With the new console generation gearing up, there is a lot of excitement with what both the PS4 and Xbox One can do.  New IP’s have been announced for these next-gen consoles that everyone is looking forward to in Titanfall, and Watchdogs. There are also old franchises that are getting a new start like Wolfenstein which is due out in December, and Thief which is due to be release in February. Seeing some of the older franchises still being produce for the next-gen consoles made me think of some old franchises that maybe developers could give a chance to.  There were a lot of great games to choose from, but in the end these three I felt have some potential to make a big splash if given the right amount of time, and care.

1) Final Fight

This franchise in my opinion was one of the premier games for the SNES. A classic beat’em up which you could co-op with a friend and just beat up baddies until you reached the end. Sure it was a basic beat’em up, but the level of difficulty on the game was insane. Even with two players the game got harder and harder as you went through the levels. Part of what made the game so special was the storyline, Haggar, a former wrestler who turns Mayor of Metro City gets his daughter kidnapped by an organization named the Mad Gear Gang to send a message to the Mayor that they run the town, not the Mayor. Left without not many option, he takes it upon himself with the help of his daughter’s boyfriend named Cody, and his friend named Guy to clean up the streets and get back his daughter.

The second and third games of the franchise were great too, but the first game was the most fun.  It felt like an 80’s action flick but with button smashing goodness.   I know a lot of the characters from the Final Fight world have made their way to the Street Fighter universe as fighter to play as, but wouldn’t it be nice if the Street Fighter universe came to the Final Fight side? It would be cool to see Chun-Li or Guile team up with Haggar or Cody in cleaning up the streets in a button smashing way rather than doing half circles motions, or dragon punch motions. You could even use some of the Street Fighter characters as level bosses.  Ohhh the thought of Zangief vs Haggar duking it out just made me have a nerdgasm.

2) Arch Rivals

This game was an arcade favorite of mine back in the 90’s, the game was later ported to NES and Sega Genesis.  Basically, you have two rival schools duke it out on a 2-on-2 basketball game, but without any rules.  The game was very juvenile, but it delivered in the sense that it wasn’t a serious basketball game.  You’re just running up the score while trying to stop the opponent by using dirty tactics.  With NBA Jam having a short revitalization in last gen console and NBA Street being successful for a short period of time, why not try it again?  The cool thing about this franchise is that you can create an entire universe of players, without having to worry about players looking alike, or asking permission for likeness, because you are free to create any character you like with any amount of skill.  The possibilities are endless with this franchise.

3) Contra

Another classic NES game that deserves a second chance in this gen consoles.  Contra was one of those games that you would just light up bad guys until you were out of credits or until you beat the game.   The game was difficult, but it was still very enjoyable.  A cool way to revitalize this series would be tweaking the mechanics a bit from just shooting up bad guys.  I’d like to see them use Bayonetta’s combo system and give it their own twist on rewarding the player for keeping shots going and extending kill streaks. That would give the game a different mechanic, but still keep what made the original game so good. -- Well, that about covers some of my picks for franchises that I would like to see get a second chance. I am sure as the console keeps picking up steam, we will get to see more old franchises and new franchises for this generation console and they will be great! What are some of yours?  Leave a comment at the comment section. Happy gaming everybody!