Does Bingo’s Comeback Prove that Retro Games Need Full Remakes?
We’re in an age of reboots, remakes, and revivals in media. While most prevalent in cinema, gaming has also been bringing back some of its classics. As classic games are fairly young in the grand scheme of things and have only been left behind by ever-improving hardware, there’s still an audience for them on newer consoles. Still, some argue that people shouldn’t tamper with the classics.
While not originally a video game, the classic lottery game of bingo has undergone a massive revival in recent years, transforming from a hall game to something that fleetingly resembles a video game. Bingo is thriving again because it has adapted to modern tech’s capabilities, which perhaps proves the need for full remakes in gaming.
Rebooting and remaking bingo
One of the first steps to reboot the bingo industry and remake its games was to adapt to the times, which lead to the creation of online bingo games for mobile. It used to be that getting to a bingo hall was a major obstacle to playing, so, as smartphones are the most convenient gaming devices going, it was a logical step to mobile-optimise all bingo games.
Bingo has been around for centuries and was due a modern overhaul, so the next step was to utilise modern technology to enhance the experience. Now, bingo platforms like Paddy Power boast an ever-running set of bingo rooms, with each of them having a different theme, rules, ticket price, and jackpot. You can start in the Green Room with its 5p tickets and £5 prize, working up to the big-money Gold Room and its jackpot of tens of thousands. On top of these, bingo rooms like Deal Or No Deal include the game show as a feature within the online bingo game.
Do all games need a remake or is a port sufficient?
<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/fNsGXJ6Cl00″ title=”YouTube video player” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture” allowfullscreen></iframe>
People with an affinity for retro games, particularly those prior to the general PlayStation 2 era, don’t tend to prefer remakes with tweaks to the gameplay or high-fidelity graphics. For those fans, there are plenty of options, such as the Arcade Archives range on the Nintendo Switch, the N64, SNES, and NES games included with the hybrid console’s online subscription, and the many classics ported through by Aspyr.
However, when the remake stays true to the source material and only alters a few subtle elements, it can prove even better than the original. This includes all the classic gaming titles, such as the highly-praised Resident Evil 2 Remake. There is certainly a call for bringing proven classics to modern hardware, especially when remaking them creates a title that can easily sit alongside recent creations in terms of controls, graphics and voice acting.
The comeback of bingo can be seen as a classic game being rebooted and remade in many regards, and this aggressive strategy has helped it to win over new players. In video gaming, it’s quite a financial risk to remake a game outright, and developers have shown that several ports still appease the intended audience.
No Comments