Battletoads & Double Dragon Collector's Edition (NES)

Two of the most legendary beat-em-up crews sharing one NES cartridge is the kind of crossover that defined playground arguments in the early '90s. The Battletoads & Double Dragon Collector's Edition for NES from Retro-Bit puts Rash, Pimple, Zitz, Billy, and Jimmy Lee together on a brand new "Jumpin' Jade" cartridge, ready to slot into your original hardware like it's 1993 all over again.

This is the game we pooled allowance money for. The Dark Queen teaming up with Shadow Boss meant seven stages of absolute chaos, from the massive Colossus space cruiser down to rat-infested streets. Two players picking from five fighters, smashing through Abobo, Big Blag, Robo-Manus, and every other scumbag standing between us and saving the planet. The gameplay hasn't been touched. Every cheap hit, every brutal combo, every moment of co-op frustration is exactly as it was.

The Collector's Edition packaging is where this shines for the shelf. You get a numbered deluxe hardcover cartridge box, a full-color instruction manual, and an exclusive cartridge display stand. The cart runs on a 5-volt chip, it's region-free, and it works on all original NES consoles, both NTSC and PAL. It'll also run on third-party hardware like the Analog Nt and RetroUSB AVS. This is a brand new cartridge for a console that stopped production decades ago. For NES collectors who remember blowing on carts before the internet told us not to, this is the kind of release that belongs front and center in the collection.