There have been a lot of remakes and remasters over the years- with some being complete remakes and others just having improved graphics (like the Final Fantasy remasters, which are some of my favorite remasters). There are even lots of games that are based off of anime, and while I watch anime, even re-watch some of my favorites, I believe lots of them would make awesome games. Even us folks here at Gaming Respawn have asked one another which games we would like to be remade. I personally have two very particular games that I would like to be remade, and they are Berserk and Akira.
I first got into Berserk when the movies were released on Blu-ray. After I finished them, I saw the 2016 release, and recently I bought the original ’97 release on DVD, after which I re-read the manga. I can easily say that Berserk has become one of my favorite anime series ever. There have been tons of anime based on video games – Yu-Gi-Oh, Yu Yu Hakusho, Full Metal Alchemist, etc. When I was watching the Berserk anime, I kept asking myself why there haven’t been remakes on the games based off them. I know that there was a Dreamcast game and a Japanese PlayStation 2 game released back in the day, and more recently there was the PlayStation 4 game Berserk and the Band of the Hawk, but I haven’t played it and heard it was basically a Dynasty Warriors game with a Berserk skin, so I hope that one day we can get a full-fledged Berserk game that follows the manga more closely. After all, they have the story laid out for them right there. It should include all the arcs – The Black Swordsman Arc, Golden Age Arc, Conviction Arc, Falcon of the Millennium Empire Arc, and Fantasia Arc instead of just the Golden Age Arc.
For those of you who have not read or watched Berserk, it is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kentaro Miura that is set in a medieval Europe-inspired dark fantasy world. The story centers on the characters of Guts, a lone mercenary, and Griffith, the leader of a mercenary group called “the Band of the Hawk”. I say that a game should focus more on the manga because the anime doesn’t tell the full story, and the original ’97 series ends at episode 25 (the 2016 remaster only has 24 episodes), so it is better to give us the entire story in a new game with today’s amazing graphics so it can be true a masterpiece.
Basically, just let us play as Guts through the events of the manga series, that way we could even play past the parts where the anime ends. I know that PlayStation 5 is in the works, and there’s already a Berserk PlayStation game, but before PlayStation 4 ends its life cycle, give us another Berserk game that also has virtual reality capability. That would give us a better insight into the Guts character and let us feel what it’s truly like to be a badass. Let us fight against the demons, Griffith, and the armies that the Band of the Hawk fought against alongside Guts. I would love to have Gut’s entire story unfold before my eyes and see the rest of the series in animated form.
The next game I would want a remake of is Akira. I do know there were a number of Akira games released back in the day for the Atari and Super Famicom, and there was also a Game Boy game that was never finished, but the prototype was sold on e-Bay for about $3,000 early in the year. Now, the Atari game had bad audio and a lousy soundtrack. Plus, the gameplay was just terrible. The Super Famicom game was very text-heavy and followed the plot of the movie, and it was not released outside of Japan, so the only way to play it in English is with the English translation patch. Also, since it was recently revealed that there’s going to be a new TV series based on the Akira manga, it would make sense that hopefully an Akira game would be made as well.
For those who have not yet seen or read the Akira manga, it is set in the city of Neo-Tokyo 2019, rebuilt after World War III. Kaneda and Tetsuo, two high school dropouts, stumble upon a secret government project to develop new weapons – telekinetic humans. Tetsuo learns of the existence of his “peer”, Akira, the project’s most powerful subject, and is determined to challenge him.
I think and hope that after the new Akira television series airs (or maybe before an American one does), we can finally receive a phenomenal Akira game. Take a look at Cyberpunk 2077 or any other cyberpunk games, we definitely have the technology to make an excellent and amazing Akira game. I even bet that the voice actors from the movie would be more than happy to revise their roles for an Akira game.
Also, why not make this game virtual reality compatible too? Let us be up close and personal with the action through Kaneda’s eyes. I would love to have that experience, having beautiful graphics bringing Neo-Tokyo to life; being able to play through such a masterpiece would be mind-blowing.
We definitely need a proper Akira game for sure, as well as a Berserk game that completely covers every story arc from the manga. I know it’s a longshot, but the creators, and those who own the rights, can work with game developers to bring justice to the franchises and give us some truly amazing games.