Indeed, the unquestionable success of Sonic Mania and Sonic Mania Plus has demonstrated that old/new games can breathe fresh life into previously dead franchises, and titillate the nostalgia gland while still doing something new.
But what other dormant franchises could be revived, while still holding onto everything that we all loved first time around? I'll tell you what ones: these 10 ones.
After half a dozen or so games, the series finally ran out of fuel (do you see?) in 2003, with the release Road Rash: Jailbreak for the Game Boy Advance. And yet... it remains a perennial good idea; it's racing... but it's also fighting. You could hit people in the mouth with chains!
Why has it gone away? I don't know. But I do know this: one of the few times I suffered real road rage was after a cyclist called me a "Twat" through my open car window, and I had some satsumas on the passenger seat, and I turned the car around with the full intention of finding him and throwing a satsuma at him... but then I calmed down.
I'm cool!!!!!
A controversial release in 1992, given its proximity to the real-life Gulf War, Desert Strike kicked off a franchise which spawned a further four releases: Jungle, Urban, Soviet and Nuclear. The last of these was released in 2000, for the N64.
It was known that EA had been working on a sixth game - Future Strike - which evolved into Future Cop: LAPD. Since then... nothing. Bring this back, yeah? We're all numbed to the horrors of war now, so it probably wouldn't be contentious. And make sure you keep the isometric graphics.
Developed by breakaway members of the team responsible for the groundbreaking Goldeneye on the N64 (hasn't aged well, mind), Timesplitters' stylised shooting wasn't to everyone's taste. Still, surely a more realistic, time-travelling, shooter could work?
Think about it; each level set during a different era, but without the ugly visuals, and a slightly more considered style of play? Basically, do a Wolfenstein, but make sure you don't do a Wolfenstein 2, and pad out the game with hours and hours of being lost in a submarine, making meaningless small-talk with boring NPCs.
I had a quick look out of my window, and saw that I hadn't marked the car, but that didn't stop some busybody van driver telling me to leave a note, and not believing there hadn't been any damage. I told him that the damaged he'd spotted was just some dirt - which I proceeded to rub off with a tissue. He still told me to leave a note, and that if I didn't he was going to tell the owner of the car.
I was so livid that it's probably just as well I didn't have any satsumas on me.
Anyway. What were we meant to be talking about? Oh yes: Burnout. The best racing game series ever? Potentially. Why? Because of the "prangs".
And yet there hasn't been a full Burnout game since Paradise - 10 years ago - despite everyone who ever played a Burnout game wanting a new one. It seems like a guaranteed money-maker. You know: like yo mama's butt!!!!!
LOL.
Yes, real-time strategy has fallen out of fashion - along with jorts, Yo mama jokes, and cultural appropriation - and there is a new C&C game apparently in the works for phones, but... nobody wants that. They want this: a proper, brand new, Command & Conquer. Preferably for the Switch. Also: keep the 3D graphics to a minimum, yes? They always just made it harder to play FFS.
Which, frankly, more than makes up for the time I played that joke on her where you get a carrot and pretend to take a goldfish out of the tank and eat it, except that I only had tinned carrots, and instead of eating it I threw it against the wall and it splattered everywhere, and she got all hysterical and that.
Three games, and a spin-off racer, strong, the Jak & Daxter franchise showed just how well an open world game could work, while its cartoonish graphics belied a deep, challenging, and addictive experience. Since the release of Jak 3 in 2004, Naughty Dog has focused on its Uncharted and The Last of Us series, which suggests their priority now lays elsewhere, but - for some of us - Jak & Daxter remains the best work they ever did.
Basically Resident Evil with dinosaurs, Capcom's Dino Crisis sported three full games, but the series hit a brick wall when Dino Crisis 3 received mixed reviews. That's a real big shame, because the basic idea remains full of potential, and with the Jurassic Park/World movie franchise undergoing something of a renaissance, it's about time video games did dinosaurs properly.
And by "did" I don't mean... y'know.
Also: it boasted a strong female protagonist, which - again - would be a suitable counterpoint to the ongoing pervasiveness of unshaven male game characters. And Lara "The Grunter" Croft.
Admittedly, the third game in the series wasn't quite as good as the second, but it did have a kangaroo in it, and providing Sega stuck to the original 2D art style, and didn't get any ridiculous 3D ideas, a Streets of Rage Mania would be an massive hit.
And before you all tell me in the comments... yeah I know that Fighting Force started life as a Streets of Rage sequel. That's precisely why I mention the 3D.
We know Valve has worked on it. There have been rumours about a Half-Life VR (no thanks). Valve has said it would only ever release "super classic" products, which is fair enough - they clearly suffer from some degree of performance anxiety - but c'mon... all any of us want is more of the same.
Could somebody please slip Gabe Newell a cocktail of beta-blockers and viagra?
Now press reveal to see a satsuma, or "easy peeler".