A short while back, I thought it would be a fun idea to write about classic retro games that had inspired modern tributes. It’s an idea that’s stuck with me since, and the more examples I’ve jotted down, the more excited I’ve gotten. There is no shortage of modern developers, only too happy to pay homage to some of their favorite retro titles.
So if you’ve ever wished there were another title in your favorite retro franchise, here are some more great games that honor their inspirations.
Chrono Trigger | Sea of Stars
It’s a difficult call to put one game as a favorite above all others, but I’ve always said that if I had to pick just one, it’d probably have to go to Chrono Trigger. It’s right there in my writer bio after all. I’ve played Chrono Trigger on every platform it has been released on, and quite a few pieces of hardware that it was never intended to run on (shout out modded OG Xbox and Snes9x for introducing me to fast-forwarding with the right trigger circa 2002).
Sea of Stars feels like the sequel that I’d wished Chrono Trigger had gotten so many years ago. That’s perhaps the highest compliment that I can pay the game, as any time I’ve ever tried to get into Chrono Cross, I just can’t seem to get into it. Cross just never felt like it was built from the same DNA as its predecessor. But Sea of Stars? Whew boy, does Sea of Stars developer Sabotage Studios know what made Chrono Trigger work so well.
Everything a CT fan could want is present and accounted for in Sea of Stars. Great characters, art style, story, humor, the return of Active Time Battle System, and some clever winks and nods folded in to the very next game on our list…
Ninja Gaiden Trilogy | The Messenger
Sea of Stars nailed its undeniable homage to Chrono Trigger, and developer Sabotage Studios gave the Ninja Gaiden Trilogy games the same royal treatment with their previous masterpiece, The Messenger. This ode to everyone’s favorite other-Ryu actually lives in the same universe as Sea of Stars, and attentive players will notice how the two games’ stories and worlds intertwine.
I write that The Messenger is a tribute to Ninja Gaiden Trilogy and not a single game in the series for a reason. In one of the coolest gameplay and visual design decisions I’ve ever experienced, players will find themselves switching between 8-bit and 16-bit versions of the protagonist and the game’s worlds — often flipping back and forth on the fly later on. Sounds strange at first, but in the end, it becomes a core design element of the whole game. It’s almost as if the Ninja Gaiden Trilogy that was released on SNES gave those titles the Mario All Stars upgrade treatment, all these years later.
The Messenger is true to its Gaiden roots too. While there are modern quality of life improvements for those who might want to dial down the difficulty a bit, those who wish to be tested will find plenty of challenge in navigating the clever platforming and boss battles The Messenger has to offer.
Donkey Kong Country | Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair
Donkey Kong Country was a massive accomplishment for Rare on the SNES. It pushed the then-aging hardware to places that many probably hadn’t even considered previously. In the holiday season of 1994, this was right up there with Final Fantasy III (VI) as the game to get.
The first title in the Yooka-Laylee series (2017’s simply titled Yooka-Laylee) was a bit of a miss for me. I was excited at the idea of a more throwback 3D platformer that introduced original characters, but never being much of an N64 or Banjo-Kazooie fan (convince me for a later article in the series, anyone?), it failed to resonate with me. The sequel, though?
Yooka Laylee and the Impossible Lair takes the already great world and characters established in the studio’s previous outing, and throws them back further into Nintendo history with this pitch-perfect tribute to DKC. The developers were smart to remember that Donkey Kong Country not only looked and controlled like a dream, but it could be a genuinely tough platformer in places. The Impossible Lair only builds on this legacy of difficulty and mercy on your poor soul if you attempt to 100% this game, because just like the legend that came before it, you’re in for a long ride.
Jet Set Radio | Bomb Rush Cyberfunk
When Jet Set Radio was first released on the Dreamcast (or Jet Grind Radio as it was known in the West at the time), it was unlike anything that I’d played before it. The cell-shaded art style, combined with frenetic rhythm-based kinetic gameplay and the tagging mechanic, made the game feel like something truly new. By the time that Jet Set Radio Future released on the then-new Microsoft Xbox, I was all-in.
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk makes no bones about what it’s going for. If you were a fan of the Jet Set Radio series, you will immediately recognize its style dripping across every part of Bomb Rush Cyberfunk. The skating, the tags, the style, the music; It’s all here and accounted for. Releasing 21 years after the last entry in the Jet Set Radio franchise, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is a labor of love and a gift to any gamer who longed to dive back into its cell-shaded world.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night | Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
Symphony of the Night was my first real foray into the Castlevania series, truth be told. I’d played the original games at friends’ houses on NES, sure, but only in snippets. It wasn’t until 1997 that I’d get my first taste of Konami’s masterpiece on PSX, and a gameplay formula that I’d be chasing again and again to this very day. Super Metroid and Castlevania: SotN are the two titles that I most associate with birthing the term: Metroidvania.
By the time producer Koji Igarashi (writer/composer/producer on SotN) launched the Kickstarter for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night in 2015, I was ready to throw my money at the campaign. And Igarashi delivered on his promises of a modern recreation of the Symphony of the Night formula. While it may not quite hit the same highs as its inspiration, there’s a reason that people still talk about this tribute nearly a decade after its release.
Bloodstained is a visually distinct and graphically beautiful game. I’d recommend checking it out on beefier handheld hardware, though, as the Switch port got notoriously sluggish on the original console.
Room for a 3rd?
If you still haven’t seen your favorite modern tribute to classic gaming, fear not. I’ve been digging over the last month and ended up jotting down more examples in my notebook than I’d ever really considered had existed. There are plenty more still to come. But if you have a specific example you think demands a spotlight, be sure to let us know in the comments.
