Games That Will Never See Re-Release [Archive]

Baloo

11-12-2009, 09:27 PM

Panzer Dragoon Saga...
The source code has been lost evidently. What a shame. It's still one of the most unique RPG's there is. No one has made a game quite like it yet.

Reverse Engineering could solve that problem though.

And there are lots of games that can't be re-released (or would be butchered a la Revenge of Shinobi) and really should:

Michael Jackson's Moonwalker
Castle of Illusion
World of Illusion
Quackshot
Mickey's Magical Quest
The Great Circus Mystery
Darkwing Duck
Ducktales
Ducktales 2
Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers
Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers 2
Toejam and Earl
Toejam and Earl: Panic on Funkotron.

Agressivadue

11-12-2009, 09:35 PM

The Simpsons arcade game?

I'm suprised it didn't show up on XBL when the movie came out.

Baloo

11-12-2009, 09:52 PM

The Simpsons arcade game?

I'm suprised it didn't show up on XBL when the movie came out.

There was a DOS port actually, but it's terrible supposedly.

Agressivadue

11-12-2009, 10:30 PM

There was a DOS port actually, but it's terrible supposedly.

Ah yes. I have found that you are correct, sir. A port is a port, terrible or not. I have no choice but to retract my statement and leave still wishing it was ported to XBL.

kedawa

11-12-2009, 10:37 PM

Beetle Adventure Racing

dao2

11-12-2009, 11:10 PM

It seems that the one game that should be rereleased that hasnt been is GoldenEye. I doubt it will ever be released again enhanced or not. I heard once that Microsoft and Nintendo were tugging over that game but the talks were dissolved.

could be released on vc maybe.... supposedly activision hold the rights to the game according to wikipedia :S

jcalder8

11-13-2009, 12:03 AM

WWF Wrestlefest.... actually pretty much any WWF game will never see a re-release

j_factor

11-13-2009, 12:09 AM

I think Telenet's back catalog is lost in legal limbo. So no El Viento.

Rob2600

11-13-2009, 12:14 AM

Plumbers Don't Wear Ties

Kitsune Sniper

11-13-2009, 12:41 AM

The Simpsons arcade game?

I'm suprised it didn't show up on XBL when the movie came out.

I'm pretty sure this never came out back in the day because Acclaim HAD THE FUCKING LICENSE TO THE SIMPSONS for pretty much anything console related. And I BET EA never even had any interest in negotiating any sort of rights with Konami, or maybe Konami didn't want to sublicense the game to them.

Bleh. What a wasted opportunity for both companies.

Agressivadue

11-13-2009, 12:58 AM

I'm pretty sure this never came out back in the day because Acclaim HAD THE FUCKING LICENSE TO THE SIMPSONS for pretty much anything console related. And I BET EA never even had any interest in negotiating any sort of rights with Konami, or maybe Konami didn't want to sublicense the game to them.

Bleh. What a wasted opportunity for both companies.

If EA had anything to do with it, I wouldn't have bought it anyway.

Kitsune Sniper

11-13-2009, 01:17 AM

If EA had anything to do with it, I wouldn't have bought it anyway.

Oh, please. If you're going to refuse to buy a game, at least have a good reason for it. If I didn't buy stuff put out by companies I hate, my game, music or DVD collections would be like, five of each, total. :P

vivaeljason

11-13-2009, 01:20 AM

Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! Yes, I know the updated version with Mr. Dream is on the Virtual Console, but I don't think given the many, many personal issues Mike Tyson has had in the last twenty years that we will never see the original game ever re-released.

EDIT: And I'll second GoldenEye. Given the license and the position that Rare is in, the game won't ever see an update or release anywhere again.

RCM

11-13-2009, 01:26 AM

Never say never. If there's enough demand pretty much any game will be released again. Is it likely some of these games will be brought back? Probably not, but it's never 100% out of the question.

biscuitdough

11-13-2009, 01:37 AM

a couple of the games i have always wanted to play, but know i never will, were the satell-view zelda games. apperrently they had full voice acting and gameplay played out in episodic chunks, something i dont think any other game had tried up to that point ( and now everyone,alan wake/alone in the dark/halflife, is trying to copy). nintendo could totally remake these for wiiware,, includeing all the streamed assets with the game package, but they wont. it's a couple zelda games no one will ever get to play.

Push Upstairs

11-13-2009, 02:34 AM

There are tons of early 90's arcade games I'd love to play

"Aliens" & "X-men" are a couple of the biggest...but the one I want most

TURBO OUTRUN

Sega, why was this not included in "Coast 2 Coast"?? ::shakes fist::

Kiddo

11-13-2009, 02:47 AM

I can name any Satellaview exclusive, and the chances of it being re-released are slim to none. BS Zelda, BS F-Zero Grand Prix 2, BS Marvelous, BS Tantei Club, Satella-Q, R no Shosai, DynamiTracer, Treasure Conflix, Koi Ha Balance, Radical Dreamers, Konae-Chan no DokiDoki Pengin Kazoku, PikoPiko Pairetsu, the Kirby no Omachahako line, BS Fire Emblem... I can go on with those forever.

SegaSonic the Hedgehog (the arcade game), because Sega doesn't seem to want to work around the idea that it controlled with a trackball.
X-Men (6-player arcade game), because... well, besides the licensing issues, this game was designed to run on 2 monitors.

Any/All the Virtual Boy and 64DD releases.

Leo_A

11-13-2009, 02:49 AM

could be released on vc maybe.... supposedly activision hold the rights to the game according to wikipedia :S

They just hold the exclusive rights to the James Bond license for videogames, which was what killed the rerelease of Goldeneye on XBLA. Activision wanted Nintendo's approval so as to not anger them by sublicensing the James Bond license to Rare/Microsoft to allow a N64 classic to appear on a console of a Nintendo competitor, and Nintendo didn't want to see it happen and didn't give the project it's blessings.

The offer to release it on the Virtual Console at the same time to appease Nintendo by letting them earn some money off it didn't even persuade them to give Activision their blessing. But just to be clear, Nintendo (And Activision) have no ownership of this N64 classic. But without the IP license to James Bond, there was nothing Rare could do with it since it's critical to the game.

Panzer Dragoon Saga...
The source code has been lost evidently. What a shame. It's still one of the most unique RPG's there is. No one has made a game quite like it yet.

Doesn't strike me as much of a problem. Would just have to be ran under emulation, something I suspect is more likely to ever happen then to see Saturn classics starting to get ported to modern consoles. But Sega has never shown much interest in emulating the Sega CD, Sega 32X, or Sega Saturn, so I doubt it will ever happen.

tom

11-13-2009, 03:26 AM

Most of them?

kupomogli

11-13-2009, 03:31 AM

Magic of Scheherazade 2.

This one had an ad in a gaming magazine I owned a very long time ago yet it never got released, so I'm assuming it won't ever get a rerelease either. I love the original and ths is probably the only promotional released I'd buy if one was to ever surface. Who knows if there's even a beta copy of the game available. I doubt it.

ryborg

11-13-2009, 03:50 AM

It's a bloody outrage that I can't play Beat 'em and Eat 'em or Custer's Revenge on my XBLA/VC.

thetoxicone

11-13-2009, 10:27 AM

And there are lots of games that can't be re-released (or would be butchered a la Revenge of Shinobi) and really should:

Toejam and Earl
Toejam and Earl: Panic on Funkotron.

I'm pretty sure I saw these on the vc last time I checked.

acem77

11-13-2009, 12:46 PM

steel battalion

Jisho23

11-13-2009, 12:59 PM

steel battalion

One can dream, can't they?

7th lutz

11-13-2009, 01:08 PM

Valis series
Gaiares
X-men (Arcade)
Simpson's (Arcade)
Cool Spot

TheRedEye

11-13-2009, 01:34 PM

Doesn't strike me as much of a problem. Would just have to be ran under emulation, something I suspect is more likely to ever happen then to see Saturn classics starting to get ported to modern consoles. But Sega has never shown much interest in emulating the Sega CD, Sega 32X, or Sega Saturn, so I doubt it will ever happen.

GameTap has had the rights to emulate Panzer Dragoon Saga for a few years now, but we just never had the resources to get it working. I don't work there anymore, but given the company's current direction it's probably not going to happen.

TonyTheTiger

11-13-2009, 02:21 PM

Even with Panzer Dragoon Saga's source code being lost, it is technically possible to reverse engineer and/or rebuild the data. Working Designs had to do something similar with Magic Knight Rayearth, the rumor being that both Rayearth and PDS were on the same harddrive. I think the original House of the Dead also might have been lost at the same time.

The problem, of course, is that doing something like that is time consuming and expensive. Only somebody as crazy devoted as Victor Ireland would go through the headache of doing it rather than writing it off and moving on. So is it impossible? No. Is it likely? Also no.

Leo_A

11-13-2009, 03:03 PM

GameTap has had the rights to emulate Panzer Dragoon Saga for a few years now, but we just never had the resources to get it working. I don't work there anymore, but given the company's current direction it's probably not going to happen.

I know about Sega Saturn emulation on GameTap (Was actually looking around their list of titles after I made that post), but I was talking about Sega itself. They've never touched anything except 8 bit and Genesis emulation in any of their own classic compilation projects for console titles that they've contracted developers like Digital Eclipse to program.

Ze_ro

11-13-2009, 03:59 PM

Capcom's two Dungeons & Dragons arcade games, Tower of Doom and Shadow Over Mystara. In order for them to re-release these, they'd have to get a D&D license, which is probably not a priority for Capcom (In fact, it's a little strange that they had one in the first place).

While I'm mentioning lost Capcom games, Alien vs. Predator (arcade) is likely another that we'll never see re-released.

Thank God for MAME.

--Zero

gameofyou

11-13-2009, 04:56 PM

While I'm mentioning lost Capcom games, Alien vs. Predator (arcade) is likely another that we'll never see re-released.
--Zero

I was just about to mention that one also. It's too bad that one never showed up on the Saturn.

Also I would have liked to have seen Planet Harrier and Star Wars Trilogy show up on Dreamcast.

SparTonberry

11-13-2009, 05:11 PM

Reverse Engineering could solve that problem though.

And there are lots of games that can't be re-released (or would be butchered a la Revenge of Shinobi) and really should:

Michael Jackson's Moonwalker

I hear a PEGI rating suggests this may happen.

And I believe a few of the Capcom SNES Disney games were ported to GBA, including all 3 Magical Quest games (even the third game that was originally released only in Japan).

betamax001

11-13-2009, 05:18 PM

Also I would have liked to have seen Planet Harrier and Star Wars Trilogy show up on Dreamcast.

I think Star Wars Trilogy would work pretty well with Wii controls quite honestly. If they annouced today that that game was coming to the Wii I would buy a Wii right now.

"I just wanna swing the Wiimote like a lightsaber"

j_factor

11-13-2009, 08:29 PM

Working Designs had to do something similar with Magic Knight Rayearth, the rumor being that both Rayearth and PDS were on the same harddrive. I think the original House of the Dead also might have been lost at the same time.

Magic Knight Rayearth came out in Japan in August 1995. Part of its source (not the entire thing) was lost not long after that, and rebuilding its code is part of why it took so long to come out here (WD doesn't exactly have a huge programming staff), but not the sole reason. Panzer Dragoon Saga's source couldn't have been lost until after it was released, in 1998. There's no way it was the same time.

Oldskool

11-13-2009, 08:33 PM

What the hell happened to Kid Icarus!?!? THATS a game that needs to see a re-release, of course in 2D only, 3D would kill it like it has ALL classic games except maybe Metal Gear.

TonyTheTiger

11-13-2009, 08:40 PM

Magic Knight Rayearth came out in Japan in August 1995. Part of its source (not the entire thing) was lost not long after that, and rebuilding its code is part of why it took so long to come out here (WD doesn't exactly have a huge programming staff), but not the sole reason. Panzer Dragoon Saga's source couldn't have been lost until after it was released, in 1998. There's no way it was the same time.

Then Sega must really suck at protecting data. ^^;

Baloo

11-13-2009, 08:44 PM

I hear a PEGI rating suggests this may happen.

And I believe a few of the Capcom SNES Disney games were ported to GBA, including all 3 Magical Quest games (even the third game that was originally released only in Japan).

Oh yeah, totally forgot about those GBA re-releases.

NayusDante

11-13-2009, 09:05 PM

What the hell happened to Kid Icarus!?!? THATS a game that needs to see a re-release, of course in 2D only, 3D would kill it like it has ALL classic games except maybe Metal Gear.

Off topic, but 3D seem to work better with top-down games, not so much sidescrollers.

Baloo

11-13-2009, 09:09 PM

Off topic, but 3D seem to work better with top-down games, not so much sidescrollers.

NiGHTS into Dreams says hello.

And so does New Super Mario Bros./Wii

j_factor

11-13-2009, 11:03 PM

oops, double post.

j_factor

11-13-2009, 11:13 PM

NiGHTS into Dreams says hello.

And so does New Super Mario Bros./Wii

I think what he meant was that 3D (as in, completely 3D, not 2.5D) sequels to 2D games seem to turn out better for top-down games than sidescrollers. There's a simple reason for that, too.

Then Sega must really suck at protecting data. ^^;

Magic Knight Rayearth had part of its source lost in a hard drive failure. I guess they suck at backing up their data, but at least the problem was only part of one game. I'm not positive, but I heard that with Panzer Dragoon Saga, it was due to a fire.

Kiddo

11-14-2009, 10:10 AM

Then Sega must really suck at protecting data. ^^;

Sometimes I get that perception myself - not just from how much they supposedly "lose", but also how much ends up getting leaked. I don't think any other 1st party has anywhere close to 1000 prototypes going around for the public to see...

Anyway, since someone mentioned Kid Icarus, which got a Virtual Console re-release; I was replying to this thread under the belief that the thread was about "straight" rereleases, and not full-blown "remakes". Kid Icarus got a VC release quite a bit ago that's still available, so that's fine.

Arcade-accurate Donkey Kong, however, I don't recall ever being released after DK64. Same goes for the Game Boy "Donkey Kong". I think the Metroid fans are due for a rerelease of Return of Samus, as well.

Leo_A

11-14-2009, 10:38 AM

What the hell happened to Kid Icarus!?!? THATS a game that needs to see a re-release, of course in 2D only, 3D would kill it like it has ALL classic games except maybe Metal Gear.

It hasn't been rereleased? I could swear it's on the Virtual Console, thought I had even purchased it.

Edit - I see Kiddo already clarified that it has been rerelease. It's been rereleased several times in recent years. Was one of the Famicom Mini releases for the GBA in Japan (Though we didn't get it for the NES Classics lineup), and it's been rereleased on the Virtual Console early in the Wii's life.

Oldskool

11-14-2009, 12:38 PM

vivaeljason

11-14-2009, 01:16 PM

It hasn't been rereleased? I could swear it's on the Virtual Console, thought I had even purchased it.

Edit - I see Kiddo already clarified that it has been rerelease. It's been rereleased several times in recent years. Was one of the Famicom Mini releases for the GBA in Japan (Though we didn't get it for the NES Classics lineup), and it's been rereleased on the Virtual Console early in the Wii's life.

I think that Oldskool may be referring to an update or remake for the Wii, and not an actual re-release of Kid Icarus as it was on the NES.

Leo_A

11-14-2009, 02:52 PM

I don't consider the virtual console a re-release unless it's a different game than the original. And a Japan only release does not count to me either. What good is a game for me if it's in Japan, I am not much into import gaming.

A rerelease means a past game is released again for sale through a new production run, port to another console, emulated on a classic compilation, made available for download, etc. That's the topic of this thread. What you want sounds like a remake (Like what Zero Mission was to Metroid), or a new original entry to the series.

Kiddo

11-15-2009, 02:54 AM

Man, about 2 days ago I was digging in NicoNicoDouga and, well, I know I mentioned Satellaview games earlier, but here's another example of a game that probably will never be re-released (and you can probably tell why just by listening to the audio.)

http://superfamicom.org/blog/2009/11/yo-diggity-micky-pockets-n-da-hawze-dawg/

ClassicGameTrader

11-15-2009, 12:00 PM

Either way, this was irresponsible of Sega. It give a little insight on how poorly the company was run.

Magic Knight Rayearth came out in Japan in August 1995. Part of its source (not the entire thing) was lost not long after that, and rebuilding its code is part of why it took so long to come out here (WD doesn't exactly have a huge programming staff), but not the sole reason. Panzer Dragoon Saga's source couldn't have been lost until after it was released, in 1998. There's no way it was the same time.

MissingNo_1231

11-15-2009, 03:44 PM

SegaAges

11-15-2009, 04:15 PM

They just hold the exclusive rights to the James Bond license for videogames, which was what killed the rerelease of Goldeneye on XBLA. Activision wanted Nintendo's approval so as to not anger them by sublicensing the James Bond license to Rare/Microsoft to allow a N64 classic to appear on a console of a Nintendo competitor, and Nintendo didn't want to see it happen and didn't give the project it's blessings.

The offer to release it on the Virtual Console at the same time to appease Nintendo by letting them earn some money off it didn't even persuade them to give Activision their blessing. But just to be clear, Nintendo (And Activision) have no ownership of this N64 classic. But without the IP license to James Bond, there was nothing Rare could do with it since it's critical to the game.

Doesn't strike me as much of a problem. Would just have to be ran under emulation, something I suspect is more likely to ever happen then to see Saturn classics starting to get ported to modern consoles. But Sega has never shown much interest in emulating the Sega CD, Sega 32X, or Sega Saturn, so I doubt it will ever happen.

Remember, Sonic CD has been ported to numerous consoles and pc. In Sonic Gems collection, the three big name games that were on the disc were Sonic Fighters, Sonic CD, and Sonic R. So that hits PC/Saturn (because I do not know if they used the pc versions of sonic r or sonic cd) and arcade

Here is one: NiGHTS into Dreams. Way too many hints of a sequel, and then we get Journey to Dreams.

Also, Shenmue 2 was ported to xbox, and there were rumors about the entire saga getting ported to a current console, but whether I want to admit it or not, I know it will not happen

vivaeljason

11-15-2009, 04:19 PM

I would really like to see FF7 remade for PS3, and there's rumors about it, but let's face it, in today's day and age there would be far too much controversy over a game where you play as a bunch of eco-terrorists.

I really doubt there'd be much of an uproar about eco-terrorism if FF7 were re-released. I'd be willing to bet the game is released eventually in some form.

NayusDante

11-15-2009, 04:30 PM

I really doubt there'd be much of an uproar about eco-terrorism if FF7 were re-released. I'd be willing to bet the game is released eventually in some form.

It's been available for some time on PSN. I wouldn't ingnore the possibility of a UMD release, even if it's just the PSX ISOs with manual swapping.

I agree that the eco-terrorism wouldn't be much to worry about. It's HD, fully voiced Don Corneo that I'm worried about. Do we really need to see Cloud's cross-dressing scene redone?

betamax001

11-15-2009, 10:13 PM

I think Pokemon Snap would work very well with DS hardware along with Mario Paint. Of course I wont buy them becuase I have no idea where the hell my DS is.

"That's not Nintendos fault though....or is it?"

j_factor

11-15-2009, 11:06 PM

It's been available for some time on PSN. I wouldn't ingnore the possibility of a UMD release, even if it's just the PSX ISOs with manual swapping.

I agree that the eco-terrorism wouldn't be much to worry about. It's HD, fully voiced Don Corneo that I'm worried about. Do we really need to see Cloud's cross-dressing scene redone?

Being HD doesn't mean it would necessarily have a realistic style or anything. And I would hope it's not fully voiced, regardless of that scene -- FF7 with every line voiced would get tiresome. I replayed FF7 a few months ago... that scene really isn't that risqu�.

vivaeljason

11-15-2009, 11:10 PM

It's been available for some time on PSN.

Shows how much attention I pay to PSN (and all current-gen things for that matter). :)

NayusDante

11-15-2009, 11:23 PM

FF7 really works with the SD style, and honestly, I wish it had been presented like FF6. Instead, it was halfway between "realistic anime proportions" and SD. If they DID remake it, I'd want it to be fully SD. Everyone seems to think that making it look like Advent Children would instantly make it awesome.

The whole Don Corneo chapter isn't that bad the way it is, but I just don't think it would fit with what everyone would expect from an FF7 remake.

Leo_A

11-16-2009, 02:15 AM

Remember, Sonic CD has been ported to numerous consoles and pc. In Sonic Gems collection, the three big name games that were on the disc were Sonic Fighters, Sonic CD, and Sonic R. So that hits PC/Saturn (because I do not know if they used the pc versions of sonic r or sonic cd) and arcade

Sonic R and Sonic CD were ports of the PC titles, not emulated versions of the Saturn and Sega CD versions.

Archangel

11-16-2009, 03:26 AM

I know this was from last gen but,

The Matrix: Path Of Neo for Xbox

Its amazing really, the game comes out a few weeks before the release of the 360 and there is no backwards compatability with it and have not turned up on Xbox Originals eiher. Some rumors going around is that it will never be on XBL because none of the companies that were involved into making it want to bother with it..

The Sage of Sega

11-16-2009, 11:55 AM

I don't think we'll ever see a remake of Star Wars: Dark Forces. A superb first-person shooter ala Doom, but I believe only the sequel Jedi Knight has made it to Gametap/Steam (someone want to confirm or deny this?) At the very least there's a PS1 version as well, so anyone who wants to play it on a console can enjoy it. I don't know why exactly it hasn't gotten a nice solid release on PSN/XBL with some up-rezzed textures, that game was bloody awesome.

The only whiff I've gotten of Dark Forces since I played it in DOS was being able to play as the Dark Troopers in the Star Wars Battlefront games (and their myriad sequels). Thankfully, they were slightly toned down in size; in Dark Forces the Dark Trooper was the final boss, and it was easily two or three times the height of the player character :P

The Zork series will also likely never see any sort of refresh. I'm not expecting the text-based games to get any attention, but I'd really enjoy playing Return to Zork on my modern PC without fumbling with DOSbox, and there's also the sequels that came in the mid-90's that were very similar to Myst and even had decent FMV and voice acting. I want to go to the abandoned white house once again :(

LaughingMAN.S9

11-16-2009, 12:19 PM

I would really like to see FF7 remade for PS3, and there's rumors about it, but let's face it, in today's day and age there would be far too much controversy over a game where you play as a bunch of eco-terrorists.

someone obviously hasnt played modern warfare 2 yet...

Loremaster

11-16-2009, 12:24 PM

Y'know, I don't think we've ever gotten a re-release or a compilation of any of the Game Boy games. I don't think they're even available on the VC.

acem77

11-16-2009, 01:03 PM

bimini run ;)

NayusDante

11-16-2009, 04:50 PM

Dark Forces is available on Steam, along with a pleasingly large segment of the LucasArts catalog.

ScourDX

11-16-2009, 05:07 PM

I love to see Lethal Enforcer 1 & 2 get an update. I doubt it will happen. As well Primal Rage.

AB Positive

11-17-2009, 10:00 AM

The whole Don Corneo chapter isn't that bad the way it is, but I just don't think it would fit with what everyone would expect from an FF7 remake.

Without this scene I wouldn't go near a FF7 remake, and I've been clamoring for one since the PS2.

This isn't a joke - I'm totally serious. This was a badly needed injection of humor during a rather dry and dark point in the plot. Comic relief - no matter how minor - gets overlooked a lot in 7.