Anyone here collect classic/vintage PC games?

chameleoneel said:
HL2 also came physically, in Orange Box. Well, I assume it did. Orange Box had a few discs. But it has always required Steam to play.
Click to expand...

The orange box was a lot later, it came with the launch of episode 2 and contained the base game episode 1&2, portal and TF2 (I still have all those sitting on my desk)
 
Denpepe said:
The orange box was a lot later, it came with the launch of episode 2 and contained the base game episode 1&2, portal and TF2 (I still have all those sitting on my desk)
Click to expand...
The Orange Box was only 2 years, 11 months removed from the original release of Half-Life 2. I wouldn't call that "a lot later."
 
Armenius said:
The Orange Box was only 2 years, 11 months removed from the original release of Half-Life 2. I wouldn't call that "a lot later."
Click to expand...

Given valve's release schedule you may have a point there, I just meant the orange box was not HL2's release version.
 
this thread reminded me to start archiving this stuff...gotta start somewhere

*** Lucas Arts Outlaws...the box should be somewhere












View attachment 397495
20210923_192922.jpg
20210923_193907.jpg
20210923_194408.jpg
20210923_200603.jpg
20210923_201243.jpg
20210923_205413.jpg
20210923_205622.jpg
 
Last edited:
Up until about a year ago, I still had all of my original id games in pristine shape, my three copies of System Shock, two System Shock 2s, the ultra mega Ultima Ascension box, all the “gold discs” of games I worked on, and a few other worthy titles. Then we ALMOST moved to Hawaii (my wife is from there) and I sold those along with a giant case of all my jewel case games. That was a very happy fellow :D

I’m not attached to physical games these days though. My Steam collection is well over 400 now, and my GOG collection has the classics. As long as I can play them, I’m happy. Oh, and I build custom MiSTers, so all the REALLY classic games are on those.

Now I collect these, (after designing and building them).

E83E52EE-BD1B-4E53-ADD4-FBCE4D766B88.jpeg
 
I got an Amiga 500 and have about 10-15 boxed games for it plus a bunch of copied games on 3.5" disks.
As for PC games i still have most of my older stuff. (Sims 1/2/3, Great naval battles series, Papyrus Nascar 3/4, Single player Warcraft series, to name a few of them)
One of my oldest i've never finished is a game called "The Horde" so might fire it up for the first time in a few decades. lol
DID notice i still have my original Collectors Everquest box and accompanying little statue. Totally forgot about it till i found it in a box in my attic. :)
 
kamxam said:
I got an Amiga 500 and have about 10-15 boxed games for it plus a bunch of copied games on 3.5" disks.
As for PC games i still have most of my older stuff. (Sims 1/2/3, Great naval battles series, Papyrus Nascar 3/4, Single player Warcraft series, to name a few of them)
One of my oldest i've never finished is a game called "The Horde" so might fire it up for the first time in a few decades. lol
DID notice i still have my original Collectors Everquest box and accompanying little statue. Totally forgot about it till i found it in a box in my attic. :)
Click to expand...

That’s one thing I do wish I still had. All of my Psygnosis boxes!
 
1632748696828.jpeg


Posted a pic of it before, but here is my Amiga.
Monitor works well but On/Off button won't stay in so i have to get a new one soldered in by a friend who's a LOT better than i am at doing stuff like that. :D
(Was a common problem on those monitors i hear)
 
Killahurtz said:
View attachment 397494
Click to expand...


I had B-1 Nuclear Bomber--- on cassette for the Atari 8-bit (400/800/1200XL) I remember adding lines in BASIC to play synth music for certain text events. (it was a text-based game, but inspired by the bomber scenes from Dr. Strangelove) So my B-1NB played Johnny Comes Marching Home.

Think my future career as a coder ended at that moment.
 
Saturn_V said:
I had B-1 Nuclear Bomber--- on cassette for the Atari 8-bit (400/800/1200XL) I remember adding lines in BASIC to play synth music for certain text events. (it was a text-based game, but inspired by the bomber scenes from Dr. Strangelove) So my B-1NB played Johnny Comes Marching Home.

Think my future career as a coder ended at that moment.
Click to expand...
haha...mine as well...who knew we should have delved in further for a career!
 
Eradan said:
Got the white C64C, 1541, 1802 monitor for Christmas 1986. Bard's Tale was the first game I finished on it. I was 14 years old. Man, things were a lot simpler back then.


View attachment 398397
Click to expand...

Nice!

I was five or six when we got our C64, and 1541. Jumpman was my first game on it, followed by Archon. (and Hard Hat Mack, M.U.L.E. etc. (followed by hundreds of others, as we had quite a little copy ring rolling back then :D )) I didn't even know that that wasn't how one was supposed to get software until I was way older :D

We got the 1702 monitor a little later, but it was nice because I could C64 more while my parents used the TV. :D
 
J3RK said:
Nice!

I was five or six when we got our C64, and 1541. Jumpman was my first game on it, followed by Archon. (and Hard Hat Mack, M.U.L.E. etc. (followed by hundreds of others, as we had quite a little copy ring rolling back then :D )) I didn't even know that that wasn't how one was supposed to get software until I was way older :D

We got the 1702 monitor a little later, but it was nice because I could C64 more while my parents used the TV. :D
Click to expand...
Oh man, I had some serious hours in Archon, M.U.L.E, and Mail Order Monsters. My reaction to the EA logo was a lot different back then. lol
 
Eradan said:
Oh man, I had some serious hours in Archon, M.U.L.E, and Mail Order Monsters. My reaction to the EA logo was a lot different back then. lol
Click to expand...

Ha! I remember not minding so much staring at it while waiting for Archon II: Adept to load. That game took longer to load than pretty much anything. :D (even with the trusty Epyx FastLoad)
 
Killahurtz said:
SSI had some good games at the time ...SSI and Avalon Hill games , the OG sim companies
Click to expand...

I didn’t get into SSI games until the later DOS days, but they had some good ones. Loved Al Qadim and Dark Sun. Veil of Darkness was good too.
 
I've still got my Dune II disks and the original handbook needed for the campaign.
 
wow cool, yeah Dune II in the original big box, complete is pretty rare now. Goes for too much $$$ for me to consider collecting.
 
I have a copy of this old classic DOS game: Zaxxon which came out in 1984. You can play it on modern hardware but you need to slow down your CPU in order to play it. I originally played it on an 8086 CPU clone PC with minimal memory and no hard drive.

 
GnomeCop said:
Been having a wave of nostalgia lately going through some old PC games I bought back in the 90s.

It was really cool when these games not only had to come on physical media but usually came packaged in large boxes with several books and manuals, sometimes even including cloth maps and random trinkets.

I have a few odd games from Origin Systems before and after EA bought them out as well as some early Westwood studios stuff and a bunch of games from Sierra.

Does anyone know of a good place where ppl talk about games like this or places to buy them (besides the obvious being ebay). I know I want to sell some, but maybe pick some up too.

Other than that, who else has a collection of old games? Any favorites or particularly cool titles that came in elaborate packaging?
Click to expand...
Nice i loved that Birds of Prey game i miss the old flights sims used to be so many back in the 90's
 
I am not really a collector but I have unintentionally amassed quite a library of retro video games over the years. Honestly, it has never been my intention to own collector items but it just so happens that because my gaming interest is primarily niche retro console JRPG's some of the games I have bought have become quite rare. Shining Force III (Saturn), Fire Emblem Path of Radiance (Gamecube), Arc the Lad Collection (PS1) are some the more rare games that I own although they are not all complete-in-box. I try to buy loose discs or carts with cosmetic damage wherever I can to save $$ nowadays since they have become so insanely expensive in the last 10 years and I basically just want to back the game up and play it anyways.

Honestly it kind of sucks that these games are so valuable now because I have extremely deep sentimental value attached to some of them and the memories that they gave me. Given their value, if I ever find myself in difficult financial straights I fear that I will be in the position where I will have to sell them which for me would be extremely difficult.
 
I will have post pictures of my compaq armada 7790DMT p1 233mhz mmx, i think like 96mb and original windows 95 hhd and windows 98 hhd

I have been trying find Compaq armada 7790dmt restore cd. no such luck :(
 
Been watching ebay auctions for the past few weeks there is a copy of Ultima the Black Gate going for 200.00 I think it's going to hit 1k when it's over. It's desirable because most of the used copies have damage to the black finish in the box but this one has shrink wrap on it.
 
pexaj said:
Hi there, I've just ordered a decent laptop and have missed out on the majority of releases. What games are good? Try not to list anything available on Playstation. I've got loads of games up to the Deus Ex / Unreal Tournament / Baldurs gate era a huge gap then Elite, inside and a bunch on indy and Kickstarter games from 4/5 years ago. So yeah I'm looking to fill that gap with some great games.
Click to expand...
Are you saying you're looking for games from the 2001-2014 era?
 
Comixbooks said:
Been watching ebay auctions for the past few weeks there is a copy of Ultima the Black Gate going for 200.00 I think it's going to hit 1k when it's over. It's desirable because most of the used copies have damage to the black finish in the box but this one has shrink wrap on it.
Click to expand...

It's up to 380.00 with 45 minutes left the last one went for 700.00 but there were no stickers on the cello wrap.

The thing is I never played the game much only a few hours but I guess it's the best single player Utlima Garriot made.
 
Comixbooks said:
It's up to 380.00 with 45 minutes left the last one went for 700.00 but there were no stickers on the cello wrap.

The thing is I never played the game much only a few hours but I guess it's the best single player Utlima Garriot made.
Click to expand...
It really is the best Ultima, and imho, the best CRGP ever made. You're talking a game from 1992 in which practically every NPC is unique, and that they have schedules (they eat when they're hungry, open windows when it's sunny, go to sleep when it's late, etc.). The world is incredibly interactive (you can harvest grain from the fields to take it to a mill to turn the grain into wheat, mix the wheat with water to get dough, put the dough in an oven to get bread. If you don't like a door and a cannon is nearby, you can blast the door off). You can do what you want to do, when you want to do it (you want to kill everyone and cause armageddon? Go for it). The world is seamless and also makes sense (that is, dungeons exist within their confines of the mountains. No more 50 km³ dungeons in the ruins of an abandoned farmhouse (looking at you Elder Scrolls). They did this in 1992, and while RPGs have surpassed it in one category or another, there has yet to be a single RPG which surpassed every category. (For example, Gothic has better NPCs, but is less interactive).

Origin's motto was "We create worlds", and they did. Sad that it hasn't been surpassed in over 30 years, and that a whole generation of people thinks quality RPGs are RPGs which are vastly inferior.
 
Comixbooks said:
Never saw a Auction jump so high in a few seconds.
Click to expand...
Lots of people wait until the end.

About a decade ago, I wanted to see what would happen if I put my entire PlayStation 1 RPG library up on Ebay. We're talking 100+, including Suikoden 1&2, Valkyrie Profile, Lunar 1&2, etc. With one day to go, the bidding hadn't reached over $15. But it had over 400 watchers.

Now, I pulled it because I had no intent of selling, but the bottom line is most people just wait until the very last second to bid.
 
I probably have a hundred game boxes. They are all packed up and stored in the attic. I'm glad I get most things digitally these days..
 
I used to collect till I moved to Japan 15 years ago. I think the majority of my hoard was sold here. I do have a few rare items still.
 
I just picked up like x4 Dark Age of Camelot Strategy guides up to Trials of Atlantis I never knew much about the DLCs so this will help me cover what I missed 20 years ago.

I must say the Power of printed Media left people with a bigger impact on their games then just using a digital format. People looking into Dead Air Space on their phones has totaly wrecked up their inner sanctum and piece of mind.
 
Last edited:
PC Game collecting junkie here. I severely miss boxed games. One of my favorite times in life was going to a B&M store and browsing the selves and hitting the bargain bins. This is my small box collection. Many moons ago I moved to a smaller room and didn't have space to display my big box games so I folded the boxes up and put them all in a cardboard box. Maybe when I retire to a new house I'll put them all on a nice display. That is a CRT at the bottom of one pic...... and yes, you don't need to tell me, My wife already does enough. That is, my room is a train wreck of a mess as the corner indicates and I need to clean it up. :LOL:

IMG_20230906_145322582.jpg
IMG_20230906_144418330.jpg
 
https://reddit.com/r/gamecollecting/s/6o3DoVrPR6

This guy mentions a product called Bestine to remove price stickers from cardboard boxes I stupidly bought three games with labeled that are a real eyes sore. Going to try to find some of the stuff suppose to be pretty safe and not damage the box. I wouldn't use it on something like a old Ultima game.
 

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fu7Z7QLZp6c

I was going to buy some Bestine but after watching this video no way because some of the ink on the box can get distressed after using it.
Now sure how it would look on a Big Box PC I don't want to damage it. I know from graded baseball cards and coins that when you clean something it depreciates the value. Like using vinager on a 200 year old Penny.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top