The gaming industry moves at a rapid pace. As the industry continues to grow and new franchises are created, old franchises are often left in the wake, dropped by the creators and publishers that once supported them. Whether it’s because of poor sales, lack of interest, or just because the creators unable to find support for the IP, it can be tough for a franchise to survive out there.

Some of those old franchises are fortunate enough to be picked up again and revitalized, but others aren’t as lucky. So, here are just a few franchises that definitely need to be picked back up.

10 10. NBA Street

Here’s one to put people into a nostalgic zone. The NBA Street series was a line of NBA licensed video games by good old EA when they were a semi-respectable company that actually made good games. The games focused on a more arcade-like style of basketball games, complete with over the top dunks, flexing on your opponents, and probably a ruined friendship or two.

The series’ last release was NBA Street Homecourt all the way back in 07. Since then, we haven’t heard a peep out of it. The closest mainstream equivalent we’ve received to the Street series in recent years is the NBA Playground games. But, even then, 2K has managed to get their grubby hands all over it.

9 9. Max Payne

The game that put Remedy Entertainment on the map. The Max Payne series took third-person shooter games in a direction that you don’t see much of today. One of the first games of its time to utilize bullet-time mechanics, the first two Max Payne games relied heavily on the use of this mechanic for the player to fight their enemies.

These days, the mainstream has leaned heavily towards cover-based mechanics in third-erson shooters. Even Max Payne 3, developed by Rockstar this time around in 2012, gave Max the GTA treatment with a traditional cover system. Since then, the series has pretty much been on ice with Rockstar seemingly uninterested to do anything with the IP.

8 8. Final Fight

Beat-em-ups are a sadly forgotten 90s genre that at the very least spiritually lives on today in character-action games like Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, and more rudimentarily in the Dynasty Warriors series. It’s all about 3D polygons, guns, and swords instead of good ol’ fisticuffs.

While the Final Fight series does share a universe with Street Fighter, with a fair amount of characters making appearances in SF games, it’d still be nice to see a new Final Fight game—especially after the critically panned Streetwise. If the Streets of Rage series is getting a revival, then it’s only right that Final Fight makes a proper comeback as well.

7 7. Skate

EA really used to drop some incredibly creative gems back in the day. Simply titled Skate, this series is anything but simple. Sporting possibly the most technical depth for a mainstream extreme sports franchise, Skate uses what it calls the ‘flick it’ system that allows players to execute all kinds of skateboarding kick tricks with the right stick of the control pad. Mastering its controls truly gave players a sense of depth you couldn’t get in any other sports title.

The series’ last title, Skate 3, dropped in 2010. Since then, there hasn’t been much out the series besides a mysterious reactivation of the game’s servers in 2018, a license renewal, and some rumors. Considering EA’s current business model, it’s unclear how much this actually translates to a new Skate title.

6 6. F-Zero

This was a tossup between this and Burnout. EA has probably had enough whippings on this list already. F-Zero is Nintendo’s futuristic racing franchise defined by its intense, high-speed action. While interpretations of its tracks have appeared in the likes of Mario Kart, and series mascot Captain Falcon appearing in the Smash Bros. games, F-Zero is long overdue for a proper revival.

The last we’ve heard of it was 2004’s F-Zero Climax for the GBA, without a proper console title since 03’s F-Zero GX for the GameCube. Mario Kart is cool, but sometimes you just need a no-nonsense, high-octane arcade racer.

5 5. Virtua Fighter

It’s games like this that really make you question what’s wrong with SEGA. The Virtua Fighter series is widely regarded as the granddaddy of 3D fighting games as we know them today. And as we know them today, nothing else in the mainstream market really looks, feels or plays like a Virtua Fighter title. The closest is probably Tekken. Even then, Virtua Fighter probably captures the look and feel of simulated martial arts fighting in the purest of possible forms for any fighting game.

Virtua Fighter 5 released in 07. Since then, only enhanced versions of it have been released, with SEGA seemingly uninterested in making a sixth installment. Considering where the fighting game community is at today, you can’t help but feel that SEGA is stupidly missing out on a potential goldmine.

4 4. Portal

You can pick from a hat of Valve titles to fill this spot. While Valve seems more concerned with Steam and other ventures like VR games, we wait for the day that we’ll get proper follow-ups to some of their best games. Portal is one of them.

Platformers aren’t exactly the most popular game genre these days. The same could be said about puzzlers, but the Portal games are truly something special. 2011’s Portal 2 features probably the best writing in a video game we’ve seen this last decade. Also, considering the type of writing and lack of originality we’ve seen in mainstream video games this last decade, we desperately need another Portal now more than ever.

3 3. Suikoden

Spawning from the booming era of Playstation JRPGs, Suikoden is a Konami franchise that’s been otherwise forgotten by its creator. The popularity of some of Konami’s bigger games like Silent Hill and Metal Gear, as well as the ever-loved Final Fantasy series, probably influenced Konami’s priorities going forward, and thus pretty much iced the main series after the poor sales of its fifth installment in 2006.

With the recent split of Hideo Kojima from Konami and the negative reception that the latest Metal Gear game received afterward, perhaps it might make Konami dive into their big bag of franchises and yank this one back from the dead sometime soon and not ruin it like Contra. Especially with the Final Fantasy VII remake on the horizon.

2 2. Clock Tower

With games like Amnesia, Outlast, SOMA, Fatal Frame and Resident Evil 7 keeping the survival horror genre alive this last decade, this might be a good time for the Clock Tower series to make a return, as well. The Clock Tower series is widely seen as one of the first horror games to feature a defenseless protagonist long before Amnesia and Outlast.

The series is at least deserving of a reboot as its initial run was a bit rough, and considering where the horror landscape has gone today, it’ll probably fit right into its own niche. It’s a real shame, too. Before series creator, Hifumi Kono, created the spiritual successor NightCry, he attempted to reboot the series with another publisher, yet they thought horror games were too hard to market.

1 1. Onimusha

With the release of Sekiro just this past year, why not bring back a hack-and-slash type of game that also features a Japanese setting? The Onimusha series was originally only going to have 3 mainline entries but ended up getting a fourth entry in 2006 that shook the series’ formula up a bit.

Unfortunately, the game didn’t sell too well, but the new direction certainly left fans hanging and wanting more. A remake of the first game was released this past year, but considering how well a game like Sekiro did this year, winning Game of the Year and all that, it may not be a bad idea to capitalize on the gameplay and aesthetics that Onimusha shares with it.

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