Past re masters
Released: PlayStation 1999
SETTLING down one night to play Silent Hill for the first time, I almost had a heart attack when out of the fog, the protagonist started shouting, “Cheryl, is that Cheryl?”
With two solid remakes now under the belt of Resident Evil, as a Silent Hill fan it hurts more than ever that this fantastic franchise is languishing.
Silent Hill moved away from a B-Movie schlocky horror style, leaning more towards a psychological horror that emphasised atmosphere over jump scares.
In January it was reported that Konami is looking to revive the series with not one but two new instalments, one described as a “soft-reboot” of the franchise, while the other is allegedly an episodic adventure similar to those from Telltale Games.
A lacklustre HD revival in 2012 was not well received, with fans complaining the atmosphere had been sacrificed in favour of supped up graphics.
Seeing horror games once again starting to thrive, it feels wrong that Silent Hill hasn’t yet taken its place among them.
METAL GEAR SOLID
Released: PlayStation, XBOX, 1998
WITH Hideo Kojima’s departure from Konami, the Metal Gear Solid franchise appears to be indefinitely on hold.
Metal Gear was one of the PlayStation’s premiere releases, with fans instantly falling in love with its innovative stealth-action gameplay, and its protagonist, Solid Snake.
Set in futuristic 2005, it saw Solid Snake forced out of retirement to infiltrate the remote island base of FOXHOUND and neutralise a nuclear threat.
Still regarded as one of the most important video games of all time, it helped to popularise the stealth genre, and in-engine cinematic cutscenes.
It had a basic overhaul, released in 2011 as part of the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, but it’s time to see a major remaster of this undisputed classic.
SUPER METROID
Released: SuperNes 1994
WORK has already started on Metroid Prime 4, but it will be several years before that hits consoles.
But rumours are circulating that Nintendo is looking to release a new 2D title in the meantime – could that be good news for Super Metroid fans?
Super Metroid was the third game in the Metroid series, but it’s credited as one of the titles that established Metroidvania as a gaming subgenre.
The series had already broken new ground when its first game, released way back in 1986, introduced a woman, Samus Aran, as the main, playable character.
Super Metroid introduced new concepts to the franchise, such as an inventory screen, an automap, and the ability to fire in all directions.
And as the game gave players awards based on how long it took them to complete it, it has become a title of choice for many speedrunners. We can only hope the rumours are true that Samus’ arrival on the Nintendo Switch might be happening sooner rather than later.