"4-PLAYER CO-OP!"

Other mediums have it good, or at least better. For the most part, when films and albums get remastered the original elements are simply buffed and cleaned. If they're lucky they might even get centre-pieced in a box-set full of relevant off-cuts and documentary material. This process isn't perfect, modern foley has fouled up many a recent film re-release, but there's an underlying respect for the original work.

What happens to vintage games? They get turned over to third parties to be yanked apart and put back together in a form that pleases the idea of a modern consumer. It's not so much that this HD reissue of Earthworm Jim is bad, it's that it disregards aspects central to the original game's appeal. Seeing fluid, cartoon like animation running on the Mega Drive was a considerable boon in 1994, it defied the accepted limitations of the system. That's what made Earthworm Jim special. What we're seeing here is just a re-drawn approximation of those 16-bit assets. You don't re-shoot films for a Blu-Ray anniversary release do you? The introduction of new stages - including Keyboard Cat? - is a bit of a cheek too. I've never heard of contemporary sound engineers creating entirely new tracks to be roughly sown back into a classic album. Who would want that? Why should this be any different?

Remaster squads should be custodians, not creators. Above all though, there should be choice. If properties really do have to be tinkered with, at least give the audience the opportunity to have the lo-fi experience. Tuck it away somewhere in the package. Some people want the pixellated 16-bit mess, or the dull Mono soundtrack. Limitations, even outright mistakes, have value. Don't destroy them.