2020 has been a fantastic year for fans of classic games. As well as a number of high profile remakes that included Final Fantasy VII, Marvel’s Spiderman, and Demon’s Souls, we’ve also seen new entries in some of gaming’s biggest franchises. Half-Life: Alyx, Crash Bandicoot 4, and The Last of Us Part 2 were some of the biggest releases of the year and were the first new entries in their respective series in quite some time.
While they may have been out of the public eye for a while though, these series were far from forgotten which is more than can be said for some of the other franchises that made their mark on 2020. Many had been dormant for decades, but returned this year to varying levels of success. They serve as a symbol of hope for fans of other forgotten franchises and proof that almost anything can happen in gaming.
10 Tony Hawk’s
The first few Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater games were some of the very best sports games of their era. Sadly, however, like so many other franchises, a steady stream of mediocre releases led to the series fading away into obscurity. Prior to this year, the last Tony Hawk’s game was the god awful Pro Skater 5, which was many peoples’ pick for the worst game of 2015.
Fast forward five years though and, following a surprise announcement back in May, the world finally has another great Tony Hawk’s game. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 is a fantastic remake of the original two games and is every bit as enjoyable. The soundtrack may have been altered, but the game still features some great tracks and it looks and plays brilliantly too.
9 Spelunky
Spelunky first became available way back in 2008 before later being remade for PC and console about five years later. It was hugely popular, thanks to its intricate platforming and simple yet charming visuals. It also helped that the roguelike genre was beginning to find its audience back then and Spelunky really stood out from the crowd.
Spelunky 2 was first announced in 2017, but, thanks to a number of delays, it took three years for it to finally arrive. Given its quality, most would probably agree that it was worth the additional wait. The sequel builds upon everything that made the original so enjoyable while also introducing a few new ideas. Not too many people had been crying out for turkey mounting, but it’s a welcome addition to the series nonetheless.
8 Streets Of Rage
The homebrew scene has helped to keep the Streets of Rage series somewhat relevant over the past decade, but the last official release prior to Streets of Rage 4 came all the way back in 1994. A lot of things have changed in the quarter of a century since then. Thankfully though, Streets of Rage isn’t one of them.
While it’s infinitely better looking than its predecessor, the guts of the series remain very much intact. All of the characters from the original games return and combat still feels just as exhilarating as ever. The mechanics are perhaps a little bit more complex, but this feels more like a natural progression than it does a complete overhaul.
7 Phantasy Star Online
The original Phantasy Star Online was one of the very first online RPGs to appear on consoles, first doing so on the Sega Dreamcast in 2000 before later shifting to the GameCube after the Dreamcast’s premature demise. It wasn’t the best looking game out there, but, given how few alternatives there were, it was fairly popular with turn of the century gamers.
20 years later and a true sequel has finally arrived for Xbox and PC. Phantasy Star Online 2 has actually been available in Japan since 2012, but, for a variety of reasons, it took eight years to finally make its way West. It plays very similarly to its predecessor, although it features more options when it comes to classes and some minor visual improvements too.
6 Deadly Premonition
Deadly Premonition wasn’t a particularly well-reviewed game, nor did it sell that well either. What it did do, however, was offer something completely different to anything else on the market and this lead to it garnering a cult following. More than ten years on from the release of the first game, Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise continues this tradition.
Unfortunately, the release was marred not only by some pretty bad performance issues, but also some controversy surrounding its representation of a transgender character. Although this was partially addressed via a patch, many were still unhappy with how the situation was handled. Worse till, the game reviewed poorly even compared to the original, casting the series’ future further into doubt.
5 Destroy All Humans!
The first Destroy All Humans! game released all the way back in 2005 with three further games following over the next three years. Since 2008 however, the series had lain dormant – just waiting for the perfect time to invade consoles once again. Given everything that’s going on in the world right now, it figures that 2020 would be that time.
Destroy All Humans! is a like-for-like remake of the first game although offers a plethora of visual and quality of life improvements. Fans of the series were pretty happy with it, although it struggled to make much of an impression with critics, typically receiving mixed or average reviews. Despite this, sales still exceeded the publisher’s expectations which can only be a good thing for the future of the franchise.
4 Desperados
Desperados shares more than a few things in common with Destroy All Humans! despite the two series being entirely different. Both were resurrected by THQ Nordic and neither had seen a release in more than a decade prior to 2020. Rather than remaking the first Desperados game though, the publisher opted to greenlight a prequel instead.
Just like its predecessors, Desperados III is a real-time tactics game that’s set in the Wild West. It was developed by Mimimi Games and is the best-reviewed title in the series to date with the PC version currently holding a Metacritic rating of 86. With this in mind, fans of the series probably won’t have to wait quite so long for the next Desperados game.
3 Sakura Wars
Strictly speaking, Sakura Wars actually made its return last year, releasing in Japan on the 12th of December 2019. Its Western release didn’t arrive until four months later though due to its lengthy localization. Considering the first four Sakura Wars games only released in Japan and the fifth took five years to reach Western shores though, there weren’t too many complaints about the slight delay.
Sakura Wars is the sixth mainline entry in the series and the first in more than 15 years. Although it maintains the style of previous Sakura Wars games, it’s very much a reboot and contains some noticeable differences in the way that it plays. Sadly, sales outside of Japan weren’t all that great, although reviews weren’t terrible.
2 Battletoads
Battletoads games are notorious for their extreme difficulty and their bizarrely named characters, but, prior to this year, most modern gamers had never actually played one. While that statement is probably still true today, the number who have has risen considerably thanks to the release of Battletoads back in August.
Although Battletoads games have appeared in a few compilation packs over the years, it was the first new entry in the series in more than a quarter of a century. Rash, Pimple, and Zitz all return for the game and are this time given their own distinct playstyles. It’s not quite as difficult as some of the older games in the series, but the beat ’em up action it provides is every bit as enjoyable.
1 Panzer Dragoon
Panzer Dragoon is one of the many Sega series which have reviewed well but struggled to sell enough copies to justify their high production costs. Just like some of these other franchises though, it’s become something of a cult classic over the years and, despite the last new Panzer Dragoon game arriving in 2002, still has a dedicated fanbase.
After nearly two decades, these fans’ dedication was rewarded with a remake of the first Panzer Dragoon game for the Nintendo Switch. Despite a host of visual improvements though, the game reviewed poorly, and sales were fairly underwhelming too. Despite this, a remake of Panzer Dragoon 2 is already in the works, although there’s no release date just yet.
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