Best:
-Any of Nightdive Studios's remasters: Kudos to this team for bringing back obscure FPSs like PO'ed and Killing Time when nobody else would.
-Arzette: A homage to the CDi Zelda games, wonky cutscenes and all. I enjoyed this quite a bit, it was a nice throwback to the '90s in presentation.
-Castlevania: Dominus Collection: Way better games than the GBA ones found on Castlevania Advance Collection, plus we get a brand new version of Haunted Castle!
-Doom 1+2: Okay, so Doom's been re-released tons of times, but this one gives you tons of unofficial maps from the modding community, covering everything from Sonic Doom to Mario Doom, to Tim Allen Grunt Doom! Much like Super Mario Maker, there's a ton of replay value in here.
-Gimmick! 2: Fun follow-up to the once-obscure original game, with platforming puzzles that make you think, and an easy-going soundtrack by David Wise. Only "flaw", if you can even call it a flaw, is that you don't get the good ending unless you collect all the items. Not a fan of bad endings in video games, not gonna lie.
-Mario vs. Donkey Kong: More than just an upscale of the original game, it gave us new levels too. And with obviously better visuals and sound, it gave me new appreciation for the original.
-Marvel vs. Capom Arcade Classics: Glad Capcom got a deal to re-release these. Deserves being in the Best category solely for preventing the games from being tied up in rights hell.
-Nintendo Switch Online: Adding Tetris, F-Zero Maximum Velocity, Climax & GP Legend, Metroid Zero Mission, Vectorman, Mega Man 1-5 GB, Banjo Tooie, Super Mario Land, Donkey Kong Land 1-3, Battletoads in Battlemaniacs, Killer Instinct, and Battletoads/Double Dragon.
-Nintendo World Championships: A nice spiritual successor to NES Remix, and addictive to see how quickly you can finish a challenge. Only downside is the single player mission campaign is kinda short.
-Rocket Knight Adventures Re-Sparked: Three platformers worth re-releasing!
-Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered: A fantastic collection of some of the best action-adventure games on the Playstation, with the PC expansion packs included! I was really impressed with this release.
-Tomba! Special Edition: Yay, people no longer have to pay upwards of $100 for the original disc release. Plus the new version has an optional remixed soundtrack!
Mid:
-Antstream Arcade: I know this came out before 2024, but I purchased a lifetime pass this year. While there are a ton of titles on the service, you can tell most of them are there because they got them dirt cheap. (insult to injury: Earthworm Jim is one of the characters in the opening title but his games aren't even on the service!) And the streaming performance could be way better, with buffering hiccups way too frequent. Still, this service allowed me to sample a ton of games I've never played before, especially for the Amiga, so I don't feel like I wasted my money. Plus they're consistently adding new content.
-Atari 50 add-ons: Berzerk is a fun diversion for a few minutes but most of the rest I didn't care for. And I'm really annoyed that they didn't include any more Jaguar games, especially since the Console War theme could've easily applied to Jaguar.
-Contra: Operation Galuga: Only reason I put this in the mid category is because it's pretty short-lived. But during that time, it faithfully represents the classic run-and-gun gameplay of the original games, and looks very nice (in PS5 version ONLY- the PS4 version has a slower framerate, unfortunately).
-Frogun Encore: A fun follow-up to the original. Not much more to say, as it didn't have a ton different to it.
-New Star GP: Faithfully recreates the Virtua Racing look, and is fun to a degree, but I was disappointed in the courses which were mostly just generic race tracks, and I didn't like having to pit.
-Night Slashers Remake: Unlike some, I didn't mind the redrawn animations, I thought they looked pretty good. It just wasn't a very long game, just like the arcade.
-Nikoderiko: A loving tribute to DKC Returns and Crash Bandicoot, fun while it lasts and looks gorgeous with some lovely music by David Wise. I just wish it had some more original ideas.
-Princess Peach Showtime!: I wish the framerate was better, and some of the gameplay styles weren't all that fun (looking at you, Detective Peach) but the action-packed stages were pretty good.
-Shadow of the Ninja Reborn: A fine recreation of the original game with modern graphics and some level changes, let down only by the fact that it's so short- although the game is so tough and unforgiving that it still takes quite a bit of time to beat those few stages!
-Sonic X Shadow Generations: The gameplay is fine but as most of the levels in Shadow's campaign are from the newer 3D Sonic games, I didn't have any nostalgia for them. Also disappointed that his campaign ran in 30 fps for some odd reason, while the Sonic one was 60.
-Ufouria The Saga 2 / Hebereke: Enjoy Edition: Adorable, and releasing the games in short succession was a smart move, as (spoiler!) the second game actually ends up being a prequel to Hebereke, so it makes a nice companion piece. And getting the original Hebereke (instead of the sped-up PAL version with two replaced characters) was very welcome. Only in the "mid" category because, well, both games are pretty easy and short.
Worst:
-Call of Duty: Why oh why did they make it so you have to re-download a game you already own (in this case, COD Modern Warfare III) just because they updated the main shell for Black Ops 6? I'm done with this series and its bloated, endless updates. A shame, because I did moderately enjoy the MW3 single player campaign.
-Mortal Kombat 1 Khaos Reigns: Not that amazing of an expansion pack for $50, and the DLC characters are largely underwhelming. Also Invasions mode still sucks and is repetitive.
-Ninteno Switch Online: No remapping, which makes games like Turok, Goldeneye and Perfect Dark virtually unplayable.
-PS4/PS5's dearth of PS1/PS2 classics re-releases. Related: When titles like Dino Crisis were locked behind the PS+ subscription initially.
-Rider's Spirits: Wow was this disappointing. It's a less refined version of Super Mario Kart, with a choppier framerate to boot, making the controls tougher than they need to be. Just stick to SMK.
