Collections Agency

When he’s not out assassinating or wooing women, Assassin’s Creed II’s Ezio can be found hopping from rooftop to rooftop, collecting eagle feathers. There are 100 of them scattered throughout the game, and players who manage to track them all down earn a colossally disappointing reward. That got us thinking about some of the other collect-a-thons we’ve played over the years – games with great and not-so-great bonuses for tracking down an arbitrary number of doodads.

Warning: Spoilers ahead. Proceed with caution.

Assassin’s Creed
The original Assassin’s Creed managed to pack in one of the worst examples of collecting in recent memory with its flag hunt. Little effort went into explaining why Altaïr was even picking up these things in the first place. If you managed to scour the countryside and cities for each of the 420 hidden flags, your reward was an Achievement and, well, that’s it.
Worth the hassle? Nope.

Super Mario 64
Stars served a dual purpose in Nintendo’s classic platformer. In addition to acting as gatekeepers for the various worlds, players who collected all 120 of them got a special bonus: One hundred extra lives and a quick meeting with Yoshi. Of course, by the time you’ve scored all the celestial prizes, you’re probably just about done with the game. It’s a nice gesture, though.
Worth the hassle? Nope.

Super Mario Galaxy
In the Wii game, Nintendo gave a belated gift to players who found Mario 64’s prize underwhelming. Once again, collecting 120 stars unlocks the bonus, though in this case it’s a bit more substantial. The reward? It’s Luigi! He’s playable, though his awful controls make him more of a novelty than anything else.
Worth the hassle? Nope.

Halo 3
Halo 3’s hidden skulls are more than just mere tokens. Each one activates a game-modifying ability, changing up things like the amount of ammo that dropped weapons contain or how much health NPCs have. They’re tricky to find, but at least there aren’t 420 of them. Seriously.
Worth the hassle? Yep.

Grand Theft Auto III
There are 100 hidden packages scattered throughout Liberty City. What’s in them, anyway? Drugs? Money? Kittens? No matter the contents, players who keep an eye out for them unlock item drops near save points, ensuring easy access to weapons and armor. Find all of them and a rocket launcher is there for the taking, at no cost.
Worth the hassle? Yep.

Grand Theft Auto IV
When Rockstar revisited Liberty City years later, mere packages would no longer suffice. Niko had to track down 200 flying rats (pigeons) in order to unlock an Annihilator attack helicopter. Tracking them down was only part of the deal, too. Each of the pests had to be put down with a bullet, running the risk of creating panic among the citizenry. Aren’t they used to that by now?
Worth the hassle? Nope.

Borderlands
Gearbox’s FPS RPG hybrid is all about collecting guns, so it’s no surprise that it contains some formalized collecting, too. Several missions require players to scour Pandora’s landscape for gun parts. Cash them in and score a new weapon. For the most part, however, the weapons weren’t appreciably better than what players would find while searching. Not that we’re complaining about bonus loot, mind you.
Worth the hassle? Nope.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Sonic’s been collecting things way before it was cool. Sure, Sega’s mascot grabbed Chaos Emeralds in his first game, but it wasn’t until the sequel that we knew exactly why. After pocketing seven of the gems from the bonus stages, Sonic transformed into Super Sonic—a hyper-powered version who moved faster, consuming rings in the process.
Worth the hassle? Nope.

Banjo-Kazooie
All you did in Banjo-Kazooie was collect stuff.
Worth the hassle? Yep.

Final Fantasy X
The Al Bhed are a mysterious group of people in Final Fantasy X’s world. They speak a strange dialect that’s impossible to understand without first acquiring translation primers. Once players have located all 26 of these things, they gain the ability to understand their dialogue and earn items that can be used to upgrade weapons.
Worth the hassle? Yep.

Skies of Arcadia
Fina’s flexible pet Cupil transforms into a variety of weapons in this swashbuckling RPG. Players who scrounge around the globe for 30 Cham seeds can help the critter achieve his full potential, doubling his attack power and allowing him to hit like a tank.
Worth the hassle? Yep.

Crackdown
OK, Assassin’s Creed has nothing on Crackdown. You’re complaining about 420 flags? How about 500 hidden orbs? In its defense, the game alerts players when they’re close to one of the agility-enhancing items with an audible pinging alert. If all of them are discovered, an Achievement unlocks and…that’s it.
Worth the hassle? Nope.

Are you a completionist? Do you like searching for hidden items, or do you think it’s a nuisance? Can you think of a game that made it worthwhile? We’d love to hear your thoughts.