Nearly every gamer who’s been around for a while has their own wishlist of games they’d love to see get remade. A few of the most commonly mentioned games are Populous, Syndicate, Act Raiser, Dungeon Keeper, Strider, System Shock, X-Wing, and Rescue: The Embassy Mission. However, when new developers do happen to turn their attention to the more beloved older titles, they often achieve very mixed results. Such has been the case with some of my favorite titles from years past – Bionic Commando, ToeJam & Earl, Pitfall, Tecmo Bowl, and Military Madness.

Was it seeing this expanding list of lousy re-make attempts that inspired Jay Pavlina at Exploding Rabbit to take a different approach to revisiting and memorializing some of his favorite games from the past? I don’t know, but what he did manage to create, Super Mario Bros. Crossover, is brilliant. Often remakes are simply graphical upgrades of the original or get “reinvented” to the point where they resemble the original game in name only. Pavlina instead chose to give players the opportunity to play through the original Super Mario Bros. with several popular characters from other games. It’s sort of a big “what if” scenario that let you take on Bowser with the likes of Link (Zelda), Samus Aran (Metroid), Simon Belmont (Castlevania), Bill Rizer (Contra), and Mega Man. Each has their own unique weapons and controls so you can do more than just jump and spit fireballs this time through the Mushroom Kingdom.

It was this whole “Hey you got your chocolate in my peanut butter! Hey, you got your peanut butter in my chocolate!” idea that got us wondering: What other games would you like to go back and play with what different character (and their abilities and weapons)?  Let us know in the comments below!

Play Super Mario Bros. Crossover here.

Principal photography on the American remake of Let The Right One In, a recent Vampire classic from Sweden, is now underway in New Mexico.  If you’ve seen the original then you are already annoyed at the mention of New Mexico. The original film, directed by Tomas Alfredson, was set in a sparse, ice-covered 1980s apartment complex. Matt Reeves, director of this unnecessary remake, is trading snow for dirt. Worse, he’s changing the name to “Let Me In”, which defies the purpose of the original title.

But the changes don’t stop there.

The press release says:

In the haunting and provocative LET ME IN, an alienated 12-year-old boy (Smit-McPhee) befriends a mysterious young newcomer (Moretz) in his small New Mexico town and discovers an unconventional path to adulthood.

Unfortunately, discovering a path to adulthood is not what the original movie was about.  It had nothing to do with maturing and everything to do with finding emotional connections in unlikely places.

The press release goes on to say:

The filmmakers note that while the new film will pay respect to the original Swedish version, they intend to forge a unique identity for LET ME IN, placing it firmly in an American context.

And therein rests the worst aspect of this remake. Let the Right One In was not planted “firmly in an Swedish context.”  In fact, as a viewer, you are never quite sure what county you are in because it simply does not matter. This is a universal tale about being young, awkward and alone, three aspect of life that are not uniquely American.

It appears a lot of mistakes are being made with this remake, which is unfortunate as it may get in the way of people seeing the original movie. You know, if you don’t like to read subtitles you can always watch the dubbed version. Even a dubbed version is better than what we can expect from Matt Reeves.

Buy The Original “Let The Right One In”

Let The Right One In – DVD

Let The Right One In – Blu-Ray

Road Rash was one of my favorite games on the Sega Genesis, so hearing that it’s making a welcome return pleases me to no end. Road Rash should have been a long-standing franchise like Need for Speed and Test Drive, but for whatever reason, the series went straight into the toilet and hasn’t been heard from in many, many years.

Electronic Arts’ Warrington studio is hoping to revive the motorcycle classic and they’ve released some very early test footage of the game that instill some hope. While most of textures haven’t been placed within the game as of yet, what you see here is gameplay testing. It looks like a lot of fun. Better yet, it looks like Road Rash.

Motorcycle-Related Products:

Pure (Xbox 360)

Pure (PS3)

Akira (Blu-Ray)

The Wild One (Marlon Brando Classic)

Dust to Glory (DVD)

World-class hack Michael Bay isn’t done remaking classic horror movies with his lazy producing skills, evidenced by such past crap as the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th, The Hitcher and the Amityville Horror, all of which failed to deliver any thing of worth, unlike the originals. Bay is at it again, this time producing a remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street, starring Jackie Earle Haley as Freddy.

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET

Original Trailer