Anyone collect 80s and 90s big box pc games?

[Megazap | 3]

There is a lot of good stuff, I find it hard to dismiss just because they are for pcs.

Just wondering if there are any collectors in general for dos and amiga ,also since I'm looking for stuff, especially the boxed commander keen games. 

[BreaKBeatZ | 136]

Yes sir!

FYI - Commander Keen is very expensive to collect, as are all Apogee games.

 

 

[DefaultGen | 5,811]

I pick up games here and there. I don't have much pre-big box vintage stuff like plastic baggie and folder releases which are just nuts to me, but thankfully the best 90s stuff like Starcraft, Half-Life, Quake, Civilization, Sim City, Diablo, and all are super common. I'd love a copy of Commander Keen in Goodbye Galaxy but I'm not really looking to shell out for it. There's so much more on PC I want and if you stay away from collector "hot spots" like Apogee, Id, and early Sierra stuff, they generally cost next to nothing. Although the very best stuff on PC is still cheap compared to Nintendo games.

[VegHead | 129]

I do collect some, but I am more apt to buy the GOG or Steam versions these days.  I have one or two Goldbox SSI AD&D games (Pool of Radiance), some older Star Wars titles like TIE Fighter and X-Wing, a cool puzzle game called Challenge of the Ancient Empires, and some other random ones.  The appeal for me is whether they included extra stuff in the big-box title that isn't replicated in a digital release.  And Star Wars games.  I just like those.

[Deadeye | 1,603]

Very small collection.  Doom II and Ultimate Doom.  Both for DOS on floppy disk.

Not big box, but I have Windows 3.1 + manual sealed.

[Gloves | 12,454]

Not really a collector, though I would specifically pick up a copy of Might and Magic 7 if one happened to be readily and easily available to me.

[DorkOverlord | 689]

I collect old DOS games on floppy and CD-ROM. I don't have a huge collection, but it's growing slowly and they all still work.

 

[Cepp | 34]

Somewhat yes, space is just an issue really and I recently had to put my CRT monitor into storage (currently looking at connecting my Win 98 PC via the OSSC). There's a lot of good stuff out there that doesn't go for very much. Most Apogee stuff doesn't interest me but I would like to pick up all of Sierra's JP localisations and the Gold Box games at some point.

Edited February 22, 2020 by Cepp

[BreaKBeatZ | 136]

On 2/21/2020 at 4:04 AM, Megazap said:

There is a lot of good stuff, I find it hard to dismiss just because they are for pcs.

Just wondering if there are any collectors in general for dos and amiga ,also since I'm looking for stuff, especially the boxed commander keen games. 

I think they display extremely nicely too. Here are two of my shelves:

 

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

Just a single boxed copy of Brood War for me. Other than that, no.

[nesmaster14 | 473]

I haven't bought any in years but here's my small stash.  I've always enjoyed the art/design from that era.  I need to grab more.

[Lago | 254]

I thought about this.  It really comes down to space for me.  But when I do I usually go after the fmv games.  This is a guilty pleasure for me.  I can’t even explain why really, but I find I enjoy those games.

[Strange | 1,738]

I want to get into it but it’s hard for me to justify when I don’t have a machine to play them on. I used to have a nice boxed copy of Wing Commander but I ended up trading it for a pile of games I really wanted and could play. I’ve got a big box copy of Starcraft somewhere.

And I’ve got some weird German big box PC game where Rayman teaches you English.

Edited February 23, 2020 by The Strangest

[Tanooki | 5,193]

If they hadn't turned into some collectors nightmare I most definitely would be.  I do keep up on it, and randomly I'll buy them, mostly local when they pop up as they're cheap.  The few I do have are spread between a hollow square storage box/foot stand and a small area of a shelf I have it's that few.  I'd argue quality over quantity though with some of it at least, no shame here for owning what I have, and that includes stuff like Knights of Xentar and Powerdolls, to the common things like the Diablo1+2 chest, Maxis Collection 3(SC, Tower, Isle), Lemmings, Starcraft, etc.  They're all more recent pick ups though, but I have since it came out retained one, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis.  The art on that one is stunning, done by Drew Struzan who did all the movie posters.

[BreaKBeatZ | 136]

16 hours ago, Tanooki said:

If they hadn't turned into some collectors nightmare I most definitely would be.  I do keep up on it, and randomly I'll buy them, mostly local when they pop up as they're cheap.  The few I do have are spread between a hollow square storage box/foot stand and a small area of a shelf I have it's that few.  I'd argue quality over quantity though with some of it at least, no shame here for owning what I have, and that includes stuff like Knights of Xentar and Powerdolls, to the common things like the Diablo1+2 chest, Maxis Collection 3(SC, Tower, Isle), Lemmings, Starcraft, etc.  They're all more recent pick ups though, but I have since it came out retained one, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis.  The art on that one is stunning, done by Drew Struzan who did all the movie posters.

Why do you think they are a collector's nightmare? Just curious.

[arch_8ngel | 1,597]

On 2/22/2020 at 1:50 PM, BreaKBeatZ said:

I think they display extremely nicely too. Here are two of my shelves:

 

Great looking stuff!  

Even has Darklands!  Those shelves really do cover the range of PC RPG and Strategy from the 90's.

[Tanooki | 5,193]

9 hours ago, BreaKBeatZ said:

Why do you think they are a collector's nightmare? Just curious.

Various reasons, but it comes down to a mash up of not even condition, but just completeness of a specific version, commonality, and obviously price.  It's a mixed bag of problems in the end and we're talking big boxes died out like more or less 20 years ago now so they're fewer and farther between too complete or not.  Some things really just had disks or disc(cd) in there and a retaining cardboard frame over a big box with a sheet or two.  The other end of the range would be a stack of discs, security password device/script, various papers, manuals, maps sometimes even out of cloth, other niknaks, etc.  Perhaps couple in something annoying to boost the crave more like tied to a popular franchise and it can get insane.  There's just so many factors and subfactors in getting into it and what you want out of it, it's a real pain as they're far less uniform than just being some CIB NES or Gameboy collector as they're at least pretty standardized and PC never was.

[BreaKBeatZ | 136]

On ‎2‎/‎24‎/‎2020 at 3:36 PM, arch_8ngel said:

Great looking stuff!  

Even has Darklands!  Those shelves really do cover the range of PC RPG and Strategy from the 90's.

Darklands is one of the greatest RPGs ever! I have the clue book too, which is much more interesting than most clue books because it shows how in depth the game mechanics were.

 

It's nice to see someone else here who appreciates the game  

[BreaKBeatZ | 136]

15 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Various reasons, but it comes down to a mash up of not even condition, but just completeness of a specific version, commonality, and obviously price.  It's a mixed bag of problems in the end and we're talking big boxes died out like more or less 20 years ago now so they're fewer and farther between too complete or not.  Some things really just had disks or disc(cd) in there and a retaining cardboard frame over a big box with a sheet or two.  The other end of the range would be a stack of discs, security password device/script, various papers, manuals, maps sometimes even out of cloth, other niknaks, etc.  Perhaps couple in something annoying to boost the crave more like tied to a popular franchise and it can get insane.  There's just so many factors and subfactors in getting into it and what you want out of it, it's a real pain as they're far less uniform than just being some CIB NES or Gameboy collector as they're at least pretty standardized and PC never was.

Interesting, that's exactly what I love about PC collecting. There was a phase of big box releases where basically every game felt like a Collector's Edition because of its inserts. Lore books to accompany the rule books, trinkets in the box, cloth maps, security wheels and more. And you can always discover new cool things inside other people's big boxes. Much communication was done via mail, so it's fun to find envelopes from the developer inside with patch disks or letters answering questions.

 

Console collecting is starting to get very nuanced too. Like getting the first print matte sticker black box game, or Mario 3 with "bros" on the left, non-NFR Sonic, Dr. Wright Megaman, orange lettered MTPO. Strangely, I have no desire to collect those even though I love collecting all of the extras for PC games.

 

Anyway, I understand where you are coming from, but just wanted to share what I love about collecting PC games.

[arch_8ngel | 1,597]

44 minutes ago, BreaKBeatZ said:

Darklands is one of the greatest RPGs ever! I have the clue book too, which is much more interesting than most clue books because it shows how in depth the game mechanics were.

 

It's nice to see someone else here who appreciates the game  

I picked it up, new, in probably 1996 or 1997 for $5 in a computer shop that sold all kinds of miscellaneous components.

I was the only one of my friends that still had a 5 1/4" floppy drive, so I remember copying the game to 3 1/2" floppies to share.

 

One of my buddies figured out, pretty early on, that you could age up an alchemist/potion-maker to 85 years old, so that he had TONS of abilities, but then you have to keep him out of combat while he supports your crew with all kinds of potions you'd otherwise never learn how to make.

 

I don't think we ever got very far in the game, though, because there was some kind of critical failure in the game that it would always crash when you ran into some demon encounter.

I have it in my GOG catalog now, and I keep meaning to get back into it.

Edited February 25, 2020 by arch_8ngel

[Startyde | 180]

Some. I feel like big box PC are an untapped and unappreciated market since obviously PC moved away from physical way before consoles did, and today a physical PC game is a quaint rarity.

Im especially find of the era of the FMV, the half decade where we mastered cheap storage capacity but not cost effective poly crunching GPUs. 

Edited February 26, 2020 by Startyde

[snk2d4ever | 96]

If a game comes out on multiple mediums(floppy, cd, etc.) what is the most collectible? I would assume the oldest?

[BreaKBeatZ | 136]

12 hours ago, snk2d4ever said:

If a game comes out on multiple mediums(floppy, cd, etc.) what is the most collectible? I would assume the oldest?

I would say that general rule, most PC collectors determine the "best" version based on these criteria, with

1. Release date

2. Rarity

3. DOS gets preference over others, but not always, based on 1 and 2. After that, it goes Apple, C64, and Atari (of course not all games were available for all computers) Amiga is an outlier, and I have never dabbled in collecting for other international computers like the ZX Spectrum or MSX.

[KHAN Games | 150]

I mostly just collect Sierra stuff. I have some King's Quest, Police Quest, Space Quest, and of course lots of Leisure Suit Larry, along with generic stuff like Windows 3.1.

Definitely want to complete these game sets but I don't pour a lot of effort into it. Cool to see other enthusiasts!

[fcgamer | 5,058]

I occasionally grab some Taiwanese originals, or if I run across a big box Taiwan version of a western game while out and about, I might grab it. Not a huge collector though, it's just one road I don't want to go down.