The Punished Podcast – Episode 1: Remakes vs. Remasters

Welcome to The Punished Podcast! In episode one, the Punished Backlog editorial team (Sam Martinelli, David Silbert, Amanda Tien) tackles a topic that is top of mind for everyone in gaming this year: remakes and remasters. We share our favorite examples of both, and discuss what it means that we keep getting so many of them. The crew also adds a new inductee to the Punished Hall of Fame… the Nintendo DS!

The Punished Podcast Episode 1

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Some comments from the podcast (edited for clarity):

What’s the Difference Between a Remake and Remaster?

David: I would say a remaster is a developer or studio updating [a game] visually and, to an extent, mechanically to make it play well and make it accessible to a modern audience but maintaining the same look and feel. A good example of this, in my opinion, is Metroid Prime Remastered. I know Retro Studios updated the controls to utilize a dual analog setup, so the game is less clunky than we remember from the GameCube version. But it still ultimately looks and feels the same as the original game.

With a remake, you’re definitely creating new assets, building everything from the ground up, and re-imagining the visuals and mechanics. A good example of that, for me, is The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD. Some people look at that as a remaster, but I look at it as a remake because I think the look and feel are quite different from the original. I think something like the Dead Space remake also fits the bill, though it toes the line definitionally, since the gameplay is mostly the same.

On the Potential Risks of Remakes…

Sam: It does feel like every medium recycles things constantly. I think about how King Kong has been made several times, somehow we can’t get away from King Kong! Like everyone in Hollywood has figured it out, that all audiences want to see over and over again is a large ape, just with different visual effects.

I was thinking about this with Mass Effect, which is such an interesting example to me. I played the entire Legendary Edition last year for the first time, and at any point before the Legendary Edition released, I could have played all three of the original versions of those games at any given time, but I didn’t: I waited for the remaster. In a sense, I got got. EA basically just said, “Hey, what if we gave you access to something again? What if we gave you a reason to pay money for this again?” And that’s sometimes a risk that comes with the desire for more remakes and remasters. Sometimes I think we just want to buy something again.

Why the Nintendo DS Is a Hall of Famer

Sam: Today, I’m inducting the Nintendo DS! It’s weird… the Nintendo DS is not my favorite Nintendo platform, but I think it’s the best example of Nintendo striking a balance between simple and complex games, between casual and hardcore titles, between gimmicky and classic controls. You could do anything with the DS. It had this promise to it that it actually achieved.

The Nintendo DS was so creative. And every single person who has DS–and there are many people who have/had a Nintendo DS, as we’ll get into–has a different favorite. It’s amazing that we all have