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[Anthony Soprano]

Sometimes the best part of a new game wasn't even on the cartridge, it was in the box. Manuals with goofy art, posters you actually hung up, physical maps you could fold out.

What pack-ins do you remember the most? Manuals, maps, posters, toys, collector edition statues. Share your favorites.

I loved the notebook that came with The Adventures of Willy Beamish for PC. It was actually spiral bound, but a mockup of a kid's notebook. Had a fake coffee stain on the front and (printed) doodles on the inside.

The codebook that came with the NES Game Genie.



The overworld map that came with A Link To The Past.

 

[ElFenomeno]

Witcher 3 is the last one. Had a map.
Now not even the game is present lol.

 

[Beretta]

I have a few things:

1. Batman statue from Arkham City
2. Joker statue from Arkham Origins
3, Ryu figure from Street Fighter 4

My favorite is the Joker statue, the TVs behind him light up.

 

[Robb]

Probably Wind Waker HD on WiiU, which came with a, surprisingly nice, Ganondorf statue.

 

[Mr Hyde]

Probably Wind Waker HD on WiiU, which came with a, surprisingly nice, Ganondorf statue.

That is a very beautiful statue. Wind Waker Ganondorf is the best Ganondorf.

 

[Black_Stride]

Sonic Adventure 2 The Trial with Phantasy Star Online.

 

[Lambogenie]

Didn't MGS2 come with some soap in Europe for a random launch?

Having a full game was great...

 

[Dr Cowley]

Age of Mythology collecters edition.

I grabbed the standard edition and plopped it down on the counter in EB.

Guy "You want the collectors edition?"

Me "How much m-"

Guy "Same price! They take up space! Have it please"

I got a figure, some cool art cards of thor and Odin and the other gods. A big poster I have somewhere and a book. Bulfinch's Mythology.

Great box.

Oh, included the game aswell, have to point that out nowadays apparently.

 

[Sticks]

Cant remember. There was a period where I bought a lot of limited editions.

 

[EerieArcade]

I remember wandering into town and buying Resident Evil Code Veronica from GAME. It came with a demo for Devil May Cry. I played the demo for an entire weekend, absolutely fell in love with DMC. Outside of that, I've bought games that came with posters. I bought the Megadrive collection which came with a cool double sided poster.

 

[Mr Moose]

I have 4 collectors edition items showing in my room (and a lot of others hidden away).
Ubisoft skull, Sekiro statue thing (and the coins/scroll), Spider-Man statue thing and Persona 5 mask.
(Pics Googled)

The headphones were trash, I threw them away.

 

[Tajaz2426]

Witcher 3 midnight release with my two sons was the last collectors edition or pack in stuff. I started giving up gaming shortly after because of the constant storefronts and microtransactions in games.

Great memory that early morning and a great game the three of us played together.

 

[Herbspiceguy]

• Metzen's (concept) art & lore tidbits found in Blizzard games manuals during it's prime
• The Fallout manual
• Ultima Online cloth map & pin

 

[alabtrosMyster]

God of War 3 deluxe edition;


All that and DLC also... These days we would probably get some of the DLC.

 

[phant0m]

Blizzard always made great CEs but I imported the STALKER 2 ultimate from the EU and it's incredible

The artifact actually floats & spins and the back pack is legit waterproof

Runner up goes to the Indiana Jones CE with the secret compartment globe

 

[Pasta la Vista]

SMT III Nocturne CD Soundtrack, still listen to it to this day.

 

[dave_d]

Got to mention the fruit rollups that a bunch of Genesis games came with. Hey that's a pack in but it makes me wonder how many sealed Genesis games are around that have that in them.

 

[Roberts]

My Outlaws box had a harmonica. 30 years have passed, my kids found it and drive me and my wife mad with their ear-shattering Bob Dylan impersonations.

 

[Shifty1897]

While other kids were getting cars for their 16th birthday, I got this. I was thrilled though. Soundtrack CD, making of disc, pendant replica, leatherbound color manual, overworld map.
Modern collector's editions wish they could be as awesome as this.

 

[Lunarorbit]

Octopath traveler had a dope collectors edition: nice feelin map and an awesome coin were the highlights.

The coins metal is a little soft but ive had it for 5 years and sometimes I just randomly put it in my pocket on the way to work.

It feels really nice in my hand. Oh and the weird pop up scene from one of the taverns was included. I wasn't really sure what that was about but I guess it'll look kinda cool displayed

 

[cash_longfellow]

The map with Final Fantasy 1. It had the enemies on the back side and it showed their stats, weaknesses, etc..basically a packed in strategy guide.

Edit - I stand corrected, thinking back on it, I believe the bestiary sheet was a separate packed in sheet.

 

[SoloCamo]

I'm a simple man because this still makes me so happy (Morrowind Map)

 

[Black_Stride]

Octopath traveler had a dope collectors edition: nice feelin map and an awesome coin were the highlights.

The coins metal is a little soft but ive had it for 5 years and sometimes I just randomly put it in my pocket on the way to work.

It feels really nice in my hand. Oh and the weird pop up scene from one of the taverns was included. I wasn't really sure what that was about but I guess it'll look kinda cool displayed

The coin is just bigger than the centre clear section of a CD?
Looks pretty damn cool......thats actually a collectable i would love to have.
Huge Ocotpath fan.

 

[Lunarorbit]

The coin is just bigger than the centre clear section of a CD?
Looks pretty damn cool......thats actually a collectable i would love to have.
Huge Ocotpath fan.

I'll take a picture of it in my hand so you can get perspective when I go home. But it's probably the width of a half dollar. Its almost oval shaped as the center if the coin is thicker than the ring around the coin

 

[LavitzSlambert]

OoT Master Quest preorder bonus with Wind Waker.

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

There have been so many, honestly.. back when you actually got things at retail. I'll put some thought into this, but first one that comes to mind is the first preorder I ever made: Ocarina of Time. It came with a Zelda tshirt,tattoos, stickers, and an actual Golden colored and branded Ocarina of Time plastic bag. I still have all of it! Of all things, the plastic bag is my favorite

 

[Mr Hyde]

While other kids were getting cars for their 16th birthday, I got this. I was thrilled though. Soundtrack CD, making of disc, pendant replica, leatherbound color manual, overworld map.
Modern collector's editions wish they could be as awesome as this.

Working Designs Lunar-collections were the best. I had the Silver Star Story complete. It was awesome.

 

[Sentenza]

Putting aside fancy "collector editions" (especially since I never personally bought one) the game with the best packaging I can remember in its default version remains 30 years later Ultima VII.

 

[semiconscious]

you can't talk game pack-ins without mentioning infocom, the king of amazing packaging:

https://retro365.blog/2022/11/30/q-bits-from-my-personal-collection-infocom-the-first-twelve/

 

[falconhoof]

Sadly lost the ninja mask a few years back from mine.

 

[Tams]

This was with the Japanese pre-order of Okami way back in 2009, when pre-ordering from outside a country was much harder. So I didn't get it as part of a pre-order, but I did pick one up off of eBay for a silly amount.

The green paint on the bell quickly wore off.

 

[Ristifer]

Age of Mythology collecters edition.

I grabbed the standard edition and plopped it down on the counter in EB.

Guy "You want the collectors edition?"

Me "How much m-"

Guy "Same price! They take up space! Have it please"

I got a figure, some cool art cards of thor and Odin and the other gods. A big poster I have somewhere and a book. Bulfinch's Mythology.

Great box.

Oh, included the game aswell, have to point that out nowadays apparently.

I still have my AoE3 collector's edition, and I love that one too. A hefty manual, the actual game, a full physical soundtrack, a complete poster with all nationalities and their loadouts, and probably the most beautiful art book I've ever seen for a game. The hardback book covered the entire history of the Age of Empires IP and looked into the future as well.

 

[Trogdor1123]

The manual for Space Quest 5 is great.

This is the cover.

https://imgv2-2-f.scribdassets.com/img/document/698667041/original/a6fc4e79de/1706031825?v=1

 

[onQ123]

Back when the Sega Master System used to come with a pre-installed game like Hang-on

Sega really was ahead of it's time

 

[nush]

Bonus disk that came with Quake 4 for the 360 that had Quake II on it. I played that more than Quake 4.

 

[Tams]

and looked into the future as well.

Which retrospectively quite quickly became merely a sign of what could have been.

 

[Cakeboxer]

 

[Dr.Morris79]

This was my favourite

That shuriken got some serious use, and it's still in perfect nick.

 

[Phobos Base]

Mine will always be my FF8 Limited Edition

My first ever job was in a supermarket with a shop opposite that had it in the window. After I got my first ever pay cheque I bought it, and 25 years later it's still sitting on my shelf, complete with the t-shirt sealed.

 

[Gojiira]

Bloodborne Collectors Edition was beautiful.
BUT my absolute faves are the MGS Premium Packages, Snake Eaters was insane and included a model kit of the Shagohod that was a proper packaged product with Cold War looking art. But the absolute best was the MGS1 Premium Package, full size artbook, giant poster,full soundtrack,art prints,had a replica metal Foxhound Dogtags etc. Just a great set of collectors editions, not a single 'cheap' item.

 

[Quasicat]

Sonic Adventure 2 The Trial with Phantasy Star Online.

The only reason I bought Phantasy Star Online the day it came out was because of that demo! I played it thousands of times when a friend came over and asked about PSO. We popped it in and I fell in love with the series!

The craziest pack in I bought was the Bully special edition which had a deflated dodgeball packed into a cardboard locker with the game and a comic book.

 

[consoul]

Steins Gate: Limited Edition (Xbox360 Japan).
Came with a lie detector gadget.

 

[FinalBossWithTheMostPower]

Awesome collector's edition.

 

[Ristifer]

Which retrospectively quite quickly became merely a sign of what could have been.

Yeah. It's a neat snapshot of what they wanted to do, but never ended up doing. Unfortunate, but pretty interesting to see their desired plans.

 

[Alex Anderson]

The series soundtrack and materials that came with preorder of one of the Castlevania DS games was nice. It was worth as much as the game.

 

[Nintendo's Witch]

 

[Nintendo's Witch]

When PC gaming was worth it.

 

[Calverz]

The drivers manual or whatever it was called included in Gran Turismo 2. It taught me the difference between oversteer and understeer lol

 

[SJRB]

When Diablo released on PC it came with this insane lore and bestiary book, that was so sick.

I read that thing like 100 times.

 

[STARSBarry]

I have a fair few collectors edition's but the one that really stands out above the rest is...

looks like nothing special, but it actually radically changes the feel of how you play the game. The reason is the The Wizard Companion book. At multiple points during the game you are asked to flick through the in game Wizard Companion to solve a riddle, What monster drops a certain item, where somewhere is on the map or how a spell is cast.

This book is a perfect high quality 1 to 1 of the in game book, meaning instead of opening up a menu and scrolling, you pick up the book next to you and physically flick through the pages to solve the puzzles. It was such an enjoyable experience that really improved how the game felt to play.