THE SHOP

Capcom handed the lead to Firebrand, the red gargoyle who tormented players in Ghouls 'n Ghosts, and built a world he reopens with swappable crests. It arrived late in the SNES era to little fanfare, which is why boxed copies with the manual now command real money.

Part 4 closes the original .hack saga, the four-volume RPG that plays out inside a fictional online game, and each volume shipped with an anime DVD. It is the volume most collectors find last, which is why a finished set usually waits on this one.

ASUS built the ROG Ally around AMD's Z1 Extreme chip and a 120Hz 1080p screen, running full Windows so Steam, Game Pass and other launchers all work. This one carries 2TB of storage, four times the stock 512GB, so a large PC library fits without juggling installs.

Natsume's 1999 farming sim had a small North American print run, which is why a boxed copy now outprices the console it runs on. This one is still under shrinkwrap and carries the price sticker a California video shop put on it, so its history is visible rather than described.

Analogue built the Pocket around an FPGA rather than an emulator, so original Game Boy, Color and Advance carts run on hardware that behaves like the real thing instead of approximating it. The 1600 by 1440 display gives each system a whole number of pixels, so sprite art reads sharp.

Nintendo's New 2DS XL in the Hylian Shield colourway, a clamshell handheld that plays the full 3DS and DS libraries flat, without the stereoscopic display. Themed hardware sells to people who want the object, so plain models are everywhere and this is not.

Brick-built boards and quick minigames set LEGO minifigures against each other for a party night on the Switch. SMG Studio's 2025 release plays on one couch or online with friends.

Agent Gabe Logan's 1999 debut blends stealth and third-person gunplay across a virus plot that runs from Washington streets to a base in Kazakhstan. The taser, held on a target a little too long, earned its own reputation.

Build a fighter from scratch in career mode and work up the rankings until the champ himself agrees to a title bout. Sega's 1992 boxer shows the damage on each fighter's face round after round.

Sega's 1991 first-person dungeon crawl sends a young knight into a labyrinth after a kidnapped princess, with two companions and a town to rest in between descents. It began the Shining series that Shining Force carried on.

Three discs of Cloud, Barret and Tifa against the Shinra power company, with Materia letting any character equip any spell. This is the green-banner Greatest Hits printing of Square's 1997 epic.

Westwood packed the Counterstrike and Aftermath missions for Red Alert onto two discs, one Allied and one Soviet. It supports the PlayStation Mouse and link cable play, which suits real-time strategy.

Nintendo boxed its 1990 Formula One racer with the Four Player Adapter, so four friends with four Game Boys could race each other at once. The adapter plugs into one Game Boy and takes the other three link cables.

Pitfall Harry Jr. whips, swings and slingshots through Mayan jungle and temple ruins searching for his missing father. Activision's 1994 platformer plays on Sega CD with a CD-quality soundtrack.

Stormfront Studios put three kinds of racing on one cartridge: sprint cars on dirt, stock cars on ovals and Indy cars on road courses. Career mode lets you climb from one series to the next under Mario Andretti's name.

Golf Magazine's pick of thirty-six standout holes comes together on Sega's 1994 32X release, with Fred Couples headlining. The add-on's extra colors show in the fairways and digitized golfers.

Sega's 1995 polygon space shooter lets a second player take the gunner's seat while the first one flies. Flat-shaded fighters and capital ships show off the 3D the 32X added to a Genesis.

Yu Suzuki's team at Sega built this 1990 RPG around first-person towns, overhead real-time battles in the wilds and side-view boss fights. A battery save holds your progress through the kingdom of Excalabria.

Tengen's 1991 port lets two players share the maze at once as Ms. Pac-Man and Pac-Man, and adds mini, big and strange maze sets beside the arcade originals. A Pac-Booster option speeds her up for players who know the patterns.

John Vanbiesbrouck guards the cover of EA Sports' 1996 Genesis hockey game, the year his Panthers reached the Stanley Cup Final. Full 1996-97 rosters and one-timer passing keep games quick.

MK3 added a run button and dial-in combos to the series, along with Animalities and new fighters like Sektor and Kabal. Williams brought the 1995 arcade sequel home with Shao Kahn's invasion of Earth intact.

T&E Soft built this 1995 Virtual Boy shooter from red wireframe polygons, flying a fighter through fortress corridors in stereoscopic depth. Nintendo published it in the US during the system's short run.

Black Pearl's 1995 Game Boy version of the SNES Return of the Jedi runs from Jabba's palace through the Endor speeder bikes to the Death Star. Super Game Boy support adds a color palette and border on a TV.

FIFA International Soccer came to Game Boy courtesy of Malibu Games, carrying EA's national-team format to a pocket screen. Pick a country and play friendlies or a full tournament.