The world needs our sequels, part 1: Wing Commander 6, Daytona 3, Grim Fandango 2 and Wipeout 2037
Who doesn’t know her – the one dream sequel to a beloved video game that you want but probably never will? After all: If we had written this article ten to 15 years ago, one could probably have named a good dozen classic sequels per capita that one yearned for without thinking twice. It was, after all, a time when big, old names seemed simply forgotten – or worse. Strategy pearls like XCOM were relaunched as a shooter or spit on the grave of the space opera with Wing Commander Arena.
Today, however, things are looking much better because the indies in particular have shown that they still have an appetite for the old concepts, even if they can’t use the big brand names, of course. But yes: apart from NFT and some nasty monetization pranks, our medium is going through a golden age creatively. Which brings us to our list of sequels that would make this gaming world just that little bit better. Each of the editors picked out a desired sequel with pointed fingers – we present the result to you here. Let us know which game you think should return to the spotlight in the comments.
Wing Commander 6—Alex
How could I do anything other than Wing Commander write – the first blockbuster I bought with my own money! A sequel will probably never happen. For many different reasons. For one thing, EA is tragically bad at capitalizing on old classics. Chris Roberts will be busy with Star Citizen for the next 14 years anyway and a new edition would blow up any budget that could still be justified a quarter of a century after the last part. Also: What should a Wing Commander look like after Elite and other space operas that are geared towards more realistic space flight with freedom of movement in six axes? I can’t imagine a new Wing Commander without the old aircraft controls.
Still: I just want a new story with the simple enemy of evil cat aliens and heroic AI companions who can die if I don’t watch their backs. But most of all, I want to be promoted in rank again in the course of a multi-branching campaign and be fooled into believing that my flying skills are having a serious impact on the course of the conflict. I don’t want to see a game over screen in a Wing Commander because a mission went wrong, I want to continue playing on the “bad” branch of the story. And above all, I want to admire my kill statistics in the ship’s bar.
I mean how hard can it be? Basically, for me, all you had to do was swap out the graphics, handle the rest of the structure, and maybe add a little more complexity to the book and the characters, and we’d be in business. Hm… maybe it wouldn’t be that insanely complicated to create a new Wing Commander after all?
Daytona 3—Martin
SEGA is way too Sonic-fixated. Yes, the blue hedgehog is still your moneymaker, but in times of smaller games you can also think about the arcade games that made you so big long before Sonic came along. Or the ones that came when the hedgehog was already running. The problem with these games, of course, is that they are tiny by modern standards and compared to a monster like Forza Horizon. Daytona USA had a handful of tracks, a few cars, it was designed for the player to maybe drop a ten and then move on. With the versions for the consoles, we were simply grateful that something like this ran at home at all, so nobody asked for more routes. The first Ridge Racer had exactly one track, Daytona USA three. At full price, of course.
Daytona 2 was also in the arcade and was stunning for its time. Why this sequel never came to a console – Dreamcast would have been an ideal candidate – remains SEGA’s mystery. The engineering of the Dreamcast would have been powerful enough, one assumes that SEGA wanted more than just arcade games, that licensing was an issue, or that SEGA just didn’t know people really liked their games. Anyway, forget it, it’s time for Daytona USA 3. Nothing against the open worlds of a Horizon, nothing against the sim claim of a GT or motorsport, but the colorful, wild worlds of classic arcade racers just have their own charm . And by that I don’t mean the wave of Amiga retro ravers that just rolled over us – although everyone should be playing Horizon Chase Turbo – but the tech demo that combined these games with solid drift control. Each curve, dotted with waterfalls, helicopter flyovers and other gimmicks, has to greet you like the riff of a favorite song you can listen to over and over again.
That’s why Daytona 3 doesn’t have to have an open world or a complex tuning system or whatever. Please no more complex progression than unlocking new cars here and there maybe when something particularly absurd has been accomplished. No, all it takes is a handful of carefully designed tracks, decorated with love and a subtle taste of color in a rainbow rocket launcher. A solid driving experience that you can familiarize yourself with and a catchy soundtrack that you can dare to do. The whole package for a slightly friendlier price of maybe 30 or 40 euros, online mode is no longer the problem it used to be and already has a racing game equivalent of a perfect muffin. Makes you happy, is a little unhealthily sweet, doesn’t last forever, but is always exactly what you need.
Grim Fandango 2 – Judith
The weird story about the deadly tour guide Manny Calavera in the realm of the dead, who falls for a mysterious femme fatale, was something really new at the time and, in my opinion, is still unique in the mood between suspense and crazy gallows humor. Yes, I admit it: making a sequel into a secret cult game is risky to unreasonable. But since this is just a casual request concert, without the consequence of driving a classic to the wall, I say: if I could, I would want to do a second Grim Fandango right away.
At that time everything was far from perfect – especially technically – and that’s why a sequel would be great: With the current possibilities, you could experiment fantastically with the underworld style of the game in order to bring the mixture of colorful and morbid into the modern age. In addition, the clunky keyboard controls could also be designed in such a way that Manny and Co. literally offend less – if the good guy plays at all, it would probably be time for a new hero from the same universe.
On top of that, the whole thing needs the same crazy ideas, the same jazzy, weird soundtrack, the same “gray” characters, the same humor and on top of that the surprising story twists that remind you: No, this isn’t classic humor -Stupid adventure brand Monkey Island (don’t worry: I love Guybrush and Co. very much, but in a completely different way), but a game with a real plot.
Grim Fandango was a wild ride (cooked by giant monster sidekick Glottis) through the underworld and I’d enjoy it a second time round too – say on the Switch like the Sam and Max remaster?
Wipeout 2037 – Benjamin
Just a sequel? Oof! I have so many in mind. But I’ll start with my personal primal slime: WipEout. Well, maybe something will happen when PlayStation VR2 appears – that’s conceivable because the Omega Collection is one of the best VR racers ever and its successor could therefore be an excellent system seller. But as much as I’d love to see it, I really don’t want WipEout to continue evolving like almost all racers of its kind have.
As far as I’m concerned, they can do without their dead-beat glossy future and the rush of speed immersed in total motion blur in order to stage a dirty vision of futuristic motorsport driven by strong physics instead. I imagine the camera hanging relatively low and close behind large cars that hover over relatively wide slopes and kick up a lot of dirt. Of course, things should be done quickly! But always in such a way that there is also constant jostling and pushing between the gliders, including fat dents and ripping fairings.
And even if you certainly want to build machines that are as light as possible in such a scenario, you should feel the weight of the vehicles, both during leisurely drifting and during lengthy paint changes. Rockets and mines should be more reminiscent of a rich action film than of a radiantly clean neon storm. The quake could then trigger a wide subterranean explosion in a particularly spectacular way.
In my opinion, this would all be even closer to what series father Nick Burcombe once dreamed up when he conceived the first WipEout. Of course, it won’t happen anyway…
Reference-www.eurogamer.de