"Good" remakes

[Disaster Button]

Battlestar Galactica is probably the best remake I've ever seen. Not sure if TV shows count.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Cronenberg's The Fly blows the original out of the water and across the moon.

Peter Jackson's King Kong was pretty good too once you were able to cut through all the clutter. Not better than the original though, not by a mile.

 

[Realitycrash]

John Carpenter's The Thing is commonly held to be the benchmark for all movie remakes to be judged on.

Chrono Cross is a remake of a text game called Radical Dreamers that was never released outside of Japan. Needless to say, CC is pretty universally considered to be better (though for a text game RD was pretty sweet).

...What the hell?
Isn't Chrono Cross supposed to be the sequel of Chrono Trigger?

Edit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrono_Cross#Relation_to_Radical_Dreamers Wikipedia says "no remake", and seems to have decent backup for the claim.

 

[Jamesfox849]

Heart Gold and Soul Silver are astonishing, if barely different, and probably my favorite games of the Pokemon series.

 

[Proverbial Jon]

The Gamecube remake of Metal Gear Solid (The Twin Snakes) was a pretty darn decent remake as far as these things go. That's my vote.

 

[BiggyShackleton]

Casino Royale is definitely a winner. I still honestly think that Demon Souls (and subsequently Dark Souls) is like a next gen (and amazing) remake of Severence: Blade of Darkness though, even if it obviously isn't in name and setting.

 

[remnant_phoenix]

Metroid: Zero Mission was more fun and playable than the original Metroid.

I'm sorry original NES Metroid, but once you have an in-game map you can't go back.

 

[xplay3r]

The Thing (1982) is considered to be the best remake ever made.

This.
Also fright night wasn't too bad (mostly just saw it because David Tennant was in it and it wasn't to bad)

 

[babinro]

Resident Evil (Gamecube) Remake of the PS2 version was creepier and all around superior.

I can't speak for movies though...there are very few movies in which I've seen both the remake and the original. Of the few I've seen I always preferred the original (Cape Fear, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).

 

[Yopaz]

Heart Gold and Soul Silver are astonishing, if barely different, and probably my favorite games of the Pokemon series.

Agreed. Also Leaf Green and Fire Red did a great job. They kept what made the games good and added the functions that we've grown to love with new generations and also making new functions, like the on off button for wearing shoes in Heart Gold and Soul Silver.

 

[JesterRaiin]

...still, it seems that remakes better than original are pretty rare.
Future directors and game makers : beware.

 

[Dr_Komeil]

The Humphrey Bogart Remake of "the Maltese Falcon" was pretty good.

 

[natster43]

Well the newer versions of Pokemon Red Blue Silver and Gold got a lot less hate than any other Pokemon game. Also the Ico Shadow of the Colossus remakes. And probably the Resident Evil REmake.

 

[ChildofGallifrey]

John Carpenter's The Thing is commonly held to be the benchmark for all movie remakes to be judged on.

Chrono Cross is a remake of a text game called Radical Dreamers that was never released outside of Japan. Needless to say, CC is pretty universally considered to be better (though for a text game RD was pretty sweet).

...What the hell?
Isn't Chrono Cross supposed to be the sequel of Chrono Trigger?

Edit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrono_Cross#Relation_to_Radical_Dreamers Wikipedia says "no remake", and seems to have decent backup for the claim.

Okay, I was a bit glib. CC isn't a beat-for-beat remake like Serious Sam HD, but more like the recent Fright Night remake: it takes characters and situations from the original and builds upon them to make something similar, but able to stand up on its own merits.

Some details are different in RD (Serge, rather than an unassuming everyboy from a quiet village is actually a member of the Dreamers), but they are quite similar (for maybe the first several hours of CC, at least). Serge and Kid are the main characters, the goal is to steal the Frozen Flame, the plan is to break into Dragoon Manor and Lynx is the main antagonist.

 

[Queen Michael]

Only thing I can think of for now is Fright Night. I know there are a few other movies I watched fairly recently that were remakes...

Edit: Isn't Casino Royale a remake of an older Bond film?

No, though I understand why you think so. The truth is that the first James Bond novel, Casino Royale, was filmed twice.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Metroid: Zero Mission was more fun and playable than the original Metroid.

I'm sorry original NES Metroid, but once you have an in-game map you can't go back.

I'm gonna go with this, although I wish they'd left out the forced stealth section.

 

[Nulmas]

Casino Royale. The original movie was put together so badly most people thought it was a parody. The rebooted version with Daniel Craig was very well received.

The 60's Casino Royale WAS a parody.

Not a very good one, though

The Thing (1982) is considered to be the best remake ever made.

I think Carpenter's The Thing wasn't a remake of the original movie but a new adaptation of the source material.

Kind of like Manhunter and Red Dragon,

 

[Broken Orange]

Let me In was a good remake, debateable if it was better than the original.

 

[SquidVicious]

The Departed was a worthy Americanized remake of the Chinese movie Internal Affairs and gave proof that just because a movie is Americanized, doesn't mean it needs to suck (but it most likely will).

 

[Endocrom]

Let me In was a good remake, debateable if it was better than the original.

How about your very own avatar, Invasion of the Body Snatchers? I have no opinion, but you must like it.