Castle Crashers

Castle Crashers conquered Xbox Live Arcade in August 2008 and quickly became one of the digital platform's most beloved titles. This colorful brawler about knights hacking their way through armies of monsters with friends to rescue kidnapped princesses combines simple but addictive enemy-bashing with RPG elements - characters level up, collect weapons, and unlock dozens of playable heroes with distinct abilities. Co-op play for up to four players on one screen was a major draw from the start, and combined with creator Tom Fulp's distinctive hand-drawn art style, it helped the game stand out from the rest of the XBLA lineup.

On PlayStation 3, the game arrived via PlayStation Network in November 2010, more than two years late. Studio The Behemoth used the version to include content that Xbox 360 players had to unlock gradually through updates and downloadable add-ons - the PS3 release offered it all right out of the box, including additional playable characters and the Photo Booth minigame, where players could photograph their characters in goofy poses. Controls were adapted for the DualShock 3, and the game fully used trophies instead of achievements, with online multiplayer running free over the PlayStation Network.

Despite the later start, it paradoxically offered a more complete and content-rich experience than the original Xbox 360 version at launch, which quickly earned it a loyal following among Sony console players and kept it popular for years after release.

The situation was thus the exact opposite of many other ports of the era, where a later release on another platform usually meant more of a technical compromise - with Castle Crashers, the wait instead meant PS3 players got the most complete version of the game right away, without having to follow the gradual rollout of paid content the way early Xbox 360 owners did.

Why play it: Anyone picking up Castle Crashers on PS3 gets the most complete version of the game with all the content at once, without having to follow the gradual release of paid expansions like the first Xbox 360 owners did.