Rose Tinted Glasses, I said, thinking back to games of times passed and having fond memories of defeating dragons, and taking down polutant despots and their floaty machines.
So when these old games get rereleased as "Remasters", I get hopeful. I'll get to replay games from my childhood that I really enjoyed, and it'll feel like a new game even if I hit all the same beats.
Wonder Boy: The Dragons Trap is a perfect example of that. A Master System game that continues the story of Wonder Boy and his ventures across Monster Land and how he was completely upended by the antagonist of the last game.
You start off with top tier gear, running through the Dragons Labyrinth, searching for it's lair to stop it's tyrannical rule. You defeat the dragon, whapping its face over and over between flinging fireballs and frantic trampling before the robotic dragon (plot twist!) explodes in a whirl of stars and cash starts raining across the room, and a blue wisp starts chasing you, desperate to catch you and fulfill the dragons purpose: to curse you and turn you into a dragon.
The game then drops you off at the nearby village and your venture fords from there. It's a good time tracking down other Dragons and not only cursing yourself more by getting polymorphed into other creatures but clearing the world of other tyrants who would dare to rise up.
It was a great game when I was a kid so I was excited when I saw the kickstarter running for a massive Remaster hand drawing everything about the game and filling in negative space with anything and everything, for example a colossal centrepiece to an unknown warrior amongst a smattering of headstones which only asks questions that you can't go find the answer for because you're a Wonderkid with a plan.
The strange thing though is that everything there felt like it was there when I was a kid. That I was playing the same game again and little has changed aside from the console itself. This clearly was not true, as with a click of a button it reverts back to the original graphics and music at your leisure.
The game is great, and the guys who gussied this baby up did a fantastic job and I hope one day to see more. I really wish others would follow this example. There have been more and more remasters and rereleases coming out that have been aesthetically disappointing.
Take Advance Wars. Fantastic game with many an hour spent spamming medium tanks and artillery over the gridded battlefield. Can't espouse how good a game it was, especially for a Gameboy Advance game.
Recently it has seen a remaster bringing it to the modern Nintendo console with some modern amenities such as online play and spruced up graphics, and that last point is where I find my contention.
The Gameboy Advance has a limited amount of real estate on it's screen. The resolution and colour palette are limiting, but the developers used every bit of it with gusto, making it rather distinct with the tools available.
So I get why you would decide to bump that up to 3D and perhaps redraw a lot of the assets. What I didn't expect was a lack of effort in unit models.
Here we have a side by side comparison of the unit GBA sprites and their updated models. They're bland and uninteresting, and what's more disappointing is that these vehicles are based on actual vehicles <Insert Link to Advance Wars Trivia>. Almost would have rathered they did a 2.5d mode and just used the same sprites and had then standing on little notches to move across a game board.
This is an example of missed opportunity. Yeah, sure, the models are fine if the game is great, but I would rather not be looking at it and wish it was more interesting to the eye. These units are all based on actual vehicles, so why don't they look more like them? I would like to see this reboot game also adapt the Gameboy <i>Wars</i> games as well, the progenitors to Advance Wars, and see them update the visuals and units to match the Advance Wars motif.
Which brings me over to Sonic Origins, a new release of the Sonic the Hedgehog Mega Drive and CD collection which now comes with a DLC containing Sonic the Hedgehog games from the Sega Game Gear in their original Glory.
That's where I have my problem, and I blame The Dragons Trap. These games were good for their time, making the best with the limited tools they have. But we can build it better. Prettier. We have the technology. There's a guy who is remastering the Sonic Chaos and Triple Trouble games into Mega Drive versions, using similar sprites and animation direction with some liberties on unique levels, but making it a convincing remaster.
These games deserve that at least. They were fun games in their time, Sonic 1's Jungle Zone still makes me scared of rising floor levels; the Hang Glider in Sonic 2 still annoys me to think about that one emerald stuck in the sky. The majority of them all had Sega Master System releases as well, so why wouldn't you release those instead of the dinky game gear versions?
It's another case of missed opportunity. They could have remastered these games in gorgeous fashion, put some love and effort into a glow up, and you would be praised to the ends of the earth for showing some love for one of the biggest video game icons of the 20th and 21st centuries, yet it's squandered for the sake of ease.
Christian Whitehead, in the name of Sonic Mania, would you please help us. Get involved more and remaster everything properly. Make Sonic Pretty Again. You're our only hope.
