Classics and cash-ins: the unsung brilliance of video game compilations

Live Ammo, Solid Gold, Zzap! 64 - game collections were a staple of every gamers' diet and are as nourishing today as they were when they were released on cassette in the 1980s

It's been a busy month for nostalgic video game compilations. Sonic Origins collects the first four Sonic the Hedgehog titles, the Capcom Fighting Collection brings together various titles from the Darkstalkers and Street Fighter ranges as well as a couple of rarities, and Pac-Man Museum + gathers an astonishing 14 Pac-Man games from the past 40 years. Cynics may suggest we live in an age of endless nostalgia and brand regurgitation, but compilations have always been a staple of the video game industry. I know, because I've bought most of them.

Back in the home computer era of the 1980s, game compilations were a common way of scraping just a little more revenue from titles that had slipped from the software charts. Four or five releases would be crammed on to two tapes and distributed in large, twin-cassette boxes with exciting names such as Solid Gold, Heatwave and Mega-Hot. The legendary Manchester-based publisher Ocean was an absolute master at these, creating themed compilations, with lively and exciting packaging resembling the action movie video covers of the era. I had Live Ammo, which contained the excellent second world war strategy adventure Great Escape as well as scrolling shooters Green Beret and Rambo. Meanwhile, Magnificent Seven boasted the classics Wizball and Head Over Heels as well as the not-so-classic tie-in with Sylvester Stallone's 1986 Cobra movie. But that was the thing with these collections: you accepted there would be a couple of stinkers in there, and it was fun to discover terrible B-games amid the gold.