Features That Need To Be In Every New Remaster

Releasing a well-done remaster can be a great thing for gamers, particularly when there aren’t many new games coming out. However, that wasn’t really the situation for two major remasters in 2025: Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles and Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2, as Ghost of Yotei was released shortly after. Regardless of when they come out, there are specific features each remaster should include when it’s first available.

Let’s talk about pricing. Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles costs $50, which seems fair for a remastered game. However, Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2 is priced a little high at $70. Getting the price just right can attract more fans and new players. Besides price, there are several features that will make both longtime fans and newcomers enjoy these re-releases even more. These features are pretty standard for their respective genres, but not all developers prioritize them. Here’s a quick recap.

Fast-Forward And Rewinding

Getting Through The Tedium

In role-playing games, the ability to speed up gameplay is quite common. Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles is a recent title that includes this feature, and most of the original PlayStation Final Fantasy games that received updated versions also have a function to quickly advance through scenes.

For role-playing games, it would be great to have an auto-battle feature with the option to speed things up, something The Ivalice Chronicles already offers. The ability to rewind gameplay is less common and usually found outside of RPGs. Rare Replay is a prime example – it included many classic Rare games like Battletoads, and being able to rewind through challenging levels was a significant benefit.

Difficulty Modes (If There Weren’t Any Before)

Make It Easier For Newbies

Remasters are fantastic for players who fondly remember a game from their childhood but haven’t been able to play it recently. Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles is a prime example; it was well-known as a challenging tactical RPG that didn’t offer simpler difficulty settings.

Fortunately, the remastered version included different difficulty settings, and other games planning remasters should do the same. Offering easier modes can bring in new players, and adding more challenging levels can appeal to experienced, dedicated gamers.

Tweaking Gameplay Or Adding Lost Content

Give Old Fans Something Enticing

One of the best parts of getting a remastered game – especially after a long wait of ten years or more – is finally being able to play a beloved classic legally. But it’s even more exciting when the developers don’t just update the graphics; they really commit to the project and change how the game plays or add new content.

Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army is a great recent instance of how much a game can be altered during a remaster – the changes to its combat were so significant, it felt nearly like a completely new game. While the story and basic structure remained largely intact, the gameplay experience was updated to feel more like a modern Shin Megami Tensei title. Similarly, .hack//G.U. Last Recode didn’t just polish up the original games; it added a fourth, though smaller, installment, which was quite impressive for a remaster.

Switching Between Graphics

For 1:1 Remasters

When a game gets remastered, fans often hope for new content, but sometimes the goal is simply to improve how it looks. Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is a great illustration of this – it’s a remastered version of the original game that’s almost exactly the same. Players can switch back to the original graphics at any time, though they’ve been slightly updated to appear more polished.

Another good example is Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered, which also allows players to switch between different graphics settings. It’s convenient to be able to see how the game looks in each mode with just one button press, rather than having to find a comparison video on YouTube.

Adding Voices To Text-Based Dialogue

Listen!

Before the PlayStation 2 era, most games relied on text to display conversations. As console technology improved, developers could include more content on each game disc. For example, the recent remaster of The Ivalice Chronicles added complete voice acting to the entire game – a significant undertaking.

The acting is also very good, which is a major benefit. When possible, adding new voice actors would be a significant improvement. Capcom should have thought about this when they initially released the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy.

Switching Encounters For RPGs

Get Rid Of Tedium

As a gamer, I was honestly surprised to learn that random battles stuck around in RPGs all the way up to the PS3 era – and even a bit beyond! Seriously, stumbling into fights with no warning? It’s just a pain. Thankfully, some developers realized this and got rid of it. Chrono Trigger was a huge step forward in that regard – it really showed how much better things could be when you weren’t constantly running into enemies you couldn’t see coming.

When updating older games, some developers now let players choose whether or not to have random battles, similar to what was done in Final Fantasy 7 – and it’s a fantastic feature. In The Ivalice Chronicles, players can control when they engage in battles by choosing specific icons on the map, or just focus on traveling. These are two excellent examples that other RPG developers revisiting their classic games should consider.

Getting Extras

In This Case, More Is Better

Ultimately, a remaster should be a tribute to the original game or series. When a series has multiple titles, it’s best to remaster several and release them together as a collection, similar to the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, rather than repeatedly re-releasing each game separately to maximize profits.

These updated game versions will also feature bonus content such as vintage trailers, old commercials, magazine advertisements, packaging artwork, and interviews, among other things. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection is a great illustration of this, offering a wealth of TMNT material beyond just the games themselves. Digital Eclipse, as a company, consistently excels at this type of promotional approach.

2025-10-03 15:18