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Best game packaging

Started by I accept the terms of the, June 17, 2011, 08:10:04 PM

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I accept the terms of the

For really young readers, get this: games didn't always come in DVD cases, but in boxes of different sizes, with manuals and maps and extras and goodies packed inside. A bit like the special edition of a game like Black Ops, but as standard instead of £200 extra.

What were the best game packages? Frontier: Elite II had star charts and novels and things and smelled oh so good. I feel like I had a few games that came with little gifts inside, little plastic funneries. The last proper boxed games I remember buying are Civilization II, Sim City 2000 and Baldur's Gate.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

I remember the days when PC games came in one of these.

Those little DVD cases just aren't the same.

El Unicornio, mang

I remember having the Robocop game for the Spectrum, which came in a huge box, even though it was just one little cassette.

I accept the terms of the

Hm, cassettes inlay cards were the most rubbish instructions books of all. Game packaging really hit its peak with PC and Amiga games from the early to mid 90.

madhair60

Obscure one, this, but James Pond 3 for the Amiga CD32 (class game by the way) came with a ridiculous amount of supplementary James Pond tat.

Famous Mortimer

Quote from: I accept the terms of the on June 17, 2011, 09:44:50 PM
Hm, cassettes inlay cards were the most rubbish instructions books of all. Game packaging really hit its peak with PC and Amiga games from the early to mid 90.
One C64 games company used to do them in weird knobbly grey plastic boxes which inspired a review in Zzap! 64 (greatest games magazine ever) which largely consisted of the cool things you could pretend to do with the box (the game was crap).

Ignatius_S

Quote from: Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth on June 17, 2011, 08:12:50 PM
I remember the days when PC games came in one of these...
But if you tell kids today that, will they believe you? No!

jutl

The Infocom games had some great and thoughtful packaging.

Still Not George

We keep coming across awesome packaging. I'll see if I can get some photos next week.

MojoJojo

Sounds like you'll have to out it behind a link.

HappyTree

The best for impact was the Elite box. It was the first time I'd ever seen anything that just sucked you into the game world. The code protection was like a secret game in itself and I had the poster of spacecraft on my wall for years. The novella was treat and taking the cassette out of the box a sacred ritual. I'm sure it was just my age, but it was the most wonderful thing.

Zero Gravitas


Famous Mortimer

That was a real thing? I need to save up my money for some Peril-Sensitive sunglasses.

small_world

I was just saying to my GF the other day, about how games, PC games mainly, always came with loads of awesome stuff.
It was while I was playing on Formula 1  GP 2010 for the Xbox. The game is great, but I almost learned how to drive from the Amiga Formula One game I used to have 15 years ,or so, ago. It came with a massive manual detailing all of the tracks as well as team info and a 'how to drive/race' guide.

Also, Frontier; Elite2 which came with a 'history of the galaxy' book. The manual, including info on all of the ships, and fucking star charts.

Those were the days.

Consignia

First press games in Japan can come with tons of extra shit. Figures, mini-novels, drama CDs, mini-soundtracks, art books, DVDs etc. and add to that retailer exclusive bonuses, and you've got loads of extra tat.

Zero Gravitas

Quote from: Famous Mortimer on June 19, 2011, 06:50:19 PM
That was a real thing? I need to save up my money for some Peril-Sensitive sunglasses.

yes indeed


Rev

Ultimate need a mention here, for pretty much starting the oversized packaging thing that's only recently died off.  Games of the Spectrum/C64/Amstrad era (in order of aceness, there) did tend to just come in standard cassette boxes.  Ultimate, however, insisted on putting their games out in these lovely black fabric-coated boxes, slightly larger than a double-tape size.  An aesthetic choice, sure, but it did come with the added bonus of them being impossible to fit into the normal shelving of the game shops of the time, so they ended up being displayed front-and-centre.  Yeah, not as green as they were cabbage-looking, those Ashby-de-la-zouche bastards.

In terms of actual stuff, I was once surprised to pick up one of the Ultima games on the cheap and find that on top of a shitload of documentation, its huge fold-out map was printed on cloth!  A nerdy tea-towel, essentially, but still:  cloth!  Also in the box was a god's honest metal sovereign, which served no purpose whatsoever.

Oh, and there was the ropey Amiga adventure 'Murders in Space'.  The box contained a large silver pouch that, if I remember rightly, claimed to be a space meal.  I'd had that game for a good few months before it occurred to me to cut the thing open.  Inside was a bounteous array of plastic tat, all of which were supposed to be physical manifestations of things you'd find in the game.  I've still got no idea what the point of that one might have been.

Jamie Oliver is fat

The Last Ninja 2 special edition came with a very nicely made ninja ballaclava and actual metal throwing stars if I remember correctly.



I miss the old big boxes, the last game I recall buying this way was when I was on holiday in Florida, they seemed to stick with them for longer over there, it was the original Max Payne game.


Famous Mortimer

Quote from: Rev on June 20, 2011, 02:35:53 AM
Yeah, not as green as they were cabbage-looking, those Ashby-de-la-zouche bastards.
They were once mocked in an awesome screenshot from a computer magazine, and the fact I exactly remember it after all these years means I must have laughed like a drain at it once.

Some other games company submitted a screenshot of a high score table for a review, and the first three names on it were "ACG", "ARE" and "POO". ACG were Ashby Computers and Graphics, better known as Ultimate. I did love their packages though.

mcbpete

Quote from: Jamie Oliver is fat on June 20, 2011, 07:05:14 AM
The Last Ninja 2 special edition came with a very nicely made ninja ballaclava and actual metal throwing stars if I remember correctly.
Not metal but there were indeed shurikens in the box, albeit rubber ones. Though they were soon removed from the packaging when they found out that they could be stuck in the freezer and could still hurt peoples when thrown.

thugler

Limited edition carmageddon box, with glowing red led eyes.

I accept the terms of the

The most disappointing packaging ever was when I got Baldur's Gate 2 in a DVD box and a note about the manual being on the disc in PDF form. A PDF! Baldur's Gate games are exactly the kind that should come with maps and thick books and 800 discs (like the first game did, and presumably the second one before it stopped being commercially viable).

Some packaging is so bad that digital downloads somehow feel more substantial.