Best Compilation of 2024 - Article

by Evan Norris , posted on 11 January 2025 / 1,909 Views

Video game compilations are like those "buy one, get one" offers that pop up in supermarkets and online retailers every now and then. Only they're better. More often it's "buy one, get three" or "buy one, get eight". In 2024, there were plenty of good deals, including Castlevanina Dominus Collection, which assembled three must-play handheld Castlevania titles and revivified one of the rare franchise duds; Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered, which commemorated 25 years of Soul Reaver with a fresh coat of paint and quality-of-life updates; Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics, a well-researched, well-curated celebration of the crossover fighting series; and Tomb Raider I-III Remastered, the definitive way to play three classics of the genre.

The Shortlist:

Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics

Castlevania Dominus Collection

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered

Tomb Raider I-III Remastered

The Runner-Up:

Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics

Capcom has been doing amazing work with video game collections as of late, and Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics is no exception. Not only does it include six deep, tactical, gorgeous fighters from the Marvel vs. Capcom family, but also the first arcade-accurate console port of the 1993 beat-'em-up The Punisher. When you add in rollback netcode, leaderboards, and a host of bonuses and extras, you're left with an incredibly-rich, amazingly-replayable package.

The Winner:

Tomb Raider I-III Remastered

Tomb Raider I-III Remastered is the best of both worlds. If you're a purist raised on the sharp edges and angular geometry of the premier Tomb Raider trilogy, you can experience everything as it was, alongside all the DLC and the ability to quick-save your game at any time. If you've played the originals ad nauseam and want something a little different, you can take advantage of the novelties of the collection: a complete visual overhaul that replaces flat 2D item sprites with 3D assets and adds baked and real-time lighting effects to enhance immersion; a modern-ish control scheme based on the Legend, Anniversary, and Underworld era of the franchise; and a brand new photo mode. No matter how you experience the games, though, you're in for a treat, thanks to precision platforming, tense shoot-outs, head-scratching puzzles, and ingenious level designs.

9 Comments

KLXVER (on 11 January 2025)

Really? Thats surprising.

The Fury (on 11 January 2025)

To be fair, a blood great year for remastered collections.

drbunnig (on 12 January 2025)

Happy to see the TR collection won, although four very worthy comps here. I'd been wanting to be able to play the original TR games on Switch ever since it came out, but I never thought it'd happen (much less with all the expansions included, remastered graphics, and an optional alternative control scheme). Being able to change seamlessly between classic and modern graphics is a brilliant feature. I'll be playing these remasters for a good few years I imagine.

Trentonater drbunnig (on 12 January 2025)

I feel like soul reaver deserves it over tomb raider. unlike tomb raider it runs at 120fps even in old graphics mode and with no frame pacing issues. But the new graphics are so faithful and stylistically in line with the original i see little reason to even switch to the old visuals except to compare.

Machina (on 11 January 2025)

Glad Tomb Raider won - was a pleasure to play through one of my favourite games of all time (TR2) with somewhat modern graphics, and finally do a complete playthrough of the first game (I had no idea it got so crazy at the end - how had I never come across screenshots spoiling that theme?!).

halil23 (on 12 January 2025)

Agree with the runner up but winner should've been soul reaver, a vastly better game.
This year winner is an automatic winner for Capcom Fighting Collection 2