Our videos of Toy Story's nostalgic return

Driftwood
Wednesday, October 14, 2026 | 3:00 PM
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If there are still a few old-school gamers hanging around here who aren’t quite as seasoned as the rest, there’s a good chance that the release of Toy Story in theaters in 1995 made you want to see Buzz and Woody again on the screen of your console back then. If you’ve been craving a little trip down memory lane as 2026 draws to a close, Digital Eclipse has got you, and your kids, covered with this week’s release of Toy Story: Retro Roundup! and Toy Story 3 Complete Edition. Since we’re more determined than ever to go to infinity and beyond for you, we’ve put together a quick written rundown inside, but of course we’ve also prepared two in-depth gameplay videos to go along with it all.

Verdict

We’re not going to lie, the release of a compilation featuring all the Toy Story games from the 16-bit and 32-bit eras took us a bit by surprise. We obviously know Digital Eclipse for their excellent work restoring classic cult titles, but above all for the way the studio lets us rediscover their history through videos, artwork, and a whole host of other goodies designed to delight both those feeling nostalgic and those curious about retro gaming. Following Tetris, Mortal Kombat, Karateka, and the celebration of 50 years of Atari games, Toy Story: Retro Roundup! sticks to the same formula. While the very first Toy Story game made a relatively significant impact on its era with its digitized visuals, it remains a very classic platformer that clearly hasn’t made it into the genre’s hall of fame. The same could probably be said of the other titles included in this compilation, even though the adaptation of Toy Story 2 certainly left a mark on the children of that era on the original PlayStation. As is often the case, the Game Boy or Game Boy Color versions of these games aren’t the most enjoyable to play, but we imagine that those who played them when they first came out will still shed a tear or two. Since we were already too old to try these games in the late ’90s, we can’t confirm how effective they are at triggering nostalgia, but we have to acknowledge the care that went into the overall presentation. Image settings are also available to replicate the look of CRT screens (curved or flat), but the filters can be completely disabled, and you can even change the aspect ratio if 4:3 doesn’t suit you. The PlayStation catalog featured here perhaps shows its age more noticeably, due to somewhat clunky controls resulting from the lack of a free-roaming camera, but aside from Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (2000)—which we found rather tedious to play—the gameplay remains decent. It’s just a shame that only the first feature film was adapted for the Mega Drive and Super Nintendo, since 2D games from that era still hold up pretty well today. It should be noted, however, that in this first Toy Story game, it’s not always easy to figure out what’s expected of you. The inclusion of the game A Bug's Life came as quite a surprise to us (the film’s two heroes do appear in the Toy Story 2 blooper reel, but that’s the only connection we could find between the two franchises), especially since the two versions included (PlayStation and Game Boy) are far from essential. Nevertheless, we applaud the preservation efforts Digital Eclipse has been undertaking for the past few years, as we believe this work is truly important today.

Though more recent, Toy Story 3 has also received a minor facelift to bring it up to date in a new edition that lets you play it at 60 frames per second (and up to 4K) on current-generation consoles. The PC version shown below already allowed players to enjoy the original at a higher frame rate back in 2010, but it’s now fully compatible with modern machines and can, of course, be purchased on Steam and other stores (unless we’re mistaken, this wasn’t the case before). It’s worth noting that the original game was developed by the French studio Asobo, which has since become famous for the excellent A Plague Tale series and its incredible work on the last two Flight Simulator titles for Xbox and Microsoft. If you’ve already had the chance to play this loose adaptation of the 2010 feature film, you’ll know that it’s a really enjoyable action-platformer. Unsurprisingly, revisiting the Story Mode levels with the vast majority of the French voice cast from the movies is a real treat, and we’d even go so far as to say that this makes this version far more immersive than the original version for once (our apologies to Tom Hanks’ brother, who stands in for him in all the Toy Story games, toys, and attractions). Toy Box mode is, of course, back, featuring a small Wild West town that you can freely explore and where you’re asked to complete various objectives, such as decorating buildings (with four additional packs added to customize them even further in this new version) or dressing up the town’s residents. Since they won't be able play GTA 6, kids will have fun with this, especially since they’ve never been able to enjoy a single Toy Story game on PC or home consoles since the release of the third installment of Woody and Buzz Lightyear’s adventures in theaters. A local two-player co-op mode has also been added for this release, available for both the main story levels and the Toy Chest. There’s nothing else worth noting, however, as this Toy Story 3 Complete Edition unfortunately doesn’t include any of the bonuses from the Round Up compilation. It’s certainly a bit of a shame since the game’s development is much more recent, but that clearly wasn’t the goal here. While you can purchase a bundle that includes both the compilation of games from the ’90s and 2000s and this Toy Story 3 title, you can also buy it on its own—which we think is a pretty smart move. As far as we’re concerned, this title is clearly the one that ultimately caught our attention the most, and you can be sure your kids will still really enjoy it if they’re fans of the franchise’s universe.