Remade and Improved

"In 1956, one of the greatest directors of all time, Cecil B. DeMille, made one of the most famous films of all time, The Ten Commandments. Actually it was a remake of his already popular epic from the 1920s. I guess he just wanted to up the epicness."

— The Nostalgia Critic

The rule usually holds that when you retell an existing story, you can never live up to the original. This is more likely to be true if your remake is a carbon copy of the original that doesn't add anything new.

The exception to this conventional rule is Remade and Improved, in which — you guessed it — the remake is considered superior to the original.

There are many reasons to remake a film: the director may be a fan of the original work, the studios may want to capitalize on nostalgia, or the writers may want to approach the original plot from a different angle.

A movie is not a remake if it is based on the same source as an earlier film, such as the 1967 and 1998 versions of Doctor Doolittle, which were both based on the book series, as well as the 1969 and 2010 versions of True Grit. Word of God does not veto this; John Carpenter may refer to The Thing as a remake of Howard Hawks' The Thing from Another World, but they're both adaptations of the short story Who Goes There?. The newer adaptation could still be Truer to the Text, which may or may not equate to being better quality.

It should be noted that remakes have existed almost as long as there have been movies.

Works only count if a majority of people consider the remake better. If there's no clear majority, it's a case of Broken Base.

Remakes are also similar to Continuity Reboots, and there is occasionally some overlap. However, one of the key differences between a straight remake and a Continuity Reboot is that anything can be remade, but only a long-running series can be rebooted. Retool is also often congruent with both Continuity Reboots and remakes.

The terms "remake" and "reimagining" are somewhat interchangeable and fall under the same general heading, but there is a difference of degree. Reimaginings tend to take more liberties with the original than remakes typically do, so billing a project as a reimagining is a signal that the audience should not expect it to closely follow the original.

A Tone Shift will often be part of the Remake, especially if it's billed as a reimagining.

Remember, faithfulness is not always an indication of quality.

Compare Surprisingly Improved Sequel and Even Better Sequel, where the improvement happens between installments in the same continuity. The equivalent in music is Covered Up, when a Cover Song supplants the original. Also compare Polished Port, which is when a later port of a video game is considered to be better than the original.

It can lead to Adaptation Displacement if the remake is so successful and beloved it leads to most people forgetting the original. It can be related to My Real Daddy. Usually contrasted with Only the Creator Does It Right, which is often a factor in remakes being poorly-received. Also contrasted with So Bad, It Was Better. See also Salvaged Story and Improved Second Attempt.

NOTE: To count the remake has to be in the same medium as the original work, otherwise it's an adaptation which is a separate concept.

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Examples:

Anime

• As part of the 20th anniversary of Dragon Ball Z, a remake titled Dragon Ball Kai was created with remade and recolored animation, entirely new music, and any filler or padding removed to be more true to the original Dragon Ball manga. While there are still some nostalgic detractors, many consider Kai to be superior to the original version of Z, especially in the Western world where it was released as Dragon Ball Z Kai and the point of comparison was between the rougher translation work of the previous English dubs and the vastly improved performances by the voice actors after years of practice with the characters in video games and other such media since then.

Films — Live-Action

• The Blob (1958) is generally considered to be a highly beloved Cult Classic by numerous fans of the Horror genre, but The Blob (1988) is generally considered to be an improvement, thanks in part to its better special effects (being much Bloodier and Gorier as befitting an 80's horror film) and performances. On a pure horror level, it certainly makes the Blob itself truly terrifying.
• Cinderella (2015) has its share of fans who actually prefer it to the 1950 Disney original for touches like fleshing out the character of the prince, establishing Lady Tremaine as a Foil for Cinderella, and being different enough for audiences to view it as simply another interpretation. Lily James's performance in the title role was also widely acclaimed.
• The Crazies (2010) is a rare example of a remake that was not only more successful than the original, but also received better reviews from critics and audiences alike, who praised the cast, script, and direction, among other things.
• The 1986 version of The Fly by David Cronenberg is considered better than the already critically-acclaimed 1958 version due to better performances from actors like Jeff Goldblum and better special effects, and is considered a landmark film in the Body Horror genre.
• Heat is a remake of the obscure Made-for-TV Movie L.A. Takedown. L.A. Takedown displays some of Michael Mann's usual flair and presents an interesting story, but is as cheap as you'd expect a 80's Made for TV movie to look and badly suffers from lackluster acting across the broad. Heat, being a Hollywood blockbuster, is able to leverage its All-Star Cast and increased budget to bring out the script's potential. Every retrospective treat L.A Takedown as a first draft of Heat more than a movie in its own right.
• While Disney's 1967 adaptation of The Jungle Book remains a beloved classic, the 2016 live-action remake is considered by many to be an objective improvement on many regards. The original had received criticism for being rough in both its animation style and its writing (widely agreed to not have the most robust plot or protagonist), with the remake instead opting for a Scenery Porn-laden adventure in the jungle that better expands on its core characters, especially in giving Mowgli more moments of proactivity and ingenuity rather than pinballing from set-piece to set-piece. To date, it remains one of the most financially and critically successful entries of the modern Disney Live-Action Remakes.
• The 1986 Little Shop of Horrors, which is a theatrical version of the musical based on the original 1960 Roger Corman film, The Little Shop of Horrors, is widely considered far superior in virtually every respect (particularly in the special effects) and is far more well-known than the original Corman movie.
• The 1956 version of The Man Who Knew Too Much is widely considered better and is more well-known than the original 1934 version. Alfred Hitchcock directed both versions and while he still liked the original, he acknowledged that the remake was technically superior in some ways, stating "Let's say the first version is the work of a talented amateur and the second was made by a professional." The original is a good film in its own right, marking the point where Hitchcock first managed to successfully combine suspense, memorable characters, and quirky humor, but the remake is generally seen as more polished, with a more consistent tone, a tighter narrative, more character development, and better pacing. The original bounces between being a bit frantic, then rather plodding, with many feeling that the climactic shootout drags on too long (Hitchcock notably omitted it from the remake). Although the films were preceded by a 1922 book of the same name, they still count because both are In Name Only adaptations.
• Ocean's Eleven is more acclaimed than the 1960 version, Ocean's 11; lots of people aren't even aware there was an earlier version. Ocean's 11 is seen as suffering from poor pacing and overuse of jokes, with surprisingly little tension for a heist film; the heist is laughably easy to pull off, the protagonists are hard to root for given they're solely motivated by greed and they don't even get to keep the money due to poor decision-making. Some of this was enforced by The Hays Code, which didn't want theft portrayed in a positive light. By 2001 The Hays Code was long gone, so the protagonists are depicted as more sympathetic and likable. The planning stage of the heist and the heist itself are far more complex and interesting, the overall tone is more serious while still including humor, and the pacing is more streamlined. Ocean's Eleven is seen as a classic heist movie, while for many viewers Ocean's 11's main (or only) draw is seeing the Rat Pack goofing around.
• The Parent Trap (1998) is remembered far more than the 1961 original it's remaking (both are adapting the German book Lottie & Lisa) — for Lindsay Lohan's impressive performance as both twin sisters, the late Natasha Richardson showing off her comedic talents, Elaine Hendrix as a laughably fun villain and for putting Nancy Meyers on the map as a director. Some don't even know it's a remake.
• Pete's Dragon (2016) is a remake of an obscure Disney musical film from 1977 that is considered both Narm: The Movie and So Okay, It's Average and was made by a little-known (albeit acclaimed) director. The remake, however, made $143.7 million on a $43 million budget and was well-liked by both critics and audiences, more so than the original.
• The 1956 version of The Ten Commandments was Cecil B. DeMille remaking his earlier 1923 silent film by the same name. Although the 1923 version was considered groundbreaking in its day and is still a great movie all in all, the 1956 version is widely regarded as an improvement.
• West Side Story (1961) was critically acclaimed and won several Oscars when it first came out, but it was widely agreed to have aged poorly — mainly for the decision to have mostly white actors in Brownface playing Puerto Ricans (even the Latina Rita Moreno had to darken her skin to look how they believed she should) and most of the singing being dubbed. While the original is seen as Fair for Its Day, Stephen Spielberg's 2021 remake was met with a torrent of praise for updating the story, casting actual Latino actors in the corresponding roles, fleshing out many characters who had been divisive or disliked and generally being an all-round better production. Maria in particular has often been viewed as one of the blandest leads in musical theatre, but Rachel Zegler's spirited performance was widely viewed as one of the best takes on the character, to say nothing of Ariana DeBose, who won an Oscar for her role as Anita that even Rita Moreno herself said was better than her turn in the 1961 original. Stephen Sondheim, who passed away shortly before its release, still got to see it and stated he preferred it to the original.

Live-Action TV

• The Buffy the Vampire Slayer series (1997-2003) is a reimagining of the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer and is widely considered to be superior in every way. Joss Whedon came up with the concept for the film and served as a co-writer, but disliked how the film handled things: the movie is a cheesy, lighthearted supernatural comedy that barely touches upon the themes Whedon wanted to discuss, also throwing out a lot of the darker moments from Whedon's original script. Whedon had more creative control over the series, which serves as a pseudo-sequel to the film, although due to the numerous changes to the plot, characters and lore, they're regarded as being in separate continuities. While it shares the same basic premise (an ordinary teenage girl discovers she's destined to fight evil, Hilarity Ensues) the series has a darker though still humorous horror-comedy approach, and occasionally deals with more serious topics and themes. The series is considered to be an excellent blend of horror, comedy and drama, while the movie is seen as a rather forgettable teen comedy that fails to expand on its more interesting concepts. While the movie does have some fans and did moderately well at the box office, it pales in comparison to the series' enormous following and success.
• Lost in Space (2018) tried to consistently keep the serious tone of the first episodes of Lost in Space, which were followed by the series becoming the campy Fantastic Comedy everyone remembers. And by featuring a compelling story and great production values, many consider it better than the original.

Music

• Born of Osiris released their EP The First Reign in 2007 and is considered a landmark in djent and deathcore. But it hasn’t aged as well due to the rough production. Justified as the band was in high school when they made it and Sumerian Records only just starting in 2006. Born of Osiris went back and re-recorded the EP for it’s tenth anniversary as The Eternal Reign which featured far tighter playing and cleaner production, as well as a new song “Glorious Day” to tie it all together.
• David Bowie: "The Prettiest Star" was originally recorded as a non-album single in 1970. While it was well-regarded, Bowie's re-recording for Aladdin Sane in 1973 is widely viewed as superior to the original thanks to its beefed-up, Glam Rock-oriented sound and its rewritten lyrics, which tie in with the album's themes.
• Car Seat Headrest: The original 2011 version of Twin Fantasy was long upheld as an indie rock classic, but its 2018 re-recording, Twin Fantasy (Face to Face), was widely praised as a massive improvement upon the original thanks to it fleshing out a lot of ideas that Will Toledo considered underdeveloped the first time around.
• Genesis: "The Carpet Crawlers" was a long established classic in the band's oeuvre, so when the classic lineup regrouped to rerecord in 1999, many groaned and wondered what the point was. However, when they heard it, a lot of people changed their minds. The rerecording takes the original melody and improves the dramatic qualities of the song. In the original, the melody line is mostly driven by an arpeggiated organ, the drums are not really propulsive, and Peter Gabriel's voice couldn't quite handle the low notes. In the rerecording, all these issues are addressed, and while the song may seem a bit sleek, it works.
• Taylor Swift: Many listeners feel that the Taylor's Version re-recordings of her earlier albums are significantly better than the originals due to her matured vocals and some tweaks to the production. Notable songs include "Change" from Fearless, as well as "The Last Time" and "Girl At Home" from Red.

Theatre

• Chicago: The 1975 original production opened with Broadway greats Gwen Verdon and Chita Rivera and featured the iconic choreography of Bob Fosse, but critics and audiences had mixed reviews about the gritty, cynical tone (and opening within three weeks of A Chorus Line didn't help). It only ran for two years. The 1996 revival, however, was starker, streamlined, and got a Colbert Bump from the ongoing O.J. Simpson trial, giving the work major Values Resonance while preserving the Bob Fosse style through his longtime partner, Ann Reinking. It is this version that has been running for over 25 years (beating A Chorus Line's record) and brought about the Oscar-winning film adaptation.

Video Games - Commercial Remakes

• Another Code: The original Two Memories for Nintendo DS and R - A Journey into Lost Memories for Wii are niche, but nevertheless beloved entries within the Japanese adventure game genre. Recollection manages to take these two games on two different platforms and weave them into a cohesive whole, elevating much of the presentation. All the puzzles are redone to have them fit in more naturally to the setting, both games are overhauled to have fully 3D explorable worlds with far less backtracking, the music was redone, there is now voice acting to help add more life to the dialogue, the original director returned to grant the games a brand-new art style, and the original writer also came back to streamline and rewrite the narrative, changing things up just enough to both surprise long-time fans and provide a greater sense of closure to the series.
• The original 1989 A Boy and His Blob by Absolute Entertainment is relatively liked, but still faced criticism for being rather obtuse at times, its mixed messages about junk food, and overall having an Excuse Plot. The 2009 remake by WayForward Technologies, with its well-regarded hand-drawn graphics and more emotional take on the A Boy and His X premise, is considered by many to be an improvement.
• Crash Bandicoot: The original three games are widely beloved pioneers of the 3D era of gaming, but the N-Sane Trilogy versions of those games are considered to be much better. Not only for updated graphics and animation but smoother controls, the ability to play as Coco through all three games, and fixing some frustrating features of the original. Likewise for Crash Team Racing and its remake Nitro-Fueled, which gives the adventure mode proper animated cutscenes, adds in tracks from the sequel Nitro Kart, brings in characters from the aforementioned original games and Tag Team Racing, and while the game is still unbalanced, it allows players to choose any competitive class for any character to avoid Low Tier Letdowns. Playing online with others certainly didn't hurt either.
• Dead Space was already renowned as one of the best and most recognized Survival Horror games of the Aughts, but the 2023 Dead Space (Remake) managed to surpass expectations by being just as, if not even more acclaimed than the original. On top of faithfully recreating the atmosphere and using the decade-plus of better technology to improve the visuals and sound to their fullest potential (even in light of a consensus that the original Dead Space still holds up well in the presentation department), the remake also greatly reworked several minor complaints of the original, such as the map layouts and sudden gameplay shifts, overall sanding off the rough edges of an already well-polished title while adding new flourishes and twists to form what may be the new definitive standard for the experience.
• Donkey Kong is an undeniable pioneer amongst classic arcade games and it continues to be well respected by many for being the one to introduce Mario and Donkey Kong to the world. That said, many fans tend to prefer the later remake for the Game Boy, Donkey Kong '94 over the arcade original, since it greatly expands upon the gameplay of the arcade game, going from a simple platformer to a full fledged puzzle platformer with ninety-seven more levels being added beyond the original four stages, while also having greatly refined controls, new moves for Mario and plenty of new mechanics.
• Doom 64 is a Cult Classic from the Nintendo 64 which has a well-made level design and an unsettling atmosphere because of its dark settings and courtesy of Aubrey Hodges' sound design, but suffered from its marketed name which led people to think it was just another bad port of the original game, and while it was smooth for 1997 standards, it seems slow-paced nowadays. The 2020 Updated Re-release from Nightdive Studios, released the same day as Doom Eternal, fixed this injustice on many points: they improved its resolution to HD standards and its FPS to 60 (a number that can rise to 1000 on PC), added new lighting options, and most importantly, created an entirely new second chapter to the game which fills some gaps in the lore between the classic and modern Doom games.
• Ether Vapor was already a cult hit in the indie shoot 'em up scene thanks to its impressive visuals for the time and unique perspective altering gameplay, but was released only in Japan for many years, and outside of a Boss Rush mode and the Overdrive version of Ex-Tio as unlockables, it was fairly light on the replay value outside of score chasing. The 2011 Remaster version of the game, which would be the version to be officially translated by Nyu Media through Steam, DESURA, and directly from their website, features enhanced visuals and sound quality while retaining its original presentation, new but optional arcade-styled transitions in place of the story cutscenes, online leaderboards, made unlocking content easier for players who already unlocked everything in the original while adding in a new bonus Ex-Tio with alternate weapons that offers its own playstyle, can run at resolutions above the original release's 640 × 480 (but is still limited to 4:3 resolutions up to 1600 × 1200 due to how the game was designed), and improved gamepad support for modern XInput controllers with added rumble feedback.
• The Final Fantasy series has had this happen for the first six entries. Thing is, each of these games has been remade at least twice, and the arguments are less about the remakes being better (as almost all of them are considered improvements over the original game) and more about which remake is the best way to play the game.
  • Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II were re-released on the WonderSwan Color and Playstation as standalone games in Japan and as part of Final Fantasy Origins internationally, which updated their graphics and music and added some new cutscenes. The Dawn of Souls release on Game Boy Advance, which were later ported to the Playstation Portable, fixed many issues and brought some of their aged gameplay elements to modern times (most notably replacing FFI's D&D-inspired spell slot system with MP and adding Phoenix Downs and Ethers, which were introduced in later entries), and included bonus content. Finally, the Pixel Remaster releases removed the additional content, but restored the original spell-slot based system from the pre-GBA releases of FFI while still keeping the other changes, essentially splitting the difference between the previous releases.
  • Final Fantasy III on the NES walked so that the SNES games could run, and was well-received for what it did and how it pushed the series. However, the DS remake gave the game a much more cohesive plot, characters with distinct personalities, and a more robust job system. The Pixel Remaster release found a "best of both worlds" approach and is now considered the definitive version of the game.
  • Final Fantasy IV was the game that caused the Final Fantasy series to explode in popularity, to the point where it has been remade no less than four times. The Advance translation cleaned up the script and added all sorts of bonus content, the DS remake was widely seen as a Hard Mode version of the game that brought a new challenge to veteran players, the PSP 20th Anniversary Collection married both releases together and brought the sequel and a new Interquel to the picture, and the Pixel Remaster featured graphical touchups and rebalancing but left out additional content. Generally, the PSP version is considered the superior remake.
  • Final Fantasy V was considered a moderate success at the time of its original release, but the game never saw a proper international release until the Anthology Release on Playstation, which was considered an awful port. However, the Final Fantasy V Advance changed everything, featuring an irreverent script lampooning series-wide tropes, as well as making the cast of characters far more memorable than the original game, not to mention the bonus content added, have resulted in Advance being considered the definitive version of V, even ahead of the Pixel Remaster.
  • Final Fantasy VI is a twofer, one in the form of the game, and one in the form of a character.
    • The International script of the game (first put together by Ted Woolsey, creating the Woolseyism trope in the process) compared to the Japanese script, turned Kefka from a forgettable villain into a Laughably Evil Laughing Mad Omnicidal Maniac which caused his popularity to soar. Every time the game has been remade in Japan since, his character has been based on the international version.
    • While the original version of the game is beloved and Final Fantasy VI Advance is admirable, the Pixel Remaster release goes above and beyond, rebalancing several pieces of the original game, fixing broken mechanics, completely remaking the game's Signature Scene to be more cinematic in nature, and other quality of life changes. Attitudes in the months since its release seem to indicate that the Pixel Remaster version is now considered the best way to enjoy VI.
• Gradius:
  • The version of Gradius II: GOFER no Yabou on the Famicom is a re-imagining of the arcade game, featuring rearranged stage layouts, with some of them having gimmicks exclusive to this version, and unlike the past two Gradius games on NES, it introduces stages that can scroll diagonally when the NES doesn't natively support scrolling in non-cardinal directions. All of this gives it graphical fidelity on par with contemporary arcade games, and additionally this is the only NES Gradius game to have four Options at once (NES Gradius and NES Life Force only support two, and Famicom Salamander (the Japanese version of Life Force) only supports three. And it being a console game, it has a difficulty curve that's somewhat more reasonable than the arcade version. However, to make the graphical aplomb work, the game has to use a special chip that requires the extra pins in the Famicom's cartridge slot, which are not present in the cartridge slot of the American-released NES, and so the game never left Japan.
  • The original arcade version of Gradius III gets a lot of criticism for being fiendishly hard, even by arcade game standards and not even having continues, with some very questionable boss and level design decisions like the infamous semi-randomized "Cube Rush" segment in stage 9 that ends so many runs. The Super NES adaptation redesigns the stages and bosses, with some of the more obnoxious elements like the crystal stage and the post-Final Boss Escape Sequence being removed entirely, and adds continues (albeit a limited number). Most fans regard this as superior to the arcade version just for being a lot more reasonable in difficulty.
• Insanity: The original version is considered to be a bad game (though not without potential) by both the few who have played it and the creator herself; Uri regards it as an Old Shame and it's never been released outside of Japan. Translator vgperson stated it barely qualified as a game, instead being "a flimsy container for a story, and a strangely-paced one at that." After gaining more experience in game-making, Uri released a remake of Insanity in 2020, which is far more polished with updated graphics, more puzzles, improved characterization, and a less confusing narrative. This is considered the definitive version and is the only version available outside of Japan.
• The King of Fighters:
  • The King of Fighters '98 is one of the most popular entries of the games produced before the original SNK's bankruptcy around 2000, due to its massive roster that covers most characters from KOF '94 to '97 (being a pioneer of Dream Match Game, after all) and having generally less balance issues than the others. However, years of study by players has revealed its problems, such as unblockable attacks, that they started to exploit for Gameplay Derailment. The 2008 remake, The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match, fixes all of that, polishes the character tools for better balance (which was further corrected in the Final Edition update), and adds the rest of characters that were left out in the original game, finally living up to its "dream match" tagline. In addition, the Power Gauge system in '98 was criticized for putting the Advanced Mode at a huge advantage to the Extra Mode; Ultimate Match not only buffs the latter, but implements a new Power Gauge system called the Ultimate Mode, a customization system that lets you select the properties from both Power Gauge systems. All these changes made Ultimate Match the definitive version to play the game.
  • The King of Fighters 2002 is another Dream Match Game, created by former SNK staff after its bankruptcy. It's considered a decent game that mixes the elements of KOF '99 to 2001, and introduced Super Cancel system that would become part of the series since, but it's clear the game suffers from troubled developer shift at the time, seen in its poor music and tons of balance issues. The 2009 remake, The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match, was developed by the reconstructed, more financially stable SNK, and it does what Ultimate Match did to KOF '98: adding the characters from '99 to 2001 left out in the original 2002 (accounting for 66 playable characters in the roster!) and fixing all bugs and balance issues for much better metagame. In addition, the soundtrack in Unlimited Match is completely redone, and considered a banger that lives up to the series' high standards. Whereas the reception toward KOF 2002 was mixed, Unlimited Match brought the fans together, citing it as the new SNK's magnum opus. SNK itself also seems to take pride in it, as the main games produced after Unlimited Match, starting with KOF XIII, are all influnced by it.
• Kirby:
  • The original Kirby's Adventure on the NES is undeniably considered to be a classic, but a substantial camp of fans considers the later Game Boy Advance remake, Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land, largely superior to the NES original. It boasts updated visuals and tighter controls, lacks the lag and slowdown featured in the original, new mini games and an entirely new mode in which you play through most of the campaign as Meta Knight. It even adds the Copy Ability hats from Kirby Super Star. Kirby's Adventure 3D on the Nintendo 3DS reverts back to the original visuals, but restores the original sub-games, which were replaced by different ones in Nightmare in Dream Land, while still eliminating the slowdown.
  • While Kirby Super Star is still regarded as a Super Nintendo Entertainment System classic, many Kirby fans unanimously declare that its remake Kirby Super Star Ultra on the Nintendo DS is the definitive version of the game, with improved graphics, the addition of seven new games (4 main games and 3 minigames), the ability to drop copy abilities without resorting to creating a helper, the introduction of many fan-favorite characters (Galacta Knight, Marx's soul incarnation and King Dedede's Masked Dedede incarnation) and lore, and giving Bandana Waddle Dee a more prominent role in The Arena and Revenge of the King.
  • Kirbys Return To Dreamland is still considered to be the start of a series renaissance and a nostalgic classic for many, Return to Dreamland Deluxe is considered by many to be the superior version, with improved graphics, two brand new copy abilities, an entire side mode devoted to Magolor showing what happened to him after the player defeats him and why he ended up pulling a Heel–Face Turn, Merry Magoland, which allows players to play all the minigames in co-op and an even harder version of the True Arena, complete with making Magolor's Soul, something of an Anti-Climax Boss in the orginal game, into an utter monster.
• The Legend of Zelda has remade many of its older, classic titles, some of which have surpassed the originals in the eyes of many fans.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remains a venerated classic to this day, but the 3D remake for the Nintendo 3DS is widely considered the definitive way to play the game. Besides graphical improvements that do the original game justice while adding flair of its own, it features streamlined gameplay that reduces the amount of downtime spent in menus, a reworked Water Temple that makes it far less of That One Level, and the entirety of Master Quest as an extra "hard mode." It even (intentionally) preserves a number of Good Bad Bugs found in the original game, like Swordless Link.
  • While not without its flaws, the 3DS remake of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is considered an improvement over the original N64 version for touching up on a lot of the more disliked gameplay elements, such as removing the Suspend Save feature in favor of being able to make a permanent save and including a Sheikah Stone in the clock tower to help curb the massive amounts of Guide Dang It!.
  • The Nintendo Switch remake of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening is considered the way to go for new players, unless they really want to mess around with screen warping glitches or don't care for the chibi art style. Besides the obvious graphic and sound upgrades (some of which are truly gorgeous), the remake boasts a Minish Cap-like control scheme that allows much more gameplay freedom, fully animated intro and ending cutscenes, a vastly improved fast travel system, almost all of the added content from the Updated Re-release, and a healthy dose of its own extras — including many new Secret Seashells, a figure-collecting sidequest to give the Trendy Game more purpose after the Yoshi Doll, and Dampé's dungeon-building minigame, which replaces the photo quest from the DX version.
• Leisure Suit Larry 1: In the Land of the Lounge Lizards: Whether the remakes are better is divisive as each version of Larry 1 has its own charm and features, but it's practically universally agreed upon that the game is an improvement over Softporn Adventure, the game it was meant to be a remake of, as not only does the addition of graphics make the world feel much more alive and memorable, but the writing is far sharper and the erotic elements being Played for Laughs rather than straight titillation helped the game age better than other erotic games of the era.
• Lunar Silver Star Story is highly thought of as superior to the original Lunar: The Silver Star due to a greatly expanded plot, improved gameplay, better characterization, having voice acting for all major characters, and nearly an hour of traditionally animated cutscenes.
• Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven: While the original was better received by critics and has a diehard following by its fans for its groundbreaking gameplay, graphics, and storytelling for its time, the Definitive Edition is seen by many newcomers and longtime fans as the superior version, with a far more polished story, better-written characters, and overall improved and polished gameplay that removes the awkward jank, excess menu system, and annoying bugs of the original.
• The original 2013 version of Mermaid Swamp was already well-liked and considered to be among the best RPG Maker-style horror games. The 2018 remake is considered to be even better. It doesn't substantially change the plot and gameplay, but it has improved graphics and updated artwork that adds a lot of detail and atmosphere; it also adds voice acting (with the performances being surprisingly good for an indie game made in Wolf RPG Editor) that helps enhance the characters.
• Metro 2033: The Redux version of the game, which is essentially a complete remake of the original using the improved engine, gameplay, and graphics of Metro: Last Light, is far better received overall by both fans and critics. It helps that the clunky controls and bugs present in the original have since been removed, many of the game's levels have been expanded upon and streamlined, and all of the NPCs have unique looks now from either using their Last Light models (for characters who appeared in both 2033 and Last light) or newly created models entirely, thus averting Only Six Faces.
• Metroid:
  • Metroid is a complete and total groundbreaker in the history of video games. With its emphasis on exploration, and its famous revelation, it helped create and name the Metroidvania genre of gaming. However, its remake Metroid: Zero Mission is seen as superior in every way, fixing dated level design and generally bringing a game made in 1986 up to more modern standards. Many fans now recommend skipping the original entirely and playing Zero Mission instead.
  • Metroid: Samus Returns does the same with Metroid II: Return of Samus. With its controls and visuals no longer held back by the Game Boy, many find the remake to be a much better way to experience the game. It also adds in some additional world building and Story Breadcrumbs that tie it in more with the rest of the series.
  • Metroid Prime Remastered overhauls the visuals of the original GameCube release, as well as introducing a more modern and intuitive default control scheme, while keeping the rest of the gameplay completely intact, making for a very polished way to revisit the original game.
• The Ninja Warriors (1994) is itself kind of a remake of the original The Ninja Warriors (1987), but in 2018, The Ninja Warriors: Once Again^note Can also be referred to as The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors) asserts itself as an improved remake of the 1994 game with greatly improved graphics and sprite animations across the whole board, two new and unique characters to play in the form of Yaksha and Raiden, remixed music, and co-op multiplayer.
• While Pac-Man World is a Cult Classic and a solid 3D platformer for the PlayStation, the RE-Pac remake is considered by many to be the definitive version of the game. It polishes out much of the original game's Fake Difficulty and jank, improves upon the controls greatly, adds in a flutter jump and a new giant Super Mode upon eating a power pellet, has greatly improved and more elaborate bosses (and makes the infamous That One Boss Anubis far more bearable), makes saving the family members optional instead of mandatory and adds in an updated Golden Ending in which Pac-Man forgives and befriends Orson instead of infamously eating him like he did in the original game (though the original ending is still intact if you don't rescue Pac-Man's family).
• Pokémon
  • Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen are nearly universally seen as an improvement over Pokémon Red and Blue. The addition of a new area in the form of the Sevii Islands, the inclusion of abilities and held items, and the addition of a variety of moves (as well as the fixing of unintended type matchups^note Notably, Ghost-type attacks were always supposed to be super-effective against Psychic-type Pokémon, but in the original games, a glitch made them do no damage at all instead) are just a few of the reasons given.
  • Similarly, Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal are games that are seen as completely surpassed by their remakes, Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, which expanded several elements from the originals, including the rather bare postgame in Kanto, added back the Safari Zone that was cut for space constraints, and included several events to tie the Johto region to the larger Pokémon universe. The remakes are even included in the conversation for the best Pokémon games in the series.
  • Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, while not as well-received as FireRed and LeafGreen (at least initially), are considered by many fans who have played them to be a much better experience than the original Yellow version, no thanks to Game Freak having had 20 years of experience to completely revamp the Kanto Region into something far more pleasant to the eye. This also on top of having the far more powerful Nintendo Switch as its platform, and the games retaining features introduced in generations since the GBA remakes, such as Mega Evolution, the Fairy-type, trainer customization, and Alolan forms.
• Prestige Tree: Rewritten has a more positive reception than Classic thanks to The Modding Tree engine being an improvement over the original coding, its new layers, and revamped balancing. In a poll conducted on The Modding Tree forum, almost 90% of voters prefer Rewritten to Classic, with the only user who prefers the original admitting to have nostalgic bias.
• The first two Quake games got this treatment from Nightdive Studios:
  • The 2021 remaster of Quake, while still operating under the same codebase as the original Quake (as the Github repo for the game's source code can attest) adds lots of new features to the game, including actually integrating the Expansion Packs Scourge of Armagon and Dissolution of Eternity, as well as the MachineGames's free episode Dimensions of the Past and a completely new, graphics-heavy episode, Dimension of the Machine (and eventually integrating the Threewave CTF multiplayer gamemode as well). It also added the new Horde gamemode and curated addons on top of all of this, as well as extra console support, a weapon wheel, and even curated mods. And that's just the playable content, as there are also tons of graphical and sound-related options. Suffice to say, and like other Nightdive remasters, this remaster is seen as a shining example on how to make a proper remaster of a videogame.
  • The 2023 remaster of Quake II includes the same quality-of-life improvements as the first episode (graphical and sound-related options, the original soundtrack reincluded, extra console support, crossplay and weapon wheel), the original Expansion Packs The Reckoning and Ground Zero, a new one by MachineGames titled Call of the Machine, fully remastered cutscenes, a new deathmatch map, and even a full remaster of the Nintendo 64 port of the game adapted for modern machines. It also changes the AI of some enemies, making them more dynamic than before and giving whole new abilities to some. Also, while the remaster of the first game was criticized for forcing players to have a Bethesda account to play online, this one allows peer-to-peer online play, and even oldschool LAN multiplayer.
• Resident Evil:
  • Resident Evil (Remake) is generally considered an improvement to the classic favorite original thanks to its better graphics and less stilted (though still cheesy) dialogue. The remake also expands upon the plot and lore, has more areas to explore, made Rebecca Chambers a more likable character, and is overall considered a more streamlined and scary experience. The original is beloved as the Trope Codifier of Survival Horror, while the remake elevates it.
  • While the original Resident Evil 2 is considered to be one of the best entries in the series, the remake is considered to be just as good, if not better, thanks to improved graphics (courtesy of the RE engine), an over the shoulder aiming system and new designs that made the creatures like the Zombies and Tyrant more intimidating than their counterparts from the original game.
  • Much skepticism was thrown at Capcom when it was announced that Resident Evil 4 would be getting the remake treatment, mainly due to how their previous remake didn't perform quite as well, not to mention how 4 is generally held to be one of (if not the) definitive high points of the franchise and thus a very Tough Act to Follow. However, upon release it received near-universal acclaim from both critics and fans for not just being an all-around polished and competent remake, but one that significantly improves on every aspect of the original, with gameplay, presentation, and level design receiving the most praise for putting more emphasis on atmosphere and horror while not losing the adrenaline-pumping action and empowering feel that made the original title so fun and memorable. Even the writing has been lauded for having more effective drama and more believable interactions between the cast of characters, doing away with the old game's cheesy '80s B-Movie plot in favor of a Darker and Edgier story with proper pathos (though there are those who prefer the old campy approach). Even many of those who prefer the original game consider the remake to be almost its equal in terms of quality.
  • Similar praise was given to the remake of Separate Ways, the story expansion for RE4, for the amount of effort that Capcom put into giving it quality-of-life improvements. The original version of Separate Ways was criticized then and now for mainly reusing areas from the base game, having the few new areas be of questionable quality (such as the infamous battleship), and adding very little story material, feeling like a glorified set of challenge missions with an Excuse Plot. The new Separate Ways not only offers more gameplay content and much better level designs, including bringing back a number of moments that didn't make the cut in the base game's remake, but also an actual story with its nuanced and humanizing characterization of Ada and further expanded roles for Luis and Wesker, features that the original game severely lacked.
• Spyro the Dragon: Spyro is a beloved platformer trilogy during the PSX era, and, unsurprisingly after the success of Crash's remake, Spyro's trilogy was likewise given a remake in the Spyro Reignited Trilogy collection and is considered to be the definitive version. Praise often goes to the added detail to the worlds, enemies, and NPCs having much more personality and unique animations, distinguishing redesigns on the characters, and still retaining the same fun as the originals.
• Super Mario Bros.: While the original NES platformers are well regarded as being classics, the remakes included in Super Mario All-Stars are regarded by many fans to be superior to the original games, due to having more detailed graphics, an upgraded soundtrack, and having better save features (and in Super Mario Bros. 3's case, a save feature at all, given that the original game notoriously lacks one despite its unusually large scope and long length compared to past games).
• Wild Guns is a thrilling arcade Rail Shooter from Natsume, but later in 2016, Natsume would one-up it with Wild Guns: Reloaded, a remake complete with updated graphics, two new stages, two new playable characters, Doris and Bullet, and multiplayer expanded to have up to 4 players.

Video Games - Fan Remakes

• Classic Doom games having been modded a lot since 1993, you can find many mods that improve the source material:
  • Brutal Doom greatly improves the first two games by giving more moves to the demons, by introducing new weapons like an assault rifle and an axe, by adding physics to them and finishers, and by making the bet use of freeview to allow headshots. Project Brutality takes it further by adding new weapons, new demons variations and new attacks for them: for example, Hell Knights can do physical attacks similar to their Doom (2016) counterparts.
  • For modern players, the PlayStation port of Doom can be hard on the eye, lacking in content, and slow-paced; however, the ones who played it at the time (and others who enjoy games with dark settings) consider it one of the best versions of the game, mainly because it was the first successful port of Doom I and Doom II on console, because it made a good use of the latter's monsters in the former's levels, and also because of its (literally) Darker and Edgier atmosphere accompanied by Aubrey Hodges' creepy ambient music, nightmarish sound design, and hellish voice effects. Nostalgic fans made many mods to port this experience to PC by correcting the aforementioned defaults: this gave PSX Doom Console Enhanced (CE) which redimensions the PlayStation version for modern screens, makes it more fluid, adds light effects to toxic barrels and Imps' fireballs (which also receive a graphical enhancement), allows mouse freelook, jump and crouch, and contains full-fleshed ports of Sigil and No Rest for the Living. The mod even adds four ways to play: a faithful one for those who don't care for graphical enhancements and simply want to (re)play the PlayStation version on PC, an enhanced faithful one which adds those with new voice effects for demons, a modern which adds the cut demons from the source material, and an experimental one which also adds new visuals and music.
    • The same modders also made Final Doom CE, a proper PlayStation equivalent which adds the many cut levels, and (despite the game already having a good PC port as explained in the folder above) Doom 64 CE: in addition to the aforementioned graphical enhancements, the mod adds cut enemies and redesigns them to fit the game's art style (it also redesigns the Sergeant as a bald Zombieman to avoid the original iteration's confusion), and in addition to the normal campaign (called "The Absolution") and "The Lost Levels", you can even play three additional campaigns from previous Doom 64 conversions.
• While Half-Life is still beloved and considered as one of the most iconic First-Person Shooter games of all time, many Half-Life fans consider the Fan Remake Black Mesa to be a massive improvement over both the original and especially 2004's Half-Life: Source, the latter of which just ported all of the original game's assets to the Source Engine, with little effort made to actually improve it. The Xen levels of Black Mesa in particular are seen by fans as the best improvement done by the Crowbar Collective, effectively averting the Disappointing Last Level sections of the original.
• Hoshi wo Miru Hito is widely considered to be an unplayable mess, albeit one that wraps around into being So Bad, It's Good. The Fan Remake STARGAZER was widely considered to be an improvement for its numerous fixes and Adaptation Expansion — and then STARGAZER itself fell victim to being overshadowed by a later fan remake, Romancing StellaVisor, which went all in on the additional content and graphical and musical improvements, alongside a very faithful adaptation of Romancing SaGa-esque gameplay. While Hoshi wo Miru Hito itself remains infamous, and STARGAZER still has a small following, Romancing StellaVisor is considered by quite a few fans to be the definitive version of the game.
• The various CD-i spinoffs of The Legend of Zelda have received heavily improved fan remakes.
  • The remasters of Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon have been seen as highly improved from the original CD-i version while staying mostly true to the originals. The controls are much more fluid and heavily improved, and many quality-of-life changes that make playing the game actually enjoyable. And best of all, the cutscenes are left intact for the players' enjoyment.
  • Zelda's Adventure is often considered the single worst game in The Legend of Zelda series, being one of the infamous CD-i games. And unlike its siblings Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon, has little enjoyment factor, ironic or otherwise. The fan made Game Boy Video Game Demake, however, has seen much higher acclaim than the original version. The downgraded graphics have been seen as aesthetically closer to the style of Zelda, and the addition of music livens up a mostly silent game. And additions of quality-of-life features from Link's Awakening, as well as Oracle of Ages/Seasons, make an otherwise tedious game much more playable.
• Mega Man fangames:
  • Mega Man X: Mavericks: The first game in the series was certainly playable and set the tone for the rest of the series, but it played more like a generic RPG and didn't quite capture the feel of the home series until the second game. When the Compilation Re-release of the first three games came out, the first game was remade to match the feel of the rest of the series. In doing so, it added a more reasonable difficulty, the weapon skills and armor system of the other games from the X games and improved map design.
  • Mega Man: The Sequel Wars: While the original Mega Man: The Wily Wars is somewhat contested, this fan remake quickly became many fans' go-to way to play Mega Man 4 and has led to high hopes for the remaining games in the collection. Besides graphic and audio upgrades even bigger than the ones found in Wily Wars, Sequel Wars adds a save system (on top of an improved password system), extra playable characters, several customization options like difficulty levels and infinite lives, a quick weapon switch option, and a debug mode to what was previously one of the more contentious Mega Man games.
• While the first Rayman was largely acclaimed when it came out in 1995, is still considered visually beautiful and its soundtrack acclaimed, its gameplay based on the progressive acquirement of powers didn't age as well, and its level design suffers from Fake Difficulty. The Fan Remake Rayman Redemption lets you control Rayman at his full potential from the start, corrects the mistakes from the original level design and extends its content, notably by giving proper fights against Mr Dark.
• Sonic the Hedgehog:
  • The original Sega Master System and Game Gear games have their fans, modern players can consider they didn't age as well as Genesis games. The Sonic SMS Remake trilogy (third episode still in development) readapts their gameplay to make them closer to Genesis games:
    • The first Sonic SMS Remake recreates the 8-bit and 16-bit levels, uses the original Bonus Stages as Special Stages to substitute the original in-level research of the Emeralds, allows to play all the characters from Sonic Mania games, and even has an alternative FM soundtrack.
    • Sonic 2 SMS Remake "simply" reworks the original levels in the way explained earlier, has a duo mechanic where you can switch at will between interdependent partners ^note Sonic and Tails, Amy and Knuckles, Mighty and Ray, Shadow and Metal Sonic, Espio and Vector, and a True Final Boss inspired from Sonic 3 & Knuckles.
  • While Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble is considered to be one of Sonic's best titles on the Game Gear, the Fan Remake Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble 16-Bit is largely considered to be a massive step up from it, due to it being based off of the Genesis Sonic titles, allowing it to break free from the hardware limitations the original game had, providing greater and more elaborate level design, an expanded storyline, a revamped soundtrack, new zones, mini-bosses at the end of first acts, improved bosses for second acts, and an epic True Final Boss.
• Turtle Head: The Fan Remake Turtle Head: Unmasked is considered to be vastly superior to the original game, with improved graphics and artwork, an expanded storyline, and more characterization. Players have particularly noted that the redesigned art and graphics help make the game and the main antagonist genuinely creepy (the original art for Turtle Head made him unintentionally goofy at times), expanding Emma's character and turning her into a hint provider made her far more likable and sympathetic (she was generally hated in the original for being a useless coward) and the improved foreshadowing makes plot twists such as Mason being an undercover cop less out-of-nowhere. Pikasprey, the creator of the original, assisted with Team Meatpie's development of Unmasked and played the finished product, and he himself declared it was better in every way.
• Undertale is a beloved indie game because of its RPG and Shoot 'Em Up battle system, its world building, its complex characters and its beautiful soundtrack, but it also received criticism for its visuals (which were considered simplistic at best), its lack of ergonomy (notably the impossibility to customize keyboard controls) and its linearity. The (albeit abandoned) Game Mod Undertale: Bits and Pieces improves the game in these regards: alongside a strong graphical improvement with console screen borders and customizable controls for keyboard, it adds a run button, the Version Exclusive Contents (notably the fan-favorite Mad Mew Mew battle from the Nintendo Switch version), sidequests involving new extra characters who fit with the quirky universe of the game (including one with a unique gameplay style), and even optional new songs and remixes.

Western Animation

• While DuckTales (1987) is considered to be a classic show and a staple of the Disney Afternoon, DuckTales (2017) is widely considered to be the better version by most fans, mainly due to the improved continuity, darker stories and villains, and its improvements on the character's personalities and characterizations.
• While Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! is widely considered to be a classic, there are two later remakes that many fans see as being vastly superior to the original show:
  • What's New, Scooby-Doo? is regarded as being a great modernization of the original show that while not afraid to poke fun at itself. Many fans consider it very faithful to the spirit of the original show while also praising it for improving on several aspects (such as making Daphne more proactive and giving Fred more of a personality). Oh, and its theme song by Simple Plan is widely considered to be the best Scooby-Doo theme ever.
  • Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated is widely regarded by many fans as being the best version of the gang to date, due to its Darker and Edgier tone, having an ongoing Myth Arc and the show's deeper exploration of the characters and their relationships compared to previous shows.

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