Super Mario Bros. X Forums

Hey, guys of the SMBX community.

So, I wanted to talk about something that's gotten really popular recently. It's existed for as long as "works" have been around, such as plays and literature, there has been remakes of popular works, spiritual successors, sequels, etc. And it only became more prevalent once electronic works started circulating, such as television shows, movies, and video games. But, recently, it's gotten even more prevalent. "Nostalgia Trips" are a huge trend among indie game developers, and even what we would consider the big dogs, such as triple-a developers, seem to be returning to old IPs (Intellectual Property) and design styles. And it's not limited to video games. There are tv shows that were fan favorites, and considered to be classics, that are receiving remakes or continuations. It just seems to be the popular thing to do.

And the crowds have been eating it up. Works like "Shovel Knight" and "Rise/Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" have received critical acclaim, and there has been a greater demand for more of the same. Shows like DuckTales and Swat Kats: Revolution are reboots planning to be released in the next year or two, and there's just more and more being put into motion right now. Yooka-Laylee is a spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie in the works.

Just take a look at this list of reboots/spiritual successors/nostalgia trips that have been released or are in the works right now:
- Shovel Knight
- War for the Planet of the Apes
- Shovel Knight
- Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
- Yooka-Laylee
- Swat Kats: Revolution
- Fuller House
- Rare Replay

So why is this becoming such a trend? Well, the answer might have to do with the fact that people are sick of being burned by the new, and seek to return to the old because they believe it has an assurance of quality. And video game, TV, and Film developers are more careful when handling an older franchise or IP because they don't want to completely lose consumer faith in something they've put a lot of effort and energy into. They're more likely to screw over consumers of a new IP because they're not as invested in it as they are the "mascot" of the company.

So what are you guys' opinion on this? Reply below.

It's at least as much that people still enjoy these types of games and they've been mostly forsaken. The independent developers themselves are building these games because of their own fond memories and they sort of see it as "If I don't step up and make this, who will?" They're more than nostalgia trips for me. To me the videogame market is more just lacking solid new experiences in older types of games, some of which were only set aside because of an understandable technology push towards 3D models and environments, so I don't lump them completely in with nostalgia cash ins like Jurassic World.

I'm very interested in whatever Yacht Club Games makes next. Having played Shovel Knight, I think it lacks balance and it was way easier than I would have expected, but I still really like the developer. There are also fan games that usually take forever to make, being the passion projects that they are and being done on one's own time, and I keep tabs on a few of those. Having found SMBX, I keep an eye out for A Link to the Past and MegaMan X styles in fan games. The platform shooter may have been done to death, but never quite in the way it was done with MMX, and top down action adventure type games that don't shoehorn in grinding/RPG elements still seem pretty rare.

As for the trend as a whole, it was probably an inevitable eventuality due to nerd culture prominence jumping forth from the rise of the internet. Nostalgia was always a thing but it didn't seem to specifically align with the consumption of "nerd culture" until people born in the 80s and 90s became more of a prominent identity on the internet medium than just the hamstrung group of mostly isolated individuals that they could be described as before. That's just my guess, though.

I have Rare Replay, as it came with my Xbox One bundle. I'm going to install the games on it soon.

I heard Spider-Man's getting another reboot in 2017.

Yep, Spider-Man Homecoming, featuring the same Spider-Man that appears in Captain America: Civil War (so he was already kind of rebooted). It's the first Spider-Man movie to be produced by Marvel Studios.