Tiny Diggers – An iPad Construction Truck Game for Kids Age 2-5

I’ve made it clear that I don’t mind the remakes so much, and some of you agreed with me. Of course, we’d love to see original material, but if you’ve got the staff as these people do, let’s see re-imaginings, remakes, things like that which can dramatically broaden the audience for games that might not get another look in their original form. OK then.

I want them, but only on the condition that these are budget releases. It’s not reasonable for us to get a nearly effortless port and pay much more than the original game costs one or more years on.

Since we’re already doing the remake thing, how about some suggestions?

Mega Man Powered Up hit the PSP a while ago and it was pretty good. This was a remake of the original Mega Man with two new robot masters (bringing the total up to what had become the series’ standard eight), completely updated graphics and sound, new playable characters (you could even play as the robot masters themselves once they were beaten) and even a level editor so you could make your own levels, play them and trade them. All in all, an excellent job by Capcom. Capcom has made it clear that they have every intention of putting lots of content on Nintendo’s original content channel once it materializes, though they haven’t mentioned this particular title. I’d be happy to see this game on the Wii, controllable with the Wii Remote held sideways like an NES controller, IR pointer use in the level editor, and online trading of levels through WiiConnect24.

Okami is another Capcom title, developed by their Clover division which has since been reabsorbed into the rest of Capcom. Asked several times about Okami on Wii, Capcom has repeatedly said they’re not planning on it. The success of the platform has to be making them reconsider, especially considering how many times they’ve been asked. Okami has a “celestial brush” mechanic that has you drawing simple shapes with the analog stick to create magical effects. For example, you draw a loop shape and you get wind. It’s not hard to imagine how that would work on the Wii. They could easily plug in a control scheme similar to that used in Twilight Princess and be on their way with a cheap re-release that would definitely sell better than the original. It would also give me the opportunity to play the game without having to replace my PS2.

Viewtiful Joe? Is this a Capcom-only list? Viewtiful Joe premiered on the Gamecube and got a PS2 port with more content much later. A Wii version could, like Resident Evil 4, incorporate a Wii Remote control scheme (not hard, I played the game with a digital Gamecube pad instead of the standard analog stick controller and it worked great) with some simple motion stuff to speed or slow time, zoom, things like that. It would be nice to see the PS2 content come too, such as a playable Dante… the kind of thing that again was done with Resident Evil 4. A graphics bump is possible but I don’t think it’s any more necessary than it would be for Okami. It’s clear that the PS2 ports sell on the Wii if they’re good games, even without that.

Castlevania: Curse of Darkness was on the PS2 and the Xbox, but never made it to the smaller US audience playing the Gamecube. Series master Koji Igarashi has mentioned a number of times how he’s not sure what kind of control scheme he could use on the Wii for Castlevania, and this would give him an opportunity to take a game that’s already complete and apply one or more control schemes for the Wii. It would be a relatively inexpensive way for them to test the Wii audience and see how they accept the series in its 3D form. It would also give me the opportunity to play the game without having to replace my PS2. We’ll call that a continuing theme.

Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles hasn’t even hit the PSP yet and already I want it on the Wii. This is probably another situation where it would appear on the Wii if the original content channel opened, just like Powered Up. I wouldn’t expect any motion controls in this one really, just a direct port, unless they’re going to throw in a level editor. Since DXC includes Symphony of the Night, maybe this would be a little harder than I originally considered. A PSP UMD holds roughly what a Gamecube disc does, so maybe it makes more sense to release the game on a Gamecube disc, which the Wii is reverse compatible with. That would be even better.

Ninja Gaiden was the one game on the Xbox that made me want an Xbox. Tecmo’s bringing the love to Wii and DS, let’s see them continue that with a port of Ninja Gaiden Black with crazy motion controls that make us really tired. I’m looking forward to it.