Definitive versions

 Chances are your favorite game has at least seen a number of ports, re-releases, End of the Year editions, and more versions than you can shake a stick at. With companies trying to either milk a franchise for what it's worth, expand their audience, or to introduce new-players to their game. While some are very clear-cut as to which edition or port you should get, sometimes it's not that simple.

Sometimes a special edition isn't actually better when the game on disk misses something that the original had such as gaining FPS issues, toned down features, or just looking plain ugly. There have been many times when JP and PAL regions have a more superior version of a game while others get mere scraps and vice-versa which can make a specific version less desirable than the base game! Sometimes even ports make a difference with some ports of a game possibly having some extra features or just be designed better than the same game on another console.

This page is made to help gamers sort through all the versions and editions of a game and pick out which one is the best out of the bunch. Please focus on games that have multiple editions/releases of the same game (ex: Game Of The Year, Special Edition, Aniversary Editions, HD re-release, ect) in order to select the best edition of that particular game. Things like statues and music CDs are nice, but fixing up gameplay, less lag, faster loading, adding new levels, more on-disc content and updating graphics is much nicer! Please note that HD graphics or more DLC by itself does not automatically make a game "better"- there need to be actual improvements to the on-disk game itself for it to be better than previous iterations. Bonus points for when an HD release actually has text that can be read on a smaller screen or a tube TV.

ROM hacks that do not signifigantly change the base game and are of a game that actually was released are allowed here. For example, the Sonic 3 and Knuckles hack that simply fixes bugs the company-released Sonic 3 and Knuckles combined game had is OK, however, a Sonic game that is spliced with Metroid would not be appropriate. If the company releases a new version on par or better than the hack, please replace the hack with the offical version.

It's also fine to give out honorable mentions of other editions that might not be as great but are better than the rest and well-worth checking out as well.

Versions Better Due to Content
Games to add: most 16 bit games, every 'Tales of' entry and a shitton more.