The proudest pieces of your collection

[Ghost]

Hello,

Everyone who is a little bit of a game collector has perhaps over the years bought or been given games that were perhaps very rare or special, these could be average games but also games that set standard.

I myself have such a number of games and I was wondering if people here also have a couple of classics that will never leave their collection.

Mine are;

Wasteland (new, in original plastic package)
Sundog Frozen Legacy (similar)
Chrono Trigger (old but still looking good and complete)
Journeyman Project Pegasus Prime
Super Metroid

[Harrison]

You have an original of Chrono Trigger for the SNES? That is becoming very rare and the price is really shooting up. Some copies have gone on ebay for over £100.

I don't have any really rare games for older consoles. I probably have some for the Amiga but I don't really keep up with that the rare titles are.

I have some sort after and quite rare RPGs for the PSX. Tactics Ogre, Vanguard Bandits, Tales of Destiny, Vandal Hearts, Suikoden etc... Some of those are getting harder and harder to find and their prices are going up.

[LowercaseE]

Nice one with Chrono Trigger! I'd love to have that someday but I doubt I'll ever spend that amount of money. Some of my prizes:

2 working Turbo Duos, one practically new in box with all accessories
Beyond Shadowgate (Duo) - MINT condition with book and poster
Dracula X (Duo) - also mint condition
Street Fighter 2 CE (Duo) - mint condition
Super Metroid
Castlevania 1, 2, and 3 on NES
Ninja Gaiden 1, 2, and 3 on NES
Zelda 1 and 2 on NES
original top loading NES, can't find box but I know I've got it somewhere

[Teho]

I don't really keep up with what the rare titles are either, but I've heard the Kurushi games on the PSX are pretty rare, or fetch very good prices on e-bay at least. I have both, the original non-platinum releases. Opened and used a lot of course, but whole and still looking good.

Might just have other games that are considered rare too, but have no idea.

Hardware-wise, I managed to get my hands on a Commodore C128 a few weeks back. Those really aren't easy to find anymore. Only gave 200 Kr (£17-ish) for it, including a 1570 drive, some joysticks and a bunch of floppies. It works too. Pretty happy with that one. :)

[Puni/Void]

I have a few items in my collection I'm very happy to own. Many of the titles I've collected for the Amiga are from the 80's and in very good condition. Of all the games though, there is one that stands out from the rest in my collection. It might not be the rarest one or anything like that, but it has a lot of nostalgic value for me. It is the Secret of Monkey Island 2. It is the complete package with a wheel, manuals, 11 disks and so on. I remember the day when I bought it and went home to play. It was awesome.

[Ghost]

I kind of have the same with my copy of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis for the PC, unfortunate not big box but it was the first game I got when I got a PC.

[Harrison]

Hardware-wise, I managed to get my hands on a Commodore C128 a few weeks back. Those really aren't easy to find anymore. Only gave 200 Kr (£17-ish) for it, including a 1570 drive, some joysticks and a bunch of floppies. It works too. Pretty happy with that one. :)

That was a bargain, especially as it even came with the drive as many C64 and C128's sold these days don't come with anything.


it was the first game I got when I got a PC.

I think the first game you get for any system is something special. I still have the first games I purchased for most of the systems I own with the exception of my 8-bit Amstrad CPC and my Atari ST as I sold both those systems a while ago with all the software.

[Demon Cleaner]

I actually don't have much original games. Already at C64 times, I had 500 disks, but only copies, and I didn't have 1 original. I have some (about 30) tapes now which I got from a friend, but they are in a bad condition. They used to lie around at the attic, and also look that way. I once bought Racing Destruction Set on eBay, because this was one of my favorite C64 games.

As for the Amiga, I once bought an original, and that was Kick Off: Player Manager. I had to take the train to go to Germany to get the game, because here in Luxembourg, we had 2-3 computer shops at all, and they had of course no games.

But the whole trading in the schoolyard (almost dealing) was great, and I already had some friends at that time, which were into cracking and swapping, both C64 and later Amiga.

[Vangar]

I still have the mint condition Digiview gold, with packaging and manuals, and the colour wheel you need to use to take photos. I think thats pretty special :P.

[Ghost]

Hello Harrison,

Why did you sell your atari ST?

[Harrison]

Hello Harrison,

Why did you sell your atari ST?

I originally purchased an Atari ST in 1987 as I couldn't afford an Amiga at the time. The ST was about £100 less than an A500 at the time which was quite a lot in those days, especially when still at school and trying to save up for one.

The ST was quite a cool system and most of the games at the time were released for both the ST and Amiga, but the Amiga versions were always better. And the ST had a dire OS called GEM that was probably one of the worst graphical OS's ever released, except for early Windows releases! ST GEM makes Workbench 1.3 look amazing! Amazingly the GEM OS was even released on the PC at the time. I used it once on an old Amstrad PC and it was just as bad.

When I did eventually get an Amiga I practically stopped using the ST as it just wasn't as good at anything compared to the Amiga. I got the good games I had for the ST again for the Amiga so didn't really need the system any longer, but I did keep it for quite some time as there were a lot of demos, utilities, coverdisks and other stuff I had for it that were still fun to sometimes load.

But then the ST emulator Winston came out and I got hold of the complete scene releases of all ST software so the real system wasn't needed at all. That was when I finally decided to sell the system, along with the games, books and magazines I had for it. It had also developed a PSU fault which was common on STFMs. Sometimes it would just power off on it's own and you had to tap the case above and to the right of the keyboard to get it to come back on. Bit dodgy. :hmmm:

And comparing the ST and Amiga size by side in games it was easily clear the Amiga was superior in most respects: Amiga had 4 Channel stereo sound instead of 3 channel mono, 32 colours in game instead of 16, full overscan screenmodes available so that games could use the complete screen whereas ST always had a big border around the edge of the screen similar to 8-bit games (except some games that used special coding to trick the ST into a sort of overscan mode), and the Amiga had much better Copper and Blitter abilities that the ST.

ST fans would still argue it was better, even with all those things mentioned going against the ST.

Don't get me wrong, the ST was a great 16-bit system and far better than the 8-bit systems before it, but compared to the Amiga it was always inferior. I still got many years of enjoyment out of the ST though.

[J T]

Uh, I don't really have a collection of anything really. I have a few items that you don't see every day but they aren't super rare or anything.

Let's see...

Osu! Tatake! Ouendan! for the DS. It didn't sell in huge numbers in Japan but is quite easy to find on eBay or through an importer. Probably not something many people in the UK will have heard of or seen.

A Ford Racing Puma. They only made 500 of this particular special edition Puma and a fair few have been trashed, but there are always a fair few for sale if you look on enthusiast sites.

Um, stretching it a bit now but Ikaruga for the gamecube and the DVD of the proper French versions of Taxi 1 and 2 not the recent crappy American ones.

[Harrison]

I've also got the original French versions of the Taxi films. Those are great and really funny. The American remakes completely ruined them and I didn't even bother watching the whole of the US remake.

[AlexJ]

I've also got the original French versions of the Taxi films. Those are great and really funny. The American remakes completely ruined them and I didn't even bother watching the whole of the US remake.

Me too! They showed a part of the first film during a French lesson when I was at school, and I went and bought the DVD's after. One of those chance buys that turned out to be a good one.

[Teho]

I didn't even know there was Hollywood versions of those movies. The french ones are awesome though. But I've yet to see the third one.

[Demon Cleaner]

Third one's less good than the first two, but that's always that way. Lucky me I can watch them in original language, which is surely way better than the translated or subtitled ones ;)

[Harrison]

I always prefer to watch any film with its original soundtrack and subtitles, even if I can't speak the original language, rather than dubbed translations as they always sound bad. You can only get the true original emotion and atmosphere of the film that way.

I do understand some French so I understood some of the Taxi dialogue without needing to read the subtitles, and noticed how the subtitle translations were not always quite correct, especially some of the insults directed at the English, Japanese or Germans. :)

[J T]

I like watching them with the original dialogue too.

A friend has the third one but we haven't got round to watching it yet. I didn't even know there was a third one until he sent me a picture message of the box.

[Harrison]

Are the same actors in the third film? So often a third film in a series is low budget and has none of the original actors, making it more of a clone than a real sequel.

All this talk of these films has made me want to watch them again. I think I might later this evening. :)

[Demon Cleaner]

Same actors as before, they now even completed the 4th one, soon to be released now.

[Harrison]

That is good to have the same actors. A forth film too! Really need to get hold of the third and watch it soon.

[rayzorblue]

Always meant to watch those films jus never got round to it, anyhow the proudest peices of my collection are definately my game and watches and old school video game machines here is a selection of my favourites.
Grandstand Firefox F-7 (http://www.handheldmuseum.com/Grandstand/Firefox.htm)
Tomytronic 3-D Stereo Skyfighters (http://www.retrogames.co.uk/stock/assets/images/1HH_-_3D_Stereo_skyfighters.jpg)
Galaxy Invader-1000 CGL (http://www.handheldmuseum.com/CGL/GalaxyInvader1000.htm)
Coleco Head to Head Boxing (http://www.handheldmuseum.com/Coleco/H2HBoxing.htm)
Coleco Total Control 4 (http://www.handheldmuseum.com/Coleco/TC4.htm)
Nintendo Game and Watch Greenhouse GH-54 and Mario Bros MW-56

These are jus my favourites sorry if they arent relevant but im not sure i have any really classic games on any of my systems they are all classics to me i guess, although i do have many amiga and c64 games i dont even know if any of them work anymore to be honest.I do love my original gameboy as well with tetris.

[J T]

Ooh, we have the Tomytronic 3D "Thundering Turbos" somewhere, and also Game and Watch of Donkey Kong, and Safebuster.

All played extensively so no box or manual, and all show the signs of being used and loved by kids.

[Harrison]

I used to have a Game and Watch Donkey Kong but I remember it wore out and fell apart. :( That was sad. I wish I had taken better care of it at the time as it has become quite a collectable item and one I wish I still had in my collection.

[Demon Cleaner]

To come back to the CD32 console, I just got the new retroGAMER magazine, and it contains 10 pages about the CD32.

[Harrison]

Nice. I will have to try and pick up a copy tommorrow. I really should subscribe to Retro gamer again.

[Toasty667]

I have the first Dizzy compilation for the C64 with the receipt in the loft.:D

[Harrison]

How much did you pay for it?

I often come across receipts with old hardware and software and am often shocked about how much I actually paid for some of the items.

[Toasty667]

It was £10 I'm sure. I remember (how the hell do I remember this stuff from an eon ago and yet not what I had for breakfast this morning?) I borrowed the money from my dad as I didn't bring it with me on the day. Magic Land Dizzy was my favourite. Took me a long time to get used to those games though.

[v85rawdeal]

I cant really say if any of these are considered very rare nowadays but these are the pride of my collection of software on various machines.

Amstrad CPC 464
Bard's Tale
Gauntlet + The Deeper Dungeons

Atari ST
Midwinter

Amiga
Elvira -Mistress of the Dark (The adventure version)
Elite
Frontier

PS1
Monster Rancher x 3 (1 open, 2 sealed)
Diablo

PS2
Gitaroo Man
Unlimited Saga

PC
Daggerfall
Battlespire
Carmageddon Max Pack (The uncensored version, complete with cheat book, mousemat and key fob)

As I said, nothing spectacular (afaik) but I am pleased with what I have retained, especially from the 8 & 16-bit era.

[Demon Cleaner]

I have Racing Destruction Set for C64, and it comes in a double LP like cover. A bit smaller, not LP but EP I would say. Best racing game for the C64, eventually best game overall, I played years!! There's a course editor, and best of all, you can build hills (ski jumps) and chose between 10 different cars. You can also race on various moons and planets, where the gravity is other than on earth, thus not crashing when making mega jumps.

Similar game nowadays would be the Trackmania series.

[Harrison]

Unlimited Saga

Why Unlimited Saga? Is it at all rare?

I've got the game, and am ashamed to say I've never actually even played the disc in my PS2 yet. I found it online new and sealed and although I did open it to look at the packaging that is as far as it has currently gone. I still have the older Saga games on the PS1 to complete first :lol:

[Demon Cleaner]

I didn't see that post. Unlimited Saga isn't even 2 years old I think, definitely nothing rare.

[Harrison]

I checked the game cover and was surprised to find Unlimited Saga was actually released in 2002-3 (depending on region). So it is actually 4-5 years old. Scary how time passes.

It does come with some very nice fold out packaging and a slip cover, and the art work looks good too. My version also comes with a second disc containing the FFX-2 Eternal Calm: Prologue which could add to making it more of a collectors item as time goes on.

Although as my copy is a PAL release I did notice the usual practice of printing the manual in b/w had been done. Not sure if the US version was in colour, but in previous cases where I've imported a US version of a PS1 or PS2 I've found that if the PAL manual is B/W, the US manuals are always in colour. A bit annoying.

[v85rawdeal]

Unlimited Saga

Why Unlimited Saga? Is it at all rare?

I've got the game, and am ashamed to say I've never actually even played the disc in my PS2 yet. I found it online new and sealed and although I did open it to look at the packaging that is as far as it has currently gone. I still have the older Saga games on the PS1 to complete first :lol:


It was a game that, after about 4 months of release, had completely disappeared from the shelves (even second hand) from all the shops I visited. Which is bizarre because it is NOT the greatest game ever, but marked a noticeable departure from the normal Squaresoft games, and I particularly love the artwork all the way through the game.

[Harrison]

It isn't actually that uncommon for a title to nearly disappear from all mainstream stores within months of release. Many titles that don't have the current big promotional launches are very hard to find after just 6 months.

[J T]

It isn't actually that uncommon for a title to nearly disappear from all mainstream stores within months of release. Many titles that don't have the current big promotional launches are very hard to find after just 6 months.

Hmm, quite. The top 10 games account for 90% of all sales (or something like that, is a commonly quoted thing), but it becomes almost self-propagating as the big shops only want things that will sell, so cut back on older games, so the only ones that can sell are the chart games...... websites and indie game shops are where I get a lot of my games from (and the internet.. yarrr.....). Oh, and supermarkets too as they are dirt cheap for many releases :ninja:

[Ghost]

It isn't actually that uncommon for a title to nearly disappear from all mainstream stores within months of release. Many titles that don't have the current big promotional launches are very hard to find after just 6 months.

I should now, Harrison probably does too because we talked about it while I was looking for a game.

Why do such games disappear so quickly after being released?
Last I was looking for a game in a store that wasn't that old but I couldn't find it anywhere, only a few specialised stores still had it.

In the meantime you see loads of movie or cartoon tie-ins that are months old, and in most cases are pretty average.

[Agram]

Out of interest, what are opinions of keeping old floppy disk games? As it's inevitable that the disks will fail eventually, which is the reason I ended up selling my old Amiga games collection, and some of my DOS games.

Currently I've only got these remaining floppy based games, that I will be miffed about when they fail, on PC:
Eye of the Beholder
Ultima Underworld 2

Also wonder if there's any point to buying current games "Special Editions" that seem to charge a £10 premium, for the collectability in the future. As would of liked to have owned Arena: The Elder Scrolls CD versions, and Homeworld: Game of the Year edition.

[Puni/Void]

When future collectors look at Amiga games for example, I assume that they would like to get their hands on the complete package. By that I mean they would like to have, say Monkey Island, complete with manual, code wheel and floppy disks. Even if the floppies doesn't work properly, they are still part of the product as it was when sold in the beginning of the 90's.

As for special editions, I doubt many of the will reach a high value in the future. There are probably exceptions here, but in general, I don't think so.

[AlexJ]

When future collectors look at Amiga games for example, I assume that they would like to get their hands on the complete package. By that I mean they would like to have, say Monkey Island, complete with manual, code wheel and floppy disks. Even if the floppies doesn't work properly, they are still part of the product as it was when sold in the beginning of the 90's.

That's true, they become like antiques and don't get used for their original purpose but based on how complete and the condition of the physical product.

[Harrison]

That is very true. There will come a time when collecting of the original hardware and software for any system from the 8 and 16bit eras will just be for collecting purposes and will not be physically used.