I have some cool stuff here in Australia that a lot of you might find interesting.

AD&D Limited Edition Collector's Set #433 of 3000. I'm sceptical that there were only 3000 of these, seem to see them all the time.

Hillsfar. Not rare, but this copy is still sealed so still has the poster sticker and the EAD Electronic Arts Distribution gold sticker.

Some Australian ECP plastic box releases.

Australia's Most Wanted Games version of SC2000, this copy is also still sealed.

Review Copies of Might and Magic 4 and A-Train. Note that A-Train is still sealed and the Review Copy sticker is stuck on the box underneath the plastic film.

Most countries I think didn't get a big box release of Might and Magic 9 but we did here in Australia. This is one of my most prized possessions as it is the only big box game I still own that I actually bought myself at a game store back in the day.

Bard's Tale Trilogy big box. Don't see these much so I think it's fairly rare.

An Australian Manaccom release of Commander Keen 4.

An Australian Ozisoft release of Monkey Island. Ozisoft printed there own box for these with "Red Hot Software $29.95" on the side. This is not my original copy, but I did buy one exactly like this in my youth, the first game I ever bought.

GoblinUpTheRoad wrote:

I have some cool stuff here in Australia that a lot of you might find interesting.

Some wicked items! Commented on some of my faves below.

GoblinUpTheRoad wrote:

http://members.aussiebroadband.com.au/kanem/pic/01.jpg […]
Show full quote

AD&D Limited Edition Collector's Set #433 of 3000. I'm sceptical that there were only 3000 of these, seem to see them all the time.

Very nice! Does it have the scroll inside with the set number on it? These sets were released for PC, Amiga and C64 (I have one of each), which is why they may seem common - from memory there were 5,000 sets for Amiga, so there were probably 10s of thousands of copies for all platforms. Lots of which will be junked now though 🙁

GoblinUpTheRoad wrote:

http://members.aussiebroadband.com.au/kanem/pic/03.jpg […]
Show full quote

Some Australian ECP plastic box releases.

I'm in awe of this collection 😀

GoblinUpTheRoad wrote:

http://members.aussiebroadband.com.au/kanem/pic/09.jpg […]
Show full quote

An Australian Ozisoft release of Monkey Island. Ozisoft printed there own box for these with "Red Hot Software $29.95" on the side. This is not my original copy, but I did buy one exactly like this in my youth, the first game I ever bought.

Recently picked up this one too. Haven't played it before so looking forward to having a go.

CrossBow777 wrote:

Since I didn't really include pics on my post and I was asked about it, I made a fairly short video on my YT channel where I show two of the games I have signed by George 'The Fat Man' Sanger and some of my beta versions of some games from Sierra/Dynamix that I was a beta tester on in the late 90s.

https://youtu.be/gRd3PphnMqg

Nice video!

GoblinUpTheRoad wrote:

I have some cool stuff here in Australia that a lot of you might find interesting. http://members.aussiebroadband.com.au/kanem/p […]
Show full quote

I have some cool stuff here in Australia that a lot of you might find interesting.

AD&D Limited Edition Collector's Set #433 of 3000. I'm sceptical that there were only 3000 of these, seem to see them all the time.

I knew about Forgotten Realms Archives, but this is the first time I see AD&D Limited Edition whose photo you posted above.

Anyway, while we're at it, what makes a game obscure? An example is Wing Commander: Kilrathi Saga. It was indeed very rare some years ago, but it isn't obscure; the game is pretty much well known.

And how did you find out about the said obscure game on the first place? Navy Strike is pretty much obscure. I have never found a CGW review about it, and the game is barely mentioned on SimHQ either. The first time I discovered about the game is in a short preview of Flying Nightmares: Commandant in a CGW issue. In the preview there was a line saying, "could this be Navy Strike done right?" That was the very first time I read about Navy Strike, but it also stirred my interest, since I always love flight sims with strategic elements like Their Finest Hour, Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe, and Total Air War.

Below is my copy of Stronghold by SSI (no, not that other Stronghold). By the way, the color-covered, ring-bound manual is the result of my obsessive-compulsive disorder. Stronghold is pretty hard to find on ebay, but is it also obscure?

The game is rare, but is it also obscure?

JidaiGeki wrote:

Very nice! Does it have the scroll inside with the set number on it?

I'm glad you asked. When I checked it says it's number 1433. The box sticker looks more like * 433 to me.

JidaiGeki wrote:

I'm in awe of this collection 😀

Have a couple for C64 too.

JidaiGeki wrote:

Recently picked up this one too. Haven't played it before so looking forward to having a go.

Someone who hasn't played Monkey Island? Now THAT is rare 😀

GoblinUpTheRoad wrote:

I'm glad you asked. When I checked it says it's number 1433. The box sticker looks more like * 433 to me. […]
Show full quote

JidaiGeki wrote:

Very nice! Does it have the scroll inside with the set number on it?

I'm glad you asked. When I checked it says it's number 1433. The box sticker looks more like * 433 to me.

I'll have to check mine too. One's missing a certificate, but one of them had a piece of pink ribbon around it, not sure if original or just added by the original owner.

GoblinUpTheRoad wrote:

Have a couple for C64 too. […]
Show full quote

JidaiGeki wrote:

I'm in awe of this collection 😀

Have a couple for C64 too.

Loved Skate or Die, had that for PC (though I wasn't any good at it). Recently saw that someone had written Skate or Die into the concrete footpath near where I lived - brought back some memories!

GoblinUpTheRoad wrote:

JidaiGeki wrote:

Recently picked up this one too. Haven't played it before so looking forward to having a go.

Someone who hasn't played Monkey Island? Now THAT is rare 😀

True! 😀 In the 90s, I was into adventure games, but never came across Monkey Island despite doing a fair bit of swapping - my friend's father was our main source for games, he would bring back plenty of cool boxed games from the US, but typically Sierra ones.

I have a bunch of the flat folio style EA games (thin box shaped like an LP). This game in particular stands out

Not sure about rare/obscure but here's the rest of my collection - about a third of the sierra titles are sealed/new old stock. (if you're curious /want some detail, i have a brief walkthrough on my channel - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTo5DCNsVPg

DaveJustDave wrote:

I have a bunch of the flat folio style EA games (thin box shaped like an LP). This game in particular stands out

20190528_221757.jpg

20190528_223313.jpg

Never heard of it. According to Mobygames, only three gaming media ever covered the game, so I guess amnesia is obscure indeed.

LP-style EA games look familiar though, IIRC Pinball Construction Set also has LP-style box.

My most recent acquisition: Reach for the Skies by Rowan Software. Like typical Rowan's flight sims, it has strategic layer. Unlike typical Rowan's flight sims, it was published by Virgin Games instead of the usual Empire Interactive. Coincidentally, Reach for the Skies is also the title of an aviation-themed book by Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Group, which in turn is the parent company of Virgin Games.

Anyway, is it just me or Rowan's flight sims are mostly obscure?

Front cover.

Back cover.

Innards.

I have no idea what PC games are rare or obscure...I know I have a few console games that are worth a pretty penny, but no idea about my computer collection.

Actually, now that I think about it, I do happen to have the 1998 (I think) Computer Gaming World + CD, which had full versions of Ultima IV, Wizardry VI, Wasteland, and Betrayal at Krondor. I saw it at the store and it totally sold us on our first computer magazine subscription, which lasted a few years.

I picked up Wacky Wheels recently, which was hard to find for some reason. Actually a lot of those old shareware games are. I guess I was not the only poor chum that only got to play the free levels. 😉

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote on 2020-03-13, 11:44:

Anyway, is it just me or Rowan's flight sims are mostly obscure?

I think it's a regional thing. I have most of Rowans sims and I've bought all of them in the past 2 years or so without much effort. They weren't very expensive or hard to find, I think Mig Alley was the most expensive one at 15e.

Freespace 2 Interplay 20th anniversary edition

I remember this was a limited run from Interplay right before they keeled under...I am still not entirely sure how I ended up with a copy.

One Must Fall may have been the only shareware game I paid to upgrade to the full version back in the day. I recently acquired the strategy guide, which apparently cost $10 back then and was probably too rich for my blood.

I don't collect for rarity or obscurity, but instead, I collect stuff that I want to play or use. So, I apparently don't have an eye for rare/obscure things on the whole, since I don't have too many games that fit that description. 😀

These two games certainly weren't rare (and both have already been mentioned in this thread recently), but I feel like the "full version" copy of each was certainly very uncommon back then. I know in my circle of friends (1994/1995-ish) these were very popular shareware games. But I never knew anyone who owned the full version of these games (legitimately) and even now I feel like they rarely come up for sale. The full version of One Must Fall seems to come up for sale a bit more often for reasonable prices, but the full version of Wacky Wheels... when it comes up for sale, it always seems to be priced ridiculously. Just dumb sellers, or was it actually "rare"? Meh.

Not PC games, and I think these would only qualify as "rare" because the 64DD was a total flop that only sold 15K units or so in Japan only, mostly via a bundled subscription service (RandNet). I was fascinated by the potential of the 64DD as a kid and always wanted one. I was always annoyed that it suddenly seemed to disappear from gaming news and never released. Eventually when I was older I looked it up and found out what was it's fate ... and still just had to own one, even though it's easily been my most utterly useless gaming purchase ever. All the games work with the accompanying 64DD I also own, but the only one that's really of interest to a non-Japanese speaker like myself is the F-Zero X Expansion disk.

Well, some rare games I own...
- I bought Operation: Inner Space. Not a rare title, but I guess I'm one of the few that bought it on Spain.
- "El juego del Kamasutra" (Milo Manara). Known in US as Kama Sutra: Manara, I've got the spanish version. Maybe it was not advertised/reviewed in mainstream computer magazines, so I was surprised when I saw it on a store in Andorra. It's a little tricky to play (damn QuickTime), so I guess it's useful to test things.
- Flying Saucer. I've got a german disk that was released as part of a bundle. During a time I was wondering if I could merge german video files with english text and sound files, so I could have a "proper" complete english release.

I guess I may have some other rare games (i.e.: Toyland Racing) that are rare/unknown in US/UK but well known in Spain...