Publishers charging full price for ports isn't new. But some of these price tags genuinely require a second look.
A fresh breakdown of the 10 most expensive video game ports ever released puts some uncomfortable numbers on the table. We're talking $60 for a 3DS game with a new coat of paint, $80 for a version of Skyrim that has existed on virtually every platform since 2011, and $40 for a Call of Duty port that doesn't meaningfully improve on the original. The list runs the gamut from Nintendo to Rockstar to Bethesda, and the pattern is hard to ignore.
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The Nintendo entries that sting the most
Nintendo shows up multiple times here, and not in a flattering way. Super Mario 3D All-Stars launched in September 2020 at $59.99, bundling Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy to celebrate Mario's 35th anniversary. It was a limited-time release, which meant that once Nintendo pulled it from storefronts, physical copies started climbing on the secondary market. What you actually got for $60 was three ports with minimal upgrades.
Then there's the Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2 bundle that arrived in October 2025 at $70. Yes, both games look good and run on Switch 2, but $70 for a pair of Wii titles from the late 2000s is a stretch. Solo buyers can grab Super Mario Galaxy alone for $40, which is only a small mercy if you already own Super Mario 3D All-Stars and don't want to double-dip.
Luigi's Mansion 2 HD rounds out Nintendo's appearances on this list at $60. The original 3DS release cost $40. The HD version adds visual polish and moves the game to Switch, but the $20 price jump is hard to justify when its follow-up, Luigi's Mansion 3, launched on more powerful hardware at the same $60 price point.
Rockstar's GTA trilogy: paying more for something worse
Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition landed in November 2021 at $60, but the real story is what happened just before it arrived. Rockstar pulled the original versions of GTA 3, Vice City, and San Andreas from digital storefronts ahead of launch, leaving the Definitive Edition as the only way to buy these games digitally. That $60 bundle then shipped with broken weather effects, plastic-looking character models, missing radio tracks, and performance issues that took years of patches to partially fix.
Here's the thing: the original trilogy was available as a $30 bundle before Rockstar removed it. Players paid double for what was, at launch, a noticeably worse product. The games are in much better shape now, but the launch-day situation remains one of the more egregious examples of premium pricing without premium delivery. If you're picking up GTA 6 and want to understand what Rockstar charges for different tiers of content, the GTA 6 editions guide covering prices and pre-order bonuses is worth a read for context on how the publisher structures its releases.
The full list at a glance
Skyrim's ongoing price experiment
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim has become a running joke about platform ubiquity, but the pricing structure is where it crosses from amusing to genuinely frustrating. The Switch version launched in 2017 at $60 and has since dropped to $50, but that price doesn't include the DLC. Getting the full experience requires either a $20 upgrade or buying the Anniversary Edition outright at $60. Players who supported the game early effectively pay more to reach feature parity with new buyers.
The Switch 2 version offers a free upgrade for players who already own the Switch version with its DLC. Everyone else pays $18.99. The PS4/PS5 version handles it more cleanly, with the Anniversary Edition covering both console generations for $50 total. The key here is that Skyrim's value depends entirely on which version you bought, when you bought it, and what you already own.
What the pattern actually tells us
Red Dead Redemption at $50 stings because the PS3 original still sells for $30 on that platform. The $10 gap between this remaster and Red Dead Redemption 2 is not a good look. Burnout Paradise Remastered on Switch launched at $50 while the PS4 version was available for far less, and the Switch version eventually dropped to $30 permanently. Sonic Colors Ultimate shipped at $40 with enough bugs at launch to make the asking price feel actively hostile, including save file corruption that took time to resolve.
The Call of Duty: Black Ops and Black Ops 2 ports that arrived on PS4 and PS5 in July 2026 are the freshest entries on this list. Both are $40 each, which is more than double what physical copies of the originals cost on older hardware. DLC is sold separately for another $30. PlayStation Plus members get 50% off, bringing the price to where it probably should have started.
Ports and remasters aren't going anywhere, especially with the Switch 2 expanding the audience for classic titles. The gap between what publishers charge and what players actually receive is worth tracking closely. If you want to see how premium pricing plays out in a current major release, check out everything included in the GTA 6 Ultimate Edition to see what $100 actually buys you in 2026. For more breakdowns across games old and new, the full gaming guides hub has you covered.
