Worms Collector's Edition (GB)

Before Worms was a franchise, it was a weird little Game Boy game about annelids with attitude. The Worms Collector's Edition for Game Boy packages the original portable entry with the full collector's treatment it never got back in the day. The collector's box, official soundtrack, 18" x 24" poster, mini game cart keychain, commemorative metal coin, and enamel pin create a surprisingly robust package for a title that most people associate with later entries.

But this is where it started for handheld players, a turn-based strategy game running on four AA batteries and a prayer, squeezed onto a cartridge smaller than your thumb. The mini game cart keychain is a nice nod to the format's physicality, a tiny replica of the thing we used to carry loose in our pockets like it was indestructible. Worms on Game Boy was a game you played on road trips, in waiting rooms, under your covers after lights out.

It was strategy gaming before the genre had any pretension about itself. For retro collectors who appreciate the deep cuts over the greatest hits, this edition gives a forgotten handheld classic its proper due.