Call of Duty 3 Special Edition

Before the franchise became an annual tradition, Call of Duty actually had something to prove. Call of Duty 3 Special Edition for Playstation 2 arrived during the series' scrappier years, when World War II shooters still dominated and the leap to modern warfare was just a rumor. This special edition bundles the game with a trio of bonus discs that collectors rarely talk about but absolutely should.

The making-of documentary pulls back the curtain on Treyarch's development process in a way that feels refreshingly unpolished. Then there's the real gem: "Inside the Normandy Breakout," a disc featuring interviews with actual Allied veterans from the campaign that inspired the game. That's not marketing fluff.

That's living history pressed onto a DVD and tucked inside a PS2 case. You also get the PS3 launch trailer, which serves as a fun time capsule of what "next-gen" meant back in 2006. For collectors focused on the Call of Duty lineage, this PS2 special edition is easy to overlook but hard to replace.

It captures a moment when the series still felt personal, before the billion-dollar machine kicked into gear.