Nintendo Woes: Are All These Remakes Bad for Gaming?

Too many remakes?

That was my thought when reviewing the latest Nintendo Direct (Sept. 14, 2023). Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door HD. Mario vs. Donkey Kong Remake. A Tomb Raider 1, 2, and 3 remastered compilation. Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD. Contra: Operation Galuga. And more info on games like the Super Mario RPG redo.

Plenty of sequels, too. Splatoon 3. Detective Pikachu Returns. WarioWare: Move It! Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. Horizon Chase 2. And on and on.

While many a Nintendo fan celebrated, I couldn’t help but regard the announcements with some skepticism, seeing many of these upcoming releases as more rehash than tribute. Take the Mario vs. Donkey Kong remake – originally, this was a modestly popular GBA game that would have made a fine addition to Nintendo’s Expansion Pass on-line subscription service. But instead, this rather basic action/puzzler is being given the full HD, remake treatment…and it seems completely unnecessary. It smacks of being an easy, low-budget money grab, and likely why the Big N continues to withhold the original from the subscription service.

Hence the growing trend: Companies releasing “enhanced” classics versus making anything truly new. Even these updated editions often feel lazy, offering little beyond the most obvious improvements. The Switch’s recent Metroid Prime rerelease is more mundane than majestic, providing only modest tweaks and updates. The upcoming Super Mario RPG remake shares this same barebones philosophy by prettying up the graphics and sound while retaining the same story, script, and proceedings. It’s not unlike the Zelda: Link’s Awakening “redo” from 2019, which swapped the original’s austere black and white veneer for a cutesier style despite being a 1:1 adaptation otherwise. The price points, however, are these repeats' cruelest feature, with Metroid at $40, Donkey Kong at $50, and Super Mario RPG coming in at $60. That’s a lot for some old games, even if they do sport some modern zing.

It’s not just Nintendo, of course. More and more companies are retreating to the past and dredging up their back catalogues, with some putting more time (and money) into their efforts than others. Square Enix dabbles on both sides, having offered basic ports of Chrono Cross and Legend of Mana on one end, and producing epics like Final Fantasy 7 Remake on the other. The latter is a complete reinvention of the classic, as is Konami’s just announced Contra: Operation Galuga. Real ambition—real vision—defines these particular works, which helps them justify a higher price point. Others, like Prime or Mario RPG and especially Mana, are modest projects of lesser value…and they should be priced accordingly.

Yet, more often than not, the price points for these gussy-upped ports are comparable to a brand-new game. Worse, they’re the reason why Switch owners will likely never enjoy GameCube titles on the Nintendo On-line service: the Big N already knows people will pay big money to play Pikmin 1 and 2 again, or Paper Mario 2, or remakes no one ever asked for, be it Advance Wars or Mario vs. Donkey Kong. Why would the company give these games away “free” via a subscription?

Some say gaming, from a creativity standpoint, is headed for a dead end. Is this hyperbole or prophesy?

Depends on how many more remakes we're willing to take.--D

Contra: Operation Galuga at least recasts the original game as a fresh experience. In short, real effort--real imagination--has gone into this endeavor beyond just reworking the graphical assets and audio direction.

Paper Mario 2 and Mario vs. Donkey Kong are both getting remakes, which means, apparently, a significant graphical update but little else. They look fine, but...haven't we been receiving a lot of these rehashes lately?