I'm kind of undecided. I have an absurdly rare sample of "Wrath of Earth" which, to my knowledge, only received a very limited big box release in Germany and a copy of Creature Shock limited edition which is not as rare but a true beauty.

blurks wrote:

I'm kind of undecided. I have an absurdly rare sample of "Wrath of Earth" which, to my knowledge, only received a very limited b […]
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I'm kind of undecided. I have an absurdly rare sample of "Wrath of Earth" which, to my knowledge, only received a very limited big box release in Germany and a copy of Creature Shock limited edition which is not as rare but a true beauty.

woe.jpg

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I remember seeing a Creature Shock ad in an issue of Electronic Entertainment magazine, but I have never heard about Wrath of Earth before, so I guess the latter is really obscure, no?

Shovelware and sequel to a relatively little-known edutainment title. I'm the guy who added the MobyGames entries for both of them.

https://www.mobygames.com/game/tetris-gold-professional
https://www.mobygames.com/game/spelling-blizzard

Obscure Canadian edutainment shovelware and a rare CD-ROM release of some registered shareware, both of which I still need to add to MobyGames.

Sadly, the Music Game CD got damaged on the label side when I was a kid, so some of the media files are partially unreadable, and I've been trying for years to find another copy with no luck.

Too bored to grab new photos so I uploaded two older ones that I have. My most obscure/rare possessions are probably Dink Smallwood and SoulTrap.

Dink Smallwood is a Zelda-like game that was released in very small quantities in 1997 and once all the copies got sold, became freeware in 1999 and sort of a cult hit too. I lucked out and got a copy of it some years ago, I hold this game quite near and dear to my heart for various reasons.

SoulTrap is a weird one, just check out the box for that thing. It's not a great game by any stretch of the imagination, but it reminds me of a simpler time, when I would scour demo discs for new games to play. I had a demo of this way back then and it stayed on my mind for some reason. Anyway, it is the only copy I've ever found.

ssokolow wrote:

IMG_20190511_014619_cropped.jpg

Shovelware and sequel to a relatively little-known edutainment title. I'm the guy who added the MobyGames entries for both of them.

https://www.mobygames.com/game/tetris-gold-professional

I remember watching a colleague playing a VGA version of Tetris, with much-better-than-MIDI music playing in the background. Turned out it was Tetris Gold Pro, wasn't it?

Garrett W wrote:

https://i.ibb.co/0KJzcqr/24.jpg SoulTrap is a weird one, just check out the box for that thing. It's not a great game by any st […]
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SoulTrap is a weird one, just check out the box for that thing. It's not a great game by any stretch of the imagination, but it reminds me of a simpler time, when I would scour demo discs for new games to play. I had a demo of this way back then and it stayed on my mind for some reason. Anyway, it is the only copy I've ever found.

I remember reading Soultrap ad in an issue of CGW; it has photos and comments of various people testifying that the game is better than Quake. I wondered why the ad is so focused in bashing Quake though.

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

I remember reading Soultrap ad in an issue of CGW; it has photos and comments of various people testifying that the game is better than Quake. I wondered why the ad is so focused in bashing Quake though.

🤣, I'm sure no money was exchanged for those ballsy claims 🤣

Popular, but pretty difficult to find now in big box / decent shape:

I spent a whole summer playing starcontrol2 when it came out a great game, legend of Excalibur not so much but enjoyed it and never played bat2 still in shrink wrap!

So, I made a mistake.

First I thought the rarest game in my possession is Navy Strike, perhaps due to the euphoria of purchasing it on the first place. But after looking through my games again, I realized the rarest game I own actually EF2000 V2.0; the one with 3dfx support out of the box. 'Plain jane' EF2000 is quite plentiful on ebay, while EF2000 V2.0 is very hard to find, even harder than its successor, Total Air War.

Just FYI, you can add 3dfx support to plain EF2000 using the TACTCOM add-on, but that one is even harder to find --unless you get the abandonware version.

In any case, while EF2000 V2.0 is very hard to find, it is not obscure. The V2.0 is pretty much well-known among 3dfx users and flightsimmers. I guess D.R.A.G.O.N Force remains the only obscure game in my possession.

How about yours? It's very interesting to see more obscure games on this thread, although rare-but-not-obscure games are also welcome.

EF2000 V2.0, front cover.

EF2000 V2.0, back cover, which I like better due to in-game screenshots.

I can list a few, but can't provide photos of:
The PC port of T-MeK.
Scorched Planet.
Williams Arcade Collection.
Sinistar: Unleashed
Asteroids (the PC version of the 3D remake that was on the PlayStation and Nintendo 64)
Space Invaders (ditto above)
Wargasm.

and of course, the actual Gunmetal by Mad Genius Software in 1998 which is the only thing I can provide a photograph of.

Many people know about its sequel, Independence War 2: Edge of Chaos as a very good space shooter/sim, but not many know of the first I-War, a 3dfx glide space simulation in which you captain a corvette class capital ship.

It's an amazing game.

Not rare but always wanted a Might and Magic VI. As a child played it so much, and finally few weeks ago I got this: Unfortunately the third CD with demo games and Czech language is missing. Not in great condition but I like it

wiretap wrote:

Popular, but pretty difficult to find now in big box / decent shape:

I have that Samsung monitor too 😀

I don't really follow the rarity or values of the big box PC games much but I guess for me my most unusual or rarish games would be:

Beta discs for Star Siege (I was on the online Star Siege beta and kept the discs)
Beta disc for Cyberstorm (Again I was a beta tester but I no longer have the parallel hardware key it required to use it)
King's Quest I SCI with the relief raised graphics box.
Space Quest 1 VGA in the original AGI box but with a VGA specifications label applied over the original box printed AGI requirements. I ordered it direct from Sierra back in the 90s and that is how it arrived to me.
Loom VGA Talkie signed by George 'Fatman' Singer
Seawolf signed by George 'Fatman' Singer with a note to remind me his wife appears in the game

That is all I can think off off the top of my head...I also own Kilrathi Saga as well but as has been stated it isn't nearly as rare as it was once thought to be. I used to think my CIB of Black Cauldron from Sierra was rare too but those have also been on the 'bay quite a bit.

CrossBow777 wrote:

I don't really follow the rarity or values of the big box PC games much but I guess for me my most unusual or rarish games would […]
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I don't really follow the rarity or values of the big box PC games much but I guess for me my most unusual or rarish games would be:

Beta discs for Star Siege (I was on the online Star Siege beta and kept the discs)
Beta disc for Cyberstorm (Again I was a beta tester but I no longer have the parallel hardware key it required to use it)
King's Quest I SCI with the relief raised graphics box.
Space Quest 1 VGA in the original AGI box but with a VGA specifications label applied over the original box printed AGI requirements. I ordered it direct from Sierra back in the 90s and that is how it arrived to me.
Loom VGA Talkie signed by George 'Fatman' Singer
Seawolf signed by George 'Fatman' Singer with a note to remind me his wife appears in the game

That is all I can think off off the top of my head...I also own Kilrathi Saga as well but as has been stated it isn't nearly as rare as it was once thought to be. I used to think my CIB of Black Cauldron from Sierra was rare too but those have also been on the 'bay quite a bit.

Very interesting games, would you mind posting the photos?

Anyway, I just realized there is another obscure game in my possession, although I'm not sure how rare it is: Air Force Commander by Impression.

Air Force Commander, a pretty obscure game I own.

It was around 1996, I was in college at that time. There were almost no genuine, boxed PC games in my country. Almost all computer games being sold in computer stores were pirated games like these:

Examples of pirated games.

I remember buying a pirated copy of Air Force Commander. It was erroneously named 'Fighter Command,' and the pirated, Indonesian-translated manual was very inadequate. Yet I patiently learned the game without manuals, and being immersed despite the game's shortcomings. Air Force Commander is a real-time strategy with complex, layered interface (Fragile Allegiance anyone?), so larger scenarios are almost impossible to play due to the game's pace and complexity. Yet I enjoyed smaller scenarios thoroughly.

So, the following is my first attempt to play Navy Strike, an obscure PC game I just bought.

Outside view.

Padlock view.

Installation is kinda PITA. I have to mount C F:\DOSGAMES\ instead of my usual C F:\ lazy mounting method, otherwise the game won't install. In any case, I also use machine=svga_et4000, cputype=pentium_slow, and cycles=30000, and unlike Dawn Patrol --another Rowan's title, Navy Strike runs smooth like butter.

Firing air-to-air missile, part 1.

Firing air-to-air missile, part 1.

The instant action mission is called Alert 5, by the way. Just like in Dawn Patrol, this mission is deceptively easy, as the computer opponents don't fight back. However, I suspect the computer opponents in 'real' missions will be aggressive and tenacious, just like those in Dawn Patrol.

Using cannon, part 1.

Using cannon, part 2.

So far, Navy Strike suits me well. Flight model is easy and forgiving --even more forgiving that that of Jane's ATF. Gun kill is easier than realistic, which indicates exciting dogfight. I haven't tried the strategic part of the game yet, but I was indeed entertained by even the simplistic strategic campaign of Their Finest Hour, so I guess I'd enjoy Navy Strike just fine.

I have only two gripes with this game. First, just like in Dawn Patrol, keyboard layout is confusing, but that's what programmable stick is for. My bigger complain is avionics, which is unlike any other flight sims I've ever played. For example, it's harder for me to find the goddamn RPM indicator on this sim. Weapons label like MRM, SRM, and DOG kinda confuse me as well.

Well either that, or I haven't been playing jet sims for quite a long time.

Anyway, I hope others would like to share their obscure games experience as well. Screenshots are welcome.

I can't really say how rare these are, but at least they are somewhat uncommon I guess. Just a random bunch I picked off the shelves. There might be something more interesting or obscure there, but how would I know?

I have a few boxed Amiga games that are probably not too common.

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