Summary
Ah,the arcade. A place where it seems like any game idea, no matter how unique, could thrive. However, while some arcade classics might not have aged well enough to stick around in the modern era, there are quite a few we’d love to see make a grand return in the modern era of gaming.
Technology has come a long way since Pac-Man, and these days just about anything is possible in the realm of video games. In other words: there’s no time like the present to give these old ideas another shot. These are just a few picks for classic arcade gems that we’d love to see make a comeback in one way or another.
7Toy Pop
Namco’s Co-Op Bop
Namco’s technicolored fever dream of blocks and windups is a lot more fun than anybody ever gave it credit for, but if you’ve ever stayed up all night playing the Namco Museum re-release of Toy Pop on PS1 with a friend, you know exactly how enjoyable this arcade classic can be.
What really makes the game feel well-rounded is the wide variety of creative toy-themed weapons and enemies. While you could simply slap all that into a modern live service wave-survival game and call it a day, we’d much rather see a Toy Pop revival focused oncouch co-op between two playersin a short, fast-paced adventure in the same vein as the arcade original.
6Rally X
Slick Tires, Slicker Oil
Rally X is one of the arcade giant’s most enjoyable hits, but given its gameplay similarities to Pac-Man (collect the thing in the maze, run from the bad guys), perhaps it makes sense thatthe car gamewhere you don’t actually go racing eventually fizzled out of popularity. We say it’s time to burn cartoon rubber again though, and we’d be more than happy to do it in a hyper-colorful, arcade-style arena with power ups, open wheels, and, of course, oil-slick spinouts.
Alternatively, a gritty, Mad Max style take on Rally X for a modern remake could be interesting too, but if Bomberman Zero taught us anything, it’s that the cartoon style the original is known for is probably the best way to go. 2D effects with 3D models and environments like what you see in Hi-Fi Rush would do wonders to bring this classic rally back into the race.
5Sinistar
I Hunger
How anybody would go about doing this we don’t know, but someone, somewhere needs to take a good long look at Sinistar and figure out how to bring those vile screeches into the modern era. Sinistar made waves back in the day forits use of voice acting, and good voice acting at that, with players everywhere screaming just as loud as its titular character as they first made their way through this insterstellar nightmare.
Looking at the top downspace shooterwhere you must do everything you can to prevent the birth of Sinistar himself, it’s hard to imagine how exactly a remake or reboot would work. That said, we still want Sinistar back in the limelight, and if and when he does reappear, all we ask is to hear him scream: “I am Sinistar. Beware, I live.”
4Mappy
Little Mouse, Big House
The bottom line is, Mappy is too good a character design to leave by the Namco wayside. Bring Mappy back, Namco. A mouse cop chasing down a group of organized cat burglars in a giant, 1980s cartoon house sounds like the perfect premisefor a spiritual successorto the Chibi-Robo series, and given how long its been since we’ve been able to roam the larger than life halls of a regular house as an incredibly tiny character, now is the perfect time to bring back the world’s tiniest officer in a whole new way.
Of course, as long as it has the Mappy name attached, we’d play just about anything happily, especially if it’s a return to the same classic gameplay style we saw in the arcade original. At the end of the day, we miss Mappy and his slick feline rivals, and we say it’s time for this crime fighting rodent and his myriad of colorful trampolines to get another shot at solving the case.
3Mario Bros. Classic
Back To The Sewers, Just Like Old Times
Okay, okay, hear us out on this one. Yes,Mariois still around, and yes, Super Mario is one of gaming’s most profitable modern series, but the key word here is ‘Super’. We’re not talking aboutthe sidescrolling platformer; we’re talking about the arcade original, and its enemy-filled sewer systems.
The last time we got to clean the plumbing beneath the mushroom kingdom was with the Mario titles on the Game Boy Advance, and while that does mean we can play the GBA version of Mario Bros. anytime via Nintendo Switch Online, we’d still love to see the big N revisit the game that gave the iconic plumber brothers their start with a modern twist.
2Q*Bert
What IS He Saying, Anyway?
To some degree, why QBert isn’t a more mainstream triple-A series is easy enough to understand. It’s basically an entire game of the blue panel puzzles from Super Mario Galaxy, and those are nobody’s favorite stars to collect. Look a bit further into QBert, however, and wanting this adorable little guy back on the shelves for today’s gamers is a little easier to understand.
Maybe QBert’s gameplay hasn’t aged quite as well as some other arcade hits out there, but what this orange goober lacks in gameplay, he makes up for in iconography. We’d be happy to see him in a Fortnite crossover or as an assist trophy in Super Smash Bros. Really, we just miss seeing the little guy around, and if QBert’s return should happen in the form a nice meaty cameo rather than that of an entirely new game, we’ll still just be happy to spend time with Q*Bert again.
1The Tower Of Druaga
Dark Souls With A Namco Coat Of Paint
A classic example of limitations holding a game back, Namco’s Tower of Druaga is absolutely worth bringing back for a modern, triple-ASoulslike game. Sure, we could just play Elden Ring, but getting to experience Elden Ring’s impeccable gameplay in the world of the fantasy arcade classic would feel incredible, and we can’t help but hope that one day we’ll get to play the game arcades in the ’80s couldn’t give us, but that the folks at Namco definitely wanted to make.
Looking at the in depth story Tower of Druaga had written for it, including the entire anime series made for its anniversary, it seems a shame that the hardware back then wasn’t just a little better, because it’s clear this game wanted to be much more than just a dungeon crawler, and we say it deserves a second chance to show us what it can do.
