Limited Run #263: Battle Garegga Collector's Edition (PS4)

The shmup that defined rank-based difficulty gets one of the most loaded collector's editions we've ever seen. Limited Run #263: Battle Garegga Collector's Edition for PlayStation 4 brings Battle Garegga Rev.2016 to a physical PS4 disc, limited to just 1,500 copies worldwide, region-free. If you know, you know. And if you don't, you're about to learn.

Battle Garegga is a revered vertical shooter from 1996 that earned its legendary status in Japanese arcades. Its dynamic difficulty system, which secretly punishes skilled play and rewards strategic deaths, made it one of the most studied and debated shooters in the genre's history. M2's Rev.2016 update is the definitive version, and this collector's edition treats it accordingly.

The contents are staggering. A Sega Saturn-inspired longbox jewel case, a Blu-ray documentary about developer M2 from My Life in Gaming, a metal pin, five art postcards, a CD soundtrack, a 2LP vinyl soundtrack in gatefold packaging, recreations of the original arcade poster, operator's manual, and arcade flyer, all stored inside an individually numbered premium rigid box. The vinyl alone would justify this edition for many collectors, but the arcade ephemera recreations push it into obsessive territory. This is an edition built for the shmup community by people who clearly belong to it. At 1,500 copies, this is one of the rarest and most comprehensive physical releases the genre has ever received.