Five Dreamcast Games That Deserve a Remake

Man, the entertainment industry loves remakes. Just look at last year’s box office: Lion King, Shaft, Dumbo, Aladdin, Pet Sematary. Fucking CATS. I wish they had combined Cats and Pet Sematary. That’s a movie I’d watch. 

The gaming industry is no different. But with all the remakes, reheats and rehashes, there are still some games that have fallen through the cracks. Here’s five Dreamcast games that deserve a remake. 

1. Crazy Taxi

Have you check in with your friend Crazy Taxi recently? Just as actual cabs have been decimated by ride sharing, this Dreamcast/Arcade classic has fallen on hard times. To see the legendary game on iOS was bad enough, but then Crazy Taxi Idle Tycoon was released. Seriously. It’s tough watching loved ones struggle.

Timing feels good for a remake of this one. The catharsis of taking corners on two wheels, cresting hills on zero wheels and powersliding into the drop point with nothing more than a ‘fuck outtahere” to your traumatized fare has aged nicely, especially in these days when everyone is mortified of getting a bad review on everything. None of that in this game. Just “GTF out” and onto the next.

Give me a remastered Crazy Taxi for this 1080p world. Dunk my face in VR so immersive I can see chewing gum on the sidewalks. Give me a haptic feedback so brittle I need driving gloves and get bone spurs in my wrists. I even want AI passengers with true, banal small talk like “Busy night?.” Or “Where are you from originally?”.

 Give me Crazy Taxi for the next generation! 

2. NFL 2K1

Gather ’round and let me tell you of a time before the Great Madden Monopoly.

You see, there used to be multiple console NFL games competing for a spot in the market and our living rooms. Eventually, there were two franchises left slugging it out: NFL 2K and Madden. It was a pretty brutal back-and-forth before EA pulled the rug out by signing the NFL for a long-term exclusive contract. 

Madden is fine, but no one can argue that competition isn’t a good thing. And, from loot boxes to DLC, EA has shown time and again that they maybe have priorities other than the purity of the gameplay experience. Let’s break up Big Madden and bring parity back to the league. 

3. Powerstone (1 & 2)

Fuuuuuck this game was so good. Imagine if Smash Brothers and Soul Caliber had a psychedelic love child that was raised by cosplaying bandicoots. Seriously, look at this shit. I feel high and sleep deprived just watching this video.

There were some PSP ports in the mid-aughts, but it was never to return to its former console glory. I would hit my own grandmother with a giant mallet for PS5 version of this bad boy.

4. Skies of Arcadia

Sky pirates. Epic airship battles. Great characters. A soaring classical score. Let’s bring it back!

For the update, I say lean into the name here and go full-on ARcadia with an Augmented Reality upgrade. Think Pokemon Go! but with more cannons. This game was absolutely superlative and, although it’s had several false starts, has never made it back to market after its 2003 Gamecube port. 

In 2006 IGN included Skies in its Top 100 All Time Game List at #58, though it has since been pushed out by decade plus of newer classics. The time has come for this game to reclaim its place in our hearts and on arbitrary online listicles everywhere. Starting with this one. 

5. Seaman

Feeling nostalgic? Read about more games we’d like to see come back.