Game IPs That Deserve To Come Back But Probably Won't

 

There are a lot of gaming IPs & characters that were very popular back in the day that just aren't around now despite a large following & strong legacy of them still today. In my opinion anyway, there are a lot of missed opportunities I'll try quite hard to not focus on just Rare characters, as there are a few other hidden gems around but there will certainly be a mention of some of them. A lot of these games i'll also mention were a big staple from my childhood and it's heartbreaking to me that studios today are just not interested at all to bring these characters back for a new game or remaster or something. Anyway, let's check out some of these unfortunate rejected characters that studios don't want to deal with anymore for reasons beyond comprehension.Is it just because of budget reasons, laziness or developer changes? You be the judge.

Banjo Kazooie

Fans have been calling out to Rare for making either a new modern-day remaster of Banjo Kazooie / Banjo Tooie, (like Spyro Reignited Trilogy) or heck even a new Banjo Threeie game would be nice. But sadly Rare doesn't seem to be interested at all in bringing back our beloved duo for a new full experience. We briefly got some minor acknowledgement when they were introduced in Super Smash Bros Ultimate a few years ago as a playable character which was nice. They even had a new character render and everything and their own stage. But to some that wasn't enough. Even the creator Greg Mayles had called out Nintendo to do a proper remaster of the game a few years ago. Sadly the main developers just don't seem interested, er - bothered - to do a new game, arguing a modern day BK wouldn't work because the 'audience is just not there', which I think is a load of rubbish. Yooka Laylee is probably like "hold my beer" right now. We did get some underwhelming spin off games in the early 2000's. 2005's Banjo Pilot, and 2008's Banjo Kazooie Nuts & Bolts. Both were cases of "Rare What The Heck Are You Doing". I'm off to play Rare Replay.

Conker

Another frustrating IP that developers just refuse to touch is Conker, created by Chris Seavor. Conker's Bad Fur Day was one of the most successful N64 games on the system. But ever since the Microsoft buyout of Rare in 2002, nothing much has happened with this so-called franchise. Is it even worth calling it a franchise at this stage? In 2005 we had a minor-successful remake called Conker Live & Reloaded (it was going to be called Conker Live & Uncut back in 2003, but was later changed and included more censorship than the original). In 2016 Conker joined Project Spark, a Game Designer on Xbox One. There was going to be a 10 part episodic adventure called "Conker's Big Reunion" with only one part being completed.The Project Spark community was encouraged to finish the story. Sadly Project Spark shut down in 2018. We did have a rather unusual Microsoft Hololense game launched called Young Conker, made by the current Microsoft Flight Simulator devs Asobo Studio. 2016 was a pretty cursed year for Conker fans. Developer Chris Seavor is also quite reluctant to do a modern day Conker game, often citing that he reckons it would be 'impossible to do a new Conker game now'. I find that hard to believe.

Jak & Daxter

What the heck happened to these guys?! Jak & Daxter were icons on the PS2 back in the day. We got a nice remaster at least of the collection on PS3 which also included Jak X. There were a few spin off games released on the PSP a while ago. But since then there hasn't really been a new Jak & Daxter game, despite the characters still being so popular. Well one reason why this could be is that Naughty Dog (the original developers) are focusing on games such as The Last Of Us. With no new games since 2009's The Lost Frontier on PSP. There is no plans yet for a Jak 4, but according to reports from as far back as February 2022, a Jak & Daxter Movie is currently in development. Hopefully if it ever gets made, would encourage a new game in the seemingly now retired series.

Vib Ribbon

Vib Ribbon is unarguably one of the greatest games of all time and it is a shame that the concept at the time was so unique but doesn't get enough recognition these days. Especially now, PS5 does not have CD player support. In the game you could play your own CD discs and the game would automatically generate levels for you to play along to the CD, while the Vib Ribbon disc was out. It was pretty cool technology at the time. My family really loved Vib Ribbon. We played it a lot and found it really inventive and fun when the PS1 was around. What happened to this character since? It did get a strange looking sequel in Japan on PS2 in 2004 called Ripple which also featured Vibri, the main character. Saldy since then there has not been a new game in this series and I think that is indeed a crime.

Spyro The Dragon

The PS1 was big in my family when it was new back in late 90's and early 2000's. We loved playing games like Spyro, Crash Bandicoot and a bunch of other cool stuff. After Spyro 1, 2 and 3, there was a lot of wacky games on other consoles up until around 2009. After the Spyro Reignited Trilogy was released back in 2016,  fans were hoping for a new Spyro 4 game to be released. However, unlike Crash Bandicoot which has so far gotten another game; Crash Bandicoot 4 - It's About Time. Well it's about time for Toys For Bob to make a new Spyro game. And according to recent reports, that just might be around the corner. Fingers crossed! I just hope it won't be like Crash Team Rumble. That game sucks.

MediEval

An enjoyable but underrated PS1 franchise, MediEval was briefly revived in 2019 for a beautiful remastered edition of the first game, but sadly nothing has happened to the series since. It is uncertain that another MediEval game would be made on modern consoles. It's a shame. I liked this one. MediEval 2 was also released on the PS1, sadly though didn't get the remastered treatment.

 

Sly Cooper

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Sly Cooper was a beloved stealth and strategy game from the PS2 and PS3. Mixing a blend of unique gameplay and cel-shaded cartoon-like animation. The mix of characters, action based dialogue and gameplay was popular with kids and adults alike. It became one of the biggest icons on the PS2 after Ratchet & Clank. Despite this, sadly the franchise only gained a main trilogy, and the last game to be released was Sly Cooper - Thieves In Time on the PS3 back in 2013. This is why we can't have nice things. In 2014, a weird trailer for a Sly Cooper Movie was shared on Youtube by developers who were probably stoned at the time or something, announcing a 2016 release date. It was probably cancelled when the Ratchet & Clank Movie tanked, which is a shame because the animation in the Sly Cooper trailer looked stunning. Despite this, the team behind the video had claimed an animated TV series was in development, which also never materialized.

So far there is no plans to make a new Sly Cooper game, even confirmed by the developers themselves who have just seemingly no interest in making a new one. It hurts to write this article.   

I may not have counted all of the lost game franchises in this article, but some of these characters remained quite the favourites of mine from my childhood. It is sad to me that the developers these days just aren't bothered to do a new remaster or game of any of them despite such a huge demand from their followers.