In technology a reboot is sometimes needed to create a fresh star. Rebooting can also create errors. In the gaming world sometimes a franchise needs a reset. Indeed, some respective gaming franchises needed a clean start. However, sometimes a reboot is not needed. There are some games that needed a reboot and some that well did not. Today I'm going to be discussing games that needed a reboot and those that did not. Understand, that this is just my opinion.

Games that needed a reboot.

Bubsy Bobcat- Bubsy was introduced in the 1990's. The game play was inspired by Mario and Sonic games. The first game was considered a success. The second game did fairly well. A third game was released on PC. It seemed like Bubsy was going to be a decent franchise. Then came Bubsy 4 also known as Bubsy 3D. This game was rubbish. Despite being on the Play station the games controls where horrible, the graphics looked mushed together, and the sounds made you want to mute the game. The 4th game supposedly killed the franchise.

But 21 years latter in 2017 the makers of Bubsy stated a new Bubsy game would be released later in the year. They stated it was a reboot of the franchise. The new Bubsy game did fairly well. IGN called it "a nice reboot to an otherwise dead franchise". Gamefaq also stated "this franchise needed a resurrection and this game does it". The new game did so well that a sequel was done and released in 2019/2020. Even the sequel did well earning average scores. Several gaming sites stated "Bubsy will never be Mario, Mega Man, Sonic, or even Kirby, but the new games are a nice reset that revived a dead franchise".

Indeed, Bubsy was a series that needed a fresh start and a reboot. The revival of the Bubsy franchise shows how a reboot should be done and why it is sometimes needed.

Star Fox- Star Fox was on its way to becoming a respective franchise. It was a new game launched in the 1990's. However, the Nintendo 64 version killed the game. Like Bubsy's Playstaion game Star Fox's version was rubbish. The graphics were off, the colors looked like they had just been pieced together.

Nearly 20 years later Nintendo decided to reboot the franchise in attempt to reestablish it as a franchise. Thus, Star Fox Zero was released in 2016/2017. Nintendo stated it was a reboot attempt. The game was praised for fixing the previous games problems. Several game youtuber review videos stated how it was a nice reboot. The sells proved that this game needed a revival and how a reboot can be done.

Games that did not need a Reboot

For these games a reboot was not needed. In fact, it made the franchises plot, and games so confusing. In addition, these reboots may take future games to clean up the reboot mess.

Mortal Kombat- Mortal Kombat is a popular fighting video game franchise. It was released in the US in the early 1990's. It proved to be a huge success. Several games where released. The game was so popular the makers of the game did cross other projects with other game franchises.

However, the last Mortal Kombat game Mortal Kombat said we lead to a reboot of Mortal Kombat I. A lot of people remained confused. IGN stated "the reboot was not needed and as more confusion". Some of my friends and I talked so wait does this mean that Mortal Kombat II- the previous game did not happen? It just really seemed like the reboot was not needed and adds more confusion in the story line. I get the last game was like messing up time but the makers did not need to reboot the franchise. There was several ways to do this in a new game. Ugh, the reboot is going to take several games just to clean up the mess of a reboot that was not even needed to begin with.

Battle Toads- Battle Toads was made by Rare in the early 1990's. They made several popular games in the 1990's. However, in the year 2000 Rare was purchased by Microsoft and it seemed like the Toads had been forgotten. Fans of the game had been wanting a new Toads game. They appeared in the game Shovel Night. Fans where wanting more. However, the old saying is be careful what you wish for.

Microsoft announced in 2019 that the Toads would be getting a reboot. Fans where excited thinking that the game would go back to its early days. Well fans where disappointed. Toads 2020 was released in the year 2020. Lets just say fans where horrified at what they got.

The New Battletoads had Juvenile humor instead of their tough personalities. The graphics where very bad and the story was even worse. IGN stated "Battletoads 2020 fails at rebooting a rather historic franchise". Gamefaq also called it "one of the worst reboots they have seen". Indeed, it was rubbish fans where outraged at the product.

In my opinion Battletoads 2020 shows why sometimes rebooting is not needed and can be a complete disaster. Microsoft could have just made an entire new game based off the past games. Instead what fans got was complete rubbish.

So yes, sometimes reboots are needed to reset a franchise. If the reboot is done correctly it can give a franchise a clean and fresh start. ON the other hand, sometimes reboots are not needed. Mortal Kombat and Battle Toads proves that not only are reboots not needed, but they can be complete disasters. Thus, rebooting is always risky when it comes to gaming.

Well I have said in the past that Road Rash could use a reboot but I'd bring back a couple of the frequent rashers that were pushed aside once the more advanced versions came out there hasn't been a release since 2001

I can't really think of anything that didn't deserve a reboot

I don't think Mario, Mega Man, or Kirby need a reboot. Those games are classic and have aged very well. Plus when new games come out its something new. Bowser tires a new scheme, Dr. Wily has a different scheme, and in Kirby usually its some type of nightmare that causes the problem or another force. Therefore, I would not want to see a reboot of these games.

On the other hand, a lot of series need a reboot. Some like the Battle Toads and Mortal Kombat need a reboot to fix the botched reboot.

The Mortal Kombat one Doesn't make any sense because it's not really progressive and doesn't have too much when it comes to any story of lore. It's not like starting over a series that had a big story over three games so you can experience it all over again. Any Mortal Kombat reboot is essentially the same game it would have been had it just been a normal sequel, so it's literally confusion for the sake of nothing.