18 Video Games We Want Rebooted NOW (Updated)

Video game reboots are all the rage right now, and we’re not quite sure whether we love them or hate them. There have been more than just a few reboots over the past ten years, and it seems with every new console generation, we get a wave of new takes on “old” classics.

Not all reboots are made equally, though, and some of these new takes don’t quite work out like we might’ve hoped (looking at you SimCity; looking at you Bionic Commando; looking at you Sonic the Hedgehog). There have been numerous games that have worked out for the better, too, including Doom 3, Rayman Origins and Fallout 3.

With our shiny new Xbox Ones and PS4s (okay and Wii U *rolls eyes*), there is a lot of potential for some major resurgences from some key games of our past. Here are the top 18 video game reboots we want to play:

See Also: Top 20 Forgotten Role-Playing Games

The Mark of Kri

Developer: Sony San Diego
Who Owns the Rights: Sony

Although the Mark of Kri franchise was short-lived, it went on to influence great games like God of War and Viking: Battle for Asgard (don’t you dare say Viking wasn’t a great game). Mark of Kri was filled with great Polynesian art, and Rau’s tale was well-written. Gameplay, of course, is king, and Mark of Kri‘s combat system was nearly flawless for its time. The game gave Rau a crow friend named Kuzo, who would be able to scope out the situation ahead. It was a mechanic that wasn’t seen before MoK.

The game also featured adaptive music that helped shape its overall aura, and it’s one of those games that came out, was great, pushed out a sequel that didn’t do so well, and then disappeared. I can’t even begin to imagine how great a Mark of Kri reboot would be. It’s probably been forgotten since Kratos was introduced, but we have no doubt that Sony could find a way to make it unique once again.

Dino Crisis

Developer: Capcom
Who Owns the Rights: Dino Crisis

Dino Crisis is a survival horror game developed and published by Capcom in 1999. It takes place on a remote island called Ibis, where a team of scientists has been working on a top-secret research project involving the genetic manipulation of dinosaurs. Naturally, something goes wrong, and the dinosaurs escape from their containment and begin to wreak havoc on the island.

Players take on the role of Regina, a special forces agent sent to the island to investigate and rescue the remaining survivors. The game features a mix of puzzle-solving, exploration, and combat, as players navigate the island and confront various types of dinosaurs, including T-Rexes, raptors, and pterodactyls.

The game’s story is filled with twists and turns, as players uncover the sinister truth behind the research project and the motivations of the various characters involved. Along the way, they must use their wits and skills to survive the various challenges and dangers that they encounter.

For being something so cool, we’re surprised that dinosaur games aren’t more prominent nowadays. Sure, there’s Ark: Survival Evolved that’s currently in Early Access — and we love it — but it’s not a final release and by no means hits the horror elements, and before that, dino games have pretty much been in a dry spell. Remember the Dino Crisis series, though? The series was a brilliant survival horror fest from Capcom which used dinosaurs to strike fear into players. Dino Crisis was good but wasn’t as fleshed out as we would have liked. Then, Dino Crisis 2 came along and was complete badassery.

We haven’t had a fear-inducing dinosaur game in quite some time, and the graphical and sound capabilities of the PS5 and Xbox Series X create a ripe opportunity to bring the franchise to a new generation of gamers. Maybe if Capcom would take a break from releasing Ultras and Supers for Street Fighter, they could put some devs on a Dino Crisis reboot.

Parasite Eve

Developer: Square USA
Who Owns it: Square Enix

If you were a PlayStation owner, it’s likely that you played the original Parasite Eve, and if you were adventurous enough, Parasite Eve 2. This was one of Square Enix’s (at the time Squaresoft) coolest IPs, one that didn’t get enough respect, in our opinion. The story followed an NYC police officer as she attempts to stop a monster that is causing NYC residents to spontaneously combust.

Parasite Eve is a survival horror video game developed by SquareSoft and released for the PlayStation console in 1998. The game was based on a novel of the same name by Hideaki Sena and features a mix of role-playing, horror, and action elements.

The story of revolves around Aya Brea, a rookie New York police officer, who finds herself caught up in a series of bizarre events that lead to the emergence of a new species of creatures. These creatures are the result of a genetic mutation caused by a mysterious entity known as Eve.

As the game progresses, Aya must use her combat and survival skills to battle the mutated creatures and uncover the truth behind Eve’s existence. Along the way, she discovers that she has special abilities and that she is the only one who can stop Eve from destroying humanity.

Parasite Eve’s gameplay combines traditional RPG elements with real-time combat and exploration. Players can use a variety of weapons and spells to defeat enemies, and they must also manage their inventory and conserve resources to survive. The game features a range of challenging bosses and puzzles, as well as a deep and immersive storyline.

Overall, Parasite Eve is considered a classic in the survival horror genre and has been praised for its engaging story, innovative gameplay, and impressive graphics for its time. It has since spawned several sequels and adaptations, including a film and a manga series.

The game was filled with cool cutscenes, tough battles, and tense moments. But we haven’t heard from the franchise since 2010 when The 3rd Birthday was released for the PSP (don’t worry, we didn’t play it either), and before that, it was 2000. The series could become memorable again if it were brought to the PS4, and it’s certainly a video game reboot many fans want.

Legacy of Kain

Developer: Crystal Dynamics
Who Owns It: Square Enix

We can’t tell you how many hours we spent playing and replaying the original Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver game (and after writing this, we’ll probably want to jump back in yet again), but it was a gothic masterpiece and the quintessential LoK game (which shouldn’t be much of a surprise is that it was directed by Naughty Dog’s Amy Hennig). Now that Nosgoth has re-introduced the world to a new generation of gamers, a Legacy of Kain reboot could have a large potential audience.

Zombies Ate My Neighbors

Developer: LucasArts
Who Owns It: Konami

Most people think zombie games are worthy of an eye roll nowadays, since the market is so saturated with zombie titles. But, we love the fact that zombie games are so prominent. Zombies Ate My Neighbors was an absolute gem on the SNES, but if you go back and play it now, the design, of course, doesn’t hold up. All of the zombies virtually looked the same, there were random trampolines everywhere, sometimes two right next to each other (which doesn’t make any sense — who would own two trampolines?), and the characters were clearly products of the 90s. Gameplay, though, is king, and Zombies Ate My Neighbors had great gameplay. Bringing ZAMN to a new generation of gamers would be admittedly tough, but game developers are imaginative, aren’t they?

See Also: 15 Best Zombie Games of All-Time: The Ultimate List

Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX

Developer: Underground Development, Neon Studios
Who Owns the Rights:

Dave Mirra’s BMX was pure gold, and to date, there hasn’t been a BMX franchise on a video game console. It’s a niche game, unfortunately, which meant if you weren’t into BMX at the X-Games, you likely weren’t going to buy it. The soundtrack still holds up, but the graphics do not, of course. Bringing Dave Mirra to the PS4 and Xbox One would be great, as we’d love to play an updated version of the game in stunning HD quality (because what’s the point of doing a tailwhip if you can’t do it in glorious HD).

Unreal Tournament

Developer: Epic Games
Who Owns the Rights: Epic Games

Unreal Tournament‘s multiplayer was second to none, and I spent countless hours playing in the online arenas. For its time, the character models looked great, multiplayer was well balanced, weapons were cool, and the levels were fun. Everything about Unreal Tournament was great. There’s currently a reboot in the works that will take the same name, and luckily, it’s still being developed by Epic Games. The game is currently in a pre-alpha state, and Epic is crowdsourcing contributions from fans. Epic has been live-streaming the development and progress on Twitch for months, and the newest build was showcased at GDC. The footage we’ve seen looks amazing, and we can’t wait to jump back into the arenas if it ever actually releases. Until then, we’ll have to mention it on our list of the 20 video game reboots we want to play.

Timesplitters

Developer: Free Radical Design
Who Owns the Rights: Crytek

Timesplitters will forever be cemented into our minds as one of the coolest FPS games of all time, at least one of the most unique. It, of course, had a time traveling system which allowed players to battle in a war at different locations and different centuries. It was filled with self-deprecating humor, and its comic book style would make it an interesting PS4/Xbox One game. According to developer Steve Ellis (in an interview with TechRadar), the likeliness of seeing a Timesplitters 4, which was in development for awhile, is slim to none, since every publisher they spoke to has said ‘I don’t know how to sell this’ because there wasn’t a strong enough character to put on the front of the box. Bummer. But if the fans are loud enough, it could entice a publisher enough to even consider it.

Bully

Developer: Rockstar
Publisher: Rockstar

Bully, for its time, was an impressive open world game. The concept was cool, too: you, Jimmy Hopkins, were involuntarily enrolled at Bullworth Academy and discover it’s filled with bullies. Your mission is to take those bullies down. It’s a brilliant narrative, and especially with the prominence of actual bullying in today’s social media filled world, it would be easy for Rockstar to do something new with it.

Hydro Thunder

Developer: Midway San Diego
Who Owns it: Microsoft

Although Hydro Thunder is a one-dimensional game, that one dimension is pretty badass. Arcadey, speedboat racing that was created during Midway’s hay day? Count us in. After originally releasing in late 1999/early 2000 (depending on what platform you played it on), fans got an HD reboot 10 years later, which was brought to Xbox Live in the form of Hydro Thunder Hurricane. The problem was that it was still too one-dimensional. It’d be great if we could get a reboot that involved maybe a battle element of some sort (think Twisted Metal meets Hydro Thunder), or even some sort of upgrade mechanic. It probably wouldn’t be formidable enough for a full retail release, but in today’s digital age, an XBL or PSN title could do some damage.

SSX

Developer: EA Canada
Owners: EA

SSX was an absolutely ridiculous, over-the-top snowboarding game that contained beautiful level design and fun, local multiplayer. Unfortunately, the latest release in the franchise which hit in 2002 stripped out the couch co-op. Bummer. But there hasn’t been a snowboarding game for Xbox One and PS4 players yet, and SSX is a prime candidate (as well as Coolboarders).

Tecmo Super Bowl

Developer: Tecmo
Owners: Tecmo

Tecmo Super Bowl is one of our favorite retro titles, and it’s clear now more than ever that Madden needs some competition. Bringing Tecmo Super Bowl to the new generation of consoles would be every sports fan’s dream, if it’s done right. Of course, with EA currently owning the exclusive rights to use NFL players, likenesses, logos and names, we’ll probably have to wait a bit before we see the game even start development.

Twisted Metal

Developer: Eat Sleep Play
Who Owns it: Sony

People love driving fast and blowing shit up. In fact, one of the big appeals of Rocket League is that your car is super fast and you can crash it into other players. Twisted Metal was once an A-tier PlayStation game, although it has since slipped into B-tier territory. Of course, we already received a Twisted Metal reboot just three years ago that wasn’t as formidable as it should’ve been, lacking a character variety and story mode that made the original series so great. It’s probably too early to re-reboot it, but this is one of the essential video game reboots that needs to be brought to the PS4 ASAP.

Katamari

Developer: Namco
Who Owns it: Namco Bandai

The Katamari series had been consistently great up through Beautiful Katamari in 2007, and I guess we’ll even throw in Katamari Forever, too. What’s not great is mobile gaming and the PS Vita-only Touch My Katamari. Although cutely named, the gameplay just wasn’t there. But the franchise, as a whole, was delightfully weird. Bringing the franchise to the Xbox One and PS4 and pushing the graphical and scope capabilities these consoles have would make for an incredible game.

I’m not talking about Katamari Damacy Reroll…something more formidable, please!