Retro Revival Top 10

Everyone likes old games, and everyone likes new games. This means that new-old games can be particularly brilliant… until they get a bit old, that is. Here’s a list of 10 old games we’d like to see as new games, whilst still feeling like old games. Games.

Killer Instinct

If we punched a stranger in the face every time we’d heard someone ask for a new Killer Instinct game, we’d be up to a 1058-hit combo by now. We’d also be in prison, but that’s besides the point. A whopping 14 years have passed since the last iteration of Rare’s beloved fighter, but given the success of Street Fighter IV, the time is ripe for its long-awaited comeback.

Wasteland

Wasteland was the spiritual predecessor to the Fallout series, a post apocalyptic RPG that cast the player as a Desert Ranger exploring the plains of a radioactive Nevada. Your enemies included bikers, deranged farmers, and, oddly enough, bunnies – all of which could be “reduced to a thin red paste,” in some memorably graphic death descriptions. Former Interplay boss Brian Fargo still holds the rights, and he’s hinted at a possible return for the franchise in the near future. Here’s hoping.

Theme Park

Thanks to Bullfrog’s 1994 strategy hit, we all know how to run a successful Theme Park: put loads of salt on your French fries, dump loads of ice in your drinks, then force people onto a rollercoaster with sharp turns that send them flying to their doom. A DS port of the original game surfaced in 2007, but we’d love to see a proper update with the same cynical undertones.

Magic Carpet

Remember this? Magic Carpet was a graphical behemoth, a technical marvel that also had lots in the way of innovative ideas. The basic idea was that you flew around massive 3D worlds on your enchanted rug, flinging spells at wizards and other carpet riders. Perhaps Peter Molyneux could do a new version for Project Natal, allowing players to scan their very own living room Carpet. They could do a tie-in bundle with DFS, too.

Pilotwings

The Air Sports bit in Wii Sports Resort was almost a remake of this fondly-remembered SNES classic. Almost, but not quite. We want a proper current-gen version of the eccentric learn-to-fly compendium – ideally one that makes good use of the Wii’s controls (in other words, nothing that relies too heavily on “waggle” and silly gestures). A portable version for the DS would be nice too, come to think of it.

Comix Zone

Comix Zone was a rather unusual offering from SEGA – a highly stylised 2D action game that found a comic book artist trapped within one of his own books. Each panel became a separate room or arena, and if you were in a pinch you could rip up part of the game world, turn it into a paper plane, and fling it at your enemies. Despite the fact that it only popped up towards the end of the Mega Drive’s life, there’s still plenty of nostalgia for this oddball classic, and with today’s technology you could make an incredible sequel.

Blast Corps

Here’s another example of a classic game that would work brilliantly with modern-day effects and design concepts. Blast Corps was a Rare game that found you desperately destroying large swathes of city so that you could clear a path for a runaway truck carrying nuclear missiles. It played like a charm in ’97, and with a destruction engine to match the likes of Red Faction Guerrilla, there’s no reason why it couldn’t work in 2010.

Micro Machines

Unlike most entries on this list, which have lain dormant for so long that they’re covered in cobwebs, the MM franchise had its last release just four years ago. Unfortunately, Micro Machines V4 was a let-down that largely failed to capture the manic spirit of its predecessors. We want a return to the glory days, when you had to share a pad with your mate – even though he’d just nudged you into a virtual toilet bowl.

Road Rash

We’re probably tempting fate here, as Road Rash is one of those franchises that’s had more than its fair share of naff entries. Still, the combination of motorbikes and fighting is an appealing one, and we’ve got this image in our heads of a new, multiplayer-focused Rash game designed for Xbox LIVE and PSN. Keep it simple, keep it bloody, and throw in the option to cut people up with chainsaws. Job done.

Populous

As any megalomaniac surgeon or head teacher knows, it’s fun to play God. It’s been 12 years since the last Populous game, and even that took a rather different approach to the first two entries in the series. We don’t want to control a poxy shaman, we want to be GOD! We want to be ADORED! We want to rain FIRE onto HELPLESS civvies in BLUE t-shirts. Please, someone make it happen.