Bayonetta Climax Edition

Bayonetta arrived on the scene with sky-high heels and zero interest in playing it safe, and the Climax Edition matched that energy perfectly. The Bayonetta Climax Edition for Playstation 3 comes in a cardboard box housing the game alongside a hardcover art book and a CD soundtrack, a package that was sold exclusively through Play.com in the UK.

That Play.com exclusivity is a detail that hits differently now. The retailer shuttered its marketplace years ago, which means this edition is tied to a distribution channel that no longer exists. Every copy that's out there is already out there. The supply is fixed, and the demand from Bayonetta fans has only grown as the franchise expanded with sequels on Nintendo platforms.

The hardcover art book is the standout piece. PlatinumGames' character and environmental designs for Bayonetta are some of the most stylish work in action gaming, and seeing them collected in a quality hardcover format does the artistry justice. The soundtrack CD is equally essential. Bayonetta's music is iconic, blending jazz, pop, and orchestral bombast into something that shouldn't work but absolutely does.

The PS3 version of Bayonetta has its own complicated legacy, given the well-documented performance differences between platforms. But for collectors, that history only adds context and conversation to the piece. The Climax Edition packages one of the most important action games of the PS3 era with physical extras that reward display and revisiting. A clean, complete box is getting harder to find with each passing year.