Rare CPC games

[CrookieMonster]

Hi all,

I'm writing a guide to rare/hard to find/expensive CPC games and I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions? 

Are there games out there that you're desperate to get hold of but can't because they're either mega expensive or they rarely go on sale?

[marcm200]

... rarely go on sale?

I am looking for months now for the German text adventure "Thorr 1 - Die letzten Tage von Burg Ghorrodt" (translated sth like: The last days of Castle Ghorrodt) from 1985 by Data Media. There was one on sale at the beginning of this year, but I wasn't fast enough.

[eto]

There is no huge market. you can get many games on tape, but by far most games are hard to find. Even Fruity Frank doesn't show up often.

Generally speaking, tapes are more common and cheaper than discs. There are a few people out there, that ask for hilarious prices but even rare titles usually cost less than 30€. The Amstrad ecosystem does not have many "collectors" that pay a lot. The exception may be GX4000 games, which are rare and achieve crazy prices. 

I personally was looking for the German version of Elite for almost 2 years. I never got the disc version, but since I was more looking for the box and especially the content of the box (manual, novel and poster), that did not matter too much. But even such a rare item just cost 30€.

[Strident]

The games that you never see for sale are the really rare ones... There are so many impossible to find 1990s Amstrad CPC text adventures that I'd love to get copies of. Many of which are probably lost forever and will never be preserved. A large number of them were "homegrown" or "public domain" so, not looking like "proper" releases, the tapes & disks they were on will have likely been unknowingly erased, reused or junked.

[VincentGR]

Yesterday I was looking after so many years that Chase H.Q II video.
Now the comments are disabled.
I wish this game was saved, not for me to play, just to be somewhere safe like that guys who run the software preservation.

[ComSoft6128]

Yesterday I was looking after so many years that Chase H.Q II video.
Now the comments are disabled.
I wish this game was saved, not for me to play, just to be somewhere safe like that guys who run the software preservation.

This is definitely a complete game - not just one level?

[VincentGR]

Really don't know.
That guy had a cart that seemed legit and played a round.

[ComSoft6128]

Well if it is REAL & COMPLETE and ever comes up for sale I'll bung in £50 as part of combined effort to rescue it.

[VincentGR]

It was 1000e or pounds I think.

[ComSoft6128]

A bit steep, that was a genuine sale?

[VincentGR]

I remember that we had a topic about it here.

[ComSoft6128]

Yes, I've just checked it out but it seemed to lack anything definitive.

[CrookieMonster]

Hi Strident, which text adventures are sought after? I have many PD discs - I've been meaning to go through them all again to see what's on them (assuming they all work). I can keep an eye out for stuff for you!

[CrookieMonster]

Chase HQ II definitely exists. It was bought by a chap called James Bridges from the mail order company WAVE which advertised in Amstrad Action. Retro Gamer played it in issue 46.

[sigh]

Isn't Super Cauldron a rarity?

[Animalgril987]

Hi Strident, which text adventures are sought after? I have many PD discs - I've been meaning to go through them all again to see what's on them (assuming they all work). I can keep an eye out for stuff for you!

Hi CrookieMonster. I'm sure there's a lot of people who don't have some ( or all ) of these.
Would it be possible for you to upload them to a repository ( I don't know if there's one here ), for us all to take a peek at?
Cheers, Alan.

[CrookieMonster]

Of course. The PD discs I have contain all kinds of programs from games to serious applications but when I get a spare afternoon, I'll go through them all.

[Xyphoe]

There's "rare" and also "rare + sought after"! I mean there's some really really obscure games out there that you never see but are really crap (eg Surprise Surprise) but no-one really in the right mind would want to pay a lot of money for.

Then there are games that appear a lot more on eBay but are far more desired (eg Addams Family).

I think it's important to make that distinction in the article.


Anyway Just off the top of my head for "rare & sought after" -

Chase HQ 2 (GX4000) dur!
Gazza 2 (GX4000) ... if it exists... presumably a review copy does somewhere
Trojan Light Phazer in box + carts for GX4000
Space Gun (6128 Plus Disk)
Zombi (especially the UK version)
B.A.T. (again, especially the UK version)
Donkey Kong (UK/FR disk version even rarer - that is SUPER rare)
Prehistorik 2
Super Cauldron
Crazy Cars 3
 Indiana Jones & The Fate Of Atlantis (especially UK version)
Wrestling Superstars
Robin Hood Legend Quest (and probably any of the late 92 to 1993 Codies releases)
Prince Of Persia (UK release)
 
The 'Big Box' Amsoft games (in their original big cardboard boxes) are quite collectable and very rare.

These ones are not as rare but still don't come up as often and command high prices, especially for disk versions -
Turtles 2 The Coin Op
Turrican
Turrican 2
Rick Dangerous 1 & 2
Any of the good Elite conversions (Ikari Warriors, Ghosts N Goblins, Commando, Bomb Jack etc)
Gryzor
Renegade
Target Renegade
Combat School
Lemmings
Final Fight
Titus The Fox (UK)
Blues Brothers
Purple Saturn Day
Prohibition
Darkman
Addams Family

Rarer GX4000 carts -
Pang
Copter 271
Dick Tracy
Panza Kick Boxing
Mystical

[CrookieMonster]

Thanks for all of this!!!!

[Strident]

Hi Strident, which text adventures are sought after? I have many PD discs - I've been meaning to go through them all again to see what's on them (assuming they all work). I can keep an eye out for stuff for you!

A lot of the Adventure PD disks (and tapes also, which are very much of interest) aren't archived...
See this thread: https://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/games/adventure-pd/msg214835/

I've not got a specific list of targets at the moment as it's been a while since I've cross-referenced everything with CPC Rulez and CPC Power.

[lmimmfn]

Oh I didn't realise TMNT 2 disk version was expensive, I got that with my 6128, better take more care of it as its just lying on my desk.

[CrookieMonster]

Hi Xyphoe, Do you have a link to any pics of the big box Amsoft games? I don't think I've ever seen one and would love to!

Also, just a general tech query - when I fire up my PD discs and see what's on them (I'm sure I've got Adventure PD discs among them) how do I make .dsk images so that I can share the software with everyone? 

[kawickboy]

Latest Titus releases Crazy Cars 2, Super Cauldron & Prehistorik aren't so rare in floppy release. And don't forget they are multi-langage. But tape release are rare but not really useful.
Space Gun was only released in France. More than 20 years ago, i published pictures of the packaging on the web of this release. Many English people accused me of having made up a Speccy version because for them, an Ocean game not marketed in England was not possible.
Games like Gryzor isn't rare at all, but of course really sought after.

Some english/international releases of spanish games aren't so easy to find too.

I don't know about the UK situation, but Turrican 2 was released in France in august/september 1991, 6 months after c64 and 16 bits releases, and one month later the MAX compilation was out, at nearly the same price. So the Stand alone version is quite rare:

https://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&num=3964

[Axelay]

Hi Xyphoe, Do you have a link to any pics of the big box Amsoft games? I don't think I've ever seen one and would love to!

I picked this big box Amsoft game off ebay some years ago, although it isn't in the best condition.

[Gryzor]

I think I have one or two of these. Basically the same tape... In a big box