I wrote about game remakes and the ambiguity of the remake definition a week ago. Well, this year the flash game scene was hit by a rather peculiar remake, which defies definition in its own special way: The Super Mario Bros. Crossover - by a guy who calls himself Exploding Rabbit. The game takes one of the most classic games, the original Super Mario Bros., and adds several other classic NES characters as playable characters - all with their reimplemented original control schemes. The game's been around since April, but it's still a work in progress: in June Ryu Hayabusa from Ninja Gaiden / Shadow Warrior made his entry to the game, and just a few days ago, a new character Sophia the 3rd from Blaster Master was added :
Even if the game didn't persuade into playing it more than what it takes to try out the characters, it is definitely a refreshing breeze of nostalgy that also pays respect to the old classics. It also makes you wonder about possibilities for similar simple crossover games. Crossovers of the 16-bit era? Crossovers with multiplayer functionality?
Moreover, it would be interesting to see something entirely new instead of just remaking different things into one game. So would it make sense to do the same thing to classic games, as what Shrek did to classic fairy tales or what Roger Rabbit did to classic animation? By this, I mean something more than a game like Super Smash Bros. and its sequels, which just basically put all classic Nintendo characters on a battle field.
Games are not as good a media as animation for telling jokes, but with a passion for older games and if truly well implemented, there could be a possibility for a commercial hit that combines a tongue-in-cheek story with a working gameplay and scenes that introduce classic characters and their original game elements in a jaw-droppingly innovative fashion. The main character should be, like in Shrek, an entirely new character. Gameplay could be mostly in 3rd person view, and the story for example alike to Who framed Roger Rabbit?: a whodunit story, where the main character has to enter the world of games to solve the mystery. To make the game, all one would need is a company with the rights to lots of old game characters (eg. Nintendo), some collaboration to get lots of additional characters in, a good script that takes gameplay properly into account and a devoted crew.
Even if the game didn't persuade into playing it more than what it takes to try out the characters, it is definitely a refreshing breeze of nostalgy that also pays respect to the old classics. It also makes you wonder about possibilities for similar simple crossover games. Crossovers of the 16-bit era? Crossovers with multiplayer functionality?
Moreover, it would be interesting to see something entirely new instead of just remaking different things into one game. So would it make sense to do the same thing to classic games, as what Shrek did to classic fairy tales or what Roger Rabbit did to classic animation? By this, I mean something more than a game like Super Smash Bros. and its sequels, which just basically put all classic Nintendo characters on a battle field.
Games are not as good a media as animation for telling jokes, but with a passion for older games and if truly well implemented, there could be a possibility for a commercial hit that combines a tongue-in-cheek story with a working gameplay and scenes that introduce classic characters and their original game elements in a jaw-droppingly innovative fashion. The main character should be, like in Shrek, an entirely new character. Gameplay could be mostly in 3rd person view, and the story for example alike to Who framed Roger Rabbit?: a whodunit story, where the main character has to enter the world of games to solve the mystery. To make the game, all one would need is a company with the rights to lots of old game characters (eg. Nintendo), some collaboration to get lots of additional characters in, a good script that takes gameplay properly into account and a devoted crew.
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