Perhaps use this as a better source of the release dates: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_TIE_Fighter. It agrees with your post. However, amazon.com shows a later release date for the jewel case version: http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Tie-Fighter-J … e/dp/B000056PJI. And another "non-separate" version (X-Wing Trilogy) here: http://www.totallygames.com/games/xwing.htm.

Without doing a bit of research this was my understanding of the collections.

The Orginal Tie Fighter Collectors CD: Essentially dos release with SVGA/640X480 graphics, If I remember correctly you could run under windows but it was essentially running the dos version.
The X-Wing collectors CD was the same as Tie Fighter and used the same engine.

The later releases used the X-wing vs Tie Fighter engine that ran natively under windows 95/98, graphics are much better but don't use the orginal imuse midi soundtrack that changes tracks depending on what events happen during the mission, this is likely to turn off most purists as the soundtrack really enhanced the atmosphere.

There's also added/changed sound effects, and the Xwing Collector's CD has different FM timbres.

Thanks for the replies. I really hate it when companies release significantly different versions of a game under the same title with nothing to really tell them apart.

I actually have a copy of the Collector's Series, although I never got around to playing it. I bought it thinking that it was just a Windows port of the original games, but then I read the reviews which said that they changed more than just the engine. Like leaving out some cutscenes, not upgrading others, doing away with the interactive music, etc. So I decided that I wanted to play the originals, but my old system wasn't fast enough to run most stuff in DOSBox and even though it was Win98SE, my success rate at running DOS games was about 50/50.

Now I have a much faster system and would like to try playing these games. I just need to make sure that I get the right ones. I'm pretty sure that I have one of them already. Many years ago, I bought a combo pack of Lucasarts games which included the Rebel Alliance games, one of the Collector's CD-ROMs and a demo version of Dark Forces (which the eBay listing neglected to mention wasn't the full game). I need to dig it out and see which one I have.

Yeah those were X-Wing 95 and Tie Fighter 95, early remakes of the collectors CD's (which were native DOS) made using the X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter engine.

X-Wing 95

Tie Fighter 95

Procyon wrote:

Yeah those were X-Wing 95 and Tie Fighter 95, early remakes of the collectors CD's (which were native DOS) made using the X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter engine.

X-Wing 95

Tie Fighter 95

I remember that it can be a little tricky to track these down on Amazon and eBay and the like given the version confusion.

Here is a breakdown of the differences between TIE-CD versus TIE-95:
http://tempestkappa.isdchallenge.org/tf_versions.htm

Bottom line […]
Show full quote

Bottom line

OK, let's see again. TIE-95 has

- not even the slightest hint of new game content,
- lower joystick precision,
- either ruined or replaced the original brilliant game music,
- decreased sound quality,
- ruined each and every cutscene by squeezing it into a wrong aspect ratio,
- a handful of new 2D screens, of which even the good looking ones don't blend in with the rest of the game at all,
- two craft models replaced by crappier versions,
- textures.

So, the only two real achievements of the game are, first, adding some low-res-textures, and second, making some people think that it is a good game and a worthy "ultimate version" of TIE Fighter, while it's in fact the worst re-release of a classic game that was ever seen.

While we're on the subject, was the "Defender of the Empire" campaign ever released on its own in a retail box? It must be crazy rare.
http://www.oldfloppydisks.com/tag/tie-fighter/

Yes DOE had its own box with its own artwork with 2 floppys.
Back in the day I directly ordered it from LA.
Some versions of the floppy version of Tiefighter also came with a partial novelzation, of the full novelzation of Tiefighter.
Which is worth picking up if you haven't read it.

Sadly I don't have the box anymore, I do have all the floppys and inserts still along with the giant wall poster which I actually framed.

Digging up an old thread, dunno if Jorpho cares now but....
I DO have the box amazingly still.
Found it stuffed between my SW ship compilation stuff\books.
Box is beatup but here is a retail DOE FLOPPY BOX.

DOE Box.