10 Video Game Reboots That Saved Dying Franchises

5. Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time

Like Ninja Gaiden, Prince of Persia was a franchise which debuted in the late 80s but really came into its own in the PS2 era after an overdue reboot. The 1989 original is a tough-as-nails platformer that absolutely sucks to play now, but it was popular enough to give the Prince a footing in the medium thanks to ridiculously high critics scores.

This creative streak continued with a sequel four years later, which was just as punishing. The series then faced the jump to 3D, which it survived admirably with the creatively-titled Prince of Persia 3D. After that release, the rights ended up at Ubisoft, who decided a full reboot was necessary going forward.

In came Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, which kept the general aesthetic but updated the mechanics for a new generation, introducing light combat elements and the key rewind time feature. It turned out to be one of the biggest games of that generation, even if Ubi would run the series into the ground pretty quickly.