8 Popular AAA Games That Would Work As Pixel Demakes

With the release of the Nintendo Switch 2 version earlier this year, and Lucy from the Edgerunners anime being added to Guilty Gear Strive–interest in the game has resurfaced. While it did release a glitchy mess, attempting to have a wide, expansive open-world that allows you to do all sorts of interactive things can be a hard task for an older generation console to handle–it could barely handle the newest!

This is a AAA game that would need serious recontextualization, perhaps taking after Hideo Kojima’s Snatcher? As that was more focused on cinematics and investigation, creating a title that centers around point-and-click style gameplay could be a good way to at least tell a similar narrative on something like the infamous SEGA CD.

#2. Dark Souls

Keeping the age-old Nintendo Hard style of difficulty alive, Dark Souls perhaps could have a good home on older platforms. As the developer, FromSoftware, has been able to produce a very similar experience on the Sony PlayStation: King’s Field!

Though to take it a step down more, this retro-inspired take on the series known for having you Game Over a lot, creating a title similar to Super Metroid could be an ideal way. Focusing on more 2D world exploration to find items and secrets along the way, maybe throwing in elements you would see in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night as well.

#3. PUBG

Scaling down this battle royale-style game may seem very difficult–and it certainly would be! While it could be discussed how you could convert Fortnite over to an older platform, I was actually inspired by a video that shows off ways you could take this title to the SEGA Genesis–by a famed developer on the platform itself.

#4. Red Dead Redemption

A western tale as old as time, you could say it is the cowboy take on Grand Theft Auto–though I’d say it had enough of its own thing to stand out. As tasks had to be recontextualized already to suit its setting, how would you scale it back onto older hardware?

Rockstar Games has been well-known for making highly expansive games, with ridiculously large file sizes and big open worlds to explore. Though they have been no stranger to older hardware like the long-forgotten Lemmings series, as well as older titles in the Grand Theft Auto series on Sony PlayStation.

Though I think a good idea to take inspiration from would be Konami’s Wild Guns. Remaking Red Dead Redemption‘s story as a gun beat-em-up would be a fun way to see our loveable characters in pixel form. It would be a perfect Christmas gift for your child who owned a Super Nintendo that year.

#5. God of War

The son of Zeus strikes many who stand in his way, and he’s been doing it for a long time already! While there are the older titles that had him take on fights in an admittedly more exciting manner–most gamers may be more familiar of him and his son in a more chill laid back version of this legacy series.

While the older titles would work perfect in a beat-em-up setting, I think letting the essentially rebooted series take the style of something akin to an RPG would be a better fit. Letting you slowly explore the world and grow connections to these characters, even in largely text-box form.

#6. Elden Ring

A similar game to Dark Souls, it may be, but how could you reinterpret this game differently? Though Dark Souls took the Metroidvania style of gameplay, perhaps this would take on something more like The Legend of Zelda. With a top-down view of the player as you explore a huge field–having a goal still similar.

#7. DooM

This series has already been very familiar to the retro landscape–even getting an RPG of its own, too! It is still fun to think about what if the newer titles like Eternal and The Dark Ages had been made on the older Doom engine.

Seeing how the levels in those games get downscaled sounds quite enticing, and even the incorporation of its new mechanics–perhaps it has already been a venture modders of the classic games have already taken the mantle on!

#8. Assassin’s Creed

A series of many assassins that take on the challenges of real-world events to protect the future from being altered. The tale of Ezio and others of his kind has been told many times–some that can be very different from one another, to take on simply one game style.

While the series has already tackled a 2D style of gameplay, reimagining it into something familiar to retro gamers still has its interest! Ideally, something akin to Ninja Gaiden, given the new entry that’s actually retro-inspired, seems suitable for those set out to secretly kill–maybe not to be as hard.

Final Thoughts

While there are many other AAA games that could be retrofitted to your toaster, gaming has truly come a long way since the wooden ages of Atari. At the same time, it also shows how different games can be depending on the time and setting it released on.

With developers always becoming more and more ambitious, it seems that the idea of taking things back is not something to expect in the future–but that’s okay! It is still fun to think, and even when they aren’t up for the task–you can always rely on a small team of developers banding together to create fun and unique experiences to this day!