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Fun Club Hypothetical: You have to "TotK-ify" a game. Which one do you pick?

Dardan Sandiego

Dardan Sandiego

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Here's a potentially fun challenge for you: You have been tasked with creating a concept for a new game that reuses the world map of a different game (thus "TotK-ify" it). It can be any game by any developer or publisher and you can do anything you want in it, even completely change the genre. The only requirement is that the main part of the gameplay takes part on that map which is kept mostly intact, otherwise you're relatively free about what you do with it.

Oh yeah, try to keep it spoiler free!

Here's some examples of games that do this:
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds reuses the map of A Link to the Past
The Yakuza series reuses the same map of Kamurocho and sets it during different time periods
Saints Row IV reuses Steelport from Saints Row: The Third
FarCry has done this a few times, in Blood Dragon (FC3), Primal (FC4) and New Dawn (FC5)
Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 are set in the same map as Black and White respectively with several new locations
 
Metal Gear Solid VI.

Reuse the MGSV map and mechanics, but give us a decent story this time around. I guess you could also come up with some crazy plot-related excuse to modify most bases and make the game feel even fresher as a consequence. But I'm not sure if that would count as cheating given the topic's restrictions.
 
Mario Kart, 8D is basically the pinnacle of that style of MK so next they should make a big open map, themed areas with parts marked out as tracks with a mix of racing and battle modes with random quests/missions you can take to unlock new kart parts to boost your vehicle.
 
Earthbounder said:
Metal Gear Solid VI.

Reuse the MGSV map and mechanics, but give us a decent story this time around. I guess you could also come up with some crazy plot-related excuse to modify most bases and make the game feel even fresher as a consequence. But I'm not sure if that would count as cheating given the topic's restrictions.
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The only limitation would be that the topography stays mostly the same, within reason. Modified buildings, even new cities, would be perfectly fine in this scenario.

I'm more wondering what kind of story you'd tell in the map of MGSV lol.

LukasManak22 said:
Everybody 1-2 Switch
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What map does it reuse?
 
I'll try to come up with a more traditional answer to this later but my first thought was "Splatoon 1"

the movement mechanics, lockers, and new weapons of Splatoon 3 on Splatoon's stages with Splatoon's lobby. bonus points for the original campaign tweaked for the new movement

they could even have Salmon Run on PVP maps like Saltspray Rig, Bluefin Depot (which is perfect for it imo), and Camp Triggerfish
 
ITSMILNER said:
Mario Kart
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Open world Mario Kart is a crazy, wonderful dream.

Uhh, the game I would give the TotK treatment to would obviously have to be Pokemon Gold and Silver. Imagine a non-truncated Kanto section. Imagine a 400-500 strong regional dex. Maybe the story can even be about tracking the elusive Red!
 
I'd play the shit out of GTA5: 70's! No modern buildings, smart phones, chain restaurants but with a lot of Donny Osmond hairstyles, colorful bell bottoms, Detroit muscle cars and whole lot of disco music.

Other than that, an Assassin's Creed Brotherhood sequel that uses same map but in Roman era instead of renaissance could be interesting. Complete colosseum and Circus Maximus, Caesar's Palace etc. I'd be surprised if a true Roman era AC is not in the works at Ubi right now.
 
Maybe Red Dead Redemption 2.
Loved the world but would want to have a better gameplay loop and a better feeling of freedom (story missions still feel VERY confined in Rockstar games) + change and add a few other things.

Outer Wilds came to mind, but that game was already perfect and the DLC added a unique spin to the world.
Would have no idea how to make this better.


Honestly, I would do BotW again, and use mostly what was implemented in TotK but change/tweak/add things more to my tastes, essentially making my own enhanced and enriched remix version of TotK.
 
Pokemon Scarlet & Violet

Three new stories with new main characters to play as - an ageing trainer taking one last shot at greatness, a member of Team Star, a separate story for Arven, stuff like that.

Edit - In this game all the jank is also fixed
 
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Gravity Rush! I feel like the worlds of Gravity Rush 1 and 2 are flowing with potential to get major expansions to its systems and mechanics like TotK.
 
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Morrowind like ~500-1000 years after that game might be fun. Depending on what kind of shenanigans happened in the meantime.
 
Dark Souls

It's some kind of prequel maybe, you play as Big Hat Logan or his apprentice or something

It has modern graphics

You get to explore the world of Dark Souls again
 
Where TOTK-ifying something means having the same general layout but wildly, wildly remixed and differentiated topography, where you move through the world differently in enough places that it's basically new to players who are very familiar with the old one...

I guess I'd do it to Ocarina of Time? Even if it was otherwise the same, like this is jsut how we present the Master Quest, I think that would be a lot of fun
 
Mr_No_U said:
Breath of the Wild comes to mind
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key-and-peele-son-of-abitch.gif
 
Final Fantasy VII Remake. Actually build out Midgar and make it an open world where we can fully explore and completely more slice of life like story sequences.
 
Fire Emblem Fates.

Go back to the writing board and use that world to its full potential

Remake it lol

In all seriousness. Probably Digimon World 1. But they did that already, didn’t find the game as fun as the orignal
 
I've been wanting a Metroid Prime game that revisits Tallon IV ever since before Metroid Prime 2 came out.

If Metroid Prime 4 takes place on Tallon IV I might be the only person on Earth who'd be excited about that.

Tanabe talked about wanting to implement time travel in a Metroid Prime game so it could be interesting to explore Tallon IV hundreds of years in the past, before the Chozo Ruins were ruins, etc.
 
they should make a yakuza game that takes place in Kamurocho but like 10-15 years before Millennium Tower is built

oh wait

they did

and it’s the best video game ever made
 
Assassin's Creed seems like a good candidate for this. Reuse Valhalla's map, stick some more buildings in, now it's the Civil War or War of the Roses or something.
 
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Super Mario 64. All the stages are the same, but they've been expanded and all of the stars have different objectives.
 
This is Yakuza/Like a Dragon's bread and butter with Kamurocho. Same general layout but the accessible businesses and landmarks vary between games. The same goes for other places like Sotenbori that have been revisited in more than one game.
 
lattjeful said:
Such a great idea. Imagine Breath of the Wild, but you can explore not just the landscapes of Hyrule but the vast skies above too.
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But they already did that with Skyward Sword, would be weird.

My vote goes to Elden Ring!
 
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I know we've visited Kanto a billion times, even in different time periods, and they remade it recently too with Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee, but I want a non-shitty modern interpretation of the region, set like a decade after the originals. Long ago I imagined what some locations from a game like this could look like - for example finding the underground ruins of the Pokémon mansion on Cinnabar by spelunking down a cave on the side of the volcano
 
I think Ghost of Tsushima could be a great candidate for this. It's an amazing map that I wouldn't mind revisiting (if handled right of course)
 
Probably duet a dance and add an original sound over it
 
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I was about to say none because that’s way too much deja vu, a lot of the stuff in TOTK that got fleshed out are things that should have been in BOTW in the first place (basically giving something important associated with each of the non divine beast regions)

But then I remembered Pokemon, so Hoenn would be my answer. I loved Emerald but never got to fully complete the Battle Frontier due to some corruption error. Never bothered with ORAS because it doesn’t have it, seems like they stopped caring about making their remakes as definitive versions. Therefore a Hoenn game that used the whole map (there’s a lot of unused islands there) and the Battle Frontier would be neat
 
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Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. A remake with better graphics and performance, way more things to do, a new story (related to SV or not, either way is OK) and more pokemon.
 
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Dardan Sandiego said:
The only limitation would be that the topography stays mostly the same, within reason. Modified buildings, even new cities, would be perfectly fine in this scenario.

I'm more wondering what kind of story you'd tell in the map of MGSV lol.
Click to expand...

"It all starts with Zero."
(Major Zero spin off story when he was an Agent working for the SAS).

David Oh served in Layforce with The Boss, participating in various raids in Egypt. They were close friends with a fellow member of Layforce who died on December 30, 1941, with Oh personally delivering his winged dagger pin to The Boss. He and The Boss also served in the British SAS. Oh later met and recruited a Hungarian assassin into the SAS after the latter defected from the Soviet Union. Impressed with the Hungarian's skills as an assassin and military tactician, Oh quickly promoted the assassin to his Executive Officer. During his later career in MI6, he was referred to as "O" and ultimately joined the CIA, under the bureau of classified planning,[3] where he gained the codename "Zero" (derived from "O").
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We must learn why he got the name "O".

I kid, I kid. Just make a game about Liquid or Gray Fox instead.
 
I always thought the concept for Banjo X sounded great, where it starts off as a basic remake of Banjo-Kazooie but gradually diverts from it more and more:

banjokazooie.fandom.com

Banjo X

Banjo X was a remake of Banjo-Kazooie that Rareware were developing for the Xbox in 2005, which was eventually cancelled and redeveloped into Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. In an effort to surprise players who're familiar with Banjo-Kazooie, the game would have been advertised as a straightforward...
banjokazooie.fandom.com banjokazooie.fandom.com

Another game I would pick is the first Paper Mario. It has probably my favorite vision of the Mushroom Kingdom with how connected it all is, and you could still tell a lot of interesting stories with a remixed version of its map.
 
Mekanos said:
I always thought the concept for Banjo X sounded great, where it starts off as a basic remake of Banjo-Kazooie but gradually diverts from it more and more:

banjokazooie.fandom.com

Banjo X

Banjo X was a remake of Banjo-Kazooie that Rareware were developing for the Xbox in 2005, which was eventually cancelled and redeveloped into Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. In an effort to surprise players who're familiar with Banjo-Kazooie, the game would have been advertised as a straightforward...
banjokazooie.fandom.com banjokazooie.fandom.com
Click to expand...
This is literally the first time I'm seeing this. Look what they took from us...
 
OOT: so we can get to see what Ura-Zelda was supposed to be like.
Super Mario Odyssey: Take on the same worlds but with brand new missions
Link's Awakening: Completed it but I would love to see this getting remixed.
 
Broken record, but… Star Fox. Keep the on-rails stuff, but in moments like when you board the Space Armada mothership, get out of the Arwing and make it stealth action like the infiltration of the Death Star in the OG Star Wars, with elements from games like P.N.03 where you are encouraged to use any and every part of the environment for cover on top of that in ways that don’t just involve chest-high walls. If you’re gonna invoke a space opera but with furry critters, use every part of the space opera.
 
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Honestly… not many.

It’s still a miracle TOTK worked as well as it did. BotW’s world was just so massive, and the world design was also the star of that game, that there was so much potential for in it for more adventures as the “definitive” Hyrule. Hell, they could probably do it a third time with even more drastic changes and it’d still be awesome, though I would prefer moving away from Hyrule.

Most other games I love aren’t nearly as big, or are more segmented. So most examples I have wouldn’t span the whole game and would be more like fanservice little segments like Galaxy 2’s Throwback Galaxy or MGS4’s return to Shadow Moses.

I guess I’d always be fine for Samus to revisit Zebes but I’d still want the level design to be reimagined, so I’m not sure that counts.

Maybe a 3D Mario that reuses a hub?
 
I would go Golden Bananas for a TotK-ified sequel to Donkey Kong 64. Bring back all the Kings, maybe throw in a couple more. Expand the same worlds and add more collectibles and moves.
 
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Xenoblade Golf. Reuses maps from the full trilogy plus X. Also Breath of the Wild Golf. I want these more and more every time I post them lol.

Going back to RPG worlds in particular does have a strong appeal to me especially if the characters I met the first time are still there. Some game worlds I'd love to revisit would be the ones from Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG, and Trails in the Sky. I'd even be cool or perhaps even happier with some RPG revisits not really having too much combat or challenges as long as it feels like there are still new things to discover and there's more time to spend with the characters I care about.

Also I do think it'd be cool to see more genre flip flops in the same world like Yakuza 7 compared to normal Yakuza games. Yokohama in particular felt like an entirely different game when I experienced it for a second time in Lost Judgment when it switched from RPG to action gameplay. Would love to see more games play around with this dynamic. Like imagine a turn based RPG set in BOTW Hyrule kind of thing.
 
Now I just imagined Breath of the Wild Hyrule, but you catch Pokemon in it like Legends Arceus and SV.
 
Ok here’s my pitch for Zelda Tears of the Pokemon - Zelda and Link (you choose who you want to play at the start) are investigating the catacombs below Hyrule because every once in a while a really bright light shines out from below the castle and is waking everyone up at night. They find some murals there depicting some ancient Hylians hanging out with a bunch of monsters they can’t recognize. When they get to the bottom, they see some strange creature taking a nap. Guess what it’s Arceus and they accidentally woke it up! Magical energy blasts out and lifts Hyrule Castle majestically up in the sky. When Link and Zelda open their eyes they peacefully leave Hyrule Castle and everything seems a bit different. Everyone around them is obsessed with catching strange new creatures called Pokemon! Zelda and Link must now become the best like no one ever was, collect eight gym badges, battle Team Yiga, and collect all of the Pokemon so they can attack and dethrone God to hopefully get Hyrule back to normal! Successful completion results in the status quo completely unchanged, but that leaves room for a sequel!
 
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