The recent re-release of Zack Snyder's Justice League is undoubtedly popular. Many fans feel like the director's cut fixes many of the transgressions in the 2017 release. Of course, the nature of the film itself did not fully change. While some structural problems still persist, the recreation has been lauded as a considerable improvement. Sometimes, games deserve the same treatment.
Several games could benefit from a huge, sweeping director's cut. Many titles received treatments like this before, from Game Of The Year editions to unofficial developer mods of games like Fallout New Vegas.
So, what games could benefit from a recut like Zack Snyder's Justice League? Well, establishing the criteria can be tricky, and no matter how it boiled down, this could be thrown at just about any game, whether it takes 10 hours to beat or even 100. Whatever the case may be, these particular games could well be smash hits if relaunched with the right changes (and one of them is basically getting its Snyder Cut).
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Finally Got A Snyder Cut
There was never a sadder tale than that of Nintendo's Wii U. The console released to poor advertising, almost no excitement, and most importantly, not enough Nintendo launch titles. One of the most tragic elements to that story is The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. This title came out just before the launch of the console, leaving the Wii U floundering with a scant few Mario remakes at release.
What makes this lack of launch titles even more disappointing is that Skyward Sword had HD textures in its files. The regular Wii could not handle these HD textures, but the Wii U could. This fact was uncovered by PC Wii emulators, and paints a sad picture of what could have been for the black sheep of the Nintendo console lineage.
However, all is not lost. Thankfully, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD is coming out in July of 2021 (and is already an Amazon bestseller). This marks a return to form for Nintendo, finally reviving older titles that had brilliant ideas but were released at just the wrong time. Skyward Sword can now be appreciated for just how beautiful its art design was, as it looked slightly dated on the hardware it was released to.
Conker's Bad Fur Day Deserved A Proper Rare Cut
Conker's Bad Fur Day is a notoriously bad game. Famed for its profanity, poorly realized mechanics, and really nasty sense of humor, this game did receive quite significant praise at launch. However, Conker's Bad Fur Day performed poorly commercially. It is a perfect example of a classic Rare game that failed unexpectedly. The original game resembled Banjo-Kazooie, a classic Rare title aimed at a younger audience. When it hit previews, critics lambasted its similarities to other Rare titles, calling it uninspired and iterative. As such, the Rare team switched up the game and aimed at an older audience.
This retooling included raunchy commercials aimed at fraternities, Playboy national tours, and a Maxim coloring book all starring the polygonal critter. While the game eventually released to much critical acclaim, the college frat kid demographic did not buy the game in droves. The game sold a scant 55,000 copies in its first month, well below expectations. However, the game did pick up quite the cult following, and received its own update and re-release as part of the Rare Replay collection. This entire bundle received critical acclaim, with the update to Conker enjoyed by a huge number of fans.
Interestingly, there may still be a place for the original, lighter Conker that Rare originally designed in the current gaming market. The incredible success of Yooka-Laylee recently shows that there would be a place for a light-hearted Rare-style game right now. It would be fascinating to see the Rare of today, one capable of producing ambitious titles like Sea of Thieves, create a more cartoonish action platformer in the market right now, one without the need for cynicism or overt crudeness present in the original Conker.
Evolve Could Benefit From A Proper Re-Release
Despite being February 2015's second biggest selling game in the US, the Evolve player-base very quickly dwindled post-release. It was part of a huge group of asymmetrical multiplayer games that arose in 2014. Players could destroy their friends in 4 versus 1 combat, with one player embodying a titanic monster of overwhelming proportions. The monster was incredibly powerful, and the tension of embodying the creature against a full party of friends was very compelling.
However, as with a lot of triple-A games in 2015, there were problems with microtransactions. As getting all the content was too expensive, fans quickly abandoned the title. 2K Games even tried to revive the game as a free-to-play game. Unfortunately, it still did not stick, and the game's servers shut down in 2018. When looking at Evolve's failure right now, it is hard not to think of the current asymmetrical multiplayer trend. These games are simple, with titles like Among Us, In Silence, and Deceit being at the forefront.
If the game released without the same microtransactions in the current era of asymmetrical multiplayer, it may have been a massive success (as Among Us and others have been). There is yet to be a triple-A title to properly jump on this current trend. As such, Evolve would be a fantastic addition to that set of games, a premium title that could also capitalize on the console market as well. A community like the one Among Us has would ensure Evolve had the lifespan 2K intended.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD will release in July 2021.