It’s extremely upsetting to me that so many video game franchises have been neglected by their respective publishers. There’s so many franchises with amazing potential just collecting dust at the moment. In this article I want to shine some light on these franchises and why a revival for them would be a great Christmas gift for everybody. If you want to see the first article I’ve done on this topic click here. With no further delay, let’s get this Christmas list rolling.
This one really hurts me as I enjoyed Knockout City a lot in the time I played the game. The game’s premise is essentially advanced dodgeball. Simple rules of dodgeball mostly apply here. You can catch the dodgeballs and evade getting hit by dodgeballs. One minor difference is if you get hit twice you’re out instead of standard dodgeball rules where you are out after one hit.
You could also use one of your teammates as a weapon, as they can curl up into a ball form and you can carry them around when resources are scarce. I did this a lot with a friend of mine and it made for very fun teamwork. There were also different dodgeball variants, such as the Cage Ball. This nifty little device allows you to trap an opponent for a few seconds and usually to hurl your vulnerable opponent off the map, eliminating them in one fell swoop.
Unfortunately the live service model didn’t treat Knockout City well and feeding your audience content little by little usually ends up not keeping player retention. The game was shut down on July 6, 2023. It’s a shame really. Knockout City was a unique sports game that I played regularly before it was shut down and I believe under the right people, can make a comeback and flourish.
This entry is a bit tricky to figure out a revival for, as the Skylanders franchise operated much differently than most games. Skylanders used a “toys to life” model, a model where the player used toys to place and whatever device was connected to the console, usually a portal, and that character would be transported into the game where you can play as them. Skylanders wasn’t the first game to implement the formula, but it was the first to make the genre very popular for a short period of time.
The game was centered around saving Skylands from the evil wannabe dictator Kaos. Every game had a lot of enemy variety and the levels had a lot of varied settings, including mines, temples, deserts and more. Each Skylander has their own element, which allows them to get buffs if they are in a specific part of a level or can be used to unlock element locked gates. You also had the choice between two paths to upgrade your Skylanders as both paths radically changed the play style of the characters.
Every game following Spyro’s Adventure introduced a new mechanic in every game, like the Giants in Skylanders Giants, which can move heavy objects and get access to locations your normal Skylanders are unable to. There are also some boss fights sprinkled throughout the game as well, with Kaos usually serving as the final boss of each game. The games are really fun and definitely give you a power fantasy feeling. The issue with being the franchise back however is do you ditch the “toys to life” model or go back to the drawing board?
Some customers are likely going to be turned off by having to buy extra accessories for their game to function properly. It’s a great idea, especially for the younger audience who simply want something that will grab their attention, but to the casual audience it could be seen as a turn off. Maybe you just ditch the “toys to life” mechanic altogether and come up with a completely new mechanic altogether.
Regardless of how the franchise is brought back, I’d love to see a new Skylanders game with new fun mechanics for the player to engage with. There’s definitely upside for a world as vast as Skylands and all it takes is a savvy developer and publisher to take the franchise to new heights.
This might be a name most gamers haven’t heard in an extremely long time, the bombastic alien and robot slayer himself, Duke Nukem. Mr Nukem was an FPS icon in the 90s and 2000s and stood tall along with his peers such as Doom Guy(Doom) and Master Chief(Halo). The games centered around the aforementioned Duke Nukem, saving planet Earth from hostile alien and robot invaders.
He uses a variety of weapons to get the job done such as shotguns, assault rifles, flamethrowers, chain guns, rocket launchers and throws in a few exotic weapons like the freeze-thrower and shrink ray. The games are an excellent example of a power fantasy, as you play the confident buzz cut bruiser who isn’t afraid to speak his mind and lets his actions speak louder than his word while crushing aliens and robots alike.
It makes it all the more depressing that this once flourishing franchise hasn’t had a new installment since the infamous Duke Nukem Forever back in 2011. For a game that took fifteen years to develop, the game fell flat on its face with many undesirable features such as Duke’s sluggish gameplay, obnoxiously long loading times and bugs made for an unpleasant gaming experience. Unfortunately the underperformance of Duke Nukem forever has really set the franchise back as there hasn’t been a new mainline game since then.
It’s a tragedy as Duke Nukem is an iconic hero among retro gamers and can still make a strong scene in today’s gaming environment. Look at Doom for example. The franchise was dormant for a decade from 2006-2015 until ID Software decided to pick the franchise back up in 2016. That decision has worked beautifully for them. It has spawned two sequels in Doom Eternal in 2020 and Doom The Dark Ages this year.
I could definitely see Duke Nukem make a Doom-like comeback with Duke Nukem having access to new weapons, fighting against new enemies while cracking some great jokes. It’s about time this iconic gaming icon kicks some A and chews bubblegum again.
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