Best Remake, Remaster, or HD Collection of 2017 - Article
by Evan Norris , posted on 05 January 2018 / 5,483 Views
In terms of brand new games, 2017 was one of the better years in recent memory. Yet it also scored big with old games made new again. The industry saw remastered and remade games, collections of classics, and best-sellers with added content and features. Perhaps most remarkable is how well many remasters and collections have sold. Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy passed 2.5 million units several months ago. Meanwhile, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe became the "fastest-selling game" in franchise history, hitting 459,000 copies on launch day in the US.
The Shortlist:
Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
The Winner:
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
When Mario Kart 8 landed in 2014 it was already, debatably, the best kart racer ever made. Then came Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which included all previously-released DLC; added new characters, items, and mechanics; and introduced a spectacular battle mode. It turned what was already a substantial, enjoyable gaming experience into something monumentally large and replayable. With 48 tracks, 42 racers, eight battle arenas, dozens of vehicle customization options, and five battle modes, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is overflowing with content for solo racers and for friends online and offline. How Nintendo will attempt to surpass its greatness with Mario Kart 9 is anyone's guess.
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32 Comments
Shocked, thought it would be crash. Even if you take the stance of MK8 being a better game, Crash is the bigger upgrade.
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Well, it got a resolution bump and some tweaks, so it technically can be considered a remaster.
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I mean personally I'd call it a port, but I guess it doesn't take much to be classed as a remaster these days anyway lol :P
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Barkley (on 06 January 2018)
So a port of a 2 year old game, with increased resolution and a battle mode, beat remaking three entire games from the ps1 from the ground up with everything created from scratch. Not only that but it launched at a cheaper price. Really shows that it's just "I'm a nintendo fan, I'll vote mario kart." rather than the game that actually deserves the award.
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Crash definitely should've won. I had no idea that there was even voting going on.
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Machina (on 05 January 2018)
All these people saying Crash - why didn't you vote?! The user voting was what tipped it for Mario Kart.
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Voting was over the holidays. I bumped the thread several times to increase exposure - http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=233452
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If people actually knew about a this poll to vote between these Four game. Crash would of won this and it's obvious just by reading the chat log here. Crash is a huge improvement of Three games, very deserving of this.
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Missed the vote but c'mon now, Crash all the way! Freaking beautiful game!!! I wasn't even a big Crash fan back in the day but love these games now.
Also where is Samus Returns? And if we are going to toss in only moderately upgraded ports, FAST RMX is a better option than Mario Kart 9 Deluxe. At least it has some serious graphical upgrades and gameplay improvements to go with the added content. MK 8 is just running at 1080p with a new battle mode
I feel that mario kart 8 is wrongfully in this listing. Its a great game, but more of a port than a remake/remaster.
The lack of Wonder Boy The Dragon's Trap here is disapointing, but hey, congrats MK8 DX! Well deserved.
Mario Kart was a remaster? Hmmm... OK. I thought it was a lazy port moreso than a remaster, but ok. Crash and FFXII got robbed indeed.
They're all pretty great games aren't they! So hard to choose which one is best imo.
Crash should won. It is a total remake with huge graphical change. I consider MK8D as Switch version with more content. Even FF and Mario Luigi deserve more than MK8.
Sad that Samus Returns wasn't nominated, definitely deserved the win. Still I enjoyed MK8D a lot and it's probably up there among the best games I played this year
I agree with you mate, for me Samus Returns deserved to be on this list more than Mario & Luigi.
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Crash would be the best remaster/remake. Final Fantasy XII the best game. So, heh xP
MK8 looks basically the same as the wiiu version. Crash should have won
Yes. Every visual element of the game has been vastly improved and plays so much better than the original, unlike mk8 deluxe which looks and plays exactly the same
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MK8D was amazing, got 55 hours out of the single player content alone on it, even better again for the many people who didn't have a Wii-U. Strange the lack of mention of Switch Skyrim or Doom (I know doom isn't so much a remake... but the amount of work to port that to the Switch has to be commended)
In what ways are Skyrim and Doom a remake or a remaster?
And why would the amount of effort for a port factor into a voting contest?
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Skyrim is a remaster of a game which launched in 2011, sure it has been labeled as "special edition" or so, but the game is a remaster with reworked textures, lighting and shadows as well as offering fixes to bugs in the original version.
If you don't consider it a remaster would it be more fair to call it a complete edition? but then.... it has newer features such as motion controls and amiibo support on the Switch which did not exist in the 2011 game.
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Heck, Mario Kart 8 was originally launched on the WiiU in 2014 to suggest that game is a remake/remaster because it is now 1080p rather than 720p but then in the same breath suggest that Skyrim Special edition is not a remake is just ludicrous.
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Mario kart 8 had a lot of changes.
New characters, cars, mini games. Plus they added the double box, and made changes like red shell and blue shell don't hit team mates.
That is a lot more than amiibo support, and motion control.
Also compared to FF12, and Bandicoot I'd be more likely to NOT count Mario Kart,than I would to count skyrim or doom.
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I understand wanting Skyrim to be on the list, but Doom for Switch is neither a remake or remaster.
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I know as I said in my original post it's simply been referred to a lot this year (by groups like digital foundry) as "the impossible port" of the game, which would make it sound like it was rebuilt from the ground up.... however I know this isn't the case because I know that ID Tech 6 scales absolutely amazingly well so they were able to just go back and keep tweaking the settings until they came up with the version which runs at a rather fine 30fps on Switch, again, like I said in my first post, "I know doom isn't so much a remake" It's just an incredible tech feat in a port, it was more a De-Master of the game to get it running on the little beast.
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While I agree of the games listed Mario Kart 8 DX had more content and changes, I have to say the whole HD - HD remaster thing I never agree with. Not when Sony did it with Last of Us and with the upcoming SoC and not here with Mario Kart.
Pretty pathetic. Good thing no one takes this site's gaming opinions seriously.
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Comments below voting threshold
Clear winner here. Mario Kart DX is simply a masterpiece. Its also the best in the series.
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No need for a comment like this. You can express your dislike of Crash some other way.
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