Every now and then, a game gets remade, and while many remakes are faithful to the original versions, there are many that are not, to the point where they are arguably different games entirely. For example:

SaGa 3 (the game I'm playing right now) got a remake on the Nintendo DS that drastically changed the game mechanics. Among other things, levels and experience points were removed, being replaced with a system where you get a chance of stat growth after every action. (There were other drastic changes, but that is probably the most blatant one, especially since it interacts with many of the game's other systems, like the transformation system.) (By contrast, the SaGa 2 remake preserved the original's mechanics with some minor tweaks.)

Ys III: Wanderers of Ys got a remake (Oath in Felghanna) that changed the game from a 2d sidescroller to a 3d platformer. There were other major changes, like completely changing the role of rings. (In the original, rings were like those in Ys 1, except that you had limited ring energy and there was a ring that made you invincible.)

Lufia 2: Rise of the Sinistrals got a remake that changed the game's genre; the original is a turn-based RPG (and is actually strictly turn-based, with no action elements), while the remake is an action game like the Ys games, from what I've heard. (I haven't played the remake.)

Any others that you can think of?

(By the way, I heard that Fire Emblem Gaiden got a remake; can anybody tell me whether that remake has weapon durability, and whether spells cost HP to use?)

Tomb Raider... Technically not a remake rather than a reboot. But it went from run and gun 3D Puzzle Platformer to some sort of gritty torture porn version of Uncharted.
EDIT:
Also, System Shock.

And Final Fantasy VII (when the action oriented remake gets released)

Which Tomb Raiders are you comparing? Wasn't "Anniversary" basically a remake of the original Tomb Raider, so is that the "gritty torture porn version" version you are referring to?

http://www.mobygames.com/game/lara-croft-tomb-raider-anniversary

(Note: I haven't played Anniversary yet, so no idea how similar or different it is from the original (which I love BTW).)


Oh, my contribution: even without playing, I presume the new Master of Orion remake is quite different from the original. I recall people bitching about RTS gameplay and whatnot.

I was comparing Tomb Raider (1996) to Tomb Raider (2013). I was unfortunate enough to buy the 2013 model... It was an ok game, but didn't feel much like Tomb Raider to me. If Anniversary is a remake I wouldn't know. I wasn't even aware it was different from the 2013 game, I thought it was some kind of special enhanced edition upgrade.

A reboot is usually a completely different game than the original.
A remake is (should be) just an enhanced\improved version that still retains important similarities.
TR2013 is a reboot, so it doesn't even belong to this thread in my opinion.

TR Anniversary

That is an actual remake, not a reboot.

That's a reboot not a remake, even a spazzed out donkey with no head can work that out. Great game either way.

They shouldn't have muddied the waters by naming it Tomb Raider though. There was already a game called that. You leave TinyE out of this. And It wasn't great, in my opinion. Uncharted is ok. Uncharted: Lara Croft Abuse Simulator is still just OK.

SLAIN (original game & name) was apparently somewhat of a mess.

Didn't play that one, but I've got SLAIN: Back from Hell is the rework of the game & it's bloody good stuff.

Jim Sterling did a bit about it.

Exile to Avernum to Avernum: Subtitle.

Yar's Revenge went from this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvjajVf3BEc

To this: http://store.steampowered.com/app/99120/Yars_Revenge/

Deck13's Ankh is supposedly a remake of an old Acorn Archimedes game of the same name, though there don't seem to be very many similarities between the two apart from genre and broad strokes. It's hard to tell, though, because the original might as well not exist on the internet apart from a 3-minute video covering its opening. The remake has no weapon durability, and spells cost HP to use (with some minor exceptions—HP-stealing spell Nosferatu has no HP hit, for example). There's also no weapon triangle, no money or buying, class changes at weird levels that can only be unlocked at shrines, dungeon crawling, and only one item can be equipped on each character. Basically, everything that defined Gaiden was retained for Shadows of Valentia.

For me the reverse is true. I never liked the original, I've found it to frustrating. However I loved the reboot.

Mortal Kombat

They took a huge step backward. The graphics of the remake are way more blockey.

Brutal, poor tinyE. I much preferred it to Uncharted. Those games have so much potential and fulfil none of it.