Best Compilation of 2022 - Article
by Evan Norris , posted on 17 January 2023 / 2,049 Views
For video game collectors, 2022 was a special time. Early in the year Sony packaged together two beloved, critically-acclaimed Uncharted titles in Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, remastered for the PS5 and PC with improved visuals and framerate. Over the summer, Nintendo fans were treated to Portal: Companion Collection, which brought Portal and Portal 2 to Switch, with all the mind-bending puzzles, superior voice-acting, and darkly humorous storytelling that earned the series a legion of fans on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC. Finally, video game preservationist Digital Eclipse turned in not one, but two remarkable anthologies, each with over a dozen games and an abundance of bonus features: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection and Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration. But which of these won our inaugural award for Best Compilation?
The Shortlist:
Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration
Portal: Companion Collection
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection
Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection
The Runner-Up:
Portal: Companion Collection
For years, Xbox, PlayStation and PC owners have had access to two of the most unforgettable first-person puzzle games of all time in Portal and its much-improved sequel Portal 2. And for years, Nintendo fans have sat on the outside looking in. All that changed this June when Portal: The Companion Collection launched on Nintendo's hybrid Switch system. Featuring both landmark games, gyro aiming, and a few technical improvements over the seventh gen console versions, including improved image quality and 60 FPS, this collection is an easy sell both to franchise newcomers and veterans who never stopped thinking with portals.
The Winner:
Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration
When it comes to video game compilations, Atari 50 is something of a masterpiece. Indeed, it's hard to imagine how developer Digital Eclipse will ever top it. Evaluated only as an anthology of classic video games, it earns high marks, due to a curated list of over 100 games — some hard-to-find, some prohibitively expensive — plus expert emulation and several quality-of-life upgrades. However, the collection is more than that; it's as much a digital museum exhibit as it is a selection of arcade, PC, and console games spanning four generations. Judged in this way, Atari 50 is peerless. Thanks to its wealth of archival sources, plus over 60 minutes of exclusive interviews with early Atari engineers, it provides the cultural, technological, and economic context needed to fully appreciate how Atari entered the video game space and the legacy it left behind.
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The Atari 50 Collection was great, but the TMNT Cowabunga Collection was amazeballs as well.
Love Portal and ordinarily would've voted for it, but the amount of work that went into Atari 50 adding value was really impressive so I lent it my vote.
Shocked that Sonic Origins failed to make the shortlist.
Uncharted and portal deserves 1st and 2nd spot and could go either way lol
