While 2014 was a great year for new games, it was also a great year for old games. As a PC gamer it's been great seeing all the retro love making its way onto my platform of choice recently. In fact, we've seen so many games of yesteryear re-emerge on Steam, GOG and the likes, that it's almost been tough to keep track of them all. But as much as I've made the conversion over to pretty exclusively gaming on PC, there's still plenty of console games out there that never made it to PC. I could easily list hundreds of games I'd love to see brought over to PC. Heck, my secret fantasy is that Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft would all take a cue from Sega and just become software developers so that all games were on the same platform. But that sort of wishful thinking is borderline fan-fiction, so instead I'd like talk about console games that I'd like to see ported to PC because these games would specifically benefit from the platform itself.

Read on for an utterly biased wish list for 2015...



3D Dot Game Heroes
This game, to me is the most glaring omission. This PS3 exclusive was developed by From Software (whose two Dark Souls games did receive PC ports). If you aren't familiar with it, 3D Game Heroes is basically a spiritual successor to A Link To The Past, but it is made up of voxels. It is a beautiful and brilliant game, that should be played by all retro gamers who feel like modern games have nothing to offer. But there's one very specific reason I feel like it needs a PC port: mods. You see, 3D Dot Game Heroes is full of customization and as a result, you can create your own character (presumably so that you could just officially put Link in the game since From Soft couldn't). So imagine if a game like this was made open to enthusiasts? We'd have tons of new fan-made Zelda games in glorious HD! Considering the success of the Dark Souls games on PC, I suppose this wouldn't be entirely out of the question.


Card Fighters Clash
Card Fighters Clash was a card battling game released on the Neo Geo Pocket Color. It surely wasn't the most popular card game out there, but it has gone on to keep a very loyal cult following. Not only did it receive a sequel on the DS, but it even got a real world "release" when a group of fans lovingly recreated all of the original cards in the game to be printed out and played with your friends. Imagine if it were on PC and had the benefit of expansion decks and online play. Oh sure, Hearthstone is all the rage right now, but I want to battle Morrigan and Chun-Li against Mai and Athena! Now SNK Playmore has definitely been giving Steam a lot of love lately, but those are all Neo Geo games, and I find it hard to imagine them porting a NGPC game over to a modern platform. But, not all hope is lost with the Table Top Simulator which is currently in Steam's Early Access program. There's over a thousand mods that have already been created by fans in this engine, so it's entirely possible that someone could make a version of the Card Fighters Clash deck to be played there. And I'd happily buy it!


Little Big Planet & Mario Maker
These two games are heavily built on the idea of user created content. Have you seen the PC mod community? They're an amazingly evergreen bunch. Why just this week I played an impressive Silent Hill fan-mod built in Half-Life 2's Source engine. Other recent wonders have been the likes of a Mario Kart mod for Team Fortress 2, and a Donkey Kong Country mod for... Doom. Yes, Doom, a 20 year old game. Sure it's nice that consoles are getting these sort of toolkits to play with, but I think that the content would thrive on PC. Of course this one is beyond wishful thinking. It's hard to imagine that Nintendo would ever pull a Sega and ditch the console business. Sony, maybe. But I can dream can't I? Imagine a world where we all had the same 'console' to play on and you could download Little Big Planet levels to play in Mario Maker and vice versa.


Madden NFL,  MLB: The Show & NHL 2K
Ok, ok, I know I'm a broken record, but the fact remains - these are three of the biggest sports series out there, depicting three of the most popular sports in the U.S., and they're just not represented on the PC. Quick, raise your hand if you own a PC! And of course these are three games that would benefit from the easy non-subscription brand of online multiplayer that PC gaming provides. But perhaps more importantly, they would fill a niche. It's amazing to me that sports sims - a genre that seemed to birth itself on PC - is so poorly represented today.


Super Puzzle Fighter II, Puyo Puyo Tetris & Lumines
Or competitive puzzle games in general. Again, you've got the ease of online multiplayer here. Sure Steam's got some titles like Magical Drop V (which is great, by the way!), but again there's an easy niche to be filled here. In fairness, Puzzle Fighter was released on the PC back in the day, but it was a barebones release. Nevermind online, there wasn't even couch co-op! What really baffles me was that an HD version was brought to Xbox 360 and PS3, which could have easily been ported to PC as well. I'd like to say those ports were good enough, but have you tried to find an online match lately? It's not pretty. Puyo Puyo Tetris hasn't come to the States at all yet, but I can't help but think that anything with "Tetris" in the title will surely sell.


Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike & Fatal Fury: Mark Of The Wolves
Basically I'm just saying that we need more classic 2D fighting games on PC for the online communities. All three of these are brilliant games, and all three have been ported to Xbox 360 and/or PS3 with online compatibility. I will admit that the past year or two has been promising for the fighting community though. SNK has done its share of porting with titles like King Of Fighters 98 Ultimate Matching just now seeing a Steam release, so perhaps Mark Of The Wolves isn't out of the question. But c'mon, Capcom. We're all buying every version of Street Fighter IV. Why not bring a couple more classics (and Vampire Resurrection) to PC in anticipation of Street Fighter V?


Heavy Rain & Beyond Two Souls
Dear David Cage, You have long been pushing the idea of interactive cinema, a living film if you will. One with simple controls that are based almost entirely on movement of a single axis. I ask you sir, are you aware of the mouse? Because computers have those. And let's be honest, your games are not far removed from the roots of classic adventure games. I'm not sure if you've been paying attention, but Telltale Games has done a great job of reinvigorating adventure gaming. They're able to make games that have deep, emotional stories, compelling characters, and simple controls. Do yourself a favor and give your games more platforms to thrive on and I can promise you will see more sales. You're no stranger to the medium - I already have Omikron The Nomad Soul and Indigo Prophecy on PC. I promise to (re)buy your other games if you bring them to PC.

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