Anticipation 2015: HD remakes, remasters, and re-releases

With 2015 upon us, Shacknews is offering a look at the games we're looking forward to in the new year. However, sometimes gaming publishers and developers have a knack for making what's old new again. There are times when the sudden announcement of a remake, remaster, or HD re-release generates some excitement, as evidenced by the re-releases of classics like the Halo series, The Last of Us, Kingdom Hearts, and even a piece of our distant past like DuckTales. Josh went into this recently with his Shacknews Spotlight highlighting the trend of remasters and it got me thinking about some of the HD remakes that I'm personally hoping to see announced in the coming year. Because while new games are best, sometimes it's fun to dive into the past.

Gears of War Trilogy

With Halo: The Master Chief Collection going back into the Xbox's roots, why not continue the trend with another of its long-running franchises that's set to get a sequel? Last year, Microsoft picked up the rights to Gears of War from Epic Games. So why not prepare for Black Tusk's next installment of the series by going the exact same Halo route?

Marcus Fenix is just as iconic a name to Xbox owners and it'd be great to be able to play through his adventure one more time. A Gears of War collection could even follow the same idea laid forth by the Master Chief Collection by allowing players to complete pre-made setlists or play through each mission at their own leisure. It'd also be a great opportunity to re-visit the great multiplayer Horde maps and gang up with friends with a fresh next-gen coat of paint. Gears of War set itself apart as a different multiplayer experience than Halo through its Horde mode and the Xbox One would make a fine home for this classic game mode.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time trilogy

It's no secret that Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed series has been wearing out its welcome over recent years. But it's still fun to look at where the series originated and there's no argument that Assassin's Creed was largely inspired by the Prince of Persia series. In fact, it's been an awful long time since Ubisoft sent the Prince on an unceremonious hiatus. If they're not going to dust off the Persian hero for a new adventure, maybe they should consider allowing players to revisit his greatest adventure.

The Sands of Time reinvented the Prince for a whole new generation and introduced one of gaming's most unique mechanics of the last decade: the ability to rewind time for a second chance to do things right. While the subsequent two games were a notable decline in quality from the first, I'd still love to return to the original Sands of Time games, not just with next-gen console visuals, but also with a full PC remaster. The Sands of Time is one of gaming's best trilogies and a remastered collection would be a fine way to show that there's still value in the Prince of Persia franchise. It wouldn't even be all that tough for Sony, since they released a Sands of Time collection for PS3 three years ago.

Super Metroid

At one point or another, Nintendo has taken each of its franchises and remastered one of its games. For Mario, there was Super Mario All-Stars. For The Legend of Zelda, there was the 3DS remake of Ocarina of Time and the upcoming handheld remaster of Majora's Mask. Even Samus Aran has had her original adventure remade with Metroid: Zero Mission. But while the bounty hunter's first mission has been re-released, her greatest one has yet to receive a definitive edition.

Part of the reason for that is that Super Metroid still holds up remarkably well, even today, so the Wii U Virtual Console download is enough for most fans. Still, I'd love to see a definitive remaster that sees many of the alien environments rebuilt from the ground up, offering more of a Metroid Prime visual aesthetic. It could even incorporate the Wii U GamePad in some fashion by utilizing it as a radar or as a way to manage Samus' inventory.

Super Metroid remains one of the greatest games of all-time and it deserves some special recognition, especially as it just celebrated its 20th anniversary. The best way to honor it is with a dedicated remake.

Super Mario Galaxy/Super Mario Galaxy 2

This has been on my personal wish list for a long time. Even now, Super Mario Galaxy remains one of the most visually stunning Nintendo games ever created. Imagine this classic in glorious high definition. Nintendo has created some of its most gorgeous-looking games in the past year, with Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U showing just what the gaming giant is capable of when it comes to HD gaming. And though the console remains backwards compatible with the previous-generation Wii, I'm dying for the opportunity to pick up the Mario Galaxy games and get blown away by Mario blasting through the cosmos in full 1080p.

The Mario games of the past decade have been surprisingly varied. The New Super Mario Bros. games are a good throwback to the plumber's 2D platforming heyday, while Super Mario 3D World introduced a rich world of 3D co-op chaos. However, the Mario Galaxy games stand in a class of their own, in terms of creating a beautiful cosmic landscape filled with larger-than-life creatures and clever level design. An HD collection wouldn't just mean these games could live up to their full visual potential, but it would also start whetting appetites for a possible return to space.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?