Swifty
08/Apr/07, 01:26 PM
Awesome list from Games Radar with in-depth reaosns as to wy certain games went 'cold' and then were ressurected much to the delights of many gamers :D
enjoy!
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Metal Gear
Bored of gaming's all-too itchy trigger finger, game designer Hideo Kojima's first released title introduced the idea of avoiding bullet-based altercations, instead encouraging an altogether more stealthy approach. The game was, of course, Metal Gear and it made its debut on the MSX2 home computer way back in 1987. The story gave birth to one of gaming's most famous characters - special forces operative, Solid Snake - as he embarked on a covert mission to destroy the nuclear missile launching mech, Metal Gear. This important piece of gaming heritage most recently popped up in Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, where the full game was included as a nice extra.
When did the series go stony cold?
The sequel - Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake - was released exclusively in Japan for the MSX2 in 1990. The story goes that Kojima was never planning a follow-up, but changed his mind when he discovered that publisher Konami was creating a spin-off sequel, Snake's Revenge (which was released for NES in Europe and America). Kojima's true, second part of the Metal Gear series introduced a host of new features - Snake could now crawl and hide under objects, while enemies could detect noises, were given greater fields of view and a third state of alert (alert-evasion-infiltration). Metal Gear 2 also focused much more on the game's characters and storyline, introducing cut-scenes to develop the unfolding plot.
A new king is born!
Kojima's vision of stealth gameplay had - somehow - remained largely unexplored by other developers and when Konami released Metal Gear Solid for PlayStation in 1998 it caused an absolute storm of excitement with its trademark 'Tactical Espionage Action'. Despite most of the gameplay elements from Metal Gear 2 reappearing, the game felt fresh and quite unlike anything that preceded it. Critics across the board loved it, the game shipped over 6 million copies worldwide and it's still considered by many to be one of the greatest, most important videogames of all time.
Does it live on?
Since its resurrection the Metal Gear series has taken centre stage on Sony's consoles. PS2 sequels Sons of Liberty and Snake Eater have both been massive hits (selling somewhere in the region of 12 million copies worldwide between them), while various remakes and special editions have ensured that interest in Kojima's trailblazing series remains vertiginously high. Right now, though, all eyes are covertly fixed on Solid Snake's PS3 excursion - Guns of the Patriots - which, we hope, will be with us by the end of the year.
--------
Prince of Persia
The kinetic adventures of Babylon's athletic blue blood first appeared in 1989 on Apple II and quickly leapt to a multitude of other platforms, including Sega Master System and NES. The original was a running and jumping race against time - players were given an hour to navigate through 13 levels, rescue the imprisoned Princess and complete the game. The mixture of sword-based combat, ground breaking character animation, trap-lined platforming and neatly designed puzzles ensured that Prince of Persia stood out from the hoi polloi at a time when every bearded man with a home computer was having a pop at making games.
When did the series go stony cold?
10 years after the original (and six years after the sequel, Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame), Prince of Persia 3D was released for PC and Dreamcast. The introduction of an extra dimension to the previously flat design was handled pretty well, with some excellent levels crafted to really show off the Prince's acrobatic talents. However, the game was dogged by terrible controls and a stubbornly fixed camera that was wholly unsuited to the flux-focused gameplay.
A new king is born!
In 2003 publisher Ubisoft announced that it was working with series creator Jordan Mechner on a brand new Prince of Persia game, subtitled The Sands of Time. Using the 1989 original's core elements as a blueprint - acrobatic moves, the notion of time, sword fighting, deadly traps, romance etc - the development team created a modern classic. Despite receiving critical acclaim, however, Sands of Time enjoyed only moderate success in terms of sales.
Does it live on?
Since its resurrection Prince of Persia has provided gamers with mixed riches. The two sequels - Warrior Within and The Two Thrones - failed to capture the delicate wonders of Sands of Time. Both games have been tweaked and ported to other systems - Warrior Within appearing on PSP as Revelations, while Two Thrones is being dressed as Rival Swords for PSP and Wii. An excellent turn-based strategy DS title, Battles of Prince of Persia, also exists. What we're really waiting for, though, is the Prince's debut on PS3
---------
Warhawk
A futuristic-styled, aerial combat game, Warhawk started life on PlayStation in 1995. At the time it engaged the player with intense action, amazing graphics, exciting weapons and a wonderfully tangible control system. We had the opportunity to play PSone's Warhawk again recently - using a retro, motion-sensitive pad of all things - and it was a bit of a smack in the face seeing just how dated the game looks. Contrary to our nostalgic view of the game, in today's landscape it's ugly and borders on the unplayable.
When did the series go stony cold?
Warhawk started and finished with its PSone outing, despite the game being well received by critics. There was never a clamour of demand for a sequel and, by all accounts, this first-generation PSone effort was quickly forgotten as Sony's console gained a bulging portfolio of games. Warhawk's developer, SingleTrac, closed its doors in 2000, having produced a string of other PSone titles (including Twisted Metal, Jet Moto, Rogue Trip: Vacation 2012), although some of its staff had left a year earlier to form a new studio, Incognito Entertainment.
A new king is born!
During Sony's PS3 unveiling conference at E3 2005 (the one with all those internet famous 'target footage' movies), one of the games revealed was a totally spruced and rather fancy looking Warhawk, developed by - you guessed it - Incognito. The trailer showed retro-futuristic soldiers, swarms of high-speed jets buzzing over a wooded landscape and a flying armada of hulking great, battle-ship style craft. Fast forward to Sony's 2006 E3 conference and Warhawk reappeared, this time being used as a showpiece for PS3's non-rumbling, motion-sensing controller. Since then we've seen other glimpses of the game, showing both ground and aerial based skirmishing.
Does it live on?
Still firmly ensconced within Incognito's development bunker, Warhawk isn't actually due to take flight until later this year. What we have seen of the game, though, gives us great hope that it's going to hit PS3 with considerable impact - certainly the promise of epic, 32-player battles has got our collective cockpit all steamed up.
----------
Ninja Gaiden
Starting life fairly anonymously in American arcades in 1988, this cabinet-based martial arts brawler plonked up to two players into the nimble slippers of ninjas as they battled through cultist-littered mean streets in a Double Dragon stylee. Fairly uninspired and repetitive, besides the ability to hurl enemies into various objects and some suitably nimble - although slowly animated - attacks, the game was thin on notable features. It did, however, have a gloriously gruesome 'continue' screen - an image of a shackled ninja with a steadily lowering, spinning saw blade inching closer to his chest with every passing second. If the player failed to feed in any more coins, the screen turned a bloody shade of red...
When did the series go stony cold?
After a string of console games varying in degrees of quality (Ninja Gaiden Episode II: The Dark Sword of Chaos on NES in 1990 being the celebratory high point, and sloppy arcade conversion Ninja Gaiden on Mega Drive in '92 being the depressing nadir), the series hit the brakes in '95 with Ninja Gaiden Trilogy on SNES. Packaging the three ninja outings (Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom being the third), the bundle made a few tweaks and visual improvements to the originals. It also changed the blood from red to Nintendo-friendly green.
A new king is born!
In the development womb for over five years, a resurrected Ninja Gaiden finally appeared exclusively on Xbox in 2004 to a near deafening, resounding roar of acclaim from critics and breathed new life into the series with the force of a tornado. It looked stunning and played like a dream - controlling the game's chief ninja, Ryu Hayabusa, was a fluid treat, with some awesome, razor sharp weapons at his disposal to slice through the relentless - but always brilliant - action. Blood flowed. Heads rolled. And the people did rejoice.
Does it live on?
Since its dramatic reappearance on the scene, a special edition of the Xbox Ninja Gaiden, called Ninja Gaiden Black, has been released, offering new content, two additional difficulty settings and a version of the original arcade Ninja Gaiden. An additional remake of Xbox Ninja Gaiden is also in the pipeline for PlayStation 3, boasting vastly upgraded graphics, new weapons, new scenarios, new combat moves and an additional playable character
enjoy!
--------
Metal Gear
Bored of gaming's all-too itchy trigger finger, game designer Hideo Kojima's first released title introduced the idea of avoiding bullet-based altercations, instead encouraging an altogether more stealthy approach. The game was, of course, Metal Gear and it made its debut on the MSX2 home computer way back in 1987. The story gave birth to one of gaming's most famous characters - special forces operative, Solid Snake - as he embarked on a covert mission to destroy the nuclear missile launching mech, Metal Gear. This important piece of gaming heritage most recently popped up in Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, where the full game was included as a nice extra.
When did the series go stony cold?
The sequel - Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake - was released exclusively in Japan for the MSX2 in 1990. The story goes that Kojima was never planning a follow-up, but changed his mind when he discovered that publisher Konami was creating a spin-off sequel, Snake's Revenge (which was released for NES in Europe and America). Kojima's true, second part of the Metal Gear series introduced a host of new features - Snake could now crawl and hide under objects, while enemies could detect noises, were given greater fields of view and a third state of alert (alert-evasion-infiltration). Metal Gear 2 also focused much more on the game's characters and storyline, introducing cut-scenes to develop the unfolding plot.
A new king is born!
Kojima's vision of stealth gameplay had - somehow - remained largely unexplored by other developers and when Konami released Metal Gear Solid for PlayStation in 1998 it caused an absolute storm of excitement with its trademark 'Tactical Espionage Action'. Despite most of the gameplay elements from Metal Gear 2 reappearing, the game felt fresh and quite unlike anything that preceded it. Critics across the board loved it, the game shipped over 6 million copies worldwide and it's still considered by many to be one of the greatest, most important videogames of all time.
Does it live on?
Since its resurrection the Metal Gear series has taken centre stage on Sony's consoles. PS2 sequels Sons of Liberty and Snake Eater have both been massive hits (selling somewhere in the region of 12 million copies worldwide between them), while various remakes and special editions have ensured that interest in Kojima's trailblazing series remains vertiginously high. Right now, though, all eyes are covertly fixed on Solid Snake's PS3 excursion - Guns of the Patriots - which, we hope, will be with us by the end of the year.
--------
Prince of Persia
The kinetic adventures of Babylon's athletic blue blood first appeared in 1989 on Apple II and quickly leapt to a multitude of other platforms, including Sega Master System and NES. The original was a running and jumping race against time - players were given an hour to navigate through 13 levels, rescue the imprisoned Princess and complete the game. The mixture of sword-based combat, ground breaking character animation, trap-lined platforming and neatly designed puzzles ensured that Prince of Persia stood out from the hoi polloi at a time when every bearded man with a home computer was having a pop at making games.
When did the series go stony cold?
10 years after the original (and six years after the sequel, Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame), Prince of Persia 3D was released for PC and Dreamcast. The introduction of an extra dimension to the previously flat design was handled pretty well, with some excellent levels crafted to really show off the Prince's acrobatic talents. However, the game was dogged by terrible controls and a stubbornly fixed camera that was wholly unsuited to the flux-focused gameplay.
A new king is born!
In 2003 publisher Ubisoft announced that it was working with series creator Jordan Mechner on a brand new Prince of Persia game, subtitled The Sands of Time. Using the 1989 original's core elements as a blueprint - acrobatic moves, the notion of time, sword fighting, deadly traps, romance etc - the development team created a modern classic. Despite receiving critical acclaim, however, Sands of Time enjoyed only moderate success in terms of sales.
Does it live on?
Since its resurrection Prince of Persia has provided gamers with mixed riches. The two sequels - Warrior Within and The Two Thrones - failed to capture the delicate wonders of Sands of Time. Both games have been tweaked and ported to other systems - Warrior Within appearing on PSP as Revelations, while Two Thrones is being dressed as Rival Swords for PSP and Wii. An excellent turn-based strategy DS title, Battles of Prince of Persia, also exists. What we're really waiting for, though, is the Prince's debut on PS3
---------
Warhawk
A futuristic-styled, aerial combat game, Warhawk started life on PlayStation in 1995. At the time it engaged the player with intense action, amazing graphics, exciting weapons and a wonderfully tangible control system. We had the opportunity to play PSone's Warhawk again recently - using a retro, motion-sensitive pad of all things - and it was a bit of a smack in the face seeing just how dated the game looks. Contrary to our nostalgic view of the game, in today's landscape it's ugly and borders on the unplayable.
When did the series go stony cold?
Warhawk started and finished with its PSone outing, despite the game being well received by critics. There was never a clamour of demand for a sequel and, by all accounts, this first-generation PSone effort was quickly forgotten as Sony's console gained a bulging portfolio of games. Warhawk's developer, SingleTrac, closed its doors in 2000, having produced a string of other PSone titles (including Twisted Metal, Jet Moto, Rogue Trip: Vacation 2012), although some of its staff had left a year earlier to form a new studio, Incognito Entertainment.
A new king is born!
During Sony's PS3 unveiling conference at E3 2005 (the one with all those internet famous 'target footage' movies), one of the games revealed was a totally spruced and rather fancy looking Warhawk, developed by - you guessed it - Incognito. The trailer showed retro-futuristic soldiers, swarms of high-speed jets buzzing over a wooded landscape and a flying armada of hulking great, battle-ship style craft. Fast forward to Sony's 2006 E3 conference and Warhawk reappeared, this time being used as a showpiece for PS3's non-rumbling, motion-sensing controller. Since then we've seen other glimpses of the game, showing both ground and aerial based skirmishing.
Does it live on?
Still firmly ensconced within Incognito's development bunker, Warhawk isn't actually due to take flight until later this year. What we have seen of the game, though, gives us great hope that it's going to hit PS3 with considerable impact - certainly the promise of epic, 32-player battles has got our collective cockpit all steamed up.
----------
Ninja Gaiden
Starting life fairly anonymously in American arcades in 1988, this cabinet-based martial arts brawler plonked up to two players into the nimble slippers of ninjas as they battled through cultist-littered mean streets in a Double Dragon stylee. Fairly uninspired and repetitive, besides the ability to hurl enemies into various objects and some suitably nimble - although slowly animated - attacks, the game was thin on notable features. It did, however, have a gloriously gruesome 'continue' screen - an image of a shackled ninja with a steadily lowering, spinning saw blade inching closer to his chest with every passing second. If the player failed to feed in any more coins, the screen turned a bloody shade of red...
When did the series go stony cold?
After a string of console games varying in degrees of quality (Ninja Gaiden Episode II: The Dark Sword of Chaos on NES in 1990 being the celebratory high point, and sloppy arcade conversion Ninja Gaiden on Mega Drive in '92 being the depressing nadir), the series hit the brakes in '95 with Ninja Gaiden Trilogy on SNES. Packaging the three ninja outings (Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom being the third), the bundle made a few tweaks and visual improvements to the originals. It also changed the blood from red to Nintendo-friendly green.
A new king is born!
In the development womb for over five years, a resurrected Ninja Gaiden finally appeared exclusively on Xbox in 2004 to a near deafening, resounding roar of acclaim from critics and breathed new life into the series with the force of a tornado. It looked stunning and played like a dream - controlling the game's chief ninja, Ryu Hayabusa, was a fluid treat, with some awesome, razor sharp weapons at his disposal to slice through the relentless - but always brilliant - action. Blood flowed. Heads rolled. And the people did rejoice.
Does it live on?
Since its dramatic reappearance on the scene, a special edition of the Xbox Ninja Gaiden, called Ninja Gaiden Black, has been released, offering new content, two additional difficulty settings and a version of the original arcade Ninja Gaiden. An additional remake of Xbox Ninja Gaiden is also in the pipeline for PlayStation 3, boasting vastly upgraded graphics, new weapons, new scenarios, new combat moves and an additional playable character