14 vintage games that deserve the 3D treatment

Above: The exact moment 3D gaming became unavoidable 

While the debate as to the necessity of 3D in films shows no sign of ceasing (or becoming interesting), the gaming front is another matter. Depending on your level of optimism, we're either stepping into an age of unparalleled interactivity, or hurtling down a blind alley into yet another of the industry's lame-brained get-rich-quick schemes. Rather than trying to work out which is the case, a better question might be: How do we get the most gaming goodness out of this latest boom?

One E3 demo had the right idea: re-inventing classic Nintendo titles in 3D. We've already laid down wish-lists for 3D makeovers of N64 and contemporary titles – but what other old-time games would benefit from a full-3D makeover, on the 3DS or elsewhere? If the industry wants to sell us on 3D, here are just some of the hundreds of titles we’d happily pay again to play again in 3D.

Point Blank

If 3D is a technique that toes the line of gimmickry, then light-gun games are the gimmick that occasionally flukes its way into playability. Purists might moot Duck Hunt for a 3D remake, while others could point to the genre's best-known pre-polygonal outing, Midway's digitized arcade classic Terminator 2. But a better pick would be Namco's minigame-heavy Point Blank, which pushes the boundaries of just how varied light-gun shooters can be when they abandon silly notions like “plot” or “making sense.”

Best 3D moment: The volcano level, in which the game's Ernie and Bert-looking heroes must be protected from a furious torrent of rocks and magma spewing from a distant eruption. The whole affair gleefully messes with perspective in a way that beggars belief even in two dimensions.

Shadow of the Beast

Shadow of the Beast exists for two reasons: the bitchin' soundtrack (a favorite of Gamesradar's own Brett Elston) and the tour de force parallax scrolling effects, which back in the day marked the title as Quite Something Indeed. Oh, sure, we knew even back then that the gameplay was ropey as hell and the whole thing was a hollow exercise in Amiga-era graphics-porn; but come on, it's not like you only ever play things nowadays for the (snicker) depth of their (hah!) gameplay mechanics.

Best 3D moment: Running across the game's flat-ass hub level and seeing the vast expanse of the Beast's world chugging along in the distance, fully aware that the whole thing was just an excuse to let the game's animators show us what it might be like to live in a Yes album cover.

Doom

“Really,” you're asking, “are you actually expending my precious words-reading energy just to say ‘it would be cool to play first-person shooters in 3D?’” Apparently so, but only to make the specific point that it would smoke balls to play Doom in 3D. Besides the fact that the purpose of human existence seems to be putting Doom on every machine ever made, the game's severe, angular graphic style would look great in 3D and serve as a standout re-iteration of the classic title.

Best 3D moment: The game's not short on wide-open vistas, but the tighter-packed interior levels were as immersive as games got. Stalking invisible demons through the 3D pipelines of Central Processing or running into imps in the deep, claustrophobic Containment Area would pack more punch than ever.

Spindizzy Worlds

The isometric free-rolling genre is best known for spawning the tough speed-challenges of Marble Madness, but that game looked like a shareware demo next to Spindizzy Worlds. The plot was convoluted hokum about a spacecraft that could traverse alien worlds as long as it was constantly rolling semi-controllably through what looked like an 8-bit golf course; the gameplay was an unforgiving challenge in which inertia was both your handiest tool and worst enemy.

Best 3D moment: Rolling precariously about the game's later levels, which were so complex that a 3D view would actually serve as a legitimate aid to progress. Spindizzy Worlds' levels are tight but fair, unlike a certain bauble-insanity title's Escher-esque perspective tricks sloppy design SNAFUs.