Top 10 classic games that have never been re-released on modern platforms

If you want to read a centuries-old classic novel, you can find a recent edition of Beowulf or Canterbury Tales on Amazon. If you want to watch a classic movie from the '20s or '30s, you can easily get them on DVD or even Blu-ray. Why is it, then, that so many classic videogames have still never been re-released on modern platforms?

If you want to play the seminal adventure game Shenmue, for example, you'll have to track down a used copy and an old Sega Dreamcast on eBay. In our tech-savvy modern world, why isn't there an easier way for newcomers to play Shenmue? Many classic games risk becoming lost to the annals of time except among hardcore collectors. To the general public, Shenmue may as well not exist in 2014.

Here's my personal list of ten iconic games that have never been released on a modern platform. What's yours?

Star Fox

Release details: Developed & published by Nintendo, 1993

Available platform: Super Nintendo

Why it's relevant: The first Nintendo game ever to use 3D polygon graphics.

Why hasn't it been re-released? Now that EarthBound is finally available on the Wii U Virtual Console, Star Fox is perhaps the highest-profile Nintendo game never to be re-released. It's not quite as famous as Star Fox 64, but it's still a landmark in the company's history. Apparently the lack of a Virtual Console presence has something to do with the Super FX coprocessor chip used in Star Fox that would be difficult to emulate on modern hardware.

NHL '94

Release details: Developed & published by Electronic Arts, 1993

Available platforms: Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo, Sega CD, DOS

Why it's relevant: Arguably the best sports video game ever made

Why hasn't it been re-released? This is likely a licensing issue. Sports video games get the rights to use athletes' names by striking a deal with the Players' Association, but since virtually every player who appeared in NHL '94 is now retired, EA would probably have to go out and ask each player individually for the rights to their name if they wanted to re-release the game.

NHL '94 was included in the PlayStation 2 version of NHL 06, but without the player names. The names are important to NHL '94's legacy, but if namelessness is the only way to get the game re-released in 2014, I'll take it.

Pokémon Red Version & Blue Version

Release details: Developed & published by Nintendo, 1996 (Japan) / 1998 (worldwide)

Available platform: Nintendo Game Boy

Why it's relevant: It's the first Pokémon game. It started a revolution. Duh.

Why hasn't it been re-released? There were a couple remakes in 2004 on the Game Boy Advance, FireRed and LeafGreen, but it's not the same as playing the original game. I have no idea why Nintendo has been holding Pokémon back (any version, not just the originals!) from the 3DS Virtual Console.

Mega Man Legends

Release details: Developed & published by Capcom, 1997 (Japan) / 1998 (worldwide)

Available platforms: Sony PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Windows

Why it's relevant: The first major change to the Mega Man formula, a cult favorite lingering in obscurity while the mainline Mega Man and Mega Man X series continue to get sequels.

Why hasn't it been re-released? It was re-released on the original PSP in 2005... but only in Japan. Capcom can't re-release Mega Man Legends because somehow they don't have the rights to the voiceover work. The only way they could re-release the game is if they re-recorded all the dialogue in the game, which doesn't look to be happening any time soon.

Panzer Dragoon Saga

Release details: Developed & published by Sega, 1998

Available platform: Sega Saturn

Why it's relevant: Unquestionably the best game on the Saturn. One of the only relevant games on the system.

Why hasn't it been re-released? If you want to play Panzer Dragoon Saga in 2014, you'll have to track down a used Saturn copy which goes for almost $400 on eBay. The best game on the Saturn is also one of the rarest. Why Sega couldn't release it as a digital download on a modern platform is beyond me. The Saturn's architecture is apparently hard to emulate, but come on, it's 2014! We live in the Future! Why can't we figure this out?

Grim Fandango

Release details: Developed & published by LucasArts, 1998

Available platform: Windows

Why it's relevant: The pinnacle of Tim Schafer's career, and the swan song of LucasArts graphic adventure games

Why hasn't it been re-released? LucasArts stopped making non-Star Wars games a long time ago, and now they don't even exist anymore. They released updated versions of a few of their games like The Secret of Monkey Island back in 2009, but who knows what'll happen now that Disney owns the rights to Grim Fandango?

Hopefully they'll realize what a treasure trove of classic '90s adventure games they've got, and eventually release them for modern operating systems. It's sad that Steam and GOG don't have Grim Fandango in any form.

Shenmue

Release details: Developed & published by Sega, 1999 (Japan) / 2000 (worldwide)

Available platform: Sega Dreamcast

Why it's relevant: The grandfather of open-world 3D adventure games

Why hasn't it been re-released? If Sega hadn't stopped making consoles after the Dreamcast, we'd probably see it released somewhere today. Its sequel, Shenmue II, was released on both the Dreamcast and the original Xbox, but the original never left the Sega console. This could be released as a digital download for any of the three current home consoles.

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem

Release details: Developed by Silicon Knights, published by Nintendo, 2002

Available platform: Nintendo GameCube

Why it's relevant: One of the few Mature-rated games ever published by Nintendo. A psychological horror game that redefined the genre with fourth-wall-shattering scares.

Why hasn't it been re-released? I always assumed the chances of this one getting a re-release were slim, since developer Silicon Knights fell apart, and founder Denis Dyack is a polarizing figure to say the least. But apparently the game's creators and Nintendo still get along with each other well enough that a Virtual Console release of Eternal Darkness is a very real possibility... if Nintendo ever gets around to releasing GameCube games on the Virtual Console.

Metroid Fusion

Release details: Developed & published by Nintendo, 2002

Available platform: Game Boy Advance

Why it's relevant: Do you ever get the impression I enjoy Metroid? Because I do.

Why hasn't it been re-released? This was re-released, in a way. It was released as a downloadable title on the 3DS Virtual Console in 2011, but only for "3DS Ambassadors," meaning people who bought a 3DS before a certain date. So for all of us trying to buy Metroid Fusion (or any Game Boy Advance game) on the Virtual Console today, we're out of luck. Obviously Nintendo has the capability to do it, since they did it before. So why aren't they opening the Game Boy Advance gates to the rest of us?

Killer7

Release details: Developed by Grasshopper Manufacture, published by Capcom, 2005

Available platforms: GameCube, PlayStation 2

Why it's relevant: I've made no secret of my love for Killer7. It's the seminal work of auteur Goichi Suda.

Why hasn't it been re-released? This one is complicated by the fact that the developer and publisher haven't worked with each other since the release of the game nine years ago. But can't they put aside their differences in the name of Killer7? This cult classic, with its stylized cel-shaded look, is just begging for an HD remaster on the Wii U or PlayStation 4. It would be gorgeous.

Thoughts on Suda51's new game Killer Is Dead

I've written on this blog before about how much I love Goichi Suda's Killer7. At this point in my life, it may be my favorite game of all time. The avant-garde approach to game design by his studio Grasshopper Manufacture is unmatched.

But as I've also written about on this blog, Suda's games have gone downhill since Killer7 in 2005. He seems to have realized his games have quirky appeal, so he's been banking more and more on the "silly" aspect of his work, without the bleak qualities of Killer7 that make it so evocative.

Grasshopper's first game following Killer7, No More Heroes, was more on the humorous side but still a brilliant game. But Suda's two major productions since then, Shadows of the Damned and Lollipop Chainsaw, are humorous to the point of losing the deeper meaning seen in Suda's older work.

So the announcement of Killer Is Dead is a welcome return to Suda's roots. Billed not as a sequel but a spiritual successor to Killer7, the first real details on Killer Is Dead have emerged over the past few weeks. Its official website is online, and the first official trailer has been released:

It sports the cel-shaded serious look of Killer7 mixed with a healthy dose of the swordplay hack-and-slash of No More Heroes. This is great, although I hope it isn't too button-mashy.

Perhaps my favorite aspect of Killer7 was simply interacting with its bizarre cast of characters and exploring the gameworld. From the first part of the trailer, I was worried it would be an action-adventure game with all "action" and no "adventure".

But the second part of the trailer beginning at the 1:50 mark of the video--the epilogue?--gives me hope. It's an introduction to the game's protagonist, the immaculately-named Mondo Zappa. This reminds me of Killer7 protagonist Garcian Smith, and lovable No More Heroes main character Travis Touchdown. Zappa hints at the next video featuring "a beautiful woman who has devilish hands," and we get to see indeed, a woman with at least ten hands. I CAN'T WAIT FOR MORE!

The prevalence of moon imagery throughout the website and the trailer harkens back to Killer7, and of course, Mondo Zappa is probably a reference to musician Frank Zappa's daughter Moon Zappa. Suda has said in interviews that the game exists in a near-future where lunar tourism is prevalent, but insists that Killer Is Dead isn't a science fiction game. Coming from Grasshopper Manufacture, this could mean anything.

A final note: can Masafumi Takada do the soundtrack, please? He was the man behind the music of Killer7 and No More Heroes, but hasn't worked with Suda since then. Maybe he's the secret behind Grasshopper's greatest works.

My favorite games are the ones I don't understand.

From the polarizing reviews to its quirky creator, plenty of people have written about the 2010 cult hit Deadly Premonition. Despite its incredibly dated graphics and horrendous combat mechanics, Hidetaka "Swery65" Suehiro's intricate Twin Peaks-inspired tale is full of deep character development and a realistic small-town open world that truly feels alive.

What really struck me, though, is how much it reminded me of another Japanese gaming auteur with a similar nickname: Suda51. While Goichi Suda has never made an open-world crime game, the "rough around the edges but incredibly out-there and original" soul is the same.

Suda's newer games have been a bit of a letdown for me, because they've forgotten what makes his work so gripping: the strange dark tone. Killer7 and even the more recent No More Heroes had a very twisted underbelly that made them compelling. It's black humor, but it's also a sort of gallows humor. Shadows of the Damned and Lollipop Chainsaw featured plenty of dark and evil, sure, but they didn't have that certain... je ne sais quoi.

So what is that je ne sais quoi? The more I think about it, the more I realize that the games I think about long after I finish playing them are the ones I don't understand. Deadly Premonition hit me the same way Killer7 did because it hinted that there's more to this game than I can fully comprehend.

We all remember playing Pokémon Red and Blue back in the day, and one of the aspects of the games that kept us coming back was the aura of mystery around them. Before the age of internet FAQs, rumors about the game spread by word-of-mouth. You'd hear "if you go to this place at this certain time and do this, this happens." Because there were a few Easter eggs and glitches like the Rare Candy Trick, this led us to believe that any of the urban legends could be true. And more than anything, that's what made the first Pokémon titles so memorable.

Many games from our youth are like this. Partially because we weren't old enough to fully "get" them, and partially because the internet hadn't given us all the answers to every game yet. I remember everything from Myst to seemingly-innocent games like DinoPark Tycoon feeling like they were full of dark mystery.

Suda's older work captures this feeling perfectly. And I love Deadly Premonition because its creator Swery captures it, too.

Killer7 is why I play video games.

 As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become a pretentious “games as art” person. Nothing sums that up better than Grasshopper Manufacture’s 2005 opus Killer7.

It’s a poorly designed mess. Killer7 is essentially an on-rails shooter with an obtuse storyline and inconsistent difficulty. The controls are awkward and the interface is frustrating to navigate. But perhaps because of all this, Killer7 is beautiful.

This huge barrier to entry and steep learning curve make it all the more satisfying when you can finally comprehend the stylized cel-shaded look and the plot’s dive into Japanese mysticism. The gameplay takes countless twists and turns, and the boss fights are unforgettable.

It’s a game that many people will hate, but if you can get into it, Killer7 pays off in spades. It’s greater than the sum of its parts, and truly a work of art.

What makes this all work is the game’s director, Goichi Suda. He’s something the film industry thrives on, and the video game industry needs more of: Suda is an auteur. He doesn’t use dozens of metrics and playtest a game to death to determine a lowest common denominator of gameplay. He doesn’t care about appealing to the biggest possible audience. Suda makes the games he wants to make.

We need more Suda 51s.