Topic: Was Super Mario All Stars the first Remaster?

[ShyGuy]

Remasters, Remakes, Reimaginings and HD Rereleases have been going on with increasing frequency for several years now. Sometimes it seems like every other game released for consoles today is an up-port of an earlier game. Nintendo released Super Mario All Stars back in 1993 and it was a collection of the first four Super Mario games, but they were redone in fancy 16 bit graphics and SNES sound. I remember being impressed by this as a kid, and also by the fact that all the games were on one cart.

I think this was the first remaster rerelease of game. There were ports before that, but they weren't rebilled as improved versions of the game. If you put your game on a new system, you took advantage of that systems capabilities, no fuss about it.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this was first game that was put out as a remaster. The term and definition is a little hazey, but I can't think of any earlier games.

[ClexYoshi]

Snatcher. Hideo Kojima's Snatcher was on the PC-88 and MSX2 first in 1988, and then got remastered with the PC Engine CD (Turbografx) port with full voice acting, CD audio soundtrack, and a more vivid color palette in 1992.

Super Castlevania 4 is technically a reboot/remaster of the original Castlevania with new level design and was super close to the launch of the SNES.

as far as like... remaster compilations are concerned, there's probably like... SOMETHING out there on the PC where they re-released a bunch of games with an EGA color mode and a better refresh rate for tighter controls.

[ThePerm]

I was just thinking about how Doom just came out. It's weird though because when I was a kid I played Doom a lot. IT was a super fast paced game. The same time they showed off the new doom finally there was thi crazy mod of the old doom that made it more intense and interesting. The latter appealed to me more. John Carmack left the company.

[gayla8]

It became skyrim that has a Doom texture mod in it.  :

[Spak-Spang]

Anything with actual NEW Level Design is not a remaster.  So Super Castlevania 4 does not count...neither does Metroid Zero Mission or Super Metroid, or Legend of Zelda Link to the Past.  Nintendo tells the same stories over and over, but gives us different gameplay and levels so they aren't remasters...they could be considered reboots I guess.

[supermario2k]

When did the Ninja Gaiden Trilogy for SNES come out, I think that would count as a compilation/remaster wouldn't it?

[ClexYoshi]

Ninja gaiden trilogy was 1995.

Snatcher still stands though as being before Super Mario All-stars in any region.

Doing a little more research, Sol-Feace was originally a Sharp X68000 game that got a Sega CD port with added FMV and CD audio soundtrack that's of a higher quality than the Midi modules that the X68000 computers had support for. Sol-Feace was december of 1991 on the sega CD.

Rockman Mega World/Mega Man Wily Wars was 1994/1995, so that rules that out.

I can think of a lot of Sega driven examples, but the problem there is that SG1000/Master system games that then got Genesis ports tended to also be things that were arcade downports.


but after all that stalling, I have another example!

Bomberman for the MSX! originally released in 1983 with very chunky scrolling, black stage backgrounds. it got a graphical, musical, and framerate overhaul for the famicom version in 1985

[ShyGuy]

I think Bomberman counts as the earliest one. I read the Wikipedia page and the Famicom version was ported back to the MSX as Bomberman special, so they knew had a reworked upgrade on their hands.

[Ian Sane]

The first Ultima came out in 1981.  An enhanced version called Ultima I came out in 1986.  Both versions were available on the Apple II so you could play both on the same computer!  Temple of Apshai was released in 1979 and got a Temple of Apshai Trilogy re-release in 1985.  I figure the first remaster has to be some sort of computer release.  Compilations were certainly coming out for computers well before they came to consoles.

[ThePerm]

It's really hard to say what is remaster what is really an improved port. We have to keep in mind that for several years the arcade version was the best version. Only recently can we see good donkey kong and pacman ports.

[supermario2k]

I think it is similar to how movie fans can't define reboot, remake, or homage. Somethings are just hard to categorize. Honestly I wouldn't even call All Stars a remaster, I see it as a compilation of enhanced ports. The gameplay and levels are all identical all that has changed is the improved graphics and the ability to save progress and sort of customize controls. I consider a remaster just going back to the source material and cleaning it up. Like a restoration. A reboot, to me, is ignoring everything that came before and starting again. I think a remake is more akin to what we have now, HD remakes is how I see them not so much as remasters.

Even if not the "true" first, still one of the best.

[Ian Sane]

Movies are easier to define because they get remade from scratch with a different director, cast and crew.  A movie can have it's theatrical release and then get released on VHS, DVD, Laserdisc, Blu-Ray, etc. and that's all considered the same movie.  No one ever considers a re-release on a new format to be a remake of any sorts.

But videogames needs to be ported to other formats.  Sometimes you just get straight emulation so no porting has been done there but when an arcade game got a home version in the old days a new program that was similar to the original had to be made.  It's the same thing when a game gets developed on one console and then later gets ported to another.  I never really saw these as remakes or remasters or anything like that at but sometimes a port would have some extra features thrown in to entice a double-dip so is that really a straight conversion of something different?  No one ever used the term "remaster" in videogames until we started seeing "HD remasters" on the PS3 and Xbox 360.  Using that terminology, the concept is really recent.

You could probably consider a conversion to another platform in the same generation as a port, a conversion to a new console generation that is not emulated as a remaster, and an outright new game that shares the same story as a remake.  Reboot is essentially a remake but the publisher promotes it as a new start for the series.  A single entity can be remade but a series gets rebooted.  Not sure what to call a VC-like situation where it's just a ROM being resold.  I guess that a re-release and several of those in one package is a compilation.

[supermario2k]

Sounds good to me.

[rygar]

Were you just considering home gaming? Depending on how you define remaster, you might include earlier cabinet iterations like Pac-Man, Pac-Man Plus, and Super Pac-Man. I think Asteroids and Space Invaders also had multiple versions, including enhanced graphics with the latter. There were also the disc based games like Dragon's Lair which I also think had subsequent versions with crisper sound and visuals. Also interesting to consider when comparing arcade games is whether changes to the cabinet itself constitute remasters. I know I would pay the extra quarter to play the sit-down version of Star Wars and the Tron cabinet you could step into was more immersive than the traditional cabinet.

[ShyGuy]

Geez, I didn't even think of arcade cabinets. They evolved quite a bit.

I guess when I think of a Remaster, I think of the same creative forces bringing their game to a new, technologically superior platform (usually a in-line successor to the previous platform) and promoting it as the definitive version.

I guess the creators intent goes into it a lot. They are trying to sell the remaster to existing fans and new potential fans alike. They are saying "Look! this is the new definitive version of Super Mario Bros! Played SMB before? Get the even better version! Too young to have bought Super Mario back in the day? jump on board with this version!"

Now what about Reimaginings?

[pokepal148]

Would Pacman on Atari count?

[Shaymin]

That's a demake.

[ShyGuy]

Publishers refuse to make demakes nowadays...

[rygar]

After refreshing my memory online, I think the early arcade games in the Space Invaders, Breakout, and Pac Man lineages have a decent claim of qualifying as remasters on technical and gameplay grounds, but I'm not familiar with Super Mario All Stars so I can't make a comparison with that. I'm going to pick that up now that I know what it is. I bought all the Mario NES 3DS ports, but I've only actually played MB, SMB and a little of SMB2. The business models are obviously different, so I don't think arcade games could satisfy a "definitiveness" test.

[nickmitch]

I think some of those early arcade games might be limited sequels.

I like Ian's definitions, but I'd like to add that a film remastering would be mostly sticking a laser through the film to making prettier and updating the sound.  Pee Wee's Playhouse has a remaster on BluRay like that.  I think when it comes to games, "HD" versions are technically remasters, while VC games are moreso ports, perhaps even in the truest sense if they're being emulated.

[rygar]

I definitely agree that they were presented as sequels, but I think they might conceptually fit better as remasters, and I didn’t want to rely too heavily on the marketing semantics.  I agree that the music and movie examples show why the gaming analogue is a bit murky.  With those mediums it’s really about enhancing the sensual experience of the consumer using the same base line content.  Games usually add content, sometimes significant amounts.  I think the differences between Space Invaders/Deluxe Space Invaders, Pac Man/Pac Man Plus, Breakout/Super Breakout are relatively minimal from a core content perspective, but I’d need to explore Super Mario Brothers Deluxe (and quite frankly, play those cabinets again) to really do a comparison. I don't feel strongly one way or the other, but I wanted to offer earlier alternatives for the OP to consider.

[Mop it up]

Looking through the thread, Super Mario All-Stars wasn't the first, but it was and still is one of the best! Too bad we don't still get awesome collections like that very often.