With Perfect Dark canceled, it's time for Xbox to resurrect these 3 beloved classics

Things have been rough for the Xbox brand as of late, with big cancellations and layoffs affecting many games that Xbox fans care about. One of the biggest games to be canceled with all the changes happening was the reboot of the Perfect Dark series. Although the game was shown with a trailer at The Game Awards in 2020 by a studio called The Initiative, Microsoft decided to pull the plug on it. Xbox fans were excited about the return of the series in a big way and hoped it would be the first of many new Xbox titles to make waves within the industry. Unfortunately, Perfect Dark and a number of other Xbox projects that were in production wouldn't see a release, leaving a big void behind for the upcoming Xbox Series X/S most anticipated releases.

With Perfect Dark gone, are there any games or series that Xbox could look at from their past to bring into the modern day? Many Xbox Series X/S owners, including myself, have wanted to see more major game releases on the console that are exclusive, and give everyone more reasons to own their platform. Here are a few classic Xbox games that I want to see brought back and fill the place that was left behind by the Perfect Dark reboot.

3 MechAssault

Bring the mechs back

One of the first 100 platinum hit titles for Microsoft Game Studios was the first MechAssault game from Day 1 Studios. The game was released on the original Xbox in 2002, and was followed up by a sequel in 2004. Although the series had a spin-off game afterward, the series has been dormant for a long time. The last game was called MechAssault: Phantom War, which was released for the Nintendo DS in 2006. A third game was originally planned for the Xbox 360 as a launch title, but was canceled before development was complete. Both MechAssault and MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf were commercially and critically successful when they released, which makes the absence of the series very questionable.

With the rise in popularity of games featuring mechs, and more stories with giant robots, it would be interesting to see Xbox bring back a series that was a big part of their early console days. Other games like Mecha Break on PC are clear indications that people love playing mech games, especially if they have a multiplayer component to them. The two MechAssault games for the original Xbox are not backwards compatible on the Xbox Series X/S, leaving no way for Xbox fans to play them on any new hardware. Maybe now is a good time for Xbox to bring in the mechs and revisit a series that was born under the Xbox banner.

2 Banjo-Kazooie

What should've been done

When Microsoft purchased Rare Limited, gamers expected to see more new games for some of their classic series. Chief among them was Banjo-Kazooie, a beloved franchise that started on the Nintendo 64 and became very popular. And while we did see a new Banjo-Kazooie game released on the Xbox 360, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, it wasn't received as well as its predecessors. Unfortunately, the game had mixed reviews and poor performance on the Xbox 360, which led to the series going away for a long time, with a few re-releases of the games here and there. The character Banjo-Kazooie did make appearances in other games, like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on the Nintendo Switch, but the duo has yet to have a new game since their last outing.

This is something that should have happened a long time ago, despite the poor reception of Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts. People have wanted a new sequel for a long time, and generally miss the characters and their adventures. It seems almost criminal for Xbox to acquire Rare and not have them make more new games starring their characters that were popular among gamers. The same thing can be said about other Rare creations, like Conker's Bad Fur Day, which has also only ever gotten a few releases in the early 2000s. But if I had to choose one to be brought back in a major way, it would definitely be a new Banjo-Kazooie game. It's something that is honestly long overdue.

1 Jade Empire

More martial arts action

When the original Xbox was still on the market, developers like BioWare were on a roll with their hit releases. After giving everyone a certified classic role-playing experience with Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, the studio would produce another RPG hit that would become another classic. Jade Empire takes the same role-playing elements from Knights of the Old Republic and puts it within a universe based on Chinese mythology. The action is fast-paced and inspired by martial arts, offering a different kind of RPG experience for people to become immersed in. Multiple playable characters and a deep skill tree, along with branching story events, made Jade Empire a fun game that capitalized on a winning formula, and offered another reason for players to own an original Xbox in the early 2000s.

While there were discussions of a sequel following the release of Jade Empire, nothing ever materialized and the studio went on to develop other hit games like Dragon Age and Mass Effect. But members of BioWare have expressed interest in returning to the world of Jade Empire over the years, with many gamers wanting them to do so. A lot may have changed with the gameing industry since then, but many people remember and would love to see a new Jade Empire, or at least something related to it in some way for Xbox consoles. It was one of the few role-playing games that helped define an era for the brand, and to many has yet to be topped since. Microsoft might not own BioWare as a first-party studio, but nothing is stopping them from having a conversation about making a new Jade Empire game that people would be very interested in.

Pulling from the legacy

A lot of big shifts have been happening with Xbox lately, for a multitude of reasons that have affected some of the big releases that were announced before. But people still want to see new and interesting games on the Xbox Series X/S, even with major cancellations like the Perfect Dark reboot. In order to keep Xbox fans motivated to stay on the platform, Xbox is going to need to publish games that will get people excited about them. One easy way to do that is to bring back something familiar that long-time Xbox fans remember and would love to see again. The company already has franchises sitting dormant that are just waiting to finally be utilized in a big way. But the only ones that can make that happen and turn things around are Xbox themselves, because nobody else is going to be able to do so.