Editorial: Top 10 PS1 & PS2 Games I'd Love To See Remastered

With the current trend of modern remastering old console generation games, I sit anxiously and wonder where are the games I loved when I was a teenager / adolescent. I'm not talking here about making old games available on newer console. Rather, I am referring to either remastering older games by updating graphics and gameplay, or giving the game a complete overhaul with the same story and elements. 

Yes, this is my Top 10 countdown of PS1 and PS2 classics that I would love to see remastered or reimagined for the PS4.

10. GRAND THEFT AUTO 1 & 2

These two original GTA games were such classics when they released that many cried out when the GTA series shifted from top down isometric to 3D. We've long since forgotten those woes as the GTA series just grows in size and popularity.

I would love to see one of two things happen with them. Firstly, a remaster of the game with current gen graphics, while keeping the isometric view, would be a great start. Alternatively, it would be great to have them included as Arcade machine games in GTA V or future games in the series. 

I have so many fond memories of playing this game when I was a teen, that this is simply a nostalgic wish. Yet, wouldn't it be great to have them back again, in modern day graphics and controls?

9. DESTRUCTION DERBY

This PS1 title I actually found on the PS Vita PlayStation store! I was so excited to play it again, but hell the controls are clunky. I know WreckFest on the PS4 is considered to be the new Destruction Derby, but they need to bring this original title back. It was both frustrating and fun at the same time, and I wouldn't mind some upgraded graphics and controls brought forward to a PS4 version of it.

8. CRASH BASH

With some of the old Crash Bandicoot finding some new life on the PS4, I am hoping to see Crash Bash added to that list. I enjoyed this title way more than the actual platformer games, and the replayability of the racing stages was off the chain. It made you go back often to collect letters and gems while racing. It was just so much fun packed into a PS1, and needs to see the new light of day on the PS4 too, with extra powers and characters added.

7. DRAKENGARD 2

This PS2 epic fantasy hack n slash game was absolutely fantastic! It was given to me as a Christmas present a year after launch and I really loved it. More than many of the games on this list, this one actually has a chance of being remastered. Earlier this year, game Director Yoko Taro actually said that if Square Enix pays for it, they will remaster the entire series for PS4! There is also a petition for this, if you want to vote for it to be remastered. 

6. BLACK

At the time Black came out, I was a huge Medal of Honor fan. I wouldn't even touch a Call of Duty game, that's how much I was allied with MoH. In my defiance against buying a new CoD, I was looking for a new FPS and found Black for the PS2. I still believe the graphics and gameplay for this game was way ahead of its time, and it was one of the best shooters there was back then. Everything about Black felt so real, with many intense situations that kept hurtling you towards the next situation immediately. This was what gave it such power over CoD and MoH at the time.

They need to remake and not only remaster this game for the PS4, with some extra new content. 

5. NEED FOR SPEED: UNDERGROUND

Asking for a Need for Speed title to be remastered or reworked is like running towards a wall and hoping you'll just pass through it. NFS series continues to grow, each game with its own story, and the chances are very slim we will ever see a reworking of any of the titles. Even the new Most Wanted title for the PS3 was nothing like the original on the PS2. Even the story was completely different.

Yet if I could wish for any NFS title to be remastered it would be Underground. Don't even change it to open world like the latest titles, I'd be very happy to keep the mechanics exactly as they are, simply with modern graphics and controls. 

4. PRINCE OF PERSIA

You may or not know this, and I really hope you do: Assassin's Creed 1 was meant to be the next Prince of Persia title, developed by the same guy that had been involved with most of the PoP titles, if not all.  Patrice Désilets was unhappy where the Prince series was going, and wanted to create a new PoP game that was based on historical fact. Ubisoft was split on the new game: it did not feel like PoP, but the game was so great they could not drop it. And so, Assassin's Creed was born, in summary.

Many say this is why we will never see a new PoP game again. This doesn't stop me from wish they would completely remake the original trilogy. Yes, we've had it rehashed so many times before. I still want it back though.

3. SOUL BLADE

Also known as Soul Edge, this was the first game I bought for the PS2 when I got the console for my 18th birthday. I fear the Soul Calibur series may very well be dead in the water now, but I would still love to see this original gem remastered with PS4 graphics, character creator and many of the game features we got to see in later titles. They need to keep the original characters though, and not warp the storyline with any of the new ones. 

2. RESIDENT EVIL 2

This would have been on my list anyway, whether or not they had made some rumors last week that a Resident Evil 2 remake may be on the way. It was the first RE title I played, and still one of the best there is. Leon Kennedy was established as my favorite hero of the series, and I absolutely loved his return in RE4. I really hope this rumor is true and the game is already being remade.

1. SILENT HILL 

Those of you who know me really well should have seen this coming. And many fans of this series will probably shoot me down. Silent Hill 1 needs to be remade completely for the PS4. You can pick this up in the PS Vita store, but I really want it to be redone completely: same story, same elements, same puzzles. New graphics, new controls, but same unique camera angles.

Silent Hill is one of the most iconic horror games of its time. The atmosphere it portrayed and the ingenious way Team Silent used the fog to hide their limitations in terms of graphical rendering was what made it a game of its own. Not knowing what was in front of you, hearing the creatures in the dark and hoping to hell your're going to survive the encounter.. what a thrill. 

I don't care that SH is considered dead in the water; I want to see this game remade with a dying passion.

Thoughts?

That's it for my possibly unrealistic list of PS2 remasters I would love to see. What did you think of it? Better yet, give me a Top 10 breakdown list of your own in the comments. I would love to see which games you'd love to see make a return.