Sometimes, a game is simply special in its own right. Other times, it's special because of an attachment you have to it—an overlap with an important moment in your life, or even the cause of that important moment. The Alto Collection combines two games that fit both categories.

Alto’s Adventure and Alto’s Odyssey were originally mobile games that later received glorious PC ports. Both are endless runners in which a little chap called Alto either snowboards or sandboards his way through infinite serene landscapes, gathering coins, llamas, and power-ups. They are, in some sense, incredibly simple games—yet both compel you to play and replay and replay.

Alto (and other characters you unlock later) has a single move: jump. His speed as he endlessly glides from left to right is determined by the tricks you perform, while his progress is determined by timing your jumps to avoid rocks, ravines, and fires. That is genuinely it. And yet this single simple mechanic is delivered with such smoothness, in such a rewarding feedback loop, that with every crash you’ll be hammering buttons to start over.

You always have a set of three challenges to tackle on-the-go—perhaps to travel for 2,000 meters or land a double-backflip—which advances your level when completed. Every ten levels you unlock a new character, and new sets of delightful challenges to complete. The combination of beautifully chosen colors and calming music (which you’ll need after you hit a damn rock for the 293rd time) makes for a warm, gentle time.

Different characters have different skill sets, but only barely. Maya, the first you’ll unlock in both Alto's Adventure and Alto's Odyssey, is slightly slower at building speed but slightly faster at flips. Paz, who follows, is a slow starter but builds better momentum. Izel, who appears at level 30, has a rocket-powered snowboard! It’s level 40 before you get to play as a llama.

All those coins you’re picking up are useful too. There’s a workshop you can visit between runs—operated by Izel, as it happens—where you can buy new advantages to improve your chances. There’s a helmet that lets you survive one crash, for instance, and a “Chasm Rescue” that will fish you out of the first big hole you fall down. They’re very small tweaks, but build on the progress you’re already making simply by getting better and better at the game.

It also happens that the Alto games were favorites of a wonderful man named Mike Fahey, one of the best games journalists we ever had, who tragically died last year. Every time we play Alto’s Adventure or Alto’s Odyssey, it’s like reconnecting with a lost friend. His sonorous voice echoes somewhere in the distance, the game reflecting his endless fondness and affable nature.

The Alto Collection contains the sorts of games that provide a canvas for such evocative reactions. They’re sanguine without being crass, somber without being maudlin. And more than anything else, they’re hooky fun that will compel you to have just one more try, for the nine-thousandth time in a row.