Devil May Cry is getting a slightly-controversial series reboot, as announced during last week's Tokyo Game Show. Whether you're a fan of protagonist Dante's new drug addict look or not, there's no doubt that this series has been long overdue for a fresh start. Although the DMC games have been consistently well reviewed, the series has slowly lost its popularity with each sequel. A fresh start is just what the series needs to pick up new fans, and to regain the popularity that it once had.
This is a common trend among other “dying” franchises, as well. Games such as Duke Nukem, Mortal Kombat, Castlevania, and Sonic the Hedgehog are all receiving fresh starts in order to reclaim their popularity.
With the current trend of once-popular franchises getting complete overhauls, we can only imagine what else can use a fresh start. The following are five video game series that can benefit to be brought back to popularity with a complete series reboot.
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5. Tomb Raider (First Released on Sega Saturn, October 1996)
The most recent Tomb Raider games weren't bad at all. However, it doesn't matter to most gamers anymore, for the “Tomb Raider” brand name has been ruined for years. Possibly due to the wildly unpopular Angel of Darkness game within the series, gamers can't help but think of low-quality when hearing the Tomb Raider name. Perhaps the unpopularity of the brand name is why they removed “Tomb Raider” from the title of the latest game featuring Lara Croft.
4. Viewtiful Joe (First Released on Gamecube, June 2003)
When Viewtiful Joe was first released for the Gamecube, gamers went nuts for the series. It was an exciting new take on the stale beat-em-up genre, and the stylish presentation was unlike anything seen before. The game was clearly one of the most popular titles of the original Capcom 5 lineup.
Unfortunately, Capcom realized the potential success of the series, and quickly churned out two half-assed sequels. At this point, gamers lost interested in the games, and Viewtiful Joe's popularity burnt out as quickly as it came.
The series can be brought back to life, however, as a non-retail downloadable title. Based on how popular services such as XBox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, and WiiWare (well, maybe not WiiWare) are these days, Viewtiful Joe can live on as a lower-budget downloadable title. Keep everything that made the original game charming intact; the comic-style graphics, horrible story, and addictive slow-motion brawling. In fact, re-releasing the original with HD graphics will definitely do the series justice, and Joe fans will surely be more than happy to “Henshin a go-go” all over again.
3. Megaman (First Released on the NES, December 1987)
The recent couple of Megaman throwbacks have been great games. They're tough as hell, and they require a tremendous amount of patience and skill- two things that most modern video games don't typically require too much of. However, these games only appeal to a very limited hardcore crowd. Specifically, to those who grew up playing the NES.
However, Megaman deserves a reboot. The younger generation of gamers deserve to play and enjoy the Megaman games just as much as the NES generation did, and the target audience for the series shouldn't be limited to the older, hardcore crowd. Update the graphics, make the difficulty slightly more forgiving, and keep the same “stealing enemy powers” gameplay mechanic. Hopefully, the recently announced Megaman Universe can “megafy” old fans and new fans alike.[
2. Star Fox (First Released on the SNES, March 1993)
Star Fox fans are a patient, loyal group of people. Despite the numerous amounts of awful sequels that have been released lately, they're still waiting for a new iteration of the game that can recapture the magic of the first two games.
The series was once known to push new and exciting technology, and was revolutionary at the time. The original Star Fox was the first Nintendo game with polygonal graphics, thanks to the Super FX chip. The sequel, Star Fox 64, was the first game to use the Rumble Pack, which introduced rumble into just about every modern console controller.
Unfortunately, the Star Fox name became tarnished as all subsequent releases abandoned features that made the first couple of games so great. Although nothing is official yet, but the rumored Star Fox game on the Nintendo 3DS will hopefully bring the series back from the dead and reward long-time fans of the game for waiting so damn long for a proper sequel.
1. Shenmue (First Released on the Sega Dreamcast, 1999)
Shenmue fans will never forget the first time they experienced this Sega Dreamcast classic. The details of the character animations, the depth of each character, and the believable, almost living world that was created in the game was unlike anything seen in a console game before. With the power of modern consoles and the recent renewed popularity of adventure games, another sequel could captivate a newer, younger audience and satisfy long-time (and patient) Shenmue fans alike.
