Square Enix suggested they might remaster more games from their storied archives—here are the classics we’d like to see get a new coat of paint.
At Square Enix’s annual shareholder meeting, when asked about the possibility of remastering more games and capitalizing on the success of the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters, the company’s directors vaguely commented that they are “considering various ideas” internally. Naturally, this tepid reply has poured gasoline on the wildfire that is their fanbase and sent hopes for future projects through the roof.
Realistically, remasters and ports have long been a part of the company’s MO. Many of the most high profile contenders Square Enix could pull from their catalogue, and even some of the more obscure, have already been done in recent years; other old favorites like Final Fantasy IX and Final Fantasy Tactics have been heavily rumored to be getting an update, or at least heavily and loudly desired by fans.
Yet, there’s still some untapped gems in the company’s past that could use a remaster for the modern age—or at least a spot on PlayStation Plus’ Classics Catalogue:
5) Drakengard (Trilogy)
You may not have heard the name Drakengard, but you’ve almost certainly heard of Nier, or at least seen director Yoko Taro’s bizarre mask in public interviews. One of the first new IPs released after Square and Enix merged twenty years ago, Drakengard and its two sequels (with Taro directing 1 and 3) took players to darker fantasy worlds than other franchises in either company’s pockets at the time in the short-term, and paved the way for Taro’s magnum opuses in the long-term.
As cult classics go, the Drakengard games did pretty well, but would certainly draw in a fresh crowd if they were remastered—if only those who want to know every thing there is to know about the Nier franchise without hunting down the PS2 and PS3 copies, or just those who wish they could ride on (and fight from) a dragon’s back with next-gen visuals.
4) Brave Fencer Musashi
Having jumped to the PlayStation from Nintendo’s camp, Squaresoft threw some spaghetti at the wall to see what games would stick. Brave Fencer Musashi stuck relatively well (though coming packaged with the Final Fantasy VIII demo may have helped boost sales).
Brave Fencer Musashi was a departure from other Square Enix IPs. While based on legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi, its protagonist had that typical 90s attitude at times; one might even say this was the closest that classic Square got to copying Sonic the Hedgehog’s homework. A new remaster could give this unusual little action game another shot to replace its blocky, chibi-fied character models and truly live up to its potential.
3) Parasite Eve
To almost everyone’s dismay, Square Enix has been dipping a toe into the crypto market. While that may be alarming enough in its own right, what’s truly unforgiveable is that they used the good name of a lapsed IP for one of their “NFT-based entertainment” products—Parasite Eve.
Another cult hit launched in the wake of Final Fantasy VII, Parasite Eve played like a cross between Resident Evil and a typical Squaresoft RPG of that time, set in the “real” world of New York. Instead of running away from zombies with clunky controls, protagonist Aya Brea engaged monsters in turn-based combat, with her police-issue gun and a growing suite of unsettling powers.
Just as Capcom’s survivor horror titan has benefitted from repeated re-releases over the years, so too could Parasite Eve. Imagine the possibilties: Square Enix could help a whole new generation learn that the “mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.”
2) Xenogears
Given the success of the Xenoblade Chronicles trilogy on the Switch, it’s surprising that the games that laid the loose foundation they stand upon still haven’t been re-released in some form. Over a year ago I named Xenogears one of our top JRPGs that deserve a remaster, and it holds true still today. (In fact, this was the game specifically requested by the shareholder who asked Square Enix’s board about the prospects of more remasters.)
Long hailed as one of the PS1’s best JRPGs, Xenogears joined forces with Metal Gear Solid to make 1998 a banner year for densely philosophical blockbusters. Its marketing drew players in with its awesome mechs, anime cutscenes, and tactical, turn-based combat, then hooked them with a sprawling story that leaned more heavily into science fiction than the rest of the genre. Though it bears practically no connection to the Xenosaga and Xenoblade games that followed, it nonetheless raised a high standard for creator Tetsuya Takahashi’s future projects.
For its own legacy, and that of Monolith Soft’s corpus, we would love to see Square Enix remaster Xenogears… but that still seems like a huge logistical nightmare, given the complicated web of publishing rights for the “Xeno series.” But hey, if Super Mario RPG is getting a remake, maybe nothing’s off the table yet, right?
1) Einhänder
Most of the names on this list are likely somewhat familiar, but the Square Enix title we’d most like to see remastered is one of the more obscure titles Squaresoft made for the PSone: Einhänder.
At a time when the studio was breaking new ground in the RPG genre, Einhänder applied many of the tricks they’d developed in making Final Fantasy VII to the classic side-scrolling shooter. The gameplay itself was somewhat typical, in the same vein as Gradius and its other successors, with the player’s ship blasting waves of enemies out of the sky. Retrieving new weapons from defeated enemies kept the formula fresh, but the presentation, with its 3D models and environments, truly elevated the action.
With some Final Fantasy XVI-inspired effects and a conversion to 16:9 for modern displays, Einhänder could astound audiences all over again—or, for the first time, as the title never saw release in Europe and remains a prohobitively high-valued commodity for collectors. Yet allusions to the titular spacecraft in the likes of Kingdom Hearts and World of Final Fantasy give us hope that Square Enix hasn’t forgotten about their obscure shooter, and thus hope for a potential remaster.
As it stands, I’m just stoked that we’re getting Star Ocean: Second Story R for the moment, but these other projects are just the tip of the wishlist iceberg. What projects do you hope are being “considered” for remasters over at Square Enix? Let us know in the comments below!
