Raising the dead is harder than it looks

When it comes to both hardware and software, video games have always been out there on the cutting edge of technology. The quality of the graphics, sounds, artificial intelligence, and other gameplay elements are constantly improving, with the result that, when comparing a much older title to one of today's the high-definition epics, it's sometimes hard to tell that the two are actually a part of the same medium. And therein lies the problem for developers who want to update classic games for today's audiences.

Services like the Virtual Console on the Nintendo Wii, or Good Old Games on PC, are great because they easily allow gamers to play the classics in their original form, something that otherwise could be frustrating, time consuming, and costly. But sometimes their original form isn't all that welcoming. Gameplay mechanics that were once commonplace are now seen as archaic by modern gamers, even though the basic elements of story, plot, setting, characters, etc. are still quite viable; hence the ever-popular video game remake. In order to make these once great games relevant to a new audience with decidedly higher expectations for technology, developers often update them to give them more appeal. But how do these developers decide what to change and what to keep?

Running ahead to get better at looking back

Capcom has been at the forefront of the recent remake boom,

re-imagining a number of their classic titles as downloadable games.

Bionic Commando, for example, was given a high-definition 2.5D

makeover, and a rockin' remixed soundtrack with Bionic Commando:

Rearmed. Capcom also re-released a new version of Street Fighter II on the

way, with the lengthy new title Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix.

Interestingly, both games are coming out near new entries in their

respective franchises: Street Fighter IV and Bionic Commando. But the

question remains, how do you decided what games will still appeal to

the current gaming audience?

"We try to look at which IPs will still resonate with fans," Kraig Kujawa, creative director at Capcom, told Ars. Kujawa recently worked on the Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network shooter, 1942: Joint Strike, based on the 1984 arcade game. Doing what he jokes as "very scientific" research, Kujawa says that he was actually surprised at the strong fan-base the game enjoyed, despite the fact that the 194X series has been very popular since it was originally released, being ported across a number of different platforms and spawning a plethora of sequels. Even though the previous game in the series, 1944: The Loop Master, was released nearly a decade earlier, Joint Strike turned out to be a great success.

And that built-in, dedicated fanbase is responsible for another problem with remakes. Not only is it tough to decide which game to recreate, but once you have chosen, there is a vocal fan base that needs to be pleased. "The toughest thing is that everyone who used to play (these games) is hardcore," Kujawa explained. Because of this, any changes made to the game must be made for a good reason, so that the existing fanbase doesn't get upset. "We try to pay homage and be faithful to the original."