As the release of Mega Man 9 looms closer, the so-called "old school gamers" are about 17 pixels away from exploding out of their skin with anticipation. This is the retro gamer equivalent of a "Phan" witnessing a Phish reunion. The kid inside all of us, having been smothered behind flabby beer guts for years, is beginning to crawl towards the surface. I imagine there's quite a few younger gamers who scratch their heads at all of the love for comparatively prehistoric graphics and gameplay. However, if one were to wipe off the thick coat of nostalgia emblazoned onto the games of long ago, they'd often find enjoyable and satisfying titles. They're not definitively better or worse; just different from much of what is released today. Some prefer that, and they're hungry for more.
The biggest hurdle for those folks is commercial success. Not too long ago, retro revivals were rarely considered serious. After all, it would be silly to have Mega Man 9 released on a retail DVD disc. Yet with the success of downloadable services, the floodgates are now blown wide open. The slightly less hyped but similarly retro-themed Gradius: Rebirth was just released in Japan, and cowboy hat-clad developer Igarashi has stated that he's "very much looking into [WiiWare]." Perhaps the style of retro gaming is seeping into the bloodstream of major retail releases. Despite the beautiful hand-drawn graphics and cutscenes of Wario Land: Shake It!, the gameplay is heavily grounded in 2D. Perhaps we're experiencing a retro-renaissance, if I may quote Mr. Greenhough.
With this in mind, here's a few more dusty franchises we're nominating to be reborn through the birth canal of Nintendo's online service (wow, gross). These range from the unexpected to painfully obscure, so don't be offended if your favorite was not included. A small note: I excluded some IPs due to either a retro-esque presence on the GBA/DS or because they are likely destined for WiiWare. These include Mario, Castlevania, Contra and Metroid.
The Top 5 is a weekly feature that provides us with a forum to share our opinions on various aspects of the video game culture, and provides you with a forum to tell us how wrong we are. To further voice your opinions, submit a vote in the Wii Fanboy Poll, and take part in the daily discussions of Wii Warm Up. 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-15-2008 @ 11:55AM
8-bit.artist said...
double dragon or streets of rage would be awesome
a new 8-bit punch out or kid icarus would be awesome since they will never get remade for the wii. :)
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9-15-2008 @ 12:06PM
samfish said...
100% agree that DKC, Act Raiser and 2D Ninja Gaiden need to come back.
...but not with retro graphics. Well, DKC could pull it off because it still looks good even by today's standards.
But Mega Man is one of the few games that can get away with doing the 8-bit thing. Castlevania couldn't. I'd rather see those games come back with a style that harkens back to the older games, but looks better...kind of like most 2D games on the DS.
As for Ninja Gaiden, a new 2D one would be awesome. The 3D ones are enjoyable, but comparatively easy, especially when compared to the 2D NGs.
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9-15-2008 @ 12:42PM
Leland said...
Little Nemo YES!!!!!!!!! I would love to see something like this come back!
I would also love to see this game released on the VC.
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9-15-2008 @ 1:36PM
Garu said...
I agree 100%! This was a great game!!
9-15-2008 @ 1:41PM
Kaes Delgrego said...
Glad that I'm not the only one! :)
9-15-2008 @ 12:52PM
bukizzle715 said...
Snake Rattle 'N Roll. Ohh the things I would do for a revival of that.
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9-15-2008 @ 1:46PM
Kaes Delgrego said...
Excellent choice!
9-15-2008 @ 12:52PM
Mark said...
I would nerdgasm if a new DKC came out. I don't know about all the rest of them, though...
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9-15-2008 @ 12:57PM
TX2 said...
as far as I'm concerned, Donkey Kong Country was an extension of Battle Toads 1
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9-15-2008 @ 1:14PM
CJLopez said...
How about some Rock&Roll Racing???
That game was awesome
As for the ones listed, gice me Ninja Gaiden and 'll be set
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9-15-2008 @ 1:39PM
Raytia said...
I loved Little Nemo as a kid, would totally play it again. I also wish they'd bring back Crystalis, I really miss that game.
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9-15-2008 @ 1:40PM
Garu said...
A few classic games I would like to see updated versions of:
Arcade Punch Out
Arcade Donkey Kong
Bonk (I never played it)
And hey... how about just a new arcade style Pac-Man/Ms. Pac-Man game?
I'd like to see more old style side scrolling games. I wish they could release the SNES Star Wars games on the VC.
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9-15-2008 @ 2:18PM
Neil said...
Why hasn't Nintendo made a new Donkey Kong Country in all these years??? I'd love them to make a new one, with the same old side scrolling gameplay, but with modern 3D graphics.
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9-15-2008 @ 2:23PM
ChrisCanberg said...
When counting down my Top 15 of all time, the original Donkey Kong Country ranked number 12. I love that series, so no, you're not the only one. The only thing I didn't like about the series was DKC3. I didn't think it was bad, but it sucked compared to 1 and 2.
I think that we need to make revivals of retro batman games. Like the ones on the NES and The Adventures of Batman and Robin on the SNES. Those games were amazing. To make a good Batman game isn't impossible, it just has to be put into the right hands.
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9-15-2008 @ 2:34PM
A. Lanham said...
I wish SEGA would do a revival of classic, Genesis Sonic. Their recent efforts have been less than stellar and has been floundering down a path similar to Mega Man's. One fan project has been attempting to do so, Sonic Nexus (http://nexus.hrook.net), and it is rumored that they might port to Wii Homebrew in the near future.
I bet if SEGA did something like Nexus is, they would win back the fan base, because who can argue with classic Sonic?
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9-15-2008 @ 7:45PM
Kaes Delgrego said...
A 16-bit Sonic would likely rock hard, but I kept that franchise off of the list due to the relative success of the Sonic Rush series. I haven't played Sonic Rush Adventure, but the original Sonic Rush was surprisingly awesome.
9-15-2008 @ 3:50PM
Seth said...
How about Uniracers. I would love to see an update of that.
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9-15-2008 @ 4:23PM
phenylketonurics said...
The DKC series deserves nothing but respect. While I absolutely ADORE the trilogy, they'd absolutely need to have the original crew together to work on a 4th (DK64 bites bigtime). From soundtrack to storyline, man.
I've gotta admit about the headlining image here, though -- I *love* that bloody game to pieces. Super Adventure Island, Goof Troop, ClayFighters ... the 90's rental prophesies of awe.
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9-15-2008 @ 6:30PM
gayboyDS said...
How about a new game featuring the band Journey! I LOVED their arcade game!
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9-15-2008 @ 7:46PM
Kaes Delgrego said...
New Journey game? My response: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5P1XBq6_tc
9-16-2008 @ 2:49PM
Kenji said...
Great article, and definitely no disagreements here. One point, though: Little Nemo was published in the early 1900s, not the 1800s. (Sorry, but I did my thesis on comic books.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Nemo
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9-15-2008 @ 4:31PM
Kaes Delgrego said...
D'oh! I briefly went dyslexic and swapped the author's birth year (1871) with the original run of the comic strip (1905). Thanks for the heads-up!
9-18-2008 @ 9:13AM
dark_inchworm said...
New DKC? YES.
And this would be a good time, since I recently had to show off my skillz to the girlfriend by plowing through all three of them in the span of three or four days. (I wasn't playing the entire time, mind you - but I'm sure you could guess as much.)
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