Skip to main content
Tech Radar TechRadar the technology experts
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
RSS
Asia
flag of Singapore
Singapore
Europe
flag of Danmark
Danmark
flag of Suomi
Suomi
flag of Norge
Norge
flag of Sverige
Sverige
flag of UK
UK
flag of Italia
Italia
flag of Nederland
Nederland
flag of België (Nederlands)
België (Nederlands)
flag of France
France
flag of Deutschland
Deutschland
flag of España
España
North America
flag of US (English)
US (English)
flag of Canada
Canada
flag of México
México
Australasia
flag of Australia
Australia
flag of New Zealand
New Zealand
  • Phones
  • Computing
  • TVs
  • AI
  • Streaming
  • Health
  • Audio
  • VPN
  • More
    • Cameras
    • Home
    • News
    • Reviews
    • Opinion
    • How to
    • Versus
    • Deals
    • Coupons
    • Best
Tech Radar Pro
Tech Radar Gaming
Trending
  • Amazon Prime Day
  • Smart Home Week
  • Nintendo Switch 2
  • Best VPN
  • ChatGPT
  • Best web hosting
  • NYT Wordle today
  • Best laptop

Recommended reading

Image of the PlayStation Portal handheld gaming device
Gaming Best PlayStation Portal games in 2025
an image of a guard in a courtyard in Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow
Virtual Reality Gaming PS5’s Thief VR could make me love my PSVR 2 again
Cronos: The New Dawn
Gaming Bloober Team breaks down upcoming survival horror game Cronos: The New Dawn, 'this will be farther away from Silent Hill 2 or anything we did before'
Demon's Souls knight approaches a castle gate as enemies advance holding torches
Gaming The 12 best video game remakes to play in 2025
Marvel's Spider-Man, the back of Spider-Man's suit
PS4 The 20 best PS4 games in 2025
A ship docked on a red and blue planet, littered with bulbs of glowing light and dense foliage
Virtual Reality Gaming Best VR games in 2025
A player stands on a planet surrounded by giant purple crystals.
PS5 The best PSVR 2 games in 2025
  1. Gaming
  2. Consoles & PC
  3. Playstation

PlayStation One games we want to reboot - and how we'd do it

News
By James O'Malley published 12 November 2015

Time Crisis VR, anyone?

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Introduction

Introduction

Xbox One gamers have something to be smug about this week: Rise of the Tomb Raider hits the shelves exclusively on Microsoft's console (though we expect it will be coming to the PS4 when Microsoft's brown envelope to Square Enix is emptied of money).

The game is a sequel to the critically acclaimed 2013 reboot of the series, known as the simply-titled Tomb Raider. It was a game that showed that, with a bit of care, and the writing of Rhianna Pratchett, even stale franchises could become fresh and new again.

Though she's now a star player on Team Xbox, Lara Croft started life on the original Playstation, and her original, much more angular appearance is essentially synonymous with that era for gaming.

That got us thinking: What other games and franchises are in need of a reboot? Let's dive back into the early-modern period of gaming and imagine what digital corpses we could reanimate.

Page 1 of 11
Page 1 of 11
1. Crash Bandicoot

1. Crash Bandicoot

Poor Crash. It all started out so well with three of the best platform games ever made, and even a half-decent kart racing game. Then developer Naughty Dog got all serious and started making Uncharted instead. The Bandicoot brand was beaten about as the IP shuffled between publishers and now it appears to have been left for dead in the hands of Activision.

But we think it is about time for a revival. The original three games still play great - and like Mario, there's nothing that fundamentally needs to change. So why not go all New Super Mario Bros on it? Don't go open world - keep the fun, linear challenges.

We wouldn't mind a Mario Maker style level designer as there is surely a lot of potential for user-friendly level creations. And heck, as it wouldn't be a Nintendo game there wouldn't be awful friend-code sharing of levels and we could just use PSN like adults instead.

Page 2 of 11
Page 2 of 11
2) Dino Crisis

2) Dino Crisis

How do you improve Resident Evil? Add Dinosaurs, of course. That's why in 1999 Capcom released Dino Crisis, and later followed it with two sequels (which also made their way to the Dreamcast and original Xbox).

Fast-forward to 2015 and, inexplicably, we're still lacking a really good dinosaur game. Perhaps now is the time to bring it back and have another go?

Given the horsepower inside the PS4 and Xbox One, surely the Dinos could be made even scarier, and following the likes of The Last of Us, the game could hit the sorts of cinematic highs which PS1 gamers could only have dreamed of.

The game might also be a good candidate for VR. Assuming a reboot would stay true to its survival horror origins, imagine nervously pacing through a dark corridor only to literally turn your head and find a raptor breathing down your neck.

Or just make Jurassic Park in VR. You know it makes sense.

Page 3 of 11
Page 3 of 11
3) Die Hard Trilogy

3) Die Hard Trilogy

There have been a number of attempts at turning the Die Hard films into a video game, but for some reason they stopped making films after a third instalment (and I'll claim this, no matter what you tell me), there hasn't been a new attempt since Die Hard: Vendetta on the Gamecube.

Back on the PlayStation there was Die Hard Trilogy, which was essentially three different games, each loosely based on the films. Weirdly, they all took different styles: One was a third person shooter, one an on-rails first person shooter and the last was a driving game.

So what to do for the modern era? The obvious thing to do would be reimagine Die Hard as a sandbox game - perhaps something similar to Sleeping Dogs. Drive around as John McClane on duty solving inexplicable water jug puzzles - and stumble upon the occasion tower block hostage situation. Get Bruce Willis to drop some wisecracks and surely we've got a hit?

Page 4 of 11
Page 4 of 11
4) Driver

4) Driver

Imagine Grand Theft Auto but where you're unable to get out of the car and you're half-way to understanding Driver.

Sure, it looked terrible on the PS1 but it was an interesting building block on the way to the future as it was one of the first games to offer an open world.

The game has spawned a couple of sequels since but it now appears to have been left for dead. So perhaps now is the time to bring it back?

Heck, as it is owned by Ubisoft why not build it as a Blood Dragon style downloadable remix of Watch Dogs' Chicago? Developers could simply take the virtual Chicago that already exists, and rather than populate it with CCTV cameras, focus on fast-paced driving challenges and not being so damn serious.

It'd be an easy way to add value to existing gaming assets - and could revive a classic gaming brand in the process.

Page 5 of 11
Page 5 of 11
5) Time Crisis 2

5) Time Crisis 2

That's right - Time Crisis 2 isn't just found hidden at the back of just about every grubby seaside amusement arcade, it actually received a console release appearing on the PS1 in 1997 (as well as the PS2 a few years later).

Since then, light gun games have fallen out of fashion but there's surely an even better technology out there to replace it: How about a reboot for VR? Not only would it obviously be more immersive, but it could make use of the spatial tracking beacons that are being developed for the likes of Oculus Rift and HTC Vive so that the player can point their arms as though they were aiming a real gun.

The on-rails aspect would also mean that it gets around the slightly awkward VR problem of needing to simulate player movement too - so the player can concentrate on aiming in the right direction instead.

Perhaps it could bring back Richard Miller as a now-washed-up ex-agent who's too old for this s**t, but gets dragged back into action to fight an old nemesis: Wild Dog.

Page 6 of 11
Page 6 of 11
6) Ghost in the Shell

6) Ghost in the Shell

Based on the Japanese animé movie of the same name, the Ghost in the Shell game was a surprisingly competent shooter.

In the game you took control of a Fuchikoma robot, a tank that can crawl up the sides of buildings as well as jump.

It is easy to imagine the game being re-made today and making use of dual-thumbstick controls to create a shooter that is more multidimensional than usual.

Make some tight, skyscraper packed deathmatch arenas and there's an original shooter. How will players cope when enemies can come at you from practically 360 degrees?

Page 7 of 11
Page 7 of 11
7) Marvel vs Capcom

7) Marvel vs Capcom

Every gamer knows that licensed titles are almost, by definition, terrible. And the games tangentially linked to the Avengers films have been no different with Captain America's Arkham Asylum knock-off disappointing, and Iron Man only putting in an appearance in crappy phone games.

But cast your mind back to Marvel vs Capcom on PS1, which pitted Marvel's greatest heroes against the cast of the Street Fighter games. Impressively, it still looks pretty great even today owing to its 2D stylings, which time has been much kinder to than its 3D brethren.

The game has appeared in a number of iterations since but let's get real here: Nobody cares about who would win between Ryu and Tony Stark - but everyone wants to know who would win between Hulk and Thor.

So why doesn't Marvel should pay Capcom to make a new Avengers fighting game? Hey, it would even fit in with the themes of Captain America 3: Civil War, which is due out next year and sees two rival team of Avengers go head to head with each other.

Page 8 of 11
Page 8 of 11
8) Bloody Roar

8) Bloody Roar

Bloody Roar was twist on the standard beat 'em up. This time around, your character could turn into an animal. Though the game itself turned out somewhat mediocre, this is a nice concept - so why not use it to take something like Far Cry 3 to its natural extent.

Not only is the tropical island populated by animals to fight… but now you can fight like them too. Perhaps different transformations could allow the player to access different types of terrain or enable different interactions?

Page 9 of 11
Page 9 of 11
9) Rampage World Tour

9) Rampage World Tour

The original Rampage World Tour saw the player take control of giant Godzilla-style monsters in a side-scrolling smash-em-up.What if Rampage 2015 took its cues from either Titanfall or Evolve?

Both deployed asymmetric gameplay to create some unique gameplay experiences. What about online multiplayer where one player takes control of George, Lizzie or Ralph (yep, that's what the monsters were called) while the others play the role of human-sized Scumlabs employees trying to stop the destruction?

What would make it really great would be if developers could build the 3D world in such a way that buildings could be destroyed in non-fixed ways, so that the debris from destroying a tower creates new challenges for the human-sized players that are different every time.

Page 10 of 11
Page 10 of 11
10) PaRappa the Rapper

10) PaRappa the Rapper

It's a dog-eat-dog world on the mean streets of Detroit, and in this gritty remake of the classic rhythm game the player must help 2D cartoon dog PaRappa earn respect in the hip-hop community and launch his rap career - otherwise he's doomed to a life of slaving away in an auto plant whilst living in a trailer with his mom.

There's violence, guns, and bad language as PaRappa navigates a complex personal life to find redemption behind the mic. But can PaRappa meet the expectations of his friend and mentor Chop Chop Master Onion? Only you can help him. Kick! Punch! It's all in the mind! We'd call it: PaRappa Begins.

  • Your guide to the new Xbox One Experience, complete with backwards compatibility
Page 11 of 11
Page 11 of 11
TOPICS
Sony
James O'Malley
Read more
Image of the PlayStation Portal handheld gaming device
Best PlayStation Portal games in 2025
an image of a guard in a courtyard in Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow
PS5’s Thief VR could make me love my PSVR 2 again
Cronos: The New Dawn
Bloober Team breaks down upcoming survival horror game Cronos: The New Dawn, 'this will be farther away from Silent Hill 2 or anything we did before'
Demon's Souls knight approaches a castle gate as enemies advance holding torches
The 12 best video game remakes to play in 2025
Marvel's Spider-Man, the back of Spider-Man's suit
The 20 best PS4 games in 2025
A ship docked on a red and blue planet, littered with bulbs of glowing light and dense foliage
Best VR games in 2025
Latest in Playstation
PS5
The Nintendo Switch 2 has arrived, but we still consider the PS5 the best gaming console to buy in 2025 – here are the three reasons why it's number one
The PDP Victrix Pro BFG Field Op edition.
Forget the DualSense Edge – this modular pro controller is still my go-to PS5 gamepad
The Ghost of Yōtei stands looking out at a vibrant yellow meadow
PlayStation exec says first-party games won't be released on PS Plus on day one – 'We’ve sort of stayed true to our strategy across the board'
A hunter and a Palico smile at a roasted piece of monster meat
PlayStation Plus members can net a free Monster Hunter Wilds and WWE 2K25 game trial, exclusive savings, and more this summer as Sony celebrates 15 years of the service
GTA 6's Jason and PS5 digital console
I sure hope my PS5 doesn't die before GTA 6 - reports suggest hardware issues could damage consoles over time
The PS5 Pro console next to a PS5 Slim and launch PS5 on a wooden desk in front of a white brick background and next to a potted plant
After seven months with the PS5 Pro, here are the biggest ways it's leveled up my gaming experience
Latest in News
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6
New and unofficial renders show how thin the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 could be – and we also have hints for when they'll go on sale
ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 27: Jake Paul weighs in ahead of his fight against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr at Honda Center on June 27, 2025 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy/Getty Images)
Jake Paul vs Chavez Jr LIVE: fight replay, cheapest PPV deals for the boxing blockbuster, highlights
Android 16 logo on a phone
Android 16 will soon flag fake cell towers and warn you if someone is spying on your phone
iPad Pro 13-inch with M4 chip on a wooden table
Apple could finally go all-screen with the iPad Pro, as new leak hints at slimmest-ever bezels
Apple iPhone 16 Review
This ‘meh’ iPhone 17 Air camera tip might give us more insight than meets the eye
A Tesla car, James Bonds and Samsung's foldable promo image
ICYMI: the week's 7 biggest tech stories from Tesla finally launching robotaxis (kinda) to Samsung's foldables teaser
LATEST ARTICLES
  1. 1
    Ignore the haters – Apple’s Liquid Glass theme is one of my favorite parts of macOS Tahoe
  2. 2
    New and unofficial renders show how thin the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 could be – and we also have hints for when they'll go on sale
  3. 3
    Almost half of Gen Z employees claim their bosses simply don’t understand the true benefits of AI, a survey finds, but is more AI actually a good thing?
  4. 4
    3 4K Blu-rays to add to your collection from June 2025
  5. 5
    Seriously, who needs desktop PCs when this mini PC packs such a powerful punch - Core Ultra 9 285H, three SSDs, two LAN ports, OCuLink port and up to 128GB RAM

TechRadar is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Contact Us
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Web notifications
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...