Unkillable Cat Box Nostalgia Thread

[Unkillable Cat]

What I learned today from going through my boxes of old games:

# The "Stoned" virus, when removed, rarely leaves much behind of the floppy disk's contents that it has safely inhabited for the past 20+ years.

# Why people remove the write protection on original game floppies is a mystery to me.

# Double Density disks have a longer lifespan than High Density disks.

# The source code for Impossible Mission no longer exists because it was lost in an earthquake (San Fran '89?).

# My theory as to why the Lazy Game Reviewer (LGR) keeps a copy of Klax in his enormous collection? The plastic case for Klax is a fucking crime against common sense. It is IMPOSSIBLE to open the case without causing damage to the inserts/inlets of the case. If LGR hasn't done a video on "Bad Game Boxes" already, he's planning one.

# In terms of design and artwork, If I were to choose whether Europe or the US makes better gameboxes, Europe wins 9 times out of 10. (I could do a whole thread on this topic alone.)

# As early as 1997 it was Perfectly Acceptable to waste a large cardboard box on nothing more than a CD jewel case that includes the manual in the insert. (Eidos Premier Collection titles are a great example.) The clear winner, however, is the "One Unit Whole Blood" box, which is the size of a medium-sized pizza box, yet only houses 3 CDs in paper sleeves, a couple of small paper leaflets and a postcard for Blood 2. They could easily have fit all of this into a DVD case without batting an eye.

# Icelandic game retailers would sink to unbelievable lows to make a profit off of importing and selling games. One of my store-bought-in-Iceland games turned out to be the Asian retail version, clearly marked on the front as "NOT FOR SALE OUTSIDE ASIA", but having that part of the box cover taped over with thick, black tape.

# On the upside, it seems that I own the rarest version of Lands of Lore 2 out there, as the Asian version contains unique box cover artwork.

# The German undertitle for Lands of Lore 2 is "Götterdammerung", which means 'Armageddon'. No, I can't explain why they went with that.

# Another example of shitty Icelandic game retailers is a box I have for the Atari ST version of an adventure game from the early 90s. Not only has the "Atari ST" part of the box been covered up by a black felt pen and "PC" written instead underneath, but so has the same markings on the floppies. To add insult to injury, the Double Density disks have had a hole drilled through them to make them High Density disks, and a pirated version of the game copied onto the floppies. They then tried to sell it at full retail price, blaming the felt pen marking on "manufacturer error". While I didn't buy this title in particular, someone clearly did as the game includes a fully filled-out registration card...the first time I've ever seen anyone fill out one of those.

 

[SerratedBiz]

# In terms of design and artwork, If I were to choose whether Europe or the US makes better gameboxes, Europe wins 9 times out of 10. (I could do a whole thread on this topic alone.)

DO IT.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

# In terms of design and artwork, If I were to choose whether Europe or the US makes better gameboxes, Europe wins 9 times out of 10. (I could do a whole thread on this topic alone.)

DO IT.

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/ugly-game-box-cover-art.90220/
http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/boxart-name-your-favourite.17988/

Go crazy

 

[Curious_Tongue]

 

[Unkillable Cat]

# In terms of design and artwork, If I were to choose whether Europe or the US makes better gameboxes, Europe wins 9 times out of 10. (I could do a whole thread on this topic alone.)

DO IT.

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/ugly-game-box-cover-art.90220/
http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/boxart-name-your-favourite.17988/

Go crazy

I will, but it'll have to wait a bit. I want to finish up some other things first.

 

[FeelTheRads]

# In terms of design and artwork, If I were to choose whether Europe or the US makes better gameboxes, Europe wins 9 times out of 10. (I could do a whole thread on this topic alone.)

I don't know about 9 out of 10, I have and seen too few to be able to make a decent comparison, but from what I've seen Europe does win most of the time, indeed. Although there are some spectacular failures on both sides.

# As early as 1997 it was Perfectly Acceptable to waste a large cardboard box on nothing more than a CD jewel case that includes the manual in the insert. (Eidos Premier Collection titles are a great example.) The clear winner, however, is the "One Unit Whole Blood" box, which is the size of a medium-sized pizza box, yet only houses 3 CDs in paper sleeves, a couple of small paper leaflets and a postcard for Blood 2. They could easily have fit all of this into a DVD case without batting an eye.

I'm sure you mean they should've put more stuff in the box rather than put the contents in a small box, right?

 

[Unkillable Cat]

# In terms of design and artwork, If I were to choose whether Europe or the US makes better gameboxes, Europe wins 9 times out of 10. (I could do a whole thread on this topic alone.)

I don't know about 9 out of 10, I have and seen too few to be able to make a decent comparison, but from what I've seen Europe does win most of the time, indeed.

That's why I'm planning on doing the thread - to find out which is better (and why).

I'm sure you mean they should've put more stuff in the box rather than put the contents in a small box, right?

Both.

Up to as far as the mid-90s, companies had their own internal standards on gamebox sizes, but it wasn't until the "edgy" era of the mid-90s up to 2001 that marketing people realized that there were no rules in place - the boxes could be any shape or size as they saw fit. So paper was wasted merely to hog up as much of the shelfspace as possible.

Big cardboard boxes are cool, but there's a limit to what's sensible. 8" x 9" x 2" is about the biggest, it allows for plenty of internal space, while making for an aesthetically pleasing product.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I see a random act of moderation has taken place.

I'll just use this thread for the "US vs Europe" box thingie when the time comes.

 

[FeelTheRads]

Here's something to get started:

Beneath a Steel Sky EU:

Spoiler

Beneath a Steel Sky US:

Spoiler

 

[Unkillable Cat]

In this case, it's a choice of preference. The European one is better IMO, but the US one isn't bad. If they'd managed to squeeze in the skyline into the US cover, they'd be golden rusty.

 

[DwarvenFood]

# Why people remove the write protection on original game floppies is a mystery to me.

If the game does not install but runs from the floppy itself, you would not be able to save your game.

That's about the only application for it that I can think of.

 

[mindx2]

Unkillable Cat, I actually have article coming up for the Codex similar to what you doing here. It's not a comparison of EU and US boxes but it is...em, physical in nature.

Big cardboard boxes are cool, but there's a limit to what's sensible. 8" x 9" x 2" is about the biggest, it allows for plenty of internal space, while making for an aesthetically pleasing product.

For me those are too small. I always like the 12'x10'x2' (give or take a 1/4 inch) sized boxes. That size allowed more room for the artwork to "display" better in my opinion.

Spoiler

... but Americans have always liked their toys bigger...

 

[:Flash:]

# Why people remove the write protection on original game floppies is a mystery to me.

If the game does not install but runs from the floppy itself, you would not be able to save your game.

That's about the only application for it that I can think of.

There were also games that had a "copy protection" that would only let you install x times. The installer wrote the info onto the floppy. Yes, copy protection has been a bane since the beginning.

 

[TheGreatOne]

Most European releases of PC games I've seen have the American cover art but have some advertisment shit slapped on top of it, so I dont think there's truth to the 9/10 times statistic
Case in point:

Spoiler

Now American releases of Japanese games on the other hand

 

[FeelTheRads]

Eh, that Ultima 7 is a budget rerelease. See the Hit Squad logo. Those will always be shit. Avoid like the plague.

 

[TheGreatOne]

I really dont understand the point of platinum, greatest hits etc. You delibarately make the rerelease look like shit and force your customers to find an used copy (from which you get 0 %), rather than just printing more copies of a box art that already exists.

 

[pippin]

To my knowledge, those reissues are done mostly to renovate both the stock (so you can get as much money as you can from a certain game) and distribution licenses.
But you are right. Insert that Castlevania picture here.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I really dont understand the point of platinum, greatest hits etc. You delibarately make the rerelease look like shit and force your customers to find an used copy (from which you get 0 %), rather than just printing more copies of a box art that already exists.

That's because you're unable to grasp anything that doesn't concern your own ass, right here and right now.

20+ years ago people weren't thinking about the potential "collector's market" value of games when they bought them - games like Ultima 7 and Eye of the Beholder were selling like hot cakes, and any chance people had at getting the hot cakes for a reduced price was a Good Thing. Box art was a secondary factor. I bought the Complete Ultima 7 Collection on CD the first change I got, even though it came in an ugly orange CD jewel case, because Ultima 7 (in its entirety) is an awesome game. That's what the budget re-releases were banking on for sales- good PR, not fanciful art.

 

[Excidium II]

I could save R$1,50 on the pirated games stall by taking only the CD without the jewel case

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Most buyers don't care about the shitty cover since it's likely they will discard it as soon as they get home, but yes I don't see the point in going out of your way to ruin a decent cover. I imagine that since this is a rerelease they aren't worried about aesthetics and just tell the marketing guys to make it as obvious as possible that this game is good and you should buy it NOW and stop looking at the other games in the shelf.

A particularly nasty example:

Only the third one is a parody.

edit: Another one:

I could save R$1,50 on the pirated games stall by taking only the CD without the jewel case

I paid a little extra to have the nice version with the game's art on the CD/DVD instead of hastily scribbled title with marker on a blank disc. I am a dashing pirate, not a fucking highwayman.

 

[TheGreatOne]

20+ years ago people weren't thinking about the potential "collector's market" value of games when they bought them - games like Ultima 7 and Eye of the Beholder were selling like hot cakes, and any chance people had at getting the hot cakes for a reduced price was a Good Thing. Box art was a secondary factor. I bought the Complete Ultima 7 Collection on CD the first change I got, even though it came in an ugly orange CD jewel case, because Ultima 7 (in its entirety) is an awesome game. That's what the budget re-releases were banking on for sales- good PR, not fanciful art.

U7 is a different beast all together as the regular game is effectively the collector's edition. Those cloth maps and trinkets cost money to manufacture. I'm talking about games that were printed on regular DVD/CD/plastic cases in the first place. Like that Konami's best rerelease of Dawn of Sorrow, or shit like this

You could just print the regular cover art and it would take less effort and wouldn't cost you any more money. The third one looks by far the best and it's a budget release afaik (original was a cardboard big box)

 

[Unkillable Cat]

No, the DVD case on the far right (I think they're called "Keep cases") was released either alongside the big boxes or only a few months afterwards. The other two are budget re-releases.

It's very rare that (budget) re-releases preserve the original box art or try to come up with new box art, but one such example is The Longest Journey, which suddenly saw a big box release in 2005 - at least here in Scandinavian countries.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Update - mostly to bump this thread and remind myself to do that "US vs Euro box covers, which is better and why?" topic when I have free time:

# Disregard that about Double Density disks having a longer lifespan than High Density disks - at least when it comes to the 3.5" disks.

# I just finished going through 206 Double Density 5.25" disks and 57 High Density 5.25" disks. When they're all stacked up they're about as long as my arm, yet they only house 142.5 Mb of data. (If my calculations are correct.)

# By comparison I have a USB flash drive the size of my pinky finger that houses 460 times more data than that...and weighs only a fraction of their weight. 25 years of progress did yield something positive.

# Among those disks were two very special 5.25" disks - true double-sided disks. That means I could flip them over and insert them wrong-side up into the drive and still get a reading. Unfortunately they came with the caveat that the disk's total size was split evenly on both sides - meaning each side was only 180 Kb. It was still a pretty cool thing that hasn't been done since - and I'm keeping those. The fate of the other disks is being planned, but art students have shown an interest.

# Also among those disks are two standard disks that triggered off so many memories - I'll share their story at a later date, but Larry Laffer is involved.

# Porn .gifs (non-animated) are somehow an even bigger turn-on than porn images of today. (I might even post it if I find a "laissez-faire" image host.)

# I went through about 50 Double Density 3.5" disks and about 70 High Density 3.5" disks - some of them were drilled-through DD disks. (Anyone remember that trick?)

# I threw out over 30 3.5" disks because they were utterly unreadable - while I only had to throw out 8 5.25" disks for the same reason.

# For some twisted reason, I didn't erase the Ping Pong virus from that one disk that had it. Anyone want it?

# I foresee that due to my data preservation antics, I may have data that may warrant the attention of people in the old "warez" scene. I recall an OldGames IRC channel about 10 years ago, but don't have the specific details. If anyone reading this can tell me more about that, please send me a PM, it will be greatly appreciated.

# 5.25" drives, when reading bad sectors, can make noises that measure as high as 90+ decibel in volume. The first time round I thought I'd broken the whole computer!

 

[FeelTheRads]

I think it was just #oldgames on undernet? If that's the one you mean. But I think it's dead by now.

Start your own distribution and invite codex bros.

 

[Don Peste]

What about Blackcats?