I intend for this thread to be a collection of various little things that made the classics great, that I hope will find their way into the reboot. Please add your own thoughts with gusto!

As an example:

I was discussing StarControl 2 with a friend of mine (who too was an avid player) and he got very excited as we both reminisced on all the outstanding features of the game. Something he pointed out that struck me as subtle but important in mood formation was that each of the aliens you met had their own font when in dialogue. The font style actually went a long way to indicate "how" you were being spoken too, what form of gravitas the words carried. I think that is a valuable addition to the world-crafting of the game that should not be neglected just because you can now use audio to convey the same kind of experience.