rarest / hard to find software

[buzby]

so whilst going through all our software me and my mate yoshi doshi were wondering who had got the rarest or  hard to find software ?


or who thinks they have rare stuff but it actually NOT

[TFM]

One candidate would be the CHQ2 cartridge for the Plus. Else... all our unreleased stuff 

[MacDeath]

Amstrad rarest ever...


chèze HècheQiou 2 ... 1 exemplary... the rest ? french and that's its...

[TFM]

Is that something you made? Any informations?

[fano]

I think he meant Chaise Hache Cul 2 

[MacDeath]

I think he meant Chaise Hache Cul 2

ach damn, I knew I screwed it somewhere.
Thx Fano.


Gazza2 on GX4000 was also tested in a few magazines so the game is supposed to have existed too, hence it must be quite rare if not disapeared into oblivion.

[Cholo]

Really good question there because what is really rare.

Like there is a lot of original Amsoft games collectors out there and i often wonder if the "rare" games really are rare or its just that they get snatched away from ebay so fast that i dont get to see em. No doubt there is some genuine rare amsoft titles out there.

Genuine rare games today is usually the games that people didnt buy much of back in the days, so in general you could say:
- disc games
- overpriced games
- non-action games
- single batch or "old" games
- multiformat games
- hardware restriced games
- odds & end
- back to the future

Lets start off by saying that compilations really arnt rare at all. Sure there may be exceptions but in general compilations .. tape or disc .. is as common as the amsoft games pack you got when buying an amstrad.

Disc games: was more expensive than tapes, so your disc games will automaticly be a lot more rare than tape ones. Tapes also seem to last better than disc games, so actually having a genuine working disc game in a nice fullprice big box with manual & stuff is definately hard to get.

Overpriced games: especially early on some of the quite horrible amsoft (or memorable early programming attempts) games sold at full price 9.95 or worse. Probably better than magazine type-ins .. but not much better The budget marked cought up really fast though.

Non-action games: Kinda tricky this one as popular action games can "hide" as rare game. Still no hiding when some major action blockbusters like Robocop shows up 3 times a week on ebay (disc or tape dosnt matter). I personally stopped counting how many copies of Ghostbusters i got as once i got past 10 it really stopped to matter. Anyways, any non-action game is usually fairly rare .. simply as it was only bought by adults only. Flight simulators and even war games might get you into the semi-rare i guess but only slightly. To get into the genuine rare stuff youll need to get into the really "dull" stuff like text adventures.

Single batch or "old" game: if a game was only sold once and never got onto budget/compilation its probably gonna be hard to get now. Like a original disc copy of Donkey Kong in the nice big wrapper casing it came with like a few of the early game. The game was never sold as budget or re-released if i remember correctly. Even cheaper tape version in a cheap normal dual cassette box sell for silly high money.

Multiformat games: youd think having discs with multiple format games on them would have sold more. Sadly the upto 3x format cpc, pcw & spec+ format discs usually ment "installing" or reformatting of the original disc to the wanted format for the system.

Hardware restricted games: Like the 128k only games. Or even worse the 6128 only games. Dont work on a 464 or 646 even with the rare DDI & ram expansions usually. Like Pirates! or Addams Family. Yes, there was sold a tape version Addams Family too .. but it still only loads on a real 6128 .. if they have the right tape cable .. and if they have a REAL datarecorder (wont work with a normal walkman as it dosnt have the datarecorder motor input). Then there is a few PLUS games out there. The plus range never really catched on and is probably even more rare than the GX4000 console range (and that one is quite rare or high on the spenders list no doubt).

Odds and end: Some games was only released in one region only. Like most people probably think that B.A.T. and Defender of the Crown was great game on the Amiga. Probably missed out on the great amstrad versions.

Back to the future: Small batches of games is still released from time to time. Perhaps more on a fun homebrew basis but non the less in extreme few copies when it happens. Of cause you could argue its not really commercial when someone "sells" 30 copies of a game. Still, statistically it cant get much rare than that

In the end it quite hard to tell unless you list your games Having a stack of ol' Level 9, Rainbird and infocom textadventures .. and you might have a bit of a rare collection i guess.

The fake's: quite a few fake GX4000 games have been seen on ebay. Like dont get fooled into thinking you have found some rare undiscovered GX4000 game .. like Saboteur, Frogger or Iznogood or similar. They pop up from time to time at silly high prices and forget to admit they are actually some homebrew cart transfers of normal amstrad games onto cart format. Quite easy to spot as they usually omit copyright marks aka software house on the game label/front etc. Technically speaking these games are quite rare of cause .. but i think not the kinda rare youd want to get into.

[buzby]

now thats narrowed it down cholo, ive just listed all my software and its took me weeks but at least they are all catalogued now.


now ive got a large pile of doubles and triples to sell on


amsoft titles you say, now i collect them and its getting really difficult now. like you say they get snapped up fast of people want silly prices for them.

[Xyphoe]

Top 3 most prized I would personally say... are strangely enough all GX4000 related ...

1) Chase HQ 2 (cat)
2) Gazza 2 (cart)
3) Trojan Light Phaser in box with Enforcer and Skeet Shoot carts

Otherwise it's boxed (good condition box), with instructions and working DISK games that are otherwise most prized putting aside strange hardware addons.

I would say these are the most valued disks...

B.A.T.
Indiana Jones & The Fate Of Atlantis
Xyphoes Fantasy
Prehistorik II
Super Cauldron
Space Gun
Prince Of Persia
Lemmings
Titus The Fox
North & South
Knight Force
After The War
AMC
Head Over Heels
Purple Saturn Day
Werewolves Of London (Viz Designs original full price release)
Zap T Balls / Megablasters / Fluff - with these three independant home-brew releases I'm not 100% sure if they had box and instructions.

Any of the above should net you £20 each minimum on fleaBay!
There's loads more I've forgotten about - there was a Retro Gamer magazine article and collectors guide recently but their list of games was bizarre and missed many far rarer and of more interest.

[Gryzor]

Top 3 most prized I would personally say... are strangely enough all GX4000 related ...

1) Chase HQ 2 (cat)
2) Gazza 2 (cart)
3) Trojan Light Phaser in box with Enforcer and Skeet Shoot carts

Well, the cat version of CHQ2 is indeed very expensive, but I'd say the ferret version beats them all.

[TFM]

Megablasters and Fluff both have boxes. I got both from Odiesoft back that day. All original.

Now... you forgot one of the most prescious pieces...

The original Black Land Box (original release in German!). This box has not only the autograms of both producers, it also has a complex handmade drawing on it. It took Siggi a very long time to paint all that pictures. So every box is 100% individual. Some of them were sold at the COM-1 meeting in that day. (I just remember all that old days  ).

[ralferoo]

I finally got round to "cataloguing" the collection of games I've acquired with the CPCs I've bought over the years. By cataloguing, I mean the laziest possible way - simply taking a photo of the box before putting it back in the box! CPC tapes

Still, amongst the usual dross, there's quite a few here that I've never even heard of and even a couple I'd actually like to try, e.g. North and South!

I've also found about 10 of what look like "barely touched" condition Amsoft disc games, although I'd put the camera away by then. Again, mostly ones I'd never heard of before.

[Cholo]

I finally got round to "cataloguing" the collection of games I've acquired with the CPCs I've bought over the years. By cataloguing, I mean the laziest possible way - simply taking a photo of the box before putting it back in the box! CPC tapes ...

Nice collection I i have to pick one that made me raise my eyebrows its your copy of "Friday the 13th". Not that its the best game in the world .. but definately fairly rare. And the last time i saw one (at german ebay i think) it sold for silly high money. Purple Saturn Day and Cinderella aint bad either. Lots of other great ones like Druid 2 and YES! do check out North & South .. its as great as the amiga version even though though the tape version dont have the train chase.
Still havnt gotten around to make a full game list of my own. I always get halfway thru the first crate and end up quitting  But the picture taking actually makes sense .. i gotta try that.

Top 3 most prized I would personally say... are strangely enough all GX4000 related ...

1) Chase HQ 2 (cat)
2) Gazza 2 (cart)
3) Trojan Light Phaser in box with Enforcer and Skeet Shoot carts

Otherwise it's boxed (good condition box), with instructions and working DISK games that are otherwise most prized putting aside strange hardware addons.

I would say these are the most valued disks...

B.A.T.
Indiana Jones & The Fate Of Atlantis
Xyphoes Fantasy
Prehistorik II
Super Cauldron
Space Gun
Prince Of Persia
Lemmings
Titus The Fox
North & South
Knight Force
After The War
AMC
Head Over Heels
Purple Saturn Day
Werewolves Of London (Viz Designs original full price release)
Zap T Balls / Megablasters / Fluff - with these three independant home-brew releases I'm not 100% sure if they had box and instructions.

Any of the above should net you £20 each minimum on fleaBay!
There's loads more I've forgotten about - there was a Retro Gamer magazine article and collectors guide recently but their list of games was bizarre and missed many far rarer and of more interest.

Nice list indeed. Definately some freakishly hard to get games in there. Must be quite a few more french/spanish only games that i cant remember too.

[ralferoo]

Nice collection I i have to pick one that made me raise my eyebrows its your copy of "Friday the 13th". Not that its the best game in the world .. but definately fairly rare. And the last time i saw one (at german ebay i think) it sold for silly high money. Purple Saturn Day and Cinderella aint bad either. Lots of other great ones like Druid 2 and YES! do check out North & South .. its as great as the amiga version even though though the tape version dont have the train chase.

Sadly, my copy of North and South is the tape version, but I'll definitely have to have a go playing some of these. Those last couple of pictures (from the first tapes with no inlays cards onwards) are of bare tapes / inlay cards without tapes, so Cinderella is just the instructions. I must admit, from the name, it's probably not a game I'd have played without a recommendation...

Interestingly, there seem to be a couple of the Bug Byte re-release of Friday 13th on ebay as buy it now fairly cheaply, but not the Domark copy I have (which also seems different from the artwork here Image: Friday the 13th - The Computer Game - Computing History ). Anyway, I'll give it a go some time!

The only reason I got round to taking all the photos was I unpacked all the tapes onto the bed in the spare room to sort them into duplicates. And then I started noting them down and it was taking ages, so I just left them there for about a month. And then I needed to make the spare room sleepable in for a visitor and didn't want to just put them all away, so the quickest way was just to photo everything one handed as I was putting them into boxes again... 

[AMSDOS]

I've been have a look around for the Pandora Manual from Swift Software, well I guess it's just hard to find. 

[Gryzor]

I was going to say "damn this is lazy!" as I started scrolling down that page, but the mere sight of those covers made me feel so nostalgic! I just love the Amsoft Demo tape, but there are quite a few I wouldn't mind having in there

And yes, North and South is surprisingly good for the platform!

[Nich]

I would say these are the most valued disks...

Xyphoes Fantasy

Any of the above should net you £20 each minimum on fleaBay!

Xyphoes Fantasy recently sold for €144.00 on eBay (that's approximately £116 at the time of writing).

[AMSDOS]

I just love the Amsoft Demo tape, but there are quite a few I wouldn't mind having in there

Have you seen the Demo which accompanies CP/M 2.2 on Side 4 for the 6128? 

[Xyphoe]

Xyphoes Fantasy recently sold for €144.00 on eBay (that's approximately £116 at the time of writing).

Damn!! Can't believe I missed that one!! But then probably a good thing, as I should be saving money for Xma$!

[Xyphoe]

£100 for Lords Of Midnight disk!

LORDS OF MIDNIGHT BIG BOX FOR AMSTRAD CPC 464 / 664 / 6128 DISK DISC GAME | eBay

[Gryzor]

Quote from: Gryzor on Yesterday at 16:16:02I just love the Amsoft Demo tape, but there are quite a few I wouldn't mind having in there

Have you seen the Demo which accompanies CP/M 2.2 on Side 4 for the 6128? 

Hm, actually no, I have not!

@Xyphoe: I guess Lords of Midnight on the CPC is rare enough indeed... I don't remember it being any huge success outside the Speccy?

[AMSDOS]

Hm, actually no, I have not!

Oh well, I haven't seen the 664 version. I'm kind of thinking what the differences would be, I think the 6128 version does some Bank switching, I'm not sure though. It has things like Roland in Time as the Demo and does some BASIC 1.1 stuff like FILL.

@Xyphoe: I guess Lords of Midnight on the CPC is rare enough indeed... I don't remember it being any huge success outside the Speccy?

Isn't Lords of Midnight a sequel to Laser Squad? I'm not sure cause I haven't played either, though know they are similar games.

[Gryzor]

Isn't Lords of Midnight a sequel to Laser Squad? I'm not sure cause I haven't played either, though know they are similar games.

Similar? Wouldn't say so...

[Gryzor]

[attachimg=1] vs [attachimg=2]


(sorry, editing the previous post doesn't allow attachments)

[AMSDOS]

Sorry, I'm thinking of Lords of Chaos.