Independent Gaming: Remakes Competition Summary

Friday, September 08, 2006

Here's a list of every single entry submitted for the Retro Remakes 2006 Competition. Actual results will only be announced in December.

Apologies for the brevity of all reviews. Scores are based on gameplay, instead of how closely the remake resembles the original. Patches can be found in this forum thread. Thanks to all the remake authors and Davide "Gendo Ikari" for correcting me on several counts! [All reviews in one page]

Page 1
Froggy Ribbit - 3 (Frogger)
Kirbys Dreamland - 2
Montezumas Revenge - 3
Choplifter - 0
Quantum Fighter - 3 (Kabuki Quantum Fighter)
Formation Zero - 3 (Formation Z)
Bullet Train - 2
Tubopac - 9 (Oil's Well)

Page 2
Willy Does Dallas - 0 (Jet Set Willy)
Zynaps Remix - 1
Start Wars - 0 (Zaxxon)
Kastle Kumquat - 5
Drelbs - 1
City Defense - 0 (Missile Command)
Archaist - 9 (Pastfinder)
The Pyramid - 10

Page 3
Shooting Gallery - 2
Venture into Adventure - 1 (Venture)
Bombzuka - 3 (Bombuzal)
Robotron 2084 - 0
Serioux - 1 (Xevious)
Demon Attack - 6
The Goonies 20th Anniversary - 9
Wings of Fury

Page 4
Counterclockwise - 10 (Knot in 3D)
Encounter - 3
Ghostbusters - 8
Asteroids - 0
ThreeDCK (3D Construction Kit)
nemesis - 9
Highway Encounter - 6
Panther - 4

Page 5
Clockwiser - 10
Poster Paster - 2
Dig Dug Aftershock (256 color) - 7
Dig Dug Aftershock - 7
Spiky Harold - 3
Donkey Kong - 1
Green Beret - 0
Balloon Fight XP - 0

Page 6
Donkey Kong Jr XP - 0
Ghouls and Ghosts Remix - 4
Endurance Kaboom - 1
Star Wars - 9
Xain D Sleena - 9 (Soldier of Light)
Rise Out - 2 (Rise Out from Dungeons)
BerzerkerBotz - 2 (Berzerk)
LadyBug 2k6 - 9

Page 7
Rock N Bolt - 3
Berzerk 3D - 1
Great Britain Limited
Millenium Remake
Traffic 2006 - 4
Koronis Rift - 6
Labra Tetris - 0
Metal Sector - 0 (Sonic the Hedgehog)

Page 8
Implausible Mission - 4 (Impossible Mission)
Project Firestart - 2
Twilight Treasures - 2
TANK - 0
The Run (Incredible Shrinking Sphere) - 3
One Step Beyond - 6
Chronos - A Tapestry in Time - 7
Solar Striker Remake - 7

Page 9
3D Snake - 2 (Snake)
Marioland Plus - 0
Gridfire - 9 (Crossfire)
Superkid Returns - 2
ZampaBolas - 2
Life of a Fish - 2 (Shark Shark)
Fame Quest - 3
Gumball - 6

Page 10
Asteroids - 0
Space Fortress - 0 (Star Castle)
Sky Ranger - 6
H.E.R.O. - 6

Posted at 2:08 AM by Tim

Post a Comment

miyamoto-SAN said at 9/01/2006 03:07:00 AM:

Those pages aren't really loading for me at all. I'm guessing it's due to a sudden high traffic level for them? Anyway, it's *very* impressive that you're attempting to review all 73 (?) of these retro remake contestants! It's a good service to those who are considering playing some of these but don't know which ones.

Anonymous said at 9/01/2006 06:25:00 AM:

you should go to http://www.jrnetwork.co.uk/ishisoft to get the Clockwiser remake...it's really well done. Really.

Anonymous said at 9/02/2006 05:25:00 AM:

wow, a lot of entries! first time i heard of the comp on this site. i'll check some out.

Anonymous said at 9/02/2006 09:33:00 PM:

The downloads are temporarily unavailable due to bandwidth issues. They will return though.

Anonymous said at 9/03/2006 02:32:00 PM:

Also, check out the forums on Retro because many of the authors are setting up downloads directly to help alleviate the site traffic and people can still try things out

http://www.retroremakes.com/forum2/showthread.php?t=7914

Anonymous said at 9/04/2006 12:27:00 AM:

Sigh. Been watching your site religiously to see what you thought of my game only to find it marked NA. My typical luck :(

Anonymous said at 9/04/2006 07:32:00 PM:

Your reviews are interesting but I think you missed the theme of the contest. The central focus of the contest was to make games more accessible. Your reviews seem to pick the games with hardcore gameplay and elevate them to the top of the marks. Think about the people who normally do not play games and why this is so. The difficulty level for EASY modes is often set way too high for new or casual players, not to mention players who cannot use a traditional control device such as the keyboard or a joystick. When you are reviewing these games please keep this in mind. Look at how easy the games are for new players and how much they open doors. The judges will reward graphics and solid gameplay but the heart of the comp is to open new doors to people left out of the loop. Try not to just focus on the ones with the kickass graphics and gameplay.

Anonymous said at 9/04/2006 08:38:00 PM:

I disagree

While the contest itself may have had a specific goals in mind, the end results are the end results and will be judged by those that play them according to their own interests. If tim w here had an interest in various accessibility options then that would obviously be a factor in his reviews. But he is reviewing it from his perspective, just like anyone who plays these games.

Anonymous said at 9/04/2006 10:13:00 PM:

Specifically I refer to his comment: "Results will be announced in December, but why wait when you can find out now?"

If he is just giving his impression of the games that is one thing but if he is taking into account the theme of the comp then that is another. Surely the judges will not be overlooking the central theme of the competition. If it was purely a call for remakes then the entries would be much different. I think it makes sense that he considers why these remakes were made.

Anonymous said at 9/04/2006 11:34:00 PM:

As author to a game in the competition I can say that I was not even aware of the "reason" this competition seems to have morphed into. The rules listed various categories that scoring would be looking at. I'm actually put off by the fact that so much to-do is being made about "Accessibility of Controls". They were not stressed in the rules anymore than any other category.

Now suddenly the whole competition is being touted as some contest of Accessibility. Perhaps the idea of the contest morphed to this in the forums, but again, the rules made no mention of having to read the forums for contest rules.

This is taken directly from the rules : "The intended aim of these categories is to open up the competition to those who are less skilled in certain departments as well as those that are excellent artists / musicians or coders making it possible for all entrants to garner a good spread of points regardless of where their expertise lies and be rewarded appropriately"

This suggests that the contest originally was developed simply for people to make good gameplay. At best an option for bonus score points using accessability was provided. It certianly was not listed as the main reason behind the contest.

Anonymous said at 9/05/2006 08:53:00 AM:

Nothing morphed in the forums. This was the central theme from the start. From the first few paragraphs of the introduction to the comp:

"Good remakes of good games that anyone can play, regardless of their ability"

It really is that simple, we're not asking you to limit your choices, stifle your creativity - quite the opposite. We're just asking you to consider, whilst writing your game, that not everyone is of the same ability and wherever appropriate to tailor your remake accordingly. We'll have Barrie Ellis of oneswitch.org.uk on hand throughout the competition as our official Accessibility Advisor should you need any assistance.

In the forums the first one was called "ACCESSIBILITY ASSISTANCE". It seemed pretty clear.

Anonymous said at 9/05/2006 11:56:00 AM:

"We're just asking you to consider, whilst writing your game, that not everyone is of the same ability"

and

In the forums

I'm having trouble finding the part that says you MUST make an accessible game and MUST read the forums to keep abreast of rule translations. The rules simply mention the forums if you have questions. Since the rules were supposedlyl straight forward, I had no questions.

This is tim's blog so he can do what he will. I just thought it pretty bold for someone to suggest he review games according to someone else's standards. And those standards are not supported as "the theme of the contest" in the rules.

Anonymous said at 9/05/2006 08:32:00 PM:

Hahaha... well good luck with your entry.

Unknown said at 9/17/2006 07:32:00 PM:

Tim W... I will admit that Balloon Fight doesn't work, but DKJRXP does indeed work. The graphics are ripped and edited. Edited! There are also new items in Balloon Fight, and in DKJRXP I made 3 brand-spankin' new levels. Why don't you head on down to create-games.com and see what some people who actually played the game thought, asshole! It didn't work for you because you lack cncs32.dll and bass.dll. In the newer zips of the games,

DKJRXP:
http://bibinson.sitesled.com/remakes/dkjrxp/dkjrxp.zip

or

http://bibinson.sitesled.com/remakes/dkjrxp.zip

Balloon Fight XP:
http://bibinson.sitesled.com/remakes/bfxp.zip

BOTH have the correct dll files. Try them now.