Video game Remakes are generally a mixed bag because more often than not, they are rebalanced to make enemies weaker. This has been true throughout the history of remakes in almost every media, as newer minds in development can completely miss the point.
In the list below, we shall be taking a look at some of these remakes throughout history that completely failed to surpass their predecessors.
Weaker Enemies in Game Remakes
Resident Evil 3: Remake
A stalker type enemy that can’t be put down and is constantly chasing you throughout the game is one of the biggest banes of survival horror gamers. Some love it, and some absolutely dread it. This type of boss enemy was originally popularised by Capcom’s Resident Evil franchise.
While almost all the remakes of these games have done a good job of capturing the stalker type enemies, there is one that has absolutely failed to live up to its older counterpart. We are, of course, talking about Nemesis in Resident Evil 3: Remake.
What was one of the most iconic stalker type enemies has been reduced to scripted cinematic chases in the remade version of the game this losing a lot of the original charm.
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
We are still not done with survival horror games, especially not until we have talked about the game that pretty much destroyed the reputation of the Silent Hill franchise. The original game by Konami on the PlayStation was a monumental experience for the genre.
Fast forward to the next generation of systems, and all of the reputation got swept away when Konami decided to reboot the first game as a more action-oriented remake. Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is how developers should not remake a horror game.
It removed traditional combat, making boss fights mere escape sequences, and this scripted nature completely ruined the game for a lot of fans.
GoldenEye 007: Reloaded
When thinking about one of the most influential first-person shooters in the earliest era of 3D console gaming, Golden Eye 007 is the one that comes to mind. It was released on the Nintendo 64 console to fully utilize the newly introduced thumbstick controls.
Years later, developer Eurocom tried its hand at remaking the game for the PlayStation 3 system and missed literally everything about what made the original so great. The only thing this game had in common was the name, but gamers might have just called it a new Bond game.
The PS3 and Xbox 360 generation of gaming was the starting point of scripted QTEs that trivialised enemies and major encounters, and in this game, this fact is seen in full-blown action. Thus making some of the fights with enemies weaker than the original.
Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire
Nintendo’s Pokémon is a world-famous phenomenon, with the IP dominating almost every form of modern media and pretty much the turn-based game that is the most recognized in the world. Naturally, most of the games in the franchise had an alternate remake released at some point in time.
For our list, Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire are the culprits that bog down much of what made the original Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire so fun. The remakes were made to utilise the 3D engine of the Nintendo 3DS handheld.
The biggest criticism that almost every player had was that these versions of the game reduced the difficulty to an insane amount. Making enemy Pokémon encounters not as memorable as the original ones. Especially because of the Exp sharing item that made it easy to stay overleveled.
TMNT Turtles in Time Re-shelled
We are living in a time where pixel art and retro-style games are making a resurgence, leading to old genres such as side scrollers and beat-em ups thriving once again. But it was not the same around the sixth and seventh generations of console gaming.
It was when the industry was trying to move towards cinematic games and more realistic styles. Regardless, a lot of developers tried their hands at faithful remasters of classic games, which brings us to TMNT Turtles in Time Re-shelled.
This was a flawed remake of the original Ninja Turtles beat-em-up by Konami. It trashed away the beautiful sprite art for archaic 3D models and revamped the gameplay to be a simplified button masher. Making its enemies some of the weakest ever seen in any beat-em-up game before.
System Shock Remake
System Shock is one of the most important first-person games for influencing several sub-genres such as survival horror, dungeon crawling and most importantly immersive sims.
Studio NightDive, who are known for remastering old first-person shooters, undertook the job of working on a new release for the game. The project eventually evolved into a full-blown remake, which went into development hell and delays, and that’s where our problem arises.
The remake, which was released later in 2023, was a good video game but a much less serious System Shock experience when it came to handling enemy encounters. Enemy AI were heavily nerfed, and ammunition was more readily available, thus making encounters trivial.
Tomb Raider Anniversary
Most modern fans of the Tomb Raider franchise know the series for its recent reboot series that was released while under Square Enix. But those games are really not the focal point for our topic, as they aren’t direct remakes but original new titles.
What we want to talk about is the Tomb Raider Anniversary series that completely revamped the first three games. Originally released for the sixth generation of consoles, it was a refresher, bringing new people into the game. But all at the loss of what made the games difficult.
Tomb Raider Anniversary series introduced modern controls, simplifying platforming and taking away the fun of tank controls, which, let’s be honest, was the real enemy of the original games.
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux
Also known as Shin Megami Tensei: Deep Strange Journey in the Japanese release, it is a niche Atlus RPG in the SMT series and a remake of the game with the same title from Nintendo DS. It was a sci-fi fantasy dungeon crawler with the charm of monster collecting that Atlus RPGs are known for.
This remake of the game came out of nowhere, celebrating the franchise’s anniversary. While it revamped a lot of the art, upgrading the game’s dungeon visuals, it also brought with it elements that made the usual Shin Megami Tensei combat easier.
Systems were introduced that now displayed the remaining enemy health during combat. Mechanics that allowed the party to continue fighting even after the main character died were brought in, making almost every encounter feel trivial and weak.
Trails of Mana
The original Trials of Mana was a part of the Mana action-RPG series developed by Square and released for the Super Famicom, but never localised outside Japan. So when the news broke out that in 2020 Square Enix was going to release a full-blown remake of the game, it made a lot of fans happy.
Trials of Mana remake fully realised the original game with new 3D graphics, moving away from the usual top-down sprite-based game design of the original Mana games. This, in turn, led to the game heavily leaning on third-person hack-and-slash style button mashy combat, which heavily trivialised enemies and boss fights.
Space Raiders
Yes, you read that correctly, the original Space Invaders arcade classic from the 70s had a video game remake that was completely unnecessary. The original game holds historical significance in video games for influencing a lot of design later in the industry.
But this new remake was a completely overhauled third-person 3D shooter that misses the whole point of the original. Making the charm of shooting aliens slowly descending completely pointless.
It has been regarded by various critics as one of the worst video game remakes of all time, which sought to capitalise on the endless replayability of the original.
