What's your favourite video game compilation disc?

Some of my absolute favourite games to collect for a console are compilations of older titles, because it gives me a way to dive back into gaming history while also presenting amazing value due to the wealth of games available. It's also a fantastic way of adding a lot of local multiplayer games to your library without resorting to piracy. I'm gonna name my Top 5 here, and I'd be interested to know of any other ones that I'm perhaps not aware of that you guys like.

5. Sonic Gems Collection

You might be thinking: Really? This game? There's hardly anything good on it! Well, that's kind of why it's on here. It's a compilation of Sonic's lesser-known, not as talked about adventures, and it's notable for being the first time Sonic the Fighters was available on a console. Truly, the only crucial game on this collection is Sonic CD, but the GameGear games make it worth a look, and you gotta force yourself to experience the beauty that is the Sonic R soundtrack at least once in your life. Also, Vectorman!

4. Rare Replay

Rare games were absolutely my shit growing up. My dad, sister and I would often bond over British humour like Monty Python, and it's the reason why we all enjoyed Rare's games so much as they were chock full of cheeky jokes and self-depreciating gags. However, the real reason for the love is of course because of the quality of the gameplay that most of these games have, and Rare Replay is a strong reminder of how important Rare's legacy is to console gaming. While it's a shame that it's missing the Donkey Kong Country games and GoldenEye, pretty much everything else is included here, and the majority of the games are worth playing all the way through. Except Perfect Dark Zero. I may have had a crush on young Joanna when I was 15, but that spark burnt out once I actually played her stupid game.

3. Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection

While Nintendo is still putting out their games piecemeal on the Virtual Console, Sega went balls-out early in the seventh generation with this monster of a collection. 35 games, and a lot of them are just awesome. The entire Streets of Rage and Golden Axe series, all the numbered Sonic the Hedgehog and Phantasy Star games, Kid Chameleon, Dynamite Headdy, Comix Zone, the list goes on and on. If you are a fan of retro games, or you are in need of a good co-op experience, this collection has you smothered. It's also pretty cheap these days, I see it in the bargain bin at EB Games often, so you really can't go wrong.

2. Super Mario All-Stars & Super Mario World

This, along with Mario Paint, is the first game I ever owned, so it has a very special place in my heart. I really couldn't imagine a better way to start my gaming career, with fully remastered versions of all the classic NES Mario games alongside the then-recent Super Mario World. Pretty much everything about this collection is on point, from the graphical and musical overhauls, to the inclusion of the Japanese Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, to adding a save feature to all the games. It's really crummy that the Wii version doesn't include Super Mario World, but I'll always cherish my SNES cart, and if you are fortunate enough to have a copy yourself, you should cherish it too.

1. Midway Arcade Treasures 2

Midway Arcade Treasures, to me, are the Mecca of compilation games. Almost all of the games on these collections are incredibly important to the medium, and they are also still extremely fun. The second one in particular has some of Midway's heaviest hitters, like Mortal Kombat 2 and 3, NARC, Total Carnage, Rampage World Tour, and many more. Some of the games are a bit too old for their own good, but this is my #1 simply because I have put more time into it than any other. I always find myself going back to it because these games are still amazing fun to play with friends. I personally think all 3 games are worthy of my top spot, but if I had to choose one, it would undoubtedly be 2. How many M-rated video game compilations even exist?

So there's my list. I could have included a few more, but I wanted to keep it concise. I wanna hear from you guys now :)

Midway Arcade Treasure 2 good choice I still got it for my PS2 I played the hell out of MK2 and 3 only issues is framerate dips I remember. Other then that I can't think of any other collections I have I just go on steam and play old games quite a bit when there's nothing new out.

Command & Conquer: The First Decade is hard to beat, especially since it unlike the Origin exclusive "Command & Conquer Ultimate Collection" could easily be patched by fans to the point that the versions of the games included in TFD run better in Windows 10 than the Ultimate Collection does, and it also included a DVD with behind the scenes stuff and some classic C&C music. Empire Interactive's Future War Collection, which included Homeworld: Cataclysm, Dark Reign and Heavy Gear II was also pretty rad.

I did like the Capcom Classics Collections vol 1 and 2 for PS2 too.

I like Sonic's Ultimate Genesis collection, it was really fun to get all the trophies.

All I need is this Game Boy compilation of "Game Color Advance" games

Metroid Prime Trilogy. The revamped controls and added widescreen support update the first two games nicely, and it's a solid package with lots of goodies. My favorite will always be the original, but I'm glad I'm able to easily play the other two as well.

@liquiddragon said:

All I need is this Game Boy compilation of "Game Color Advance" games

What the hell is Mario Alleyway?

@citizencoffeecake: oh you know. The first entry in the long running popular Mario Alleyway series.

Sonic's Ultimate Collection. Not just the quantity, but the fact that it has so many good games.

The MegaMan and X collections were solid, but the MegaMan Zero DS compilation was an incredible way to spend a week with during a severe flu.

And of course, Mario All-Stars, Rare Replay, and Sonic Mega/Gems collections.

Does this count:

I think Super Mario All-Stars still tops it for me.

Rare Replay is the best value. Though for me it's not a disc, it's a download.

MegaMan Anniversary Collection and MegaMan X Collection; hands down.

I mean, if you like MegaMan games to the extent that I do :\

@beachthunder: Exactly what I came to say. The Game Empire collections were amazing.

I also had some similar ones that I got from computer shows. Can't remember the names, and they were pressed by local vendors so there's next to no chance of finding them again, but whoever curated them really knew their shit. Almost all wheat and no chaff.

@liquiddragon: In the interest of total disclosure, Nintendo made a Breakout clone for the Game Boy launch called Alleyway. It's only tangentially related to Mario in that some of the SMB1 sprites have been remade as stages.

Also, any love for the old-school Namco Museum games? The newer ones are just bare-bones ROMs on a disc, but the PSX games were honest-to-goodness virtual museums, with a bunch of really cool stuff for people curious about old videogames.

As others have said, Mega Man X Collection is one of the best compilations. I don't know if I'm in the minority or not but I wholeheartedly enjoyed the X series much more than the original Mega Man series. And I grew up with an NES playing tons of Mega Man games early on. Also, I don't know if it counts in this category, but Final Fantasy Anthology is pretty great minus the crazy load times in Chrono Trigger.

I'd say Super Mario All-Stars. I didn't have the version that included World, so I played 1, 2, 3, and Lost Levels through that. Gaming growing up for me was alternating between Mario and Sonic, before the N64 came out. So that All-Stars probably has that importance factor, but also the "Man, Super Mario Bros. 3 is a really good game" factor as well.

Midway Arcade Treasures 2 is a really good choice, I spent a whole lot of time playing Total Carnage, Rampage World Tour, and of course MK3.

When I had my Sega Saturn, Sonic Jam was a very good compilation of the classic Sonic games, and Mega Man Anniversary Collection for PS2 and Xbox and Gamecube had Mega Man 1-8

Does Master Chief Collection count? If so, then that would probably be my pick.

Metal Gear Solid HD Collection. It was great revisiting MGS 2 & 3. I never thought that I would spend so much time playing Peace Walker. It is too bad that crappy skateboarding mini game from MGS 2: Substance and the Ape Escape mini game Snake V. Monkey from MGS 3: Subsistence were not included. I also had the false expectation that a download code for MGS 1 would be included in the brand new collectors edition. The art book that came with it was fantastic.

Street Fighter Anniversary Collection. It reminded me of the first time I played Street Fighter 2 in the arcades when I was younger. I came to the realization that the graphics from earlier versions of SF 2 were not as great as I remembered. I think that playing Street Fighter Alpha 3 before the compilation contributed to that. It was the first time I got to play Third Strike and it also came with the animated movie. It is rather something when Capcom has continued the tradition of reselling the same games over and over again.

Oh man, so many. A lot of the ones I'd choose were already mentioned (though without a PS3 I'd suggest the MGS Essential Collection, includes MGS 1 reprinted in full double black-disc glory [in a PS2-style case with PS1 badging, though, which is just weird] alongside MGS2: Substance and MGS3: Subsistence unfortunately minus the bonus second and third discs [you should get Subsistence for that alone if you're a MGS fan], as well as the Grand Theft Auto Trilogy since it packs the PS2 classics right into one box) but I'd also suggest the Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition, it's a fairly rare pack-in compilation included with the GameCube and via Nintendo Power which included a demo of Wind Waker and basically every previous Zelda game to date via emulation, it's magnificent.

Namco Arcade's pretty hit-or-miss depending on the title, but overall I'd say it was a neat thing. Game and Watch Gallery as a series is a great way of accessing otherwise-uncommon Game and Watch handhelds.

Also (and this is kind of a weird one since it isn't specifically a compilation release) Pokémon Channel, since it includes a one-off anime episode of the Pichu Bros., playing card collection (not the TCG, though), tons of Snorlax cameos, some of the same charm of Pokémon Snap and even emulated Pokémon mini games. It's more of a supplementary title than an archive of major previous releases but it's totally worth a look.

Rampage: Total Destruction is pretty cool if you're a Rampage fan, as well.

@beachthunder: I had one of those 250 games CD's too. Mine was mostly shareware demos, but had a few gems, the standout being a killer homebrew Arkanoid clone called DX Ball:

I also had a few of those. I used to live off demo discs when I was a kid.

DX Ball was amazing! I loved the shit out of it back in the day, best version of Arkanoid ever.

The old Sierra compilation CDs always gave me the warm and fuzzies, though nowadays they're largely useless and you're better served by just getting the games individually or as a package through GOG or Steam. For modern collections, I like the C&C, Sonic Genesis Collection mentioned in the OP, and the MGS packages. If someone was to release a Saturn/Dreamcast package, I'd eat that shit up with a spoon. Never played many of those games.

The PS2 probably has the best compilation discs outside of the Ultimate Genesis Collection, and Midway's Arcade Treasures 2 is a friggin' goldmine, but I'm still partial to Taito Legends 2, cause it brings the crazy harder than anyone else was willing or able to. Goddamned Metal Black is on that disc. I can't even properly describe Metal Black without resorting to gibberish and cave drawings. Imagine R-Type with all the sanity removed. This is stage 2:

Believe it or not, that's one of the more normal things that happens in that game.

Best:

Mega Man Anniversary Collection (SO much better than that recent "Legacy Collection." MMAC had 1-8, both Power Battles games, remixed music as an option, and other bonus content))

Halo: The Master Chief Collection (now that it's pretty much fixed)

Midway Arcade Treasures 2

Metal Gear Solid HD Collection (really needed MGS1 included, but still good)

Super Mario All-Stars

Worst:

Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection (buggy game with zero extras)

Does Bubsy Two-Fur count?

There's a Sega Collection on PS2 that has a weird polygonal version of Fantasy Zone. I've never played it, but I'd like to. That seems neat.

Also, Rare Replay has a ton of great stuff on it. Sort of hard to not mention it.

@kanerobot Metal Gear Legacy Collection is what you're looking for. It has it all.

This would have to be the one. I absolutely love the Wii controls in Metroid Prime 1 & 2. Goddamn. (I was also never much of a fan of the original Gamecube controls, so yeah, fucking love Metroid Prime Trilogy)

This probably isn't on the level of the other games listed here, but a personal favourite is the Prince of Persia Trilogy - mostly just for Sands of Time and Two Thrones. Great games, and I kind of love gaming in 3D (shame it - understandably - completely disappeared outside of VR)

Thanks. Yeah, I know. Just not if I'm on the Xbox, which I am.

Sega GT 2002 + JSRF

I could be wrong, but has no one mentioned The Orange Box yet? Personally the Halo: The Master Chief Collection has a greater value owing to the enduring excellence of Halo's core mechanics, but I'm just surprised that a disc containing Half-life 2, both Episodes, Team Fortress 2 and, you know... Portal would have been a popular choice.

The Sly Collection. Never got around to playing them on the PS2, had a blast with all of them. Awesome games.

The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition comes to mind. At the time it was the best place to play Zelda 1 and 2 because my NES carts weren't reliable. Majora's Mask only had two saves, so it was the place to start a new game. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time / Master Quest was a different disk, but it they came together, so I'm counting that too.

Metal Gear Solid The Legacy Collection

and

The Orange Box

I have Street Fighter Alpha Anthology for the PS2 which includes Street Fighter Alpha, Alpha 2, Alpha 2 Gold, and Alpha 3