CREDIT: JUST ADD WATER
The world of Oddworld is as strange and fraught with danger.

Games may stand the test of time by virtue of still being fun, but the technology often doesn’t hold up. Simply put, it’s a pain in the ass for most people to tinker around with emulators and compatibility layers to make their aging games work. Not only do game remakes solve this persistent annoyance, but they can also add interesting layers and fixes to old issues that plagued otherwise amazing games. Here are some remakes worth checking out.

Conker: Live & Reloaded (Xbox, 2005)

Conker’s Bad Fur Day is an undisputed cult classic on the Nintendo 64. One of the last big releases for the aging system in 2001, the game pushed Nintendo’s bizarre little console to its technological limits, boasting some of the richest, most modern visuals that were almost on par with the then newly-released PlayStation 2. The game also claimed the brag of being one of the most adult-themed games on a Nintendo console, a title that could probably still hold up today. Conker’s Bad Fur Day is about the hung-over journey of home of Conker, an alcoholic squirrel, and his encounters along the way with Terminator-esque bales of hay, a giant mound of singing poo and a Panther King who wants to use the little forest rodent as a replacement for his missing table leg. Developed by Rare, this fun pastiche of ‘90s pop culture parodies saw new life in Conker: Live & Reloaded. The game was complete remake for the original Xbox, with an incredibly fun class-based multiplayer mode and visuals that once again pushed its respective system to the limit.

Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty (Win/Mac, PS3/4, Xbox One, 2014)

Oddworld is a bizarre little game franchise from the ‘90s that began life on the PlayStation with Oddworld: Abe’s Odyssey, a strange but satisfying puzzle-platformer game about an alien slave’s escape from his factory home. Equally-fun sequels aside, Abe’s Odyssey is still worth playing, and this new remake seeks only to bring the dark and quirky 2D graphics of the original to a more modern 3D/2.5D look. Available on pretty much every platform, it’s a great way to get started with this game series.

Resident Evil (GameCube, Win/Mac, PS3/4, Xbox One, 2005/2015)

Despite the arguably poor current direction of this franchise, Resident Evil is still beloved. The original PlayStation/Saturn release still holds popularity not only as being one of the definitive survival horror game but also for its incredibly cheesy English localization, written and performed by individuals for whom English clearly wasn’t a first language. With that said, the Resident Evil remake on the Game- Cube was – and still is – an absolutely gorgeous game, mixing in the pre-rendered backgrounds alongside high-polygon characters to even more detail. Now remastered, this must-have GameCube remake is also available in full widescreen HD for every modern platform today.