Pretend you're brought in as an outside consultant to advise on a long-awaited game that X publisher is not happy with. You're not given the budget to add any additional art assets, but anything else is fair game. For example, Castlevania II: Simon's Quest How would I improve it given these constraints? I'd suggest: 1. A transition from day/night that does not stop the game. 2. The castles/dungeons should be traditional Castlevania levels (bottomless pits, Medusa heads, etc.) with three parts each (e.g., Dungeon 1-1, Dungeon 1-2, Dungeon 1-3). 3. Bosses at the end of castles/dungeons, even if they're just palette swaps of existing enemies (hell, even a boss that's just a pattern of blocks falling from the ceiling that you need to climb in order to attack a glowing orb near the top) 4. Currency in the game is used purely for upgraded armor that only gives you a modest increase in protection or for a food item that you can only carry one of, ensuring that traditional Castlevania skills are still essential. (I would keep Castlevania's three-tiered whip system) 5. Rewriting the villager text to make the game's secrets/puzzles much less opaque 6. Doubling the amount of music tracks so there'd be unique music for each part of the overworld and every dungeon.
Speaking of NES-era Konami titles that could've used some tweaking before release, I always thought the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles could have been near-great with some slight adjustments, mostly in relation to its difficulty. Get rid of the respawning enemies and include some sort of continue system and it would've been way more fondly remembered than it is. As it is, it's almost like a TMNT-themed Getsu Fuma Den mod that is way too frustrating for its own good.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night -Reduce the amount of fucking weapons; so many of the weapons become pointless, even if you don't use stuff like the Shield Rod/Crissaegrim/etc (it's not uncommon to find a weapon, and only get real use out of it for all of an hour before you find and switch to something ever so slightly better); also, as it is the ratio of weapons in SotN is far, far greater than that of armor/helms/what-have-you. (Also, it's a shame that adding new sprites is off limits, since I'd love also to give Richter a full set of sprites that match the SotN graphic style and his official art... wait, OP: could I get away with redrawing his graphics, or does that also count as "adding"?) -De-cheapen stuff like the Crissaegrim and Shield Rod: they're cool weapons and I'd keep them away from my weapon cutting block, but I'd say the unbalanced weapons just make bosses like Galamoth a joke, and they should be toned down (e.g. make the Crissaegrim weaker and with a bit of a cool-down period after each flurry of slices, dramatically increase the amount of magic the Shield Rod uses and also have a cool-down, etc) -Similarly, weaken Richter's Item Crushes and add a cool-down period after each use -Switch the super-jump command to be Up+[Backdash], instead of Down, Up+[Jump]. The Up-then-Down method is kinda inconvenient, and can be dodgy on some controllers (also, super-jumping shouldn't use MP either) -replace the area music in a few places in the Inverted Castle that play "Finale Toccata", since that song is in far too many areas IMO and gets repetitive fast; maybe use some of the Saturn-exclusive music? (I assume this doesn't count as "art assets" since OP allowed himself to make a similar change to Simon's Quest) -I think Aria of Sorrow's simplification of the Metroidvania formula for the series was overall welcome, and no other change pleased me more than making Hearts and Magic one in the same; I'd wanna transfer that mechanic over to SotN -Turn the Inverted Castle into "The True Castlevania" or some shit: by this, I mean fucking rehaul the Inverted Castle to not be an upside-down arrangement of the first castle anymore. You wouldn't even really have to add new tile sprites either; it just takes some creativity to accomplish a unique second castle in terms of layout (but hey, at least the Inverted Castle turned the castle upside down; "Castle B" in Harmony of Dissonance is far fucking lazier) Super Castlevania IV -this'll be a bit controversial, but I'd love to make the control closer to the NES games (but not entirely as stiff as them); Simon's more flexible movement doesn't compliment the level design 99% of the time and combined with the 8-directional whip, the game was just too easy compared to its forebearers (I think X68000/Chronicles did the multi-directional whip better, because the upward whipping was removed and Simon didn't control as freely); alternatively, design the levels and enemy placement to take greater advantage of his newly-found gymnastic skills and versatile whip Castlevania: Circle of the Moon -Make Nathan more mobile; as in, make his movement speed somewhere between his walk and dash speeds (removing the need to double-tap to dash); this would not only make sure you don't have to always double-tap forward to make a jump that's worth a damn, but navigation would just be made much more enjoyable in general -Make all the DSS combos give you their description from the get-go; it's not fun having to discover some of them for yourself Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages -First off, reduce the pointless busywork in various areas; if anyone remembers getting to Moonlit Grotto (the third dungeon), remember how much arbitrary bullshit you had to put up with just to get to a relatively straightforward and short dungeon? (if y'all want, I could post a full rant I have about this particular fetch-quest so you can see what I mean, but it's long so for now I'll just hold off on it) -Second, fix up the goddamn Mermaid Suit controls; they should've simply given Link automatic walking-speed control whilst in an underwater segment (instead of tapping in a direction constantly just to move the length of a gnat's dick with each press; this would've made Jabu-Jabu's belly far less terrible) -add some more variety in the overworld, especially in the Past; too much sepia-toning in the latter (this could be accomplished with palette editing, so no assets are being added BOO YEAH TECHNICALITY MOTHERFUCKERS) -Finally, speed up the time-switching process; the season-changing in Seasons was far snappier in comparison Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons -Make the quest for the Noble Sword an actual quest; the fact that you don't need to even initiate the trading quest to be able to get the sword doesn't feel nearly as accomplishing as it does to get the Noble Sword in Oracle of Ages Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask -Instead of temp-saving at Owls, allow the player to make a temp-save anytime and anywhere they please, regardless of what form Link's in (if Nintendo ever remakes MM on the 3DS, I think far less noobs would be pissed about the beginning Deku Link segment if this was implemented) Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess -cut out a lot of the pre-first dungeon guff; it takes too damned long to start the game proper -reduce the bloom in the Twilight Realm a smidgen -make some rewrites in the plot to ensure that the plot doesn't take as much from Ocarina of Time and Link to the Past Super Mario 64 -retool the camera to make it similar to Super Mario Sunshine's: use the C-Buttons to more freely move the camera (with the left/right rotating it and the up/down adjusting the zoom relative to Mario), and use the R-Button to enter first-person mode (psst this is a hack that already exists so I can't take credit on this one; it makes the game so much better) -refine the core gameplay to be more tight, to be closer to Mario Sunshine's (but without FLUDD or what-have-you, obviously) Super Smash Bros Brawl -NO MORE RANDOM FUCKING TRIPPING (though there do already exist hacks that take care of this) -y'know what, I'll just save time and say: speed-up and "de-floaty" the gameplay a la Melee, and refine the characters like Balanced Brawl -Mario's FLUDD is garbage; give him back his Tornado (if anything, give Luigi a different B-Down) Most Sonic Games -make the iconic ring sound not as loud and sharp as it is, especially when collecting multiple rings in a row
Classic Sega Genesis Sonic games. To many fixes to list here but a look at flamewing's hack "Sonic Classic Heroes" describes most of the fixes I'd perform. He even has a new version of it now. "Sonic Classic Heroes: Rise of the Chaotix" Throw team Chaotix from Knuckles chaotix into the mix for more character selection. Need to fire that one up on the Everdrive sometime soon if I can pull myself away from the Xbox project...
I agree with you here. I think Super Castlevania IV is great--for a launch title. As a Castlevania game, it could definitely stand to be improved. The way you could flick your whip was never really taken advantage of. I would add enemies that fire large amounts of projectiles at you that you could only conceivably not take damage from by flicking your whip at them. There's an episode of Sequelitus that covers this in-depth. Making the whip's new abilities actually useful would go a long way towards making the game as amazing as its soundtrack.
Sonic Xtreme: Only it actually comes out. Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing Where to start? The experience would have been dramatically enhanced by a deep storyline. One like... "There's a reason that the other trucks you play against don't move (aside from the fact that they are teamsters). Despite an intense rivalry between them (mostly composed of childish insults sloppily transmitted over CB radio), they suddenly realized that they all had a love for C.W. McCall's 1975 hit Convoy (and surpsingly, the 1978 movie that shall from this point never be mentioned again out of respect for the good of common man), and from there they built a complex bond: getting black coffee, taking naps, making up nicknames with a quality akin to rubber duck, etc. Anyway, back to you. During the game, you find that driving this truck is so empowering that it makes you believe yourself capable of bending every law of physics to get where you have to go. But there's a reason for this, and it's a reason that you (aka WINNER) can no longer remember... Lead developer Sergey Brin explains: 'The prequel to Big Rigs was actually quite intense in comparison to it's successor... So intense that the winner was so caught up in raching that he into a tree well after the finish line (conveniently while listening to Ryde or Die by DMX). Fortunately, it was only a broken leg... And amnesia. He was allegedly instructed by numerous doctors and trained professionals to never drive a truck again...' The instant that the teamsters heard of this grim news, they took action. 3 hours later, they actually took action: WINNER (aka you) was shocked to suddenly receive mass amounts of support from scores of people uniting in a brotherly fashion to come up with funds to pay every medical bill. Upon exiting the hospital, he sincerely thanked each and every one of the truckers for their spontaneous and mysteriously unusual generosity. He told them he was off to pursue his dream of being an inner-city cab driver, and began to walk away. The truckers looked at themselves in shock... For truckers are the master of their cargo, but cargo is the master of a cab driver. They began to persuade him to drive a truck. But he proclaimed that he hated trucks for some really hazy reason that he couldn't recall. They all tried to pull up in their rigs for old times sake, but you (aka WINNER) weren't having it. During this heated standoff, one of the teamsters started resting his eyes... And then it all came back... The crash, the tree, the squirrels that stole a pizza box from the passenger's side floor... He then grabbed the keys of one of the perfectly lined up trucks (which happened to be hauling moonshine, Cuban cigars, and illegal fireworks) and takes off in it. And as he takes off, his mind slowly returns and mends with reality until they ultimately become one.. he was suddenly unstoppable, and could drive through anything, go anywhere, drive on water! The truckers began clapping wildly as they pretended not to cry. One trucker was quoted saying, 'I'm out $200,000 and it was worth it.' TLDR; You're basically stepping into an unfortunately jolly truck driver's dream whenever you play Big Rigs. And in his eyes, he's always WINNER. But because of that, it's like that Twilight Zone where winning became hell."
Red Ninja: End of Honor. Not that I admire this game, but it'd be decent if not its horrendous controls: running and jumping particularly.
Give Final Fantasy XII the story it was originally meant to have and deserved. It seems like it was drastically cut down due to the problems at the developer and that affected the director, unfortunately. Otherwise it's an excellent game, and the story is still competent.
Some quickies: Snake's Revenge: Include a prison-escape backstory to explain his orange jumpsuit Gumshoe: I think the idea of a lightgun/platformer is a really cool idea, but the aiming would have to be 3x more forgiving than it is to make it not want to tear your hair out in frustration Yoshi's Island: Have the crying sound effect once--and only once. The second time Mario is captured, have a text window pop up that says: "Assume Baby Mario cries whenever this happens."
Mortal Kombat Trilogy - Make sure everyone had the same amount of -alities (some characters had the full set while others were missing others), fix the floating hands and many rib cages / bones syndrome after performing fatalities and brutalities. Have all of the previous MK game stages and original tracks for all the stages and Include the pit 2 fatality.
Race Driver games in Championship Mode, you can't alter the difficulty settings, the games are way too hard for the average player. I did go in and alter the chamship file to slow the AI cars down and make it playable, now they are a lot of fun, you have a chance of getting on the podium, and not have to restart the race at least twenty times to even get near it.
I know this might sound silly to some people, but one of my greatest disappointments in video game history was when Neversoft removed the "Create-A-Goal" feature from Tony Hawk's American Wasteland. I've been attempting to reactivate it via hacking, but so far, no luck. So, I simply wish I could have been on the development team when the decision to drop that feature was made, if only long enough to ask, "What the hell is your problem?"
Actraiser 2 Make the game difficulty tollerable, add back the town growth section and bring back magic scrolls.
Oh dear god, yes (and let's throw a battery save back in while we're at it!). I can't believe I forgot about this disappointment of a sequel.
it was actually very good on graphic side and music. Also the extreme detail in the "sins", backgrounds and the very dept pieces of story made me love it... would have take so little to fix it!
