Mighty Final Fight
How did Capcom turn Final Fight, a gritty, risque arcade game about street violence, into a cartoonish kid-friendly comedy? Mighty Final Fight has super-kawaii, ultra-chibi versions of Cody, Haggar and Guy roaming around Metro City and punching their equally adorable opponents to death. VGMuseum/Capcom
How did Capcom turn Final Fight, a gritty, risque arcade game about street violence, into a cartoonish kid-friendly comedy? Mighty Final Fight has super-kawaii, ultra-chibi versions of Cody, Haggar and Guy roaming around Metro City and punching their equally adorable opponents to death. Light role-playing game elements make this more than your average brawler. And the original NES cartridge is quite expensive these days, so we're happy to have this in cheap download form on both Wii U and 3DS.
VGMuseum/Capcom
X-Wing and TIE Fighter
Fight with the Rebel Alliance, or join the Empire? This pair of classic Star Wars interstellar dogfight games haven't been seen since the days of floppies and CD-ROM. We're still wondering what Disney will do with Star Wars movies, but it sure is being great about giving us classic Star Wars gaming to bide our time with. 
Disney
Fight with the Rebel Alliance, or join the Empire? This pair of classic Star Wars interstellar dogfight games haven't been seen since the days of floppies and CD-ROM. We're still wondering what Disney will do with Star Wars movies, but it sure is being great about giving us classic Star Wars gaming to bide our time with.
Disney 
Demon's Crest
Don't you hate that a-hole red devil guy from Ghosts N' Goblins? Play this and you'll love him. Demon's Crest is the sequel to the Gargoyle's Quest games for Game Boy and NES (both of which are also available through download on Nintendo 3DS), and it's a non-linear platforming game with RPG elements. Capcom
Don't you hate that a-hole red devil guy from Ghosts N' Goblins? Play this and you'll love him. Demon's Crest is the sequel to the Gargoyle's Quest games for Game Boy and NES (both of which are also available through download on Nintendo 3DS), and it's a non-linear platforming game with RPG elements.
Capcom 
Vib-Ribbon
From the creator of the acclaimed early music game Parappa the Rapper comes this no-longer-forgotten PlayStation classic. It's a simple beat-matching game---a wireframe vector-graphics rabbit runs along a simple white line on a black background, and you dodge obstacles by tapping buttons to the beat. Sony
From the creator of the acclaimed early music game Parappa the Rapper comes this no-longer-forgotten PlayStation classic. It's a simple beat-matching game---a wireframe vector-graphics rabbit runs along a simple white line on a black background, and you dodge obstacles by tapping buttons to the beat. The trick is, you can insert an audio CD and use your own music. You can only use that functionality on the PlayStation 3 re-release. If you play it on your PSP or PS Vita, you can only play the included, original tracks (which are adorable).
Sony 
Metroid Fusion
If you've never played Super Metroid, a deep-space action-adventure that's a strong candidate for one of the best games ever made, get it on your Wii U now. If you have played it, and want more, get the sequel Metroid Fusion . Nintendo
If you've never played Super Metroid, a deep-space action-adventure that's a strong candidate for one of the best games ever made, get it on your Wii U now. If you have played it, and want more, get the sequel Metroid Fusion . Originally released on the Game Boy Advance, you can now play it on your giant TV via Nintendo's Wii U. It looks surprisingly good blown up, like a 16-bit game that never happened.
Nintendo 
Tomba! 2
Weirdly, Sony's been unable to get the English-language version of this PlayStation classic working on modern consoles due to some strange emulation issues. But the Japanese version works, so MonkeyPaw Games brought it over. Monkey Paw Games
Weirdly, Sony's been unable to get the English-language version of this PlayStation classic working on modern consoles due to some strange emulation issues. But the Japanese version works, so MonkeyPaw Games brought it over and posted a helpful walkthrough on its website to get you past the fact that you can't understand what it's trying to tell you. Stick it out and you'll find a funny, quirky puzzle-platform game; they don't make 'em like this anymore.
Monkey Paw Games 
Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3
Nintendo loves re-releasing Mario games, but one of the best ever, Yoshi's Island, hasn't been seen since its initial release on Super Nintendo. But the Game Boy Advance version of the game---basically the same game, but with a whole bunch of minor and arguably major changes---is available on Wii U's Virtual Console. Nintendo
Nintendo loves re-releasing Mario games, but one of the best ever, Yoshi's Island, hasn't been seen since its initial release on Super Nintendo. This holds true even today---it may be issues emulating the Super FX co-processor on the cartridge. But the Game Boy Advance version of the game---basically the same game, but with a whole bunch of minor and arguably major changes---is available on Wii U's Virtual Console. Sequels to this game also let you play as the dinosaur Yoshi, eating fruit, pooping eggs and throwing them at anything that annoys you. But it's never been as good as the first time.
Nintendo 
Suikoden II
This classic role-playing game from Konami has long been one of the most sought-after PlayStation discs. You can still expect to pay over $100 for the original, but why bother when you can download it on PlayStation 3, PSP and Vita? Konami
This classic role-playing game from Konami has long been one of the most sought-after PlayStation discs. You can still expect to pay over $100 for the original, but why bother when you can download it on PlayStation 3, PSP and Vita? Jason Schreier at Kotaku called it "Pokemon meets Game of Thrones"---a blend of well-written dramatic story and addictive collect-em-all mechanics in which you have to recruit an army of characters to your side as you play through the game. That guy in the item shop might be a valuable asset to your team, if you can convince him to join up!
Konami 
Strider 2
Buy Strider 2 for the PlayStation Store and you can experience two full games: The arcade original Strider and its 1999 sequel, released in arcades in Japan but mostly known for the PlayStation version released shortly thereafter. Capcom
Capcom's kinetic arcade classic about a future-ninja with an awesome sword got a great next-generation version earlier this year. Buy Strider 2 for the PlayStation Store and you can experience two full games: The arcade original Strider and its 1999 sequel, released in arcades in Japan but mostly known for the PlayStation version released shortly thereafter. It doesn't take too long to credit-feed your way through both of these arcade ports and finish them, but you'll have a blast while they last.
Capcom 
Sam & Max Hit the Road
Telltale Games has produced three seasons of episodic adventure games starring Steve Purcell's violent, hilarious dog and rabbit detectives. But the game that started it all, a LucasArts classic from 1993, hasn't been available digitally until now. Disney
Telltale Games has produced three seasons of episodic adventure games starring Steve Purcell's violent, hilarious dog and rabbit detectives. But the game that started it all, a LucasArts classic from 1993, hasn't been available digitally until now. If we're being honest, the humor is sharper and the voice acting is snappier than the Telltale sequels. A brilliant, ridiculous plot about a Bigfoot chase across the United States still holds up today. It does have some impossible-without-a-hint-book puzzles, so feel free to use the digital strategy guide included with the download at Good Old Games.
Disney 
All of the Castlevanias
All three Castlevania games for Game Boy Advance are now available on Wii U's eShop, including Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance (pictured). If you only buy one, get Aria of Sorrow ---it's the best by far. Nintendo
All three Castlevania games for Game Boy Advance are now available on Wii U's eShop, including Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance (pictured). If you only buy one, get Aria of Sorrow ---it's the best by far. Explore a massive, non-linear castle, throwing holy water and other assorted weaponry at werewolves and vampires and all sorts of other unholy nasties. Gorgeous pixel graphics and soundtrack round out the package. As with Metroid Fusion, the Game Boy graphics look pretty darn good even blown up to giant TV size.
Nintendo 
Duck Hunt
Everybody had Duck Hunt on their NES. Everybody hated that stupid dog who laughed every time you missed a duck. Everybody put their Zapper gun flush against their television tube to hit the ducks at point-blank range. VGMuseum/Nintendo
Everybody had Duck Hunt on their NES. Everybody hated that stupid dog who laughed every time you missed a duck. Everybody put their Zapper gun flush against their television tube to hit the ducks at point-blank range. Sadly, that Zapper gun won't work with your flatscreen. But Nintendo's emulated the classic for Wii U, and it works with your Wiimote. Now that the Duck Hunt bird and dog are playable characters in the new Super Smash Bros., it's high time their original classic came back.
VGMuseum/Nintendo This year brought us a lot of great new games. And we probably ignored a lot of them for these old games.
The spread of digital distribution platforms on PCs and game consoles has brought us not only innovative, low-budget indie games, but a new home for classic out-of-print titles. Nintendo’s Virtual Console on its Wii U and 3DS has brought back classics from Super Nintendo, Game Boy and more for a few bucks each. Sony’s PlayStation Network hosted fewer games this year, but some of them were very expensive to track down on CD-ROM. On PC, services like Steam and Good Old Games added more classic computer games to their growing archives.
Here are the games, long out of print, that we were thrilled to see make a digital comeback in 2014.
View the gallery in full screen mode for more information and bigger, blockier pixels.
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