Electronic Arts has brought back 25 classic PC games. The lineup includes Road Rash, Wing Commander, Ultima, and Theme Hospital. The collection launched Nov. 5 on Steam, GOG, and the EA App.
Seven games received Anniversary Editions with updated controls, improved performance, and restored cinematic footage. The other 18 largely retain their original gameplay. All 25 are available on Steam for the first time.
Road Rash: 30th Anniversary Edition brings back the 1996 motorcycle racing game best remembered for letting players punch and kick opponents while racing. The updated release supports controllers, runs at up to 60 frames per second, and includes cloud saves and restored video scenes.
The licensed soundtrack is back, too. Soundgarden, Monster Magnet, Therapy?, and other bands return, and players can now hear their songs during races instead of only in menus and videos.
Six Wing Commander games received Anniversary Editions. These include Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger and Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom. The space combat series combined flight simulation with live-action storytelling. Its cast included Mark Hamill, Malcolm McDowell, and John Rhys-Davies.
EA restored more than 1,000 cinematic scenes across Wing Commander III and IV using the original master tapes. The updated games also have better joystick support, optional widescreen cockpit settings, and performance improvements. The first two Wing Commander games include material from The Kilrathi Saga, a collection that was difficult to find for years.
Privateer 2: The Darkening also received restoration work. The space combat game featured Clive Owen, John Hurt, and Christopher Walken. Its Anniversary Edition includes more than 100 restored cinematic scenes.
In March 2022, EA Senior Producer Jim Vessella found original master tapes from Wing Commander and Road Rash in a storage vault at the company’s Redwood Shores campus. The vault contained nearly 20,000 archived items. EA later digitized about 2,500 hours of footage, which helped restore cinematic scenes from the original games.
Other returning games include Crusader: No Remorse, Crusader: No Regret, Strike Commander, and several Ultima titles. Crusader is a science-fiction action series, while Strike Commander focuses on combat flight simulation. Theme Hospital puts players in charge of a hospital where illnesses are often as absurd as the treatments.
Anniversary Editions normally cost $9.99 each. The other classics cost $4.99. EA is discounting the games by 50% on Steam and GOG through Nov. 19. Players who own eligible Wing Commander titles on GOG or the EA App will receive the corresponding Anniversary Edition upgrades at no additional cost.
EA also worked with longtime Wing Commander fans who had maintained the games through unofficial fixes. The new releases incorporate community-created patches for gameplay speed, controllers, and graphics. Players who prefer the original versions can still access them. The project also brought back footage that was unavailable in earlier digital editions. EA used the recovered recordings to improve the quality of the games’ live-action scenes without replacing the performances or changing their stories.
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