Video game remake

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The Nintendo GameCube remake of Resident Evil features enhancements in both graphics and gameplay.

A video game remake is an updated and re-released version of a previous video game. Typically, a remake shares essentially the same title, gameplay, and story elements as the original game, and improves dramatically on technical aspects such as graphics, sound, and the user interface.

[edit] Enhanced remakes

The phrase "enhanced remake" describes a remake that, vaguely, takes things further by adding significant new features or changes to the core of the game, resulting in an overall gameplay experience that is not only improved, but somehow different from the original. Some examples of enhanced remakes include Super Mario All-Stars and Final Fantasy III.

[edit] Controversy

Often changes made in remakes are scrutinized, by the purist or traditionalist, as being unnecessary or frivolous, such as the addition, alteration, or removal of plot elements, characters, voice acting, or new features. With 2D to 3D remakes, such as Wild Arms Alter Code: F, some feel 3D doesn't effectively convey the same artistic style or feeling as 2D.

In other situations, the features added by remakes fundamentally change the way the game is played. For example, in Metal Gear Solid, the challenge in the first boss fight comes from the fact that the boss is offscreen and the player must alternate between looking in first-person mode and then shooting before he moves. In Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, the player is able to aim guns from a first-person viewpoint. This allows the player to see the boss and fire a gun at the same time, thus eliminating the challenge in some opinions.

Conversely, some gamers believe that these remakes give the games more vitality, and welcome new content.^[who?] Purist gamers can perhaps believe that the enhanced version lives up to the original's quality, but typically do not accept it as canon, unless future games reference it as such.

Although the original game is usually not included with their remakes, some enhanced remakes do include their respective original versions. For example, Metroid: Zero Mission for the Game Boy Advance includes the original Metroid for the NES as an unlockable.