Discussion Favorite examples of content/asset reuse in games?

[Phendrift]

Note: this isn’t the same thing as the typical “favorite nostalgia moment” thread. I’m not thinking of stuff like MGS4’s return to shadow Moses, which was technically an old area but completely rebuilt with new assets and stuff. This is talking about legitimate reuse of content or assets in a game.

Normally, this type of thing is frowned upon. You’ll get tons of kneejerk reactions calling devs lazy, calling reuse of content “padding” and whatnot. But as we know, games are hard to develop! I don’t view this as a negative as much as I feel others do, and I don’t think reused content is “replacing” new content. It’s similar to arguing that an echo fighter replaces a unique fighter.

So with that out of the way, I’ll start with probably the most famous example

Inverted Castle (Castlevania: Symphony of the Night) - Seen by some as one of the most notorious examples of padding, seen by others as one of the most jaw dropping plot twists in a game. I love it! For those who don’t know, once you finish exploring SOTN’s main castle, and the game seems as if it’s about to end, you’re whisked away to an entirely new castle - an upside down version of the entire one you just finished exploring. The inverted castle is a complete rip off asset wise of the main castle. Why do I love it?

- it encourages exploration in a completely new way - you know this castle. You know how it goes. But with tons of new enemies and bosses, it’s completely recontextualized. The thought of “what lies waiting for me where this once was in the regular castle” pushes you forward. You’ll think “this was a boss room last time, guess I should prepare for a fight!” or “I can count on this save room being there.” It adds a sense of progression because you have information you didn’t have before.

- it’s a victory lap. Alucard already has every ability he can use to progress through the castle at this point. The “Metroidvania” progression of the game is over. The inverted castle gives you room to just go wild with all of your abilities and weapons and fuck shit up free-roam style!

- it adds to the atmosphere by giving areas you know a dark twist. “Alchemy Lab” becomes “Necromancy Lab.” “Long Library” becomes “Forbidden Library.” “Royal Chapel” becomes “Anti-Chapel.” Spooky!

So, Fami, what are YOUR favorite examples of rehashing assets? I can already think of other such as certain post game 3D Mario levels, but I wanna see what y’all think!

 

[Mekanos]

Majora's Mask is probably the most obvious example. Even though they reused a ton of assets from OOT, they created a game that felt nothing like it.

 

[Catalyst]

The Wistful Wild area from Pikmin 2 is just two areas from the first game mashed together. But it feels and plays totally original with a new autumn theme and different challenges. The best area in the game no doubt.

 

[xghost777]

Yakuza, like every game lol. They even use the same animations for everyone and it all works great too! They have so much content and can focus on making awesome new stories at a super fast pace that would be impossible otherwise.

Lost Judgment in particular is one of my favorite games of the year and completely changes the way you play in Yakuza 7’s new map as it shifted back into an action game. The new skateboard is awesome too!

 

[xghost777]

The Great Ace Attorney reusing jurors constantly so they didn’t have to make new ones was often incredibly funny across both games and even led to some excellent a-ha moments.

 

[Mekanos]

Click Clock Wood also in Banjo-Kazooie. Replaying Banjo-Kazooie last year, I noticed the tendency to reuse stuff to pad out the Jiggies (notably Bubblegloop Swamp having two "hit the switch and get the Jiggy in the timeframe" Jiggies), but CCW is pretty brilliant in using the same level geometry four times (and assets from other worlds, like the snowmen) without feeling too repetitive or tiresome.

It actually ties into a greater theory of mine that CCW was a hastily designed world towards the end of Banjo's development after Fungus Forest and Mount Fire Eyes got cut, given the odd placement of the Jigsaw Puzzle early in Grunty's Lair and the fact that it reuses far more assets than any other world.

 

[KC Hazel]

Majora's Mask is probably the most obvious example. Even though they reused a ton of assets from OOT, they created a game that felt nothing like it.

This is the first thing I thought of. MAssive asset reuse and it turned into my favorite game of all time.

 

[GamerJM]

Yakuza, like every game lol. They even use the same animations for everyone and it all works great too! They have so much content and can focus on making awesome new stories at a super fast pace that would be impossible otherwise.

Lost Judgment in particular is one of my favorite games of the year and completely changes the way you play in Yakuza 7’s new map as it shifted back into an action game. The new skateboard is awesome too!

This is what I came in to say. It doesn't bother me one bit. Even the map reuse. Every game in the series feels like it has its own identity too, despite how much asset reuse there is. Imo more AAA developers could stand to look at what RNG Studios does with the franchise.

 

[Dardan Sandiego]

I'm a big proponent of asset reuse, especially when it's done in creative ways, but it's a tricky subject.

Majora's Mask and Super Mario Galaxy 2 are my personal favourites. The former because of how it radically changes OoT, the latter because of how it builds on everything in Galaxy 1 and (imo) improves it. Both games have been criticized for their heavy asset reuse, however.

One of the weirder asset reuses was Ubisoft basing Far Cry Primal's map on the one from FC4. There wasn't any in-universe reason because both games are set in different parts of the world. Not a huge fan of either game but I don't think the map made that much of a difference in the end. Didn't stop people from clowning on it.

And then you have Yakuza. People have been dicking around on the same map for like 10+ games but either don't mind or actually praise the series for it because seeing Kamurocho evolve over the years is one of the main appeals of its world. It's not something that every developer can do.

 

[MissingNo.]

Does the Mario stutf in Link's Awakening count as asset reuse? Or were those made specifically for that game?

 

[Leica]

I don't care if animations/skeletons/etc get reused in Monster Hunter if it means the roster is bigger, I love it. I hope they reuse and put every monster from World, Iceborne and Rise in MH6, give me all the monsters. (Obviously newcomers/missing monsters should come first but after that pad out the roster with asset reuse as much as you want Capcom)

 

[Lozjam]

I think Capcom is the absolute king of asset reuse nowadays.

And you know what? It has allowed them to get out games in a really timely manner, compared to so many other publishers without sacrificing quality.

Monster Hunter constantly reuses monster models, character animations, and everything. Each game though, puts its own unique spin on the format to make it feel fresh.

My favorite though, is the asset reuse in the new Resident Evil games. They use the same textures, models, and everything in each game and just shift everything around so you don't notice. It's brilliant.

Lastly, this is one of my favorites. Xenoblade Chronicles Future Connected. Now the quality of the fame is up for debate. But I find it absolutely amazing that they reused not only a game, but cut content to spin itself off into an entirely new(smaller game).

 

[Leica]

I think Capcom is the absolute king of asset reuse nowadays.

And you know what? It has allowed them to get out games in a really timely manner, compared to so many other publishers without sacrificing quality.

Monster Hunter constantly reuses monster models, character animations, and everything. Each game though, puts its own unique spin on the format to make it feel fresh.

My favorite though, is the asset reuse in the new Resident Evil games. They use the same textures, models, and everything in each game and just shift everything around so you don't notice. It's brilliant.

Lastly, this is one of my favorites. Xenoblade Chronicles Future Connected. Now the quality of the fame is up for debate. But I find it absolutely amazing that they reused not only a game, but cut content to spin itself off into an entirely new(smaller game).

I definitely did notice there's only like 5 different models for zombies across 2 games between RE2R and RE3R.

 

[Hosermess]

Beedle in BotW

 

[Pascal]

Majora's Mask has been mentioned so I'll go with The Hunter's Nightmare from Bloodborne. It took familar locations from the base game and just twisted them inside out and folded them in on themselves. You got a sun that looks like a cracked eye, a river of blood full of giant flea monsters, snail people falling from the sky...It really felt like something from a nightmare.