to remaster Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 to be on-par with their Quake remasters...

[@CheesecakeMilitia]

comPIElations

[@WheeledHamster]

We got shit like RE4 Remake where it's like they made the original game from memory, remove all the fun segments, abridged all levels, cut out contents then slap a $10 DLC for the rest of the original game.. People may praised this shit but this remake is for modern day idiots who needs yellow paint to know a barrel can be smahed.

[@ReffyReflet]

in a game where the best section of the game is the opening, abridging RE4 is probably the best thing RE4 remake did, lmao.

[@ProjectMirai64]

nice

[@natejohnson6269]

nice

[@Canalbiruta]

SA remake yeah. This game has such great ideas and in some aspects it executes them well, but is too dated T.T I love the multiple perspectives idea, how characters have different ways to play the game, how their arcs are related to the main narrative in a way or another (except big), and i specially love the aesthetics they were going for with the whole water theme via beaches, sea, rivers, lakes and etc... God this game needs a remake!