A video game remake is a video game closely adapted from an earlier title, usually for the purpose of modernizing a game with updated graphics for newer hardware and gameplay for contemporary audiences. Typically, a remake of such game software shares essentially the same title, fundamental gameplay concepts, and core story elements of the original game, although some aspects of the original game may have been changed for the remake.
Remakes are often made by the original developer or copyright holder, and sometimes by the fan community. If created by the community, video game remakes are sometimes also called fangames and can be seen as part of the retro gaming phenomenon.
Definition
A remake offers a newer interpretation of an older work, characterized by updated or changed assets. For example, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D for the Nintendo 3DS are considered remakes of their original versions for the Nintendo 64, and not a remaster or a port, since there are new character models and texture packs. The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD for Wii U would be considered a remaster, since it retains the same, albeit updated upscaled aesthetics of the original.
A remake typically maintains the same story, genre, and fundamental gameplay ideas of the original work. The intent of a remake is usually to take an older game that has become outdated and update it for a new platform and audience. A remake will not necessarily preserve the original gameplay especially if it is dated, instead remaking the gameplay to conform to the conventions of contemporary games or later titles in the same series in order to make a game marketable to a new audience.
For example, for Sierra's 1991 remake of Space Quest, the developers used the engine, point-and-click interface, and graphical style of Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and The Time Rippers, replacing the original graphics and text parser interface of the original. However, other elements, like the narrative, puzzles and sets, were largely preserved. Another example is Black Mesa, a remake built entirely from the ground up in the Source Engine that remakes in-game textures, assets, models, and facial animations, while taking place in the events of the original Half-Life game. Resident Evil 2 (2019) is a remake of the 1998 game Resident Evil 2; while the original uses tank controls and fixed camera angles, the remake features "over-the-shoulder" third-person shooter gameplay similar to Resident Evil 4 and more recent games in the series that allows players the option to move while using their weapons similar to Resident Evil 6.
Ports
A port is a conversion of a game to a new platform that relies heavily on existing work and assets. A port may include various enhancements like improved performance, resolution, and sometimes even additional content, but differs from a remake in that it still relies heavily on the original assets and engine of the source game. Sometimes, ports even remove content that was present in the original version. For example, the handheld console ports of Mortal Kombat II had fewer characters than the original arcade game and other console ports due to system storage limitations but otherwise were still faithful to the original in terms of gameplay.
Compared to the intentional video game remake or remaster which is often done years or decades after the original came out, ports or conversions are typically released during the same generation as the original (the exception being mobile gaming versions of PC games, such as Grand Theft Auto III, since mobile gaming platforms did not exist until the 2010s going forward). Home console ports usually came out less than a year after the original arcade game, such as the distribution of Mortal Kombat for home consoles by Acclaim Entertainment. Since the 2000s as arcade releases are no longer the original launch platform for a video game, publishers tend to release the video game simultaneously on several consoles first and then ported to the PC later.