BigHit Series

BigHit Series
Official BigHit Series badges and banner used on PlayStation game covers.
Platforms	PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita
Platform of origin	PlayStation 2
Year of inception	2004

BigHit Series are video games for the Korean Sony PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Portable consoles that have been officially re-released at a lower price by Sony and third parties that meet specific criteria. While the term "BigHit series" only applies to selections in South Korea, equivalent programs exist in North America (as "Greatest Hits"), PAL territories (as "Essentials"), and Japan and Asia (as "The Best")

The BigHit Series program was first released for PlayStation 2 on October 1, 2004 by Sony Computer Entertainment Korea (SCEK) for games that were distributed in South Korea. SCEK's official press release on September 30, 2004, stated (modified translation) that users of the PlayStation 2 hardware in Korea for the first time can purchase popular classic PlayStation 2 games, and enjoy them at an affordable cost; helping users to an existing genre preference due to several issues of being out-of-stock, or the user did not try the game.

All BigHit Series games were released at the price of 26,800KRW. Historically exchange rates dating back to October 2004 show that was slightly above 23.25USD (1 USD ~= 1147 KRW)

The translated press release by SCEK suggests that there might have been 6 games already released to PlayStation 2 owners in June of the same year; leading to 15 BigHit series games being released by the start of October 2004. The first 7 - 15 games released under the BigHit series title were : Minna no Golf 3, Gitaroo Man, Time Crisis 3, The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Need for Speed: Underground, SSX 3, WWE Smackdown! Shut Your Mouth, Final Fantasy X International, and Shin Sangoku Musō 2.