There has been a lot of discussion about game remakes recently. The release of Final Fantasy VII Remake was one of the biggest releases of this year, but then people realized that it may not be the remake they previously thought it was. Trials of Mana was released, and then it was the remake that people thought FFVIIR would be. Sakura Wars had a remake, but it was almost impossible to identify it with the original IP. Meanwhile, Resident Evil III has been redone and somehow completely updated, remaining true to the original.
How are all these remakes so different from each other? Well, we use the term “remake” for many things in the gaming world, but we are actually describing different practices. Some remakes are unlikely to update anything from the original IP, while some will completely destroy it and change everything you know and love, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse.
To help you understand all these different design philosophies, we try to categorize the many different styles of game updates, from the least changed to the most changed. We hope this article answers your questions.
Relaunch
Releases are simple. They are the same game released again. Do you know those editions of Game of the Year? They are re-releases. Sometimes re-releases come with new content, and when that happens, it confuses a lot of people. Persona 5 Royal is a good example.
Rebalancing
Rebalancing is a relaunch of a game, but with new content created specifically to refine the experience of the first game. Sometimes they are bug fixes, but most of the time they are complete rework in certain aspects of the game. This was very common in fighting games in the Street Fighter II era, where a million new editions of the same game were released, each with a few new content patches along with a major character rebalancing update.
Rebalancing has become obsolete in the age of online patches, however, from time to time you will still see some games coming out with a rebalancing along with a patch, like Skullgirls: 2nd Encore or Street Fighter V: Champion Edition.
Port
Ports are, again, relatively simple. They are a relaunch of a game for a new platform. There are actually two main types of ports. The first is the intra-generation, when a game is ported to another platform of the same generation. When a console game arrives on the PC or vice versa, it is an intergenerational port as well. An intergenerational port is when a game is transferred from devices from one generation to another. All of those Wii U games that come to the Switch are intergenerational ports.
Sometimes, ports will include new features or new content, but most of the time they are basically the same game. Some of the best versions will add extra gameplay at the end of the original game. Atlus is well known for this. There is no specific name for a type of port that just adds an extra game to the original game, but it is a practice that we would like to see more of.
It is also important to note that all the "collections" of old games that you see on newer consoles are also ports. The Mega Man Z / ZX Legacy Collection is actually just a multi-port package.
Remaster
For the most part, all the categories we've discussed so far reuse elements (assets) from the original version of the game. Even if they don't, any new elements included are not noticeably better than the original elements.
Remasters try to change that. The focus of any remaster is the visual. They seek to update the graphics and sound of any old game. Remasters will present the player with smoother textures, updated models, re-recorded voice tracks, new soundtracks and more. They are also generally intergenerational ports, as it is extremely rare for a game to need to be remastered in the same generation.
If your game comes with “HD” at the end, it's probably a remaster. Some remasters barely update anything, simply running the original game through some kind of texture filter, while others are gigantic endeavors to completely upgrade old games to modern hardware, like the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy and Spyro Reignited Trilogy collections.
Retranslation and rewriting
Every once in a while, a game is relaunched with an entirely new script. The gameplay remains the same, and atSometimes even the graphics remain the same, but the text and, in recent cases, the voice actors are completely different. This is a rewritten game or, as we use to call them, a retranslation.
Why is it more common to call them that? Well, it is rare (but not unprecedented) for a game to be rewritten in its original language, but games are often rewritten when they are being translated into new countries. Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions is a very good example. His entire script was remade from scratch to more accurately represent the story that the original Final Fantasy Tactics was trying to portray.
It is rare that a game has only one back-translation. Back-translations are usually attached to ports or otherwise released as patches. This means that back-translations generally add a lot of other extra content along with them. Still, you will find games classified as back-translations when your new scripts are the main selling point.
Remake
This is what we usually mean when we say the word "redo". In these games, the general plot, characters, universe, etc. from the original game are retained, and the general idea of gameplay from the original is maintained, but everything is rebuilt from scratch. That means new elements, new control schemes, perhaps some new content, new rebalancing, and so on.
Trials of Mana is a good example of what we consider a classic remake. Its original version was a 16-bit SNES game. This new version is a modern action RPG, but much of it has remained the same. The script is the same, although now the characters have a voice. The characters' appearances are basically the same, although they are HD models instead of sprites. The battle system has changed a lot, but you face the same enemies, use the same spells with the same effects, earn the same XP and so on. For all intents and purposes, it is just a modern version of a game that we had played before. Resident Evil 3, which was released this year, is a good example as well.
Note that "demakes", ironically, also fall into this category. Taking a modern game and changing its resources so that it runs on an inferior technology platform still counts as "redoing" the game.
Reimagination and adaptation
This is where things get a little complicated. In the world of cinema, the line between a remake and a reimagination is clear. If the script and the plot are basically the same, but with new actors, it's a remake. If it is different, then it is a reimagination or an adaptation. In short, reimaginations are the original property, but with an added “what if”. What if that element of the story was different? What if this character was different?
In games, it gets a little more complicated because you can change a lot in a game without changing its history, and it will still look like a completely different game. Changing a game genre, for example, would be as much an adaptation as changing the cast of characters in a game. You could argue that the leap from the original Wolfenstein to Wolfenstein 3D and then to the modern Wolfenstein series consists of reimaginations and adaptations. Of course, you can also argue that they are ...
Pseudo-Sequence
These are rare, but an interesting type of remake. Although they appear to be one of the other remakes on this list, it is eventually revealed that they are actually taking place in the universe of the original game. Final Fantasy VII Remake is actually a pseudo-sequence, just like the modern Star Trek movie franchise and arguably the modern Doom games (although it has been revealed that you are playing with the original Doomslayer).
At best, pseudo-sequences are brilliant acts of narrative subversion. At worst, they are corny tricks that seek to please fans, but end up not pleasing anyone.
Reboot
Now we're reaching the end of the remake spectrum. Reboots throw away just about everything except the basic concept of the original IP. Sometimes they reuse familiar names or elements from the original story, but most of the time you are getting something completely new.
DMC, the much-maligned reboot of Devil May Cry is an example of a ... well ... reboot. Sure, you still played as a half-demon named Dante, but for all intents and purposes, he was a different character from the Dante we knew and loved. The villains were different, the locations were different and even the battle system was different.
That said ... it wasn't as bad as people rememberbram.
Spiritual sequence and inspiration
Finally, we have the furthest end of the remake spectrum, where literally everything is thrown away, including the original IP! These games are basically recognizable as similar in formula to other games we know and love, but otherwise they have nothing in common.
Many classic designers abandon their original companies to create spiritual sequences for their original games. Bloodstained, for example, is a spiritual sequel to Symphony of the Night. The game is very similar to SotN, but has no characters in common. In fact, the only thing it has in common is mechanics, and yet it has been widely updated.
However, there are many other games that also count as spiritual sequences. One Step from Eden is a spiritual sequel to Mega Man EXE, but had no team of developers in common. 20XX was the same for Mega Man X. The main change here was that both spiritual sequences are also rogue-like.
So there you have it, the many types of updates in the video game world. Does that change anything for you? Will that make you support more games like Final Fantasy VII Remake? Probably not, but look, people like to divide things into categories. So have fun!