I don't like remakes, I don't understand why people put time, money and energy into these things instead of working on new, original titles.
To me it sounds like "Hey guys, we know you really liked Super Gametitle IV from 15 years ago, and we're sorry that we can't make good games anymore, so we're making Super Gametitle IV again, just with super epic graphics, which will look like crap again in 15 years so we can re-rerelease the rerelease again."
Making old games, in their original form but with updated compatibility and at a low price, available again is great. gog.com and several titles on virtual console/psn/xbla are shining examples of that, although the price of some releases is questionably high.
But creating something, which has already been done by the same people just seems like a waste to me.
Compatibility reasons aside, the main reason for remakes seems to be the visuals. I'm probably a minority there, but I think the dated visuals are part of the game and shouldn't be changed. Geez...I sound like Stan&Kyle when they were crusading against Lucas&Spielberg.
I like the look of old 2D games, and that's not just the nostalgia talking, because I frequently pick up old games I've never played before and still appreciate the visuals for what they are...or were.
I don't know...people say they really like game xyz and want to play it again, but won't because the visuals make them throw up and so they'd like a remake. To me that sounds more like they enjoyed game xyz back in the day and want to play a similar game again, but with up to date graphics. If I like game xyz, I'll play it. If I don't play game xyz "just" because of the visuals, then I don't really like game xyz. The graphics are part of the game and the original experience.
There's a world of difference between bad graphics and outdated graphics, but a lot of people don't understand or see the difference. Most gamers will pick a game with bad, but modern, graphics over a title with good, but outdated graphics, which is pretty sad.
I'm a huge fan of lowres 2D pixelart. It's got a certain look that can't be reproduced. Games like Final Fantasy VI, Heart of Darkness, many first person dungeon crawlers and a lot of the old point&click adventures still look absolutely beautiful to me. And again: I frequently pick up games like these, which I haven't played back when they were fresh and still think they look good.
Nobody goes around saying: "Man I really love Laurel and Hardy, but I can't stand the black&white and SD resolution, so I don't watch it.", because the black&white style is part of the overall experience and atmosphere and if you don't like that, you don't like Laurel and Hardy, because the look is part of the whole.
Of course, classic movies are remade over and over as well...something which I don't get either.
Okay, time to stop ranting...I could go on and on about this topic.
TLDR: I don't like remakes and people should make fresh and original content instead of wasting resources on remaking things that already exist. 😀