Bandai Namco Entertainment has filed five trademarks for five games with the "Encore" subtitle. This follows a pattern established with a previous game of theirs and strongly indicates that they're going to be digging up some of their older titles and releasing them kitted out for modern systems.
The Bandai Namco 'Encore' Games
Previously, the company released a remaster of Katamari Damacy called Katamari Damacy REROLL. That is, however, what it was called in the West; in Japan, it was known as Katamari Damacy Encore.Nintendo Wire reports that they've filed trademarks for five games with "Encore" appended to their names. Combine these two facts together and you've got a pretty big clue that these upcoming trademarks are for remasters.
Here are the trademarks they filed and the games they represent:
Genpei Touma Den Encore
Genpei Touma Den — literally "The Tale of Killing Demons in Genpei" — is a side-scrolling beat 'em up where you kill demons. You play as Taira no Kagekiyo, a real samurai who died in battle towards the end of the Genpei War.Klonoa Encore
Klonoa is a game where a bunny travels to various worlds and uses puzzle platforming gameplay to save dreams. And by "dreams", I don't mean people's ambitions or anything like that — actual dreams are in danger, somehow.Mr. Driller Encore
Mr. Driller features the son of the main character from Dig Dug pretty much doing the same thing — drilling through a bunch of blocks in a 2D puzzle platformer.Splatterhouse Encore
Splatterhouse is one of the few games on this list that actually made it to the West. You play as a killer dude with a hockey mask that is legally distinct from a certain other killer dude with a hockey mask in side-scrolling beat 'em up gameplay.Wagyan Land Encore
Wagyan Land is a platformer game featuring a mechanical dinosaur who protects his homeland from the evil Dr. Devil.Most of these games are puzzle platformers or beat 'em ups, so Bandai Namco isn't going for anything super ambitious here. It's uncertain if any of these probable remakes will be released in the West (though Splatterhouse will likely be a good candidate, considering its previous Western release). In any case, some classic, almost-forgotten games are likely to be making their return soon.
What do you think of Bandai Namco filing trademarks for some of their older franchises? Is there anything in their back catalog that you would like to see remade? Let us know in the comments below!
