I’ve been playing a lot of Punch Out Wii lately, and to say it’s a fantastic revival of a long dormant IP would be an understatement. I would put it up there with Killer Instinct, Mortal Kombat 9, and Strider 2014 as one of the best faithful reboots out there. Nintendo has revived plenty of dormant franchises over the years, starting as early as the GameCube release of Metroid Prime and Fusion and going all the way to today with Nintendo Switch Sports and Advance Wars (eventually… fingers crossed).
Looking back, Nintendo really went ham on reviving dormant IPs in the Wii era. Along with Punch Out, we got Sin and Punishment, Donkey Kong Country, Kirby, and Excitebike all within the span of 2 years.
I’m gonna quickly spotlight three franchise revivals that I enjoyed and helped elevate their respective series to the next level, two of which coincidentally being on 3DS. Let’s start with [Fire Emblem Awakening](https://youtu.be/n-BB3KbVUYI); this game came out in the wake of continuously declining sales of the franchise. The devs were given an ultimatum to have their next game sell well or else they’d be sleeping with the F-Zero developers. Needless to say it was a massive success, with four mainline entries, a successful mobile game, and a ton of spinoffs ever since.
Wario Land was a series that was defined by its surreal scenarios and handheld only nature, as it made a name for itself on the Game Boy and GBA. But for seven years after Wario Land 4, we got nothing. Eventually Nintendo and developer Good Feel expressed a desire to revive the series for the Wii, and they did so with a striking hand drawn artstyle and a few anime cutscenes. This was [Wario Land Shake It](https://youtu.be/2r_AYT1FUYg), or The Shake Dimension in Europe, and… it unfortunately didn’t sell well at all. This meant that Wario would be stuck in the microgame factory while Good Feel continued to collaborate with Nintendo on other series like Kirby and Yoshi.
Finally we have to mention [Kid Icarus Uprising](https://youtu.be/WGR8wXl4QTM). After the first two 8 bit adventures, the series went dark for almost 20 years. But after Pit’s inclusion in Brawl, Masahiro Sakurai took it upon himself to revive the franchise on his own accord. And the result was one of the best games you could find on the 3DS. It’s an amazing blend of cinematic action, character writing, and content. And for a dead series of all things! Please just… play Uprising if you haven’t, especially if you enjoyed the characters’ banter in Smash’s Palutena Guidance conversations.
by Asad_Farooqui
8 Comments
mario
I’ll second that emotion regarding Kid Icarus: Uprising.
A shame the actual gameplay was the weakest part of that package, and it’s even more of a shame that thing hasn’t gotten an HD twin-stick remake on Switch yet.
Metroid dread. Honeslty hope they remake super Metroid next. It’s already a good game but would love to see a remake that gets as much love as zero mission did.
Sadly, I think I’ve usually found myself disappointed when Nintendo has tried to revive or reboot a series I enjoy. The best attempt I can think of is maybe *Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon*—it’s a good game, but I still feel it doesn’t compare to the original.
Kid Icarus Uprising (if you could even call it a “revival”, its basically a new game that just happens to use the old characters). I was so hyped for that game when it was announced, I used to watch the trailers and gameplay over and over waiting for it (I was desperate for something new on my 3DS lol).
In terms of games that actually kind of revive the series without completely changing what kind of game it is, I want to say the Advance Wars Remakes will probably end up being mine. One of the best games on GBA, solid DS games to keep the momentum going and then… nothing. Fire Emblem managed to finally take off in NA and it’s been non-stop FE ever since.
Not necessarily Nintendo franchises but I’d love to see Zombies Ate My Neighbors, Gradius(with classic graphics), Lemmings.
Retro’s Donkey Kong series is the best revival any franchise has ever had
Id consider the xenoblade DE, 2 and 3 as a revival and continuation of the Xeno series of a sort only made possible by Nintendo if you know how those games even got their chance to be made or monoliths story as a developer. When they pitched xenoblade for wii in the mid 2000’s it was monoliths last chance really to make what they wanted without interference or restrictions but nintendo gave them all the time and budget they needed to make it a success, which is ofc a massive risk with jrpgs internationally and whilst it released in japan in 2010 it took another year for Euro release and another for a US release. Considering the sales of their previous trilogy being published by Namco not meeting sales expectations and having the Euro release axed, or having the original xenogear series cut to only 1 game by Square, xenoblade feels like a miracle to a UK based JRPG fan.