5 Forgotten Arcade Games That Need A Remake

Arcade games have found a new life by being digitally rebooted or remastered on modern gaming platforms over the past several years. Whether it's beat-'em-up compilations or titles like "House of the Dead" being revived and remade, '80s and '90s classics are steadily finding new audiences. Of course, there are still countless gems from the arcade scene's heyday that have yet to receive modern revivals, many of which are forgotten by today's gamers. Whether it's forgotten arcade games based on popular movies or overlooked classics, many titles could use an overdue upgrade.

A lot of the games that we're covering in this article have seemingly been lost to the passage of time and are in desperate need of freshening up. Their obscurity could be the result of licensing issues or the fact that many of these titles didn't receive ports on home gaming platforms. Since it's not necessarily impossible to revive these properties for new generations to discover and appreciate, here are five forgotten arcade games that need a remake for modern audiences to enjoy.

Popular cartoons were adapted into arcade games all throughout the '80s and '90s, including "G.I. Joe," which received its own arcade title developed and published by Konami in 1992. A rail shooter, players control four heroic characters from the animated series as they take on the forces of Cobra Commander. After battling Cobra's sinister minions, the Joes raid Cobra Commander's secret hideout to thwart his latest attempt at global domination.

With so many '80s properties being revived and reimagined for modern audiences, like "The Terminator" and "RoboCop," it's a wonder "G.I. Joe" hasn't gotten similar treatment. The game is fun to pick and play and even more enjoyable with friends, allowing cooperative multiplayer for up to four players. The licensing behind "G.I. Joe" is likely the biggest impediment to bring the game to modern platforms, especially as it hadn't even been ported to home platforms in the '90s. An underrated rail shooter based on a fan-favorite animated series, "G.I. Joe" brings the high-octane action in full.

One '90s arcade game that never got a console port was the 1993 beat-'em-up "Ninja Baseball Bat Man." Not to be confused with the DC superhero, the game has a group of ballplayers fighting villains who raid the Baseball Hall of Fame. With four different characters to choose from, players battle through waves of baseball-themed enemies to recover the stolen items. True to the premise, the players' main weapons are baseballs and baseball bats, while power-ups include various stadium fare.

Just based on the title alone, "Ninja Baseball Bat Man" needs to be revisited and revived in some way, shape, or form. Even beyond its patently ridiculous premise, the game is an engagingly fun beat-'em-up, with eye-catching art design and a vibrant presentation. The game was a relatively overlooked title worldwide, in no small part due to its lack of console ports. A remake could rectify that, finally giving "Ninja Baseball Bat Man" the wider exposure it always deserved.

Of all the huge celebrities you may have never known were in video games, Aerosmith is certainly one of the strangest. The rock band stars in the 1994 on-rails shooting game "Revolution X," which was originally released in arcades. The game takes place in a dystopian near-future where the world has been taken over by the totalitarian New World Nation, a corrupt, corporate-fueled regime. With all music banned, Aerosmith is kidnapped and players must free the band and topple the despots to restore freedom worldwide.

Developed and published by Midway Games, "Revolution X" utilized a similar digitized live-action sprite style as its "Mortal Kombat" franchise. But whereas "Mortal Kombat" has undergone a stunning transformation for modern gamers, "Revolution X" has remained confined to the '90s. The game received contemporary console and PC ports but could use a modern remaster on platforms like the Nintendo Switch 2. Presumably, the biggest obstacles would be securing the music licensing and likeness rights to Aerosmith, but that's by no means impossible to achieve.

Not to be confused with the unrelated Super Nintendo beat-'em-up released in 1993 or the Atari Jaguar "Alien vs. Predator" game the following year, 1994 saw its own arcade game with the same title. Developed and published by Capcom, the game has a cybernetically enhanced Dutch Schaefer joining forces with two Predators and Colonial Marine Linn Kurosawa. The quartet repel a xenomorph invasion in California, uncovering it as part of a Weyland-Yutani conspiracy gone wrong. This leads to a confrontation with a rogue military general and the xenomorph queen for the fate of the planet.

"Alien vs. Predator" is one of the best beat-'em-ups that Capcom ever produced, certainly one of the best based on a licensed property. The game allows for intuitive combos like Capcom's "Final Fight" series, along with the ability to pick up and use weapons strewn around stages. Unfortunately, the game never received its own console port and was only re-released as part of Capcom's all-in-one arcade pad in 2019. Over 30 years since its arcade debut, "Alien vs. Predator" could use the remaster treatment — like so many other Capcom classics.

Originally released under the title "The Kung-Fu Master Jackie Chan," the 1995 arcade fighting game was upgraded and rebranded as "Jackie Chan in Fists of Fire." Using digitized sprites of live-action actors like "Mortal Kombat," players battle opponents for the opportunity to take on one of three variants of Jackie Chan, played by the man himself. The rebranded game allows players to choose between the three Jackies in addition to the returning playable roster. To preserve Jackie's on-screen image, he simply gives the winning opponent a thumbs up when he loses a round before moving on.

"Jackie Chan in Fists of Fire" is probably the strangest of the '90s video games that tried to copy "Mortal Kombat," but it's not without its own merits. The action is predictably goofy, but the novelty of getting to play as Jackie Chan never loses its inherent charm. A tongue-in-cheek remake or remaster in the vein of "Shaq Fu" could provide some solid fighting game fun — and "Fists of Fire" is much better than "Shaq Fu." A '90s curio celebrating one of the most popular global actors of all time, "Jackie Chan in Fists of Fire" should get a modern revisit if only for the memes.