We all love video games, that's why we're here. And most of us remember fondly the games we played when we were younger, or are excited to play games from the past we might not have done before, and that's why retro collections are such big business.

I have loads of these collections from the Sega Megadrive to Atari to playing EA classic 16-bit games on the PSP. The quality of these collections can vary wildly. Some have the wrong games, some suffer from terrible emulation and some are just packaging together games that are so ubiquitous that you see them everywhere you look.

But what are some of the best? I've picked out some of my favourites from my own collection, and I'm interested to hear what you think are the best.


Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection



I picked this up on Switch a couple of years ago for a tenner, which was ridiculous value for money. The collection consists of pretty much every game up to Street Fighter 3, including all the Alpha games and the various iterations on each title. The emulation in this collection, to me, seems perfect. There are hours and hours of play available here, even in single player, as you gradually increase difficulty to master the games (I have never mastered these games...)

The highlight of the package for me is Street Fighter Alpha 3, a game I have on PS1 and PSP (aside: it's a shame it's not the PSP version on this collection, but they're all arcade games). The roster of fighters is incredible and I love the anime slightly cell-shaded looking style of the artwork in this game. The Street Fighter collection is a must for any fighting game fan, and even for a casual like me it represents what I consider to be the pinnacle of the genre.


Capcom Beat 'Em Up Bundle



A favourite genre in the arcade for me is the scrolling brawler, and although an argument could be made in favour of other developers, I think Capcom are the kings. This collection features lots of games that are otherwise relatively difficult to get hold of now. There's a real mix from the basic Final Fight to games with a slight RPG mechanic to them, fantasy to futuristic, games with loads of different moves and games with barely two or three. The selection of games here is brilliant, although missing a few 'would have been nice' titles, which I'm assuming may be due to licensing (Aliens Vs Predator, for example) and Cadillacs and Dinosaurs (not sure why this wouldn't be on there) but overall it's excellent. Great emulation again, and heaps of fun in multiplayer.


Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cowabunga Collection



This collection is the gold standard. 13 games ranging from NES to SNES, Megadrive and Arcade, and they're mostly all brilliant fun. It's the extra touches that sets this collection apart, though. An absolute treasure trove of additional content; tips and guidebooks, instruction manual scans, concept art, comic book covers, every music track available on a jukebox, plus the ability to save state, rewind, tinker with the settings for additional lives, god mode, stage select etc. They give you everything you need to play the games how you want.

The Turtles aren't necessarily a franchise I've ever really been 'in to'. I bought this collection a while back but since watching the new movie the other night I've been on a real Turtles kick, playing the games again, reading some comics. The Cowabunga Collection really represents quality to me, and as an added bonus the games are still really great to play.


So those are some of my favourites. There are loads of others I could have mentioned. The Konami Castlevania/Contra/Shmup collections are all great. The Mega Man collections, the various Darius and Turrican collections. I think these are great times for retro compilations. Do you have any favourites?

Nice thread, I will add some in a forthcoming post.

Wonder Boy Anniversary Collection:
https://www.strictlylimitedgames.com/en ... ection-ps4

ratsoalbion wrote: ↑February 28th, 2024, 1:12 pm Wonder Boy Anniversary Collection:
https://www.strictlylimitedgames.com/en ... ection-ps4

Yeah had my eye on this for Switch for a while. Didn't they release it shortly after another collection which was far more inferior, or featured fewer games? This and the remake of Dragons Trap have been on my wish list for ages.

Yes, there's a much stripped down version of the compilation available.

There's been a lot of great collections in recent years! The Capcom Fighting Collection is also great.

Atari50 is amazing and arguably the greatest classic game collection in existence, but funnily enough not for the admittedly gigantic amount of games on there. I only care about a small handful (mainly the classic arcade games and a few curio pieces here and there), but the presentation very much makes it an interactive museum.

Yeah I'm interested in that Atari collection just for the sheer scale of it, even if half the games are really not worth playing these games (subjective, I know). I'm most looking forward to the upcoming Jeff Minter collection, that's going to be amazing.

Atari 50 is incredible. There's a lot of stuff that I think is well worth playing on it, as well as a fair amount that most will only want to dabble with.

On this subject, a friend gave me a copy of Rare Replay for my birthday, last weekend. The ONE game I wanted an Xbox ONE for!

And well worth a namecheck in this thread. Rare Replay is a beautiful bit of work.

I'll second the notions for Atari 50 and Rare Replay. Speaking of Atari 50, the developer's The Making of Karateka is a fascinating compilation. I'm not even much of a fan of Karateka but I picked it up because I wanted to support such endeavors. And we got some of the first games Jordan Mechner ever made included, and surprisingly good remakes of said games.

And the second in that series, is out today. Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story, with over 40 Hairy Yak classics and full interactive documentary.

ratsoalbion wrote: ↑March 13th, 2024, 8:37 am And the second in that series, is out today. Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story, with over 40 Hairy Yak classics and full interactive documentary.

Worked from home today so I could, erm, check if this worked properly for most of the day. Still hasn't bloody unlocked!

What version? The Xbox version popped at 01:00.

I'm on the Switch one. It's literally just unlocked as I've got to go out on a visit

Alex, as regards to your first post, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs is also a licensed game, hence its absence along with The Punisher and AVP.

AVP did get an official release on the £200 Capcom Home Arcade stick, but it was £200 for 20 odd games and now goes for considerably more than that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadillacs ... TV_series)

Ah interesting, never knew it was a TV show. Always thought it was a weird concept for a game, still a weird concept for a cartoon I suppose! Perhaps no more weird than any other 80s and 90s animated series.

I hate to "um Actually" everyone but Cadillacs and Dinosaurs actually started out as a comic book called Xenozoic Tales written and drawn by Mark Schultz, which was pretty much the same as the show but had a much more serious tone as I recall.

--Dan

I thought it was a comic first, but couldn't find the history. Thanks for the knowledge!

Haven't had too many others to compare, but I have a love for the Sega Mega Drive Collection mostly because that was my first time playing Streets of Rage, which is now one of my favourite games series. Also my first time playing Phantasy Star IV, which I liked quite a bit. And also replaying games like Golden Axe and Sonic that I had played as a kid via what I now realise was an emulator that my uncle hooked us up with.

I think I recall hearing on the podcast a few times that the collection actually isn't a very good way to play any of the games, but it wasn't something I picked up on myself.