Disclaimer - Lots and lots of words and gushing about works I love. You have been warned.
Also, I know the topic specifies only digital releases and I would be perfectly content with just being able to buy these games again and/or legally. But I would LOVE if the changes suggested were made as well, because why not improve on things that are already great? Usually, it's only relatively minor issues, as far as design goes. Most wouldn't change what the game is, just improve on it.
Metal Wolf Chaos - Because HOLY SHIT YOU'RE THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES FIGHTING A COUP, INSTIGATED BY THE VICE PRESIDENT, USING A MECHA SUIT AND BLOWING ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING UP!
That while spouting delightfully cheesy lines such as "SUCK ON MY ROCKET FIST". The banter between the president (MICHAEL!) and the vice president (RICHARD!) is just a work of art.
Seriously, just look up ANY cutscene of this game and then try to tell me it's not awesome.
You can't. Because you would be lying.
Valkyria Chronicles 2 - Complete remake using the VC1 engine and released on all systems.
Valkyria Chronicles 3 - Same as above. Essential changes would be increased complexity of
character models, ragdoll physics and a general increase in scale across maps. Still
keeping the segmented map design of the portables though, since capturing, using and
defending base connections was a huge part of the gameplay. Though if only given
a choice of one game, VC3 is definitely the most important to remake for it's far more
engaging story (A lot of people were put off by VC2 for it's school setting and
idiot hero) and incredibly refined gameplay (The merit and crafting item grinding
of VC2 was atrocious).
Tenchu Z - Ported to PC and Playstation. Essential changes would be to add the ability to save multiple profiles and to swap between male and female character, as well as
change their appearance, at any time.
A major issue with the original is that you can only have 1 save per storage device and you were restricted to either male or female, locking you out of ever using the customization of the other unless you reset your save or played through the entire game again while saving on a different device.
But really, I'd rather have a sequel that keep the stat system (Customizable ninja
skills? Awesome) and character creation/customization. Add some weapons/fight style
variations (Ayame's two knives, Kusari-gama, a Naginata, an absurdly long sword, etc)
and you would have a great game.
Rumble Fish 2 - Never released on a home console or on arcades outside of Japan. Seriously,
look the game up and tell me it doesn't look awesome. The segmented 2D animation used
looks deceptively like 3D. Yet not quite, making it look unique to just about everything else.
A digital re-release and localization would be fantastic.
Rage of The Dragons - Criminally forgotten tag team fighter on the Neo Geo. Deserves
a re-release.
Last Blade 2 - Another criminally forgotten 2D fighter also deserving a re-release. Playing it, I feel that it's far, FAR superior to the Samurai Shodown series.
Last Bronx - A 3D weapon based fighting game in a contemporary setting? That is unique.
Would be awesome to see a revival of the franchise, or at least a re-release with new high
quality character models. The character designs are really just cool. I especially love the girl fighting with batons, wearing army trousers, band aids on her face and a baseball cap with a bit of metal on it.
Twisted Metal 2 World Tour - Also known as the only good Twisted Metal. Or well,
the best one at least. I hate the controls of the new one. If you go in reverse with a
vehicle the controls should also be reversed! Otherwise it's just a stock shooter without
strafing of any kind and that sucks. Didn't help either that the story of the new game was made of awful. Darkness Induced Audience Apathy anyone?
Shin Megami Tensei Devil Summoner 1 and 2 - Great games deserving a remake. The second
game wasn't even released in Europe to begin with! Basically, it's the slick style of
Persona transported to the roaring 20s and using a real time combat system where you
fight alongside summoned demons. It's really, really cool and I would love to be able to
purchase it.
Corpse Party - Just port the entire series to PC and release it on Steam. Please? It's a great series of visual novel/hidden object/simplistic adventure games that should be experience by anyone with even the slightest interest in visual novels and horror.
It is absolutely terrifying and deeply disturbing, in spite of it's simple appearance.
Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker - Port to PC and release on Steam. Why? Because it's a great game. I'd love to be able to play it in co-op online, with decent controls. Not a fan of the console versions, as the master servers have a disturbing habit to be shut down at a moments notice.
I'd like to keep my games playable. Maybe that's an outdated notion?
Bushido Blade 2 - I can't believe this game still haven't been re-released in some form.
It really needs to be. A realistic 3D fighting game where a single attack can end the fight?
Even if you are just blindly flailing and getting hits randomly, it's awesome to behold (The
instant replay is the best thing ever). All it needs is updated visuals and there you go.
And no, don't let anyone tell you that the Deadliest Warriors games are anything like it.
Those games are crap, Bushido Blade was not.
Resident Evil 2 - The first game got an update. The second game needs it as well. It really desperately needs a re-release. If they can extend your movement out into the city itself, rather than restrict you to only the police station, then all the better. The city infested with zombies setting is what made Resident Evil 2 feel so much grander than the first. Not sure if Crimson Heads would work for it though, without slowing down the pace too much. But then again, maybe that's just what it needs. But my point is - It's a fantastic game that needs as much love as the first one.
James Bond 007 Nightfire - The single best James Bond game released after Goldeneye. Re-release it with reworked singleplayer vehicle sections (i.e. not shit), more first person singleplayer levels (Because they were better), removed multiplayer character restrictions (The characters are divided into evil and good teams and when playing team games you are limited to the characters with the right alignment - That's completely idiotic), more multiplayer characters (Generic good and evil guys would be nice - Every single character featured in singleplayer should be playable), more MP levels, fully customizable weapon loadouts (Rather than just presets which far too often contain a handful of guns that are overpowered compared to the rest) and online/lan enabled multiplayer. I swear, if the game had LAN I would constantly be playing it using LAN tunneling software, even to this day.
Seriously, it's a great freaking game. Get a copy and play it - Now. Avoid the PC version though. It's a completely different, and much worse, game. That version was developed by Gearbox. Proving that they made garbage even before DNF and A:CM.
And you thought the Klobb in Goldeneye was bad? Wait until you try the Storm M32. It makes the Klobb look like a good weapon by comparison. Not even joking. It's simply unbelievably shitty. Every other gun is awesome though.
Really, if barely playable junk like Perfect Dark (Muddy textures and atrocious frame rates - Barely playable in splitscreen) can get a HD re-release then I don't see why this game that was actually playable in it's original version couldn't. Because it really is a good game, the shitty vehicle sections and multiplayer limitations (Especially the lack of LAN) aside.
Timesplitters 2 - The best console FPS ever made. No contest. It needs a HD re-release. The only things besides visuals that need improvement is perhaps an optional fixed crosshair aiming mode and an actual netcode (Lan tunneling on this game does not work that great - Barely works at all, to be honest).
Everything else should be kept as it is. More people need to play this wonderful game. Timesplitters 2 is as close to a perfect game as I believe any game will ever get.
Breakdown - A game on the original Xbox and easily one of the most owns of the system. It's a first person action adventure fighting game. You can shoot things, but most of the time you will be pummelling things with your fists and feet. And it's absolutely freaking awesome. The entire game is just a thrill ride, through and through. I can't even begin to describe how many surprises the plot throws your way and the insanely unique and trippy events that happen to you
going through it. It's simply an amazing experience that should be played by just about everyone.
Well, as long as they don't mind that the game is hard as hell.
Cold Fear - Resident Evil 4 stole it's thunder. It's a great, if short game. A HD re-release that extends the time you spend in the first setting as well as the second would
be great. Because it's really a fantastic setting, with fantastic atmosphere.
Maybe also add some actual puzzles to the game, in the vein of Resident Evil except not as nonsensical. Really, it's just a good game that's worth playing.
Unreal Championship 2 - Also on the original Xbox. Also a must own for the system. It's basically third person Unreal Tournament meets 3D melee fighting. And it's absolutely fucking AWESOME. The only bad thing about it is the inability to swap weapons mid-match (You select 1 explosive weapon and 1 energy weapon and the only weapo9n item you pick up in matches is ammunition for those two types) and the inability to choose how many bots are on each team (Making player versus bots next to impossible, since it adds bots alternatingly to each team).
I would prefer a proper sequel though, but I doubt that's going to happen. If it does though, I'd love it if they kept the cross-over with Mortal Kombat (Used to be with Midway, I suppose it would be with whoever owns Netherrealm these days. Is it Warner Bros?) and add Skorpion and Sub-Zero to the roster in addition to Raiden in UC2. And make the Shao Khan commentator actually say "Fatality" when you execute an instant kill move on a stunned enemy.
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2 and Ghost Recond 2 Summit Strike - Just port them to PC. They're far superior to any Ghost Recon game released since. I'm not a fan of the futuristic nonsense that riddles GRAW and GR:FS. I'd much rather have a past setting without the tension ruining drone warfare that's so popular these days.
Psi-Ops the Mindgate Conspiracy - A franchise in need of a revival. A re-release would be great. Psychic powers are just awesome, and this is probably the one game that portrayed it the most awesome (Second Sight tried, but it did not have as good gameplay - Great plot though).
Dark Cloud and Dark Chronicle (Dark Cloud 2) - Really, do I even need to explain this one? Great looking cell shaded RPG games with town sim elements and lots and lots of crafting and grinding. Just a great franchise that desperately needs a revival. Far, far superior to the White Knight Chronicles nonsense that the developers did in recent years. The combat system in WKC is very not good - Functional, but both unnecessarily complex and far too simplistic with excessive menu management and navigation. But the single greatest issue with WKC is that it's plot is unbelievably boring.
The combat can actually be fun once you get the hang of it (And set up your abilities the way you want them), but the plot... It's just awful.
King of Fighters Maximum Impact 2 - Just a re-release would be fine. But I wouldn't mind if they took MI2 and added the extra characters from the JP exclusive Rev.A version (Which excluded just about everything else in terms of singleplayer). It's King of Fighters goodness with only token 3D movement. Which is perfectly fine, because King of Fighters really shouldn't be 3D. Absolutely fantastic roster of characters and has the most awful alternate costumes of any game in existence (No exaggeration). Mind though, each character has about 18 alternate palettes/outfits. There's a TON of content in this game.
Shinobido Way of the Ninja - The PS2 game was never released in the US. The PSP game was essentially a mission based remix of the PS2 version, which excluded the innovative non-linear progression, in favour of unlockable characters with unique abilities (The PS2 version only had reskins - Same movesets as the default character, but a different model).
A re-release that keeps the progression while also including unlockable characters would be absolutely amazing.
Can you tell that this is a bit of a favourite topic of mine?
