10 Remasters & Remakes That Need to Happen in 2020

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was definitely the game that put the FPS series on the radars of shooter fans the world over. The compelling, fast-paced gameplay was enough to cement its position as the king of multiplayer shooters for years to come, and its single-player campaign gave me some of the most memorable moments I’ve experienced in video games still to this day.

Almost 10 years after its initial 2007 release, Infinity Ward brought about Modern Warfare Remastered to current-gen consoles. It was marvelous.

The multiplayer gameplay was just how we remembered it, and the spruce up in visuals was all that we needed to dive right back into grinding out Prestiges and racking up kill streaks on the daily.

Alas, in the three years or so since its release, Modern Warfare Remastered has been overshadowed by a number of other larger multiplayer titles. But we’re not done with the CoD remasters just yet.

If every other developer and series is going to get in on the action, then we don’t think Call of Duty should be left out in the cold. This rings particularly true for Modern Warfare 2, another one of the series’ high-points if you speak to fans.

Honestly, we’d take more of the same. A simple graphical overhaul with the gameplay both in single-player and multiplayer in-tact, just as it was. We don’t need all of these multiplayer enhancements in the latest Modern Warfare. We just want to relive the Intervention headshot days. One. Last. Time.

Skate 3/ Skate Collection

If you follow our writing, you’ve probably guessed that we like Skate. Like, we like it a lot. It probably shouldn’t come as any surprise then that we’re going to bang the drum one more time about it getting some sort of remaster or remake in 2020.

Honestly, we’re not fussy here. We’d take a random Skate 2 remaster if that’s all EA would be willing to give. However, a collection of all three games, remastered in beautiful 4K with all of the online features intact would be, as the kids say, ‘goals.’

With its intuitive, stick-flicking control scheme, sandbox worlds to grind at your leisure and opportunity to set up your own challenges for friends to take on, the Skate series just knew what we wanted, and left you to it. There’s seriously nothing more satisfying than finding your perfect spot, landing a bad ass trick, and then watching your friends all fail to emulate it.

If we can’t get a Skate 4, then this’ll suffice… for now.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Nintendo has been slowly but surely making its way through The Legend of Zelda series, remastering and remaking a number of titles such as Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, Link’s Awakening, Twilight Princess and Wind Waker.

Initially, I was going to argue that Nintendo should re-release Twilight Princess’ HD remaster that came to the Wii U for the Switch. I know I’d play the crap out of that! But there’s another recent Zelda title that’s more deserving.

Skyward Sword was the second Zelda game to hit the Wii, and utilized its more accurate Motion Plus control scheme that saw Link replicate the ‘exact’ swings you made with your controller, with his sword. It was all very impressive at the time, except for the fact it constantly needed resyncing.

With Skyward Sword’s 10th anniversary coming up in 2021, we could see Nintendo at the very least announcing a Skyward Sword HD remaster this year for the Switch. Perhaps they’ll help fill the wait for Breath of the Wild 2 with it this year, though. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Dead Space

Dead Space properly shit me up when I was a young, naive gamer playing titles I probably shouldn’t have been. Put in the shoes of engineer Isaac Clarke, players had to explore a mining starship with a murderous alien species known as Necromorphs.

It was more or less a big ol’ gore fest in space. You’d solve puzzles with your mining tools and weapons, dismember reanimated human corpses, and get the crap scared out of you pretty much every time you turn a corner.

We’re not looking for a full remake here– though we’re now wondering what a rebooted Dead Space in 2020 would look like– but instead, just a simple remaster. Give us the trilogy in a lovely remastered 4K visual overhaul.

Honestly, a handful of Quality of Life improvements and a fresh lick of paint to make the Necromorphs look more terrifying than ever and we’d be sold.

Mass Effect Trilogy

Every N7 day every year, Mass Effect fans get incredibly excited for some sort of announcement on the beloved sci-fi RPG series. Mass Effect 4? The fact that Andromeda was actually just a big joke and the real game’s coming out, ‘RIGHT NOW!’ Or maybe just the Mass Effect Trilogy Remastered for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

In a console generation where it feels like anything that resembled a commercial success last generation has been remastered, EA’s reluctant to remaster one of its most popular series of all time seems… baffling, really.

After Andromeda, which can now be accepted as a mediocre effort, you’d have thought EA and BioWare would want to save grace with fans in any means possible. Mass Effect Trilogy remastered seems like the easiest and fastest way to do so.

Here’s hoping they were just waiting for the PS5 and Xbox Series X to let us relive this classic saga all over again.

Ape Escape

We got Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy. Then Spyro Reignited Trilogy dropped. Now it’s time for the real MVP to get its remake treatment – Ape Escape.

Let’s run you through this incredibly simple premise. You’re Hikaru and your job is to catch monkeys spread across each level. Players will need to utilize a variety of monkey-catching tools such as the Stun Club, Monkey Net, and Dash Hoop to help solve the little puzzle of catching them.

It’s all rather zany, but also one of the most charismatic and compelling games we played back in the day. Also, Ape Escape 2’s Monkey Football mini-game is the greatest to exist.

If you ask us, Ape Escape’s due the full remake treatment, rather than a simple remaster. We want to see worlds entirely rebuilt, a metric shit ton of Quality of Life improvements (as they’re not the best handling games in the world), and yes, we want at least the three main titled games all bundled together.

Are we asking too much? Definitely. Is this likely to happen? Absolutely not. Will that stop me from keeping it on this list? Hell no.

Dragon Age Origins

Another entry, another classic EA title from last generation that hasn’t yet received the remaster it so deserves. Kicking off BioWare’s ‘dark heroic fantasy’ RPG series, Dragon Age: Origins was critically-acclaimed for its story, setting, characters and combat system, all of which still hold up well to this day.

That being said, there’s always room for improvement. With more horsepower under the hoods of our consoles and PCs, giving the world of Ferelden a makeover would certainly be welcomed by us.

Plus, Origins actually received eight DLC packs and an expansion post-launch, which ended up being compiled into an Ultimate Edition of the game. It should go without saying any remaster or remake of Origins should be the complete package.

With Dragon Age 4 being teased back at The Game Awards 2018, a remaster of the game that started it all certainly wouldn’t be a bad move, and would give newcomers a chance to check out whether the series is for them before diving into the latest installment.

Tales of Symphonia

Tales of Symphonia may have received a PS3 port in the form of Tales of Symphonia Chronicles, but we’ve come a long way since then. Full remakes are fare more commonplace, and we’ve got more technical horsepower to play with to really bring these masterpieces to modern-day standards.

While titles like Eternia and Abyss may also rank highly with fans for titles that could do with a remaster, Symphonia is the game that really increased awareness of the series in North America.

As one of the first Tales games to be rendered in 3D, the game really stands out as a turning point for the series. It’s full to bursting with side questions and additional story tangents you can follow, and there’s enough content here to keep you busy for over 100 hours.

With this current generation beginning to die down as the PS5 and Xbox Series X lurk just around the corner, a huge hundred-hour title may be just what players are looking for to fill their time.

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

Nintendo’s had a recent resurgence in support for its Fire Emblem series. In the past few years alone we’ve seen Three Houses on Switch, Shadows of Valentia on 3DS, Heroes on mobile, and Warriors hit the Switch. All of which have been rather excellent.

2020 marks the 30th anniversary of the series, and knowing Nintendo, it’ll want to celebrate this in some sort of big way. How, we’re not entirely sure yet, but we do have one suggestion.

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance released on the GameCube all the way back in 2005. Despite the technical limitations back then, it was lauded for its compelling, tactical gameplay, and the introduction of full-motion movies. Sadly, the game’s never been revisited… until now.

Following the success of Shadows of Valentia, and the overwhelmingly positive reception to Three Houses on Switch just last year, it seems like the perfect time for Nintendo to remaster or remake Path of Radiance for the Switch.

Pokemon Snap

Don’t roll your eyes at us, readers! You knew it was coming. We knew it was coming. Everyone but Nintendo seemed to know it was coming.

2020 will be the year Pokemon Snap gets its long-deserved, hotly anticipated remake for the Nintendo Switch.

Featuring the National Freaking Dex (‘cause you all love that shit so much), and 5,000 different locations, you’ll never get tired of snapping photos of Pokemon in trees, in sand, in mud, even in lava. How wild!

Free monthly DLC will bring us five new-designed Pokemon each month, because we cannot wait for the next generation of ‘mon. Pokemon Snap Remake is the Pokemon GAAS we’ve all been waiting for. Perhaps not with the battle-focused gameplay we all expected, but it’s coming.

Pokemon Snap 2020, you heard it here first.

Disclaimer: No, we do not expect any of the above predictions to actually be in a Pokemon Snap Remake.