Sure, we love the fact that we can download some of our favorite classic games from WiiWare, Xbox Live and the Playstation Network, but sometimes you want a lot of classic games all at once. Luckily, there have been some really killer compilation discs over the past few years that mine video games past for some beloved and long-forgotten gold. They might not have the best graphics or game control, but there's something about these games from the early days of the video game industry that give us a thrill when we play them again.

ATARI ANTHOLOGY (PS2/Xbox/PC)

Atari Anthology doesn't skimp on any of the bells and whistles. The disc includes no less than 80 classic games from Atari's long history of both arcade and Atari 2600 including Asteroids, Centipede, Millipede, Missile Command, Pong, Super Breakout and Yar's Revenge. The game also comes with recreations of the game artwork and the instruction manuals, plus interviews with Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell. Hell, there might even be a game in there called Bells and Whistles if you look around enough.

CAPCOM CLASSICS COLLECTION (PS2/Xbox)

A few pairs of words and some numbers make this collection kick ass: Bionic Commando, Street Fighter II and 1942. Capcom Classics Collection brings those together with some other less known classics like Ghosts 'n Goblins and Trojan. Some of these games might seem very familiar - Commando has a resemblance to Contra - but they all look fun enough, plus, it's easier to pick this disc up than hop into a time machine and go back to your local video rental store and peruse.

SONIC MEGA COLLECTION PLUS (PS2/Xbox/PC)

Sega's main man, Sonic has been the star of several games, a few animated series and even has a pretty cool line of toys coming out right now from Jazwares. While the more recent Sonic games have left something to be desired, we still love going back and sending that lovable hedgehog with the bright red shoes running and spinning through technicolor wonderlands. Sonic Mega Collection Plus comes with Sega games like Sonic The Hedgehog 1 through 3, Sonic & Knuckles, Sonic 3D Blast, Sonic Spinball, Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine and Game Gear entries like Sonic, Sonic Chaos, Sonic Drift, Sonic Labyrinth, Mean Bean Machine and Sonic Blast. Whew, we get worn out just thinking about all that running.

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: COLLECTOR'S EDITION (GameCube)

You've gotta love the classics. Even people who don't go in for RPG games have a soft spot in their hearts for Link and his adventures trying to save Zelda and acquire the Triforce. The Collector's Edition wasn't actually sold but given away, so it's one of the more difficult compilation discs to get your hands on, but it does come with The Legend Of Zelda, The Adventure Of Link, Ocarina Of Time and Majora's Mask along with a retrospective featurette of the Zelda franchise and a 20-minute demo of the now even year old The Wind Waker game for GameCube.

MIDWAY ARCADE TREASURES EXTENDED PLAY (PSP)

We're still pretty blown away by the fact that we can play the games we used to have to get in big plastic cartridges on systems about the same size as the controllers we used to hold while glued to our TV screens. The PSP version of this long-running series gives you Defender, Joust, Gauntlet, Marble Madness, Mortal Kombat 1 through 3, Spy Hunter and Rampage. That line-up blows our junior high minds and those aren't the only games on this game.

NAMCO MUSEUM VIRTUAL ARCADE (Xbox 360)

The Namco Museum Virtual Arcade is an interesting collection of games. The 30 or so games come split between Xbox Live Arcade Games and Museum Games. The Xbox Live Arcade Games don't actually come on the disc itself, but allow you to download them to your Xbox. Those games include Dig Dug, Galaga, Ms. Pac-Man and Pac-Man among others. The Museum Games come on the disc itself and have Dig Dug II, Galaxian, Mappy, Pole Position II and Super Pac-Man along with some updated versions of games like Dig Dug, Galaga and Pac-Man dubbed "Arrangements."

SEGA GENESIS COLLECTION (PS2/PSP)

Even more disconcerting for old school gamers than playing our old favorites on handhelds might be seeing Sega games on any system other than the Genesis, Sega CD or 32X. While a lot of these collections bring games for systems like the NES and Atari together, this one focuses squarely on the rich library of Sega games. We're talking games like Comix Zone, Ecco The Dolphin, the Golden Axe series, Kid Chameleon, Shinobi III, the Vector Man games, Virtua Fighter 2 and even the first two Sonic games.

ACTIVISION ANTHOLOGY (PS2/GBA/PCMac)

There are a lot of compilations out there that bring together a bunch of old games, putting them in one convenient place, but few go to the extent that the Activision Anthology. Not only did they bring together games like Commando (only in the PS2 version), Pitfall!, Pitfall II: Lost Caverns and H.E.R.O. along with 40-some other Atari games, but the game also has a virtual tape deck with songs that you can have play while you're playing the games, which is way easier than dusting off our actual boom boxes and digging through all those mix tapes with hand drawn covers. There's also a version available for the PSP called Activision Hits: Remix that retains the games and the virtual tape deck, but not all of the homebrewed games that are included in the PS2 version.

MEGA MAN ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION (GameCube/PS2/Xbox)

Few video game stars from those heady days of grey boxes and square controllers have stuck around quite like Mega Man - Rockman, if you're from Japan. And even fewer who have retained much the same style and 8-bit sensibilities. Many of you will remember that 2008's downloadable Mega Man 9 not only sported "cover art" reminiscent of those early days, but also the basic look of the games. The Anniversary Collection includes Mega Man 1 through 8 plus The Power Battle and Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters. So, even though this disc came out for the previous gen systems, it's still playable and damn worth the time as you get hours, possibly days worth of entertainment for your dollar, which probably won't be that costly because you can get the game used in stores or online. So get out there and kill some robots!