With Emuparadise’s ROMs going down recently a question struck my mind: What sort of retro re-releases are out there in the modern world? This got me thinking, especially after I saw a Twitter Ad for Capcom’s latest compilation, the Capcom Beat ‘em Up Bundle. And so, we’re gonna take a look at some of these neat retro re-releases available. For this article, I’ll be focusing on bundles and programs, rather than Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo’s digital storefront that they’ve been releasing older titles on. Besides, us PC gamers lose out on those!
Mega Man Legacy Collection Series – N3DS, PS4, XBO, Switch, PC
The first installment, and the only installment available on 3DS, contains the first six original Mega Man games, and retails digitally for $14.99. This continued in 2017 with the Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 that includes Mega Man 7 – 10, and retails digitally for $19.99. In 2018 we got both halves of the Mega Man X Legacy Collection, with the first half giving us Mega Man X – X4, and the second one giving us Mega Man X5 – X8. Both halves go for $19.99 each. These Legacy collections often include some neat bonus modes, such as MMLC‘s “Challenge Remix Mode”, and the MMXLC‘s “Boss Rush Mode”.
Rare Replay – Xbox One
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If you have a loving for all things Rare, and an Xbox One, you’re in luck, because for $29.99 you can get the Rare Replay Collection which has 30 games from throughout Rare’s history, such as Killer Instinct, Perfect Dark, Banjo-Kazooie, Sabre Wulf and Battle Toads. Though licensing issues made it so the Donkey Kong Country series and Goldeneye 007 were absent from the collection. There’s also some neat behind the scenes features, and some games have “Snapshots” which are basically extra challenges to complete.
Atari Vault – PC, OS X, Linux
A staggering collection of 100 Atari 2600 and Atari arcade games at your fingertips for only $9.99. Great if you want to relive the glory days of Atari, or check out what the heck a 2600 even is. There’s not much else here aside from the games, though it does boast online multiplayer and online leaderboards, and each arcade game has some neat cabinet art framed around the game’s screen that nice, and one of the few things that give it a leg up over MAME. You can get extra decals like that in MAME, but it’s gonna take some work. There are also galleries that show off art and ads for arcade games, and each 2600 game has its manual as well.
Neo Geo Classics Complete Collection – PC, Mac, Linux, Web Browser
Back in 2014 SNK hit the PC gaming world with the Neo Geo Classic Complete Collection….or the NEOGEO Bundle if you’re on steam…you know what, we’ll just call ’em the Neo Geo 25th Games, as this collection originally debuted to celebrate Neo Geo’s 25th Anniversary. The entire bundle includes over a dozen classic games, including heavy weights such as Metal Slug X, The King of Fighters 2002, and Garou: Mark of the Wolves. Unfortunately, the releases are lackluster altogether, with a poor emulator and no real extra features. But hold on – the Humble Bundle release, which totals a whopping $39.99, is DRM free, which allows you to extract the ROMs from the program files and play them on your preferred emulator. That’s right – this is a legal way to play arcade games on Emulators like MAME without having to take the expensive route. There’s other loose Neo Geo games floating out there too, such as on Good Old Gaming, but I’m not quite sure if they use the same emulator, and thus can be extracted. Also do not buy these games on Steam; they’ll come with DRM, and you won’t be able to get the ROMs out.
PS4 and Xbox One owners can play too – there’s a bunch of Neo Geo and retro SNK games you can download from the Microsoft Store under the ACA NEOGEO series, with more games up for grabs than on the PC market. However, these ones are handled by the HAMSTER Corporation, rather than SNK Playmore and Dot Emu.
Sega Mega Drive & Genesis Classics – PC
Rounding out our short list is a big one – the Sega Mega Drive & Genesis Classics. Sega once again decides to do what NintenDON’T and includes a total of 59 downloadable games for PC that you can either purchase alone, or together in a massive bundle for $29.99. And while you can pull out the ROMs and play them on your own emulator, there’s actually a nice set of features to warrant playing these in the actual program itself: online multiplayer, being able to play ROMs from other regions, a “mirror mode”, a VR Mode where you can play on a virtual CRTV, and Mod support. The menu isn’t even a menu screen – it’s a cute little 3D room where you select your game’s box and plug it into a Genesis. See, these guys knew what they were doing when they made this.
So there’s a short briefer on the multiple ways you can play retro games. This has always been a thing that surfaced now and then on older systems, but with modern day gaming it looks like having to re-buy a collection of Midway Games is going to be a thing of the past. Hopefully, we’ll continue to see more retro games re-released for old and new generations alike!
Do you have any favorite retro games? What about any favorite retro collections? Sound off in the comments below! Thanks for reading, and as always, I’ll see you next time.
