Nintendo's legendary game designer, Shigeru Miyamoto, has surprisingly elected to speak on the subject of the company's frequent game remakes. Speaking in the latest issue of Japanese magazine Famitsu (as translated by Nintendo Everything), Miyamoto-san admitted that Nintendo has been doing a lot of remakes, but also took the time to explain why it makes sense:
Some people might say there are a lot of remakes, but after five years, a lot of people have outgrown games and stop playing them. Young people today don’t have the opportunity to play games from 10 years ago, so remaking them to be more playable and releasing them again is a good way to meet the demand. Letting people know the original games also leads to future developments, so we’ve been actively pursuing that recently.
Here's a full list of complete remakes released by Nintendo over the past ten years. Star Fox was released last month, while the most anticipated Nintendo game of 2026, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake, is expected to launch later this year.
| Year | Game |
|---|---|
| 2017 | Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia |
| 2017 | Metroid: Samus Returns |
| 2017 | Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser’s Minions |
| 2018 | Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! / Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee! |
| 2019 | Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story + Bowser Jr.’s Journey |
| 2019 | The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening |
| 2020 | Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX |
| 2021 | Famicom Detective Club: The Missing Heir |
| 2021 | Famicom Detective Club: The Girl Who Stands Behind |
| 2021 | Pokémon Brilliant Diamond / Pokémon Shining Pearl |
| 2022 | Live A Live |
| 2023 | Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe |
| 2023 | Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp |
| 2023 | Super Mario RPG |
| 2024 | Another Code: Recollection |
| 2024 | Mario vs. Donkey Kong |
| 2024 | Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door |
| 2026 | Star Fox |
| 2026 | The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time |
A recent rumor suggests Nintendo may already be preparing another Zelda remake for 2006's Twilight Princess, just as the first live action Zelda movie is in production.
Of course, Nintendo is far from the only publisher pushing heavily on remakes; this month alone sees major re-releases from Ubisoft (Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced) and Xbox (Halo: Campaign Evolved).
Do you share Miyamoto's view on game remakes? Let us know in the comments.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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