In the latest issue of Famitsu magazine, a rather massive interview with legendary game designer Shigeru Miyamoto is contained as a big feature. At one point during the piece, Miyamoto starts to talk about video game remakes and pushes back against the idea that there are too many of them. He then explains his philosophy on why remakes are good for the industry, especially when it comes to introducing new players to older titles.
“Some people might say there are a lot of remakes, but after five years, a lot of people have outgrown games and stop playing them,” Miyamoto states. “Young people today don’t have the opportunity to play games from 10 years ago, so remaking them to be more playable and releasing them again is a good way to meet the demand. Letting people know the original games also leads to future developments, so we’ve been actively pursuing that recently.”
I’m not sure if I agree with some of that wording, but I can see where Miyamoto is coming from. Despite how old fogies like me will insist that younger players experience things as purely as possible, updating a game to “modern” standards lets a different generation experience a new take on an old classic. Taking the recent Star Fox remake, it plays closely enough to the N64 original that you aren’t really losing out on anything. The expansions to its story, and even visual identity, also help better sell the camaraderie of the team and the desperation of Corneria after Andross’ assault.
While I am more in favor of re-releasing classics on modern platforms, I can understand why certain big titles wind up with remakes. Nintendo will also be making the ultimate case for them later this year when it releases The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on Switch 2.
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Written by Peter Glagowski
Peter has been a freelance gaming and film critic for over seven years. His passion for Nintendo is only matched by the size of his collection.
