Last month, I asked Bitmob writers to create a sequel for one of their favorite franchises in the Armchair Gamemaker writing challenge -- a challenge of nearly endless possibilities, with Halo, Final Fantasy, The Legend of Zelda, Rock Band, and hundreds of other games were on the table.

Three writers stood up and took the challenge. They eschewed the big modern franchises for classics from the 8-bit era, describing about how they would update them for a modern audience. Here are the entries.

Star Tropics 3 by Michael Edwards

Michael posted his entry on the dormant Nintendo franchise Star Tropics right after I announced the challenge. He must have already had this sequel planned out. He pines for a sequel to the Zelda-esque originals as a distant sequel that takes cues from God of War and Uncharted. But Michael does want one goodie that came with the first game to make a comeback: A letter that plays a role in solving one of the puzzles.

Zelda 2-2 by Jeremy Signor

Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link is the oddball of the Zelda series, as most of the game takes place as a side-scroller rather than an open-world adventure. Jeremy, however, sees promise in a revival if Nintendo studies new 2D titles like Odin Sphere and Braid. Also, any article that mentions DuckTales gets my seal of approval.  

Joust Rehatched by Kenn Quist

Kenn decided to resurrect the old arcade classic Joust as a 3D deathmatch game focused on multiplayer. He suggests both motion controllers and a retro graphical style similar to 3D Dot Game Heroes, which could be a way to get hardcore holdouts interested in the new technology.     

Soul Calibur 5 by Chris Hoadley

Compared to the other writers, my example piece on Soul Calibur didn’t ask for any exciting features or innovative changes -- just solid gameplay. Polish is great for a fighting game, but it can be hard for a hardcore fan to look beyond the technical aspects and figure out how a series can advance the genre. Perhaps I should have stuck with my original idea of a sequel for Advance Wars: Days of Ruin.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the challenge. If your article isn’t on this list, leave a comment below. This month, Jeremy Signor will rounding out the first year of the Bitmob Writing Challenge with his Pitch of the Year prompt. Be sure to give Jeremy your best idea for a year-in-review article!