We’re all used to seeing remakes / remasters of popular video games by now, but there’s understandably not much of a market for “demakes.” However, this cool reworking of Rocket League offers a look at what the car soccer game would look like if it was made in 1998, and the results are impressive.
1998 was a year ruled by the original PlayStation and the Nintendo 64, with the likes of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Metal Gear Solid and Resident Evil 2 each being released that year, along with the revolutionary PC FPS Half-Life. The YouTube channel 98DEMAKE aims to show what some of today’s most popular games would look like if they were released during this formative year for gaming, changing up their gameplay and visuals to align with the trends of the era.
This Rocket League demake switches up the camera view from third-person to a top-down perspective reminiscent of the FIFA franchise, while its pristine visuals are transformed using blocky polygons; these cars aren’t playing with a ball but rather a giant, D&D-esque 20-sided die.
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While it certainly doesn’t look as thrilling as the Rocket League we know and love, I can imagine getting into this if it was released 20 years ago. Then again, back in the ’90s I was so into anything even vaguely resembling a sports game that I spent an extortionate amount of time playing the dreadful PS1 flop RageBall.
98DEMAKE has some interesting videos on their channel featuring demakes of a whole bunch of popular games, from The Last of Us through to Assassin’s Creed, so check out their channel if you want to see more. You can watch their Rocket League remake in action below.
