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The difference between ports, remasters, remakes, reboots, re-imagings

C

Circinus

Member
Stop calling enhanced ports - aka remasters - 'HD remakes'! Stop calling remakes or re-imaginings 'HD remasters'.

(edit: I mean reimaginings in title)


I've seen a lot of people mixing up these terms, I've even seen quite a lot of people on this forum calling the upcoming Ratchet & Clank PS4 reimagining an 'HD remaster' (which is of course doing a complete disservice to the game, since it has been re-built from scratch with art assets built from the ground up)


I'm just going to quote one of my older posts: (principle of minimal effort, right)

Circinus said:
Remaster = enhanced port. Same game, same assets and everything, but with a few visual/performance-related improvements (e.g. Shadow of the Colossus HD (PS3), The Last of Us (PS4))

Remake = New assets recreated from scratch with modern game technology; modern game engine. Generally faithful to original level design and atmosphere, same story arch, but completely overhauled graphics. (e.g. MGS: The Twin Snakes, Oddworld New 'n' Tasty)

Reboot/re-imagining = Game completely built up from scratch. Everything completely overhauled in terms of gameplay, graphics, setting, story. Characters and trademark gameplay elements usually remain intact, but the gameplay is otherwise completely updated and re-imagined. In a franchise reboot, franchise continuity gets discarded. (e.g. Tomb Raider 2013, Thief 2014, Star Wars: Battlefront 2015. In a re-imagining, franchise continuity doesn't get discarded, but the amount of 'NEW' is comparable to a franchise reboot (e.g. Ratchet & Clank 2016, Phantom Dust 2016)
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So don't dare to denigrate Ratchet & Clank on PS4 by calling it an "HD remaster". Don't call Tomb Raider (2013) an "HD remaster". Don't call Star Wars: Battlefront an "HD remaster".

And vice versa, don't call 'The Last of Us Remastered' an "HD remake" (doesn't even make sense because the original release was already in 'HD ready' - resolution [1280 x 720p])
 
At the end of the day, it is just name-calling and any serious discussion about it is on the same level as wether Zelda is an AA or an RPG.
I don't effing care for settling any of that, y'all're just pulling things out of your arse.
 
Durante said:
If a remaster is a port wit higher resolution, is every PC port a remaster?
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Who knows????

is Tomb Raider DE a remaster of Tomb Raider? Or is it just the same game running on better hardware... Same question with GTA 5.

What separates a remaster from a cross-gen game like Destiny? The staggered release?

How the hell do we classify the Prototype bundle?

Ahh gotta love Semantics....
 
While I completely agree with this:
Stop calling enhanced ports - aka remasters - 'HD remakes'! Stop calling remakes or re-imagings 'HD remasters'.
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because it's fucking obnoxious and reeks of "I have no idea what I'm talking about"-ism when I read it on professional game sites, your definitions are off.

Remakes don't have to be 100% faithful to the original design. That is sort of the point of them. Resident Evil Remake and Metroid Zero Mission are perfect examples of this. In a remake, you make the original game again but with the option to change, add or improve certain things.

Reboots and reimaginings also aren't the same thing. A reboot just means you're attempting to start a storied franchise over from a new beginning point to rid yourself of old baggage and conventions. Start fresh. Tomb Raider 2013 is that.

A reimagining is something where you take the original idea and attempt to execute it in a new, different way. See Silent Hill: Shattered Memories and currently Star Fox Zero, I guess.

Enhanced ports are also not the same as HD remasters. Enhanced ports are just ports with new stuff in them - "enhanced" can mean a lot of things here (Dragon Quest VIII 3DS for example). (HD) remasters are mostly focused on enhancing a game presentation for a new generation of hardware with higher quality assets and other improvements made under the hood.
 
Does EA's Battlefront really count as a reboot? It seems like it's just a new game in a series known for just taking cool scenes from the movies and letting you play them, following all the same design principles but with places that they couldn't go to in the first two games.
 
Durante said:
If a remaster is a port wit higher resolution, is every PC port a remaster?
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Yes.

Certainly if people are calling the Prototype Biohazard compilation on PS4/XB1 a remaster. ;)

But to me, remaster is really just a fancy marketing term for port with enhancements.
 
Nice of you to clear things up, OP. I can't imagine GAF not knowing the differences but I assume y'know what they say about assumptions... Um, shit ( ._.)
 
Circinus said:
Remaster = enhanced port. Same game, same assets and everything, but with a few visual/performance-related improvements (e.g. Shadow of the Colossus HD (PS3), The Last of Us (PS4))

Remake = New assets recreated from scratch with modern game technology. Same level design, same story, but completely overhauled graphics. (e.g. MGS: The Twin Snakes, Oddworld New 'n' Tasty)
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Honest question: is TLoZ: Wind Waker HD a remake or remaster? It sure uses the same assets, and graphics are just tweaked, not being redone, but a lot of gameplay elements were changed... just like in 3DS/N64 Zeldas, but those games have rather noticeable graphical changes.

Also, I think we should be honest and call enhanced ports just "enhanced ports". No "re" bullshit - if the game was just ported from previous generation to the new one with a bunch of trinkets added in, it's not better in this regard than Link's Awakening DX.
 
DownGrader said:
Honest question: is TLoZ: Wind Waker HD a remake or remaster? It sure uses the same assets, and graphics are just tweaked, not being redone, but a lot of gameplay elements were changed... just like in 3DS/N64 Zeldas, but those games have rather noticeable graphical changes.
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I don't think it changed enough to be classified a remake. It's a remaster.
 
Obviously it becomes a little messy when you pick hairs at how much a game needs to do to constitute a remake over a remaster (eg: Wind Waker uses existing assets, but also entirely new lighting/shadow technology and ambient occlusions, that would be seen in a remake), and it's an argument ultimately relevant to console owners only as "remasters" by this definition are basically PC ports.

But yes, generally what you're saying is true. Remakes take an original design and small extent of game data and totally overhaul the assets and technology to meet a modern standard. Remasters take existing content and make smaller yet sensible enhancements to those assets and technology.

Majora's Mask 3D is a remake. The Last of Us PS4 is a remaster.

Tomb Raider is probably far closer to a remaster than a remake.
 
Acquiescence said:
I don't think it changed enough to be classified a remake. It's a remaster.
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Didn't they build the game from the ground up though? The graphics changed completely (edit: not completely, but it changed enough, I think), qualifying it as a remake, I believe. It does so much more than a remaster would have done.
 
Corpekata said:
I imagine the amount of people calling Battlefront or Tomb Raider an HD remaster is pretty small.
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The first thing I thought of. Is this really a problem in general? I can see it being an issue if a person doesn't know what the intent of the developers are (for example I have no idea if the new GoW is a remaster or a remake - my guess would be the former), but who thought the new Tomb Raider was a "remaster".
 
Than I would say that REmake is closer to re-imagining than an actual remake according to this.
They didn't just re-build the original with an updated engine, they changed and added tons of stuff.
 
KJRS_1993 said:
I don't 100% understand why someone calling a port a remaster is something genuinely worth getting upset about.
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I don't think it's anything to get super upset about, but I do think it's good for people to understand the terminology, otherwise expectations can be misguided. I myself never really bothered learning the nuances of each classification so I appreciate the OPs post.
 
TheMoon said:
While I completely agree with this:

because it's fucking obnoxious and reeks of "I have no idea what I'm talking about"-ism when I read it on professional game sites, your definitions are off.

Remakes don't have to be 100% faithful to the original design. That is sort of the point of them. Resident Evil Remake and Metroid Zero Mission are perfect examples of this. In a remake, you make the original game again but with the option to change, add or improve certain things.

Reboots and reimaginings also aren't the same thing. A reboot just means you're attempting to start a storied franchise over from a new beginning point to rid yourself of old baggage and conventions. Start fresh. Tomb Raider 2013 is that.

A reimagining is something where you take the original idea and attempt to execute it in a new, different way. See Silent Hill: Shattered Memories and currently Star Fox Zero, I guess.

Enhanced ports are also not the same as HD remasters. Enhanced ports are just ports with new stuff in them - "enhanced" can mean a lot of things here (Dragon Quest VIII 3DS for example). (HD) remasters are mostly focused on enhancing a game presentation for a new generation of hardware with higher quality assets and other improvements made under the hood.
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I agree with this more. I guess things like DMC:SE would be an Enhanced HD remaster :p.
 
My favorite thing is when people argue that remasters aren't remasters because the only difference from the original game is that it's now in 1080p with a better framerate.
Like what? lol

giphy.gif
 
Remaster: Take the apple and make it shiny
Remake: Take the apple and make a shinier version of that apple
Reboot/Reimagining: Take the apple, throw it away and make a new apple without being too strict about it
 
the Zelda games are funny because not a single re-released one is a true remake.

they're all remasters with more work put into them than your average remaster. a real remake utilizes brand new code for everything even if it contains many similar aspects to the original game (REmake, Metroid Zero Mission)

the Zelda games fall under remasters because all of them have their original base code ported to a new console and then have a list of enhancements applied. OoT 3D. TWW HD, MM 3D, LA DX. all of them are enhanced ports but the enhancements are big enough to call them remasters instead of a regular enhanced port. they're usually the definitive editon.
 
Gurish said:
Than I would say that REmake is closer to re-imagining than an actual remake according to this.
They didn't just re-build the original with an updated engine, they changed and added tons of stuff.
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Hence my point about his definitions being way off the mark. Remakes aren't limited to 1:1 design copies with new graphics.

Kayant said:
I agree with this more. U = I guess things like DMC:SE would be an Enhanced HD remaster :p.
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Yea, I think those two can often be combined in a way.

stuminus3 said:
Semantics. "Remaster" in the context of videogames doesn't even make any sense.
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Of course not. In the same way that terms like Director's "Cut" don't make any sense for video games. But we use them anyway. They imply a certain process that the product went through.
 
I go by what I see. When I see Wild Arms Alter F, I think "oh, that is the remake of Wild Arms", when I look at Tactics Ogre you can add 17 scenarios and 33 gameplay features, that to me is an enhanced port.
 
Port is simply the same game ported to another platform. Whether or not the game gets new features such as higher resolutions, better frame-rate, or 3D doesn't suffice as long as the game is virtually unchanged. Examples of this would be Shadow of the Colossus HD and Xenoblade Chronicles 3D.

Remaster is when they take an existing game and give it severe touchups in the graphic department as well as other areas. This can include better textures/spritework, more advanced music, better animations, etc. Examples of this include Nintendo's Zelda "remasters" and Ys Chronicles I & II+.

Remake is taking an existing game and redoing it from the ground up, often with contemporary graphics and game mechanics that give respect to the game's original vision while offering a unique vision of its own. Examples of this include Metroid: Zero Mission, Resident Evil (Gamecube), and Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes

Reboot is starting the series back from scratch, often completely disregarding many of the mechanics started by the series originally. The purpose is to reintroduce the series to properly appeal to a modern audience with modern basic mechanics, it isn't meant in anyway to honor the original game nor the original series, though it can in some respects. Examples of this include Tomb Raider (2013), SSX (2012), and XCOM: Enemy Unknown (2012).
 
zero shift said:
Port is simply the same game ported to another platform. Whether or not the game gets new features such as higher resolutions, better frame-rate, or 3D doesn't suffice as long as the game is virtually unchanged. Examples of this would be Shadow of the Colossus HD and Xenoblade Chronicles 3D.

Remaster is when they take an existing game and give it severe touchups in the graphic department as well as other areas. This can include better textures/spritework, more advanced music, better animations, etc. Examples of this include Nintendo's Zelda "remasters" and Ys Chronicles I & II+.

Remake is taking an existing game and redoing it from the ground up, often with contemporary graphics and game mechanics that give respect to the game's original vision while offering a unique vision of its own. Examples of this include Metroid: Zero Mission, Resident Evil (Gamecube), and Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes

Reboot is starting the series back from scratch, often completely disregarding many of the mechanics started by the series originally. The purpose is to reintroduce the series to properly appeal to a modern audience with modern basic mechanics, it isn't meant in anyway to honor the original game nor the original series, though it can in some respects. Examples of this include Tomb Raider (2013), SSX (2012), and XCOM: Enemy Unknown (2012).
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Yep, This !
 
zero shift said:
Port is simply the same game ported to another platform. Whether or not the game gets new features such as higher resolutions, better frame-rate, or 3D doesn't suffice as long as the game is virtually unchanged. Examples of this would be Shadow of the Colossus HD and Xenoblade Chronicles 3D.

Remaster is when they take an existing game and give it severe touchups in the graphic department as well as other areas. This can include better textures/spritework, more advanced music, better animations, etc. Examples of this include Nintendo's Zelda "remasters" and Ys Chronicles I & II+.

Remake is taking an existing game and redoing it from the ground up, often with contemporary graphics and game mechanics that give respect to the game's original vision while offering a unique vision of its own. Examples of this include Metroid: Zero Mission, Resident Evil (Gamecube), and Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes

Reboot is starting the series back from scratch, often completely disregarding many of the mechanics started by the series originally. The purpose is to reintroduce the series to properly appeal to a modern audience with modern basic mechanics, it isn't meant in anyway to honor the original game nor the original series, though it can in some respects. Examples of this include Tomb Raider (2013), SSX (2012), and XCOM: Enemy Unknown (2012).
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Well said.
 
Circinus said:
So don't dare to denigrate Ratchet & Clank on PS4 by calling it an "HD remaster". Don't call Tomb Raider (2013) an "HD remaster". Don't call Star Wars: Battlefront an "HD remaster".

And vice versa, don't call 'The Last of Us Remastered' an "HD remake" (doesn't even make sense because the original release was already in 'HD ready' - resolution [1280 x 720p])
Click to expand...

Aside from some (understandable) confusion about the new Ratchet and Clank game, has anyone ever said any of these things? Especially re: Tomb Raider and Battlefront.
 
Trup1aya said:
Who knows????

is Tomb Raider DE a remaster of Tomb Raider? Or is it just the same game running on better hardware... Same question with GTA 5.

What separates a remaster from a cross-gen game like Destiny? The staggered release?

How the hell do we classify the Prototype bundle?

Ahh gotta love Semantics....
Click to expand...

Especially with GTA 5 since current gen has features not on last gen. Playing it in 1st person almost make it an entirely different game.

zero shift said:
Port is simply the same game ported to another platform. Whether or not the game gets new features such as higher resolutions, better frame-rate, or 3D doesn't suffice as long as the game is virtually unchanged. Examples of this would be Shadow of the Colossus HD and Xenoblade Chronicles 3D.

Remaster is when they take an existing game and give it severe touchups in the graphic department as well as other areas. This can include better textures/spritework, more advanced music, better animations, etc. Examples of this include Nintendo's Zelda "remasters" and Ys Chronicles I & II+.

Remake is taking an existing game and redoing it from the ground up, often with contemporary graphics and game mechanics that give respect to the game's original vision while offering a unique vision of its own. Examples of this include Metroid: Zero Mission, Resident Evil (Gamecube), and Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes

Reboot is starting the series back from scratch, often completely disregarding many of the mechanics started by the series originally. The purpose is to reintroduce the series to properly appeal to a modern audience with modern basic mechanics, it isn't meant in anyway to honor the original game nor the original series, though it can in some respects. Examples of this include Tomb Raider (2013), SSX (2012), and XCOM: Enemy Unknown (2012).
Click to expand...

I agree with this too. But..what does that make GTA 5 for current gen?
 
Remake: to remake a game. (Duh) new textures and character models not from the original game on a new engine.
Remaster: HD re-release, basically. Character models are he same but maybe new textures.
Re-imagining: basically a new game with similar themes, locations, and story bits.
Reboot: similar to re-imagining but the story is new.
It's very weird, with a lot of games being somewhere between the two like the 3DS N64 remakes
 
jroc74 said:
I agree with this too. But..what does that make GTA 5 for current gen?
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Enhanced remaster = Gameplay, Asset additions + Graphical improvements if you come with Moon breakdown.

Or Remaster if you go with zero shift.

Tomb Raider DE would be a remaster I think also? As things like the face changes would fit with zero shift's remaster definition as the assets have been changed.
TheyTookOurJobs said:
Sony is responsible for much of this.
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Wat?? How?
 
Do we actually know if Ratchet and Clank PS4 is a remake or a re-imagining yet? All of what I've seen of the game so far is the same level design and plot only updated with modern R&C controls and systems.
 
NightShift said:
Do we actually know if Ratchet and Clank PS4 is a remake or a re-imagining yet? All of what I've seen of the game so far is the same level design and plot only updated with modern R&C controls and systems.
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You must not remember the original as well as you think you do, as the bolded is false.
 
I don't care what people call them, as long as we continue to see posts about how they are ruining this generation of gaming. Bonus points for using the word "lazy"

/s
 
Is Tomb Raider Legend a reboot or remake?
 
Remasters of Remakes and Remasters of Reboots are also a thing these days.

Resident Evil HD was a remaster of REmake, and Tomr Raider DE was a remaster of a Reboot.

You also have late ports, which don't go that extra nine yards for a full remaster, but may include stuff like improved framerate/DLC extras. But no other major redesign work.
 
ULTROS! said:
Is Tomb Raider Legend a reboot or remake?
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I barely know anything about the game but it's not a remake since Tomb Raider Anniversary is a remake of the first game. Legend, considering it's the first game from Crystal Dynamics and not Core Games, is a clean cut reboot with Underworld being its direct sequel and there being no ties to the older games.
 
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