Fan Remakes, Mods, and Homebrews - Get them while they are still around!

[Draco1962]

The following posts will include links to fan remakes, game mods, and homebrew creations.

Some of these are older programs created at least several Windows versions ago so you may run into issues with the display or other issues due to missing .dll files or the like. If you encounter any issues and find a solution, please report the issue and share your fix in this thread.

I will update this post with new URLs and descriptions as they are discovered by myself or others that respond to the thread so please feel free to contribute!

[Draco1962]

TARDIS REMAKES: Originally started in 2004, the games were created as part of the author's desire to try to recreate for personal reasons as well as contests for the same. Many arcade "remakes" here, such as Zektor and Space Fury, and much more for other systems.  These remakes invoke more recent "Recharged" versions of Atari Classics but retain the original playability and are a worthy addition to a game cabinet or collection. 

Sokurah's also has a local project page here:

 

 

[Draco1962]

ROGUE SYNAPSE: This is an old site so no way to know when it may disappear. A clue to its age is the reference to Doc's blog on My Space. The two playable games to mention are Space Paranoids (from TRON) and The Last Starfighter (from the movie of the same name). Both playable and cabinet/IPAC ready according to the descriptions.

CAUTION: You may encounter some issues with playability due to the games 640x480 display requirements and Windows 11 (may also be problematic with Windows 10 but the last time I played it worked fine on Windows 7/8). If you attempt on Windows 10/11 and encounter any issues and find a solution, please share your fix in this thread.

[Draco1962]

FRACTALUS:  A fan remake to the Lucas Films Games 8-bit classic Rescue on Fractalus (AKA Behind Jaggi Lines). Playability is very faitthful to the original game but with a much updated high-def view. The aliens pounding on the craft when down to saving a pilot still make me jump! Builds available for Windows 32/64 bit, MAC OS, and Linux, also a Win 64 VR build!

BUILD: 1.0.0 - 2020-12-18

Side-by-Side comparison between the two. Even more dead-on in the latest version.

[Draco1962]

TIE FIGHTER TOTAL CONVERSION: This is a significant fan mod for Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance well-worthy of mention here.

Per the website Overview:

The TIE Fighter Total Conversion (TFTC) project is a free, fan-made port of the original classic 1994 LucasArts game TIE Fighter, into the 1999 X-Wing Alliance (XWA) engine. Based on the original TFTC from 2005 and built upon the X-Wing Alliance Upgrade (XWAU) project, this is a complete overhaul of the game from graphics to gameplay. All 13 original Tour of Duty campaigns and their training missions have been ported over, including all original voiceovers, cutscenes and even most of the original medals and Secret Order tattoo awards. 

But alongside this are also 9 reimagined Tour of Duty campaigns. Taking advantage of the much improved XWA engine, TFTC Reimagined attempts to envision what TIE Fighter could have been if the technology of the time had not limited it. Reimagined takes the Classic campaigns and puts a new spin on them, adding many more ships, greater scale and scope,  brand new missions, a more fleshed out story, better narrative continuity between missions and all new voiceovers. 

 

[Draco1962]

LDSO is a TRON gaming clan dedicated to the further development of the TRON PC games (particularly TRON 2.0), creating maps, mods, expansion packs, and tools.

The following are links to a standalone game and game mods:

Space Paranoids - Per the author "This is the Space Paranoids game that Disney released as an online game, during the Flynn Lives ARG and the release of TRON Legacy. But, of course, guess what happened … the game eventually disappeared. Luckily, it was possible to download the game, and it can still be played without being online." 

Gameplay video from the original online source:

TRON 2.0: Killer App Mod - Latest information about v1.2 WIP to be released 2023. More information and links to v1.1 can be found here.

V1.2 Preview video:

 

[Draco1962]

Mercenary Restart - a Unity remake of the original 1985 title Mercenary - Escape from Targ.

[ClassicGMR]

On 4/21/2023 at 5:24 PM, Draco1962 said:

Mercenary - Escape from Targ.

Never heard of this one. Will have to check it out.

[tthurman]

On 2/24/2023 at 7:36 AM, Draco1962 said:

TIE FIGHTER TOTAL CONVERSION: This is a significant fan mod for Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance well-worthy of mention here.

Per the website Overview:

The TIE Fighter Total Conversion (TFTC) project is a free, fan-made port of the original classic 1994 LucasArts game TIE Fighter, into the 1999 X-Wing Alliance (XWA) engine. Based on the original TFTC from 2005 and built upon the X-Wing Alliance Upgrade (XWAU) project, this is a complete overhaul of the game from graphics to gameplay. All 13 original Tour of Duty campaigns and their training missions have been ported over, including all original voiceovers, cutscenes and even most of the original medals and Secret Order tattoo awards. 

But alongside this are also 9 reimagined Tour of Duty campaigns. Taking advantage of the much improved XWA engine, TFTC Reimagined attempts to envision what TIE Fighter could have been if the technology of the time had not limited it. Reimagined takes the Classic campaigns and puts a new spin on them, adding many more ships, greater scale and scope,  brand new missions, a more fleshed out story, better narrative continuity between missions and all new voiceovers. 

 

I’ve been digging a bit deeper on this one, going to have to pick up XWA.

[tthurman]

Mechwarrior - Living Legends 

https://www.moddb.com/mods/mechwarrior-living-legends/features/players-choice-mod-of-the-year-2009

 

Followed this long ago during early development, looks to be a winner!

 

 

[Draco1962]

POLYBIUS: THE MOST DANGEROUS VIDEO GAME TO NEVER EXIST

While not on the Rogue Synapse site, I found from the article above the artwork and download links here:

POLYBIUS

Setup is a bit wonky to say the least. I was not able to play it easily wihtout using the keyboard because I could not find the settings to enable my Tankstick button assignments while doing a test of the game. I did manage to enable the Higher Functions entering the code noted in the README.TXT file. Random enablement of the strobing and other backgrounds gave me a bit of eye strain and headache.

[Draco1962]

Koronis Rift Remake by Georg Rottensteiner from 2006. Another LucasFilm favorite from my Atari 8-bit days. Fairly simple game play - Drive around, loot the "hulks", shoot the "Guardian Saucers" and return to the ship.

Setup is a bit painful due to the limitations of the graphics/resolution which makes for a somewhat clunky experience, even with compatibility mode enabled.

No video from the game remake but a video of the Atari 8-bit version:

 

[tthurman]

This was around the time games started to improve drastically from the previous gaming platforms. I can't say that I recall this one, but I would have been playing on the C64, which to me was a turning point for gaming in general.