Wax Nostalgic On, Wax Nostalgic Off

I've been feeling a little nostalgic lately. I recently realized that I'm living in sin; I have never beaten a Mario game before Super Mario Galaxy. I'm working on fixing that, though!

This focus on older games made me realize something else, though. A lot of older franchises have enjoyed HD remakes in the past few years: Flashback,  Double Dragon Neon, and Retro City Rampage (that one's cheating). But I think some of my favorites deserve some new love. Here are some of my picks:

Cyborg Justice

This Sega Genesis gem was one of my favorite brawlers. Not only did you have cyborgs beating on each other and dodging traps, there was a sort of strategy element to it. It turns out cyborgs are made of interchangeable parts. As you fight enemies, you had the option to either beat them into a pile of scrap...or dismantle them. You could rip your enemies apart, kids. And when you did so, you could replace a part of yourself with what you just ripped off the poor sap.

Let that sink in.

"So...you have a sawblade hand? I want a sawblade hand. Yoink!!"
"You have the legs that are impervious to traps? Kthxbai!"

It was so satisfying to steal parts of your enemies, and make their strengths your own. There was a limited versus mode, too. All in all, I think this is a property that could really take advantage of advances in game design and hardware.

Toejam & Earl

Oh, TJ&E...

You've had a rough time, haven't you? You had a great first game, then a polarizing second game, and a super-flop third game.
Personally, I think TJ&E3 had promise but the execution was terrible. More than anything, though, the biggest issue was the characterizations. Toejam and Earl were always slants on hip-hop culture stereotypes, but lost that touch by the time TJ&E3 came around. I do think a third-person, 3D roaming TJ&E can work, but it needs much better design. Perhaps and open-world format would work well.

It will be hard to capture the same essence in the music while staying fresh, though. I'd be happy to just get some modernized remixes of the original soundtrack, but some new tunes would be righteous. Whoo, alright!

By the by, TJ&E 1 and 2 are available on XBLA as a single download. Do eet!!!!

AND there is a Kickstarter to bring them back!!

Vectorman

2D side-scrollers seem to be making a comeback in the digital marketplace. and I think Vectorman is prime for a resurgence. Though he seemed to be little more than a vehicle for showing off 3D models on the Sega Genesis, Vectorman was actually a really cool side-scrolling shooter and platformer (played a lot like MegaMan). The PS4's processing power could make for some really cool particle effects, too.

Colony Wars

(space combat sims, in general, really)

Colony wars was one of my first true exposures to space combat sims (okay, CW wasn't really a "sim") and I loved it. It led me down the path to other games like Freelancer, though the genre was already in decline. This is a franchise (and genre) I'd love to see come back. It's different enough from other shooter staples that it can stand out. Star Citizen and No Man's Sky are aiming to help lead the reemergence of space combat, and I hope that leads to more Colony Wars.

Ristar

This charming little bastard needs a new game. He's about as old as Rayman, and the game world where he lived was gorgeous. This game could also very possibly succeed as a 2.5D platformer as long as there is a reliable aiming and locking system.

Homeworld

Gearbox bought and remastered this franchise, and that either excites or scares you. I feel both sides of it and can't decide which way I feel about it. All I know is that Homeworld 3 is long over-due. I'm a long-time fan of RTS games, but Homeworld always stood out to me. Personally, I'd like to see the game stretched out to more of a Risk-style meta game, a la Total War, that spans an entire galaxy. Mmmmm...sweet, sweet interstellar conquest.

Homeworld Remastered Collection is currently available on Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/244160/

Arcanum

One of the most overlooked RPGs of the early 2000s, Arcanum filled a very specific niche for me. I love both fantasy and sci-fi; this game mixed them into a single universe (though it always felt a bit more fantasy than sci-fi). While this is not a new concept (see Shadowrun, Eberron, etc), what I liked was how it handled the interplay of magick (sic) and technology; as opposing forces that interfered with the functionality of each other. Your character is free to learn spells or technical skills as you see fit, but the more you favored one, the other would get penalized. Likewise, a magic user would be ineffective against a more technologically-inclined character, and vice versa. I'd love to see a new top-down iteration of this universe, or even an Elder Scrolls-inspired first-person game. Either way, I think it's a great world to revisit, especially with the steampunk craze we're experiencing right now. If you're interested, you can buy it on GoG here: http://www.gog.com/game/arcanum_of_steamworks_and_magick_obscura

Onimusha

Survival horror is also experiencing a renaissance thanks to games like Dead Space. In fact, I think Dead Space would be the best model for an Onimusha reboot. Though Onimusha started out as a sort of survival horror game set in feudal Japan, the subsequent sequels quickly seemed to move beyond the "horror" aspect. Though I still loved the games (mostly), I'd love to see more emphasis on the demons and the horror. Genma Onimusha freaked me out a little bit with the addition of some nearly invincible enemies you'd have to avoid instead of fighting. I liked that, and I would hope there would be more "Oh, shit" moments. Hell...maybe even a sci-fi slant would be interesting, too.

2D metroid

Do I really need to explain this?

Nintendo, listen. People LOVE Metroid and Super Metroid to this day. They did NOT love Other M, and as great as the Prime trilogy was, it's not the Metroid people know and love.

Tell you what, I'll give you a freebie. Make a new Metroid that is a side-scrolling platformer, set in an alien open world. You can go anywhere an do anything, as long as you find the equipment you need. However, the hook will really be the aesthetics. Make everything with 3D models, but keep it on a 2D plane. Put it on 3DS, and give the environment depth. Show us the interior of the room Samus is in by putting detail into the background. Put obstructions in the foreground, and if you could program it so that tilting the 3DS can help us look around things that are in the way...OMG. It would be so amazing. Don't forget a map on the touchscreen...

I imagine it would look a lot like this, actually.

The Ooze

Another overlooked title (perhaps more rightly so than some of the others I've mentioned here), this game let you control a sentient puddle of ooze out for revenge against the people who made him that way. Sure, it sounds dumb, but it made for some cool mechanics. Your health meter was the size of the ooze itself. The bigger you were, the more health you had to spare. When you got hurt (ran into water, burned by lasers, eaten by mutated animals), you shrank in size. This created a risk/reward system. The smaller you were, the more vulnerable you became, but also harder to hit and more maneuverable. Also, if you happend to get separated from pieces of yourself, you could go back and pick them up later. Either a remake or sequel would be awesome. Also, perhaps The Ooze has gained the ability to gain shape again. Then, imagine absorbing materials (people and other enemies) to grow and become more powerful...

Comix Zone

This was another unique title I found myself playing quite a bit on my Sega Genesis. A comic book creator/illustrator gets sucked into his own comic and has to fight a villain of his own creation. Sounds a lot like like Cool World, but this game dripped with style. Look past the stupid haircut, round sunglasses, board shorts and hi-tops, and you found a game that epitomized 90's comic book style. There was also a self-awareness to the game, as evidenced by the screenshot here. The combat, though limited, was very rewarding. There was nothing quite like beating a mutant senseless then tearing him off the page. Branching progression (though the story was linear) and a short length made this a great title to revisit time and time again. I'd love to see this franchise come back with new HD visuals and maybe some multiplayer, and some references to existing comics like Scott Pilgrim or Watchmen.

What about you? Are there any long-lost franchises you'd like to see come back? What updates or changes would you make?