As 2025 approaches, we wrap up 2024, a year marked by more games in our niche than we could reasonably cover. Despite publishing numerous articles and 48 reviews, we had to decline coverage for some titles due to the high volume of retro-inspired releases. Over the past year—and the one before it—rights and licensing deals from 1980s and 1990s publishers were acquired by specialists in the market, such as Piko Interactive, QUByte, Aspyr, Digital Eclypse and Dotemu. These companies have been focusing on re-releases and spiritual successors to franchises from particular those decades.
In 2025, larger publishers appear to be following the trend by releasing games that revive dormant franchises themselves. A small observation: many of these upcoming releases seem to focus on games and franchises from the early 2000s or the very late 1990s. Let’s take a closer look.
Ninja Gaiden Ragebound
The very first announcement at the 2024 Game Awards came as a welcome surprise. Dotemu, known for revitalizing nearly dormant franchises, revealed their take on Ninja Gaiden with Ninja Gaiden Ragebound. The game promises to retain the franchise’s signature aesthetics while introducing new elements. Development is being handled by The Game Kitchen, the studio behind the well-received Blasphemous series. Based on their track record, Ninja Gaiden Ragebound is likely to feature light Metroidvania elements combined with high-speed katana swooshing ninja combat.
Suidoken I and 2 HD Remaster
For those who grew up around the turn of the millennium and enjoy JRPGs, the upcoming HD remaster of the Suikoden games is likely to be on their wishlist. While the title emphasizes a graphical overhaul with HD upscaling, fans can also look forward to a reworked battle UI and various quality-of-life improvements. For example, the map can now be accessed with the push of a button, eliminating the need to navigate through menus. The games are scheduled for release on March 6, 2025.
Metal Gear Solid Delta : Snake Eater
Also from Konami, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is being remade as a completely new game. The first in-engine footage (available in the accompanying video) offers a detailed look at the visuals, showcasing the potential of Unreal Engine 5 for slower-paced games with dense environments. The gameplay appears to stay largely faithful to the original. While no specific release date has been announced, Konami has confirmed that the game is set to launch in 2025.
Capcom Fighter Collection 2
Fans of the fighting genre were well-served with the first collection released in 2024, but the second set of games is set to appeal especially to Dreamcast fans. This collection includes arcade versions of some of the standout 3D Capcom fighters from that era. Power Stone and Power Stone 2 have only been re-released once, on Sony’s PSP, in the 25 years since their original debuts. Project Justice (known as Rival Schools in the West) has long been a fan-favorite arcade-to-Dreamcast conversion and, until now, has never been re-released. Also included is Plasma Sword, a late release for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn, which is regarded as a strong entry in the genre. Check out the other games in the collection in our news article we posted around the time the trailer got revealed. There is no definite release date yet.
Sega Remakes
At this point we are just waiting for more news and release dates for the Sega remakes that supposedly will come out in 2025. We reported on the reveal trailer more than a year ago, but we haven’t heard anything since. Our biggest fear is that the games will be used for launching the hinted Sega streaming service. As for now remakes of Shinobi, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio has been announced, with more to come.
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves
Another revival of an arcade and Dreamcast niche favorite comes from SNK with Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. This title serves as a follow-up to 1999’s Garou: Mark of the Wolves, the well-regarded spin-off of the Fatal Fury series. This entirely new game firmly integrates the series back into the Fatal Fury franchise and is set to use the engine developed for the two most recent King of Fighters games. Given the distinct gameplay concept of Garou compared to King of Fighters, it will be interesting to see how City of the Wolves distinguishes itself from other SNK titles currently available. Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves will be released April 24th, 2025.
Okami Sequel
An Okami sequel (likely to be renamed) marks another effort by Capcom to revive one of its beloved, if underappreciated, franchises. Okami was a notable action-adventure game, blending Japanese folklore, a distinctive visual style, and unique interaction mechanics. The announcement at the Game Awards, accompanied by an orchestra, revealed that the original game director, Hideki Kamiya, has returned to helm the project. While the trailer did not feature any gameplay, the release is speculated to be in 2025. Although no official date has been confirmed, it’s hard not to hope for sooner rather than later.
DRAGON QUEST I & II HD-2D Remake
We’ve already been pleasantly surprised by the Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D remake, and 2025 is the year both parts one and two will be released together in the same HD-2D engine. This order of release may sound unusual, but chronologically it makes sense, as part three takes place before parts one and two. The initial release was a critical and commercial success, selling 2 million units worldwide across both physical and digital formats. There seems to be little room for error here, making Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D a highly anticipated release.
