Welcome to RetroLogic! I'm Dan Caporello here with Shannon Eno and John Cummins, and Adam Caporello!
Intros
But RetroLogic isn't just a podcast. It's a community of retro gamers!
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- AND Dive into our family of Retro podcasts! Like RetroGroove, a music history podcast, and On Topic Retro, a podcast dedicated to 1 video game per episode hosted by our very own John Cummins.
- you can find everything at our website retrologic.games
Housekeeping
John - New retrologic content coming!
On Topic Retro - Gradius Interstellar Assault for Game Boy
The Price Is Retro
If this is your first time playing Price Is Retro, here's how we play. I'm going to list off 4 or 5 games and everyone has to guess how much the lot is worth in total. Whoever is closest to the actual value wins that round! Everyone has a list and everyone guesses on each other's list.
At the end, the player that won the most rounds wins the episode! But watch out for the robot Deus Guess Machina! He averages all of our guesses together for his own guess
Dinosaur - Leonard - adds up original costs, retail value
Ghost - Polterguest - always guesses 300
Shannon's List
Dan's List
Adam's list
John's List
Show Topic -
remake/remaster/reimagining
Which do you prefer?
What is your favorite game that has had one of these treatments?
Third Strongest Mole
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6/13/26, 8:47 AM
I'll try to give my condensed thoughts here since I wont' make it onto next week's show. The only remakes that I consider justified are games that truly had potential they failed to live up to. Games that are perfectly good as they are don't need remakes - just ports. While I appreciate keeping classic games available for people who don't have original hardware, ports address that problem in a much more cost effective way - and the "need" for remasters is selling a solution to a problem created by the planned obsolescence of the idea of console generations. We don't actually need new hardware (at least not to play old games)- console makers just need new hardware and software to sell. By all means keep the classics available through reprints and officially licensed emulation. But those aren't new releases and we shouldn't pretend they are. If you really "can't wait to play Ocarina of time again" - plug in the N64, or boot up the NSO app.
Community Couch
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Savannah the Hyena Queen
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6/12/26, 6:59 PM
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I like remakes, for two reasons. One, they allow a new generation of players to experience an old game with the conveniences of the modern era. And two, they give fans a brand new way to experience their favorite games. Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire was the first point for me, and Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl was the second.
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That being said, I think Nintendo has been doing too many remakes and updates to old games recently and not enough new ones.
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But maybe that's just cause I'm not super interested in Star Fox or Ocarina of Time
Drex1981 [ARC],
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6/12/26, 7:04 PM
Remakes are tricky things. One of the side they can fix issues that at the time couldn't be addressed. They can expand on storylines and tell the story with more detail. They can introduce new players to these games and create new fans. On the other side they can be souless cash grabs and change what makes these games great.
MooseGooseNinja [SEAF],
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6/12/26, 7:18 PM
I like remakes as long as they do the original game justice (looking at RE3R), but otherwise I do like the idea of remakes for the same reasons Savannah mentions. I generally try to judge remakes on a case-by-case basis though, and my personal favorite part of remakes is playing both versions (if I can get my hands on the original) and comparing and contrasting the two. I also try not to decide which is better or anything, but just objectively finding differences. It was the most fun for RE4 because I LOVE those games. My favorite game that got a remake was probably Dead Space.
DoubleD
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6/12/26, 8:57 PM
I've been mulling this over for a bit now and I think I like remasters the most. Making older games accessible to a new audience while improving the graphics and QoL features will get me every time (Don't ask me how many versions of the various Final Fantasy games I've bought through the years). Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles is probably my favorite remaster though. It kept one of my favorite games mostly the same but added amazing voice acting that let me experience one of my favorite video game stories in a completely different way!
Your Wallet's Defense Attorney
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6/13/26, 12:16 AM
I prefer remakes that change stuff more than faithful remakes. They are more interesting to analyze, and they provide more of a reason to play them if you have access to the original.
Solo [nDAD],
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6/13/26, 8:37 AM
I welcome a remaster of the game. The trend now in console camps is to remaster games to bring them into the contemporary level of graphics and/or new art design to make them more appealing to new generation of gamers. OoT is a cherished entry into the Zelda series. Off of this one entry we get the branches into the Downfall causing BoTW/ToTK, Child and Adult timelines of Zelda lore. Would be interesting if in the remaster then made methods to connect the game to others; for example the lore we see in BoTW/ToTK that many have played (even those that are not deep dive Zelda fanboys and just played off IP recognition alone). Hoping myself the remaster is not a lockstep redo of the original since that version is already out there. I find it more exciting if they were to add new story beat elements into a new artwork scheme.
adam — 6/13/26, 9:25 AM
i find the discourse around remakes and remasters to be kind of pointless, because if you don't like them, just don't play them.
is there a conversation to be had about companies rereleasing games instead of taking risks on new ips? yeah absolutely. but i think that's different then should these remakes/remasters exist.
emulation and ports are important in the preservation of media, but remakes/remasters
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update games to be more accessible on modern hardware.
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remakes/remasters recontextualize their stories into the modern broader canon.
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i think people are excited to play oot remake/remaster because of the first two reasons. i don't think anyone would pretend that the z targeting and camera controls in the original are good. (innovative for the time but obviously not great in comparison to today) so updated qol features, coupled with excitement to see how they will recontextualize oot to better fit with the current branch of botw/totk, and hopefully give us a glimpse of what's to come next
(In response to adam)
Your Wallet's Defense Attorney
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7:56 AM
People get annoyed about remakes because of the opportunity cost. Time you take developing a remake/remaster is time you could have spent developing something new. So there are some stakes to the discussion. Also, as a community based around gaming, we like talking about games. So we wanna talk about whether remakes/remasters are interesting to us, and listen to how other like minded people feel about them. The discussion itself is often the point.
(Adam thinks the opportunity cost argument doesn't hold water because plenty of studios are able to output both)
(Flightsy says there is STILL an opportunity cost. And resources were spent)
(Adam responds)
adam
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12:16 PM
I can't recall a situation where a new game or a game that's in development was sidelined by a remake/remaster. if anything the remakes and remasters make studios more money to put into new titles.
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but like i said i think really the bigger issue in the industry is the live service model/microtransactions being pushed by suits in c-suites. it's why naughty dog hasn't dropped anything, it's why xbox is in such a bad spot financially.
*and then to fill the void of canceled games companies just rerelease or remaster something
…
i think it's an interesting topic, and i think that the recent uptick in remakes/remasters is a barometer for the health of the current industry. and if it's good or bad is up to interpretation, or more likely somewhere in the middle
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Xomber
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1:35 PM
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Have mixed feelings on remakes. Some games are just classics and it doesn't really do much to put a fresh coat of paint on a classic. I will still play them, however, hence the mixed feelings.
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Like when Last of Us 2 was remade on the PS5, it seemed, pointless to me, but since I hadn't played it up until that point that'd be the option I would go with. I still like good games being remade to a certain extent, but are we going to do that every 5-10 years or every 2-3 generations?
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Xomber
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1:39 PM
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Another thing I wonder, would a remake make some bad games good? I'm curious about that. Could a story be fleshed out more, or an annoying game mechanic be improved to where it's not cumbersome? That's what actually interests me.
Flightsy:
I was definitely disappointed by the OOT remake announcement, and in general by the large amount of old content on the Switch 2. But in the end, that's not actually what I'm disappointed about. I'm disappointed that a year in, I still don't really feel compelled to buy the Switch 2. I'm annoyed about the remasters because it reminds me of that core issue, but it isn't actually the issue itself. And there's no way to know if a decision not to make those remasters would have actually led to a world that fixes that issue…
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