Some Favorite HD Collections, Remakes, and Re-releases

The other day I started thinking about some of my favorite HD collections, remakes, and re-releases. Although it's sad that it seems we've totally run out of original ideas these days, there's something to be said for nostalgia.

• Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition
  Halo is a legendary franchise: it arguably made the Xbox platform a success single-handedly and continues to command millions in sales annually. Every new title released prompts rabid gamers to camp out in front of Best Buy stores nationwide, anxiously awaiting the store opening. People take vacation days from work for this.
  
  Anniversary Edition is literally the original Halo game with modern-day graphics. It's beautiful when compared with contemporary titles and outright breathtaking compared to the original Xbox version. The gameplay is absolutely unchanged, the graphics can be switched between new and original at the press of a button during gameplay, and the game features a host of fun achievements. Except the Library ones.
• Final Fantasy Chronicles and Chrono Trigger DS
  Anyone who knows me understands that Chrono Trigger is the single greatest game of all time. This is absolute and utterly inarguable to me.
  
  Chronicles is a late-era Playstation release containing not only an excellent port of Final Fantasy IV, but, more to the point, a verbatim port of Chrono Trigger. The only changes made by Square Enix for this release (and that of the DS) are a collection of amazing anime cutscenes in addition to existing in-game visuals during important events (e.g. Frog splitting the mountain in two). The artwork, sound, and direction are simply sublime. The only drawback of the Chronicles release is its slowness: the menus are dog-slow, taking several seconds to simply view a character's stats. Get the DS copy instead, unless you're a serious FFIV fan.
• Metal Gear Solid HD Collection
  There isn't much to say here but the MGS games are all excellent games. HD Collection retains the originals' gameplay with clearer textures and smoother animations. Metal Gear Solid 2 in particular is an absolute masterpiece; the collection is worth picking up for this game alone. If you haven't played an MGS title before, start here.
• Turtles in Time Re-Shelled
  This HD remake of SNES classing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time is worth every bit of its $15 price tag. Note this is a remake, not just a facelift. The gameplay is largely the same, though modernized controls change the feel of things. The new graphics and sound are delectable, but some of the old quotable sound bites are sadly missing (Shredder's "ho ho ho" comes to mind). It's also significantly shorter than the original game; the Technodrome level was removed for whatever reason. Still, it's a great title to pick up; it hearkens back to the old days of TMNT.
• Megaman Collection and Megaman X Collection
  No remakes or facelifts here: these collections are straight re-releases of Megaman and X all in one place. Seeing as how it's difficult to find these Megaman originals and prohibitively expensive to purchase the entire X series on SNES, these collections are about as good as it gets for Megaman fans.