Which are the rarest titles from the "very popular" software?
I know popular is subjective, but more or less there is a concensus. I mentioned two so far in other topic:
Tapper
Lode Runner Championship.
I'm talking about rare titles, no rare versions (such as the earlier Spelunker release).
Rarest popular titles
Moderator: Atari Frog
Re: Rarest popular titles
I think Drol is quite rare.ijor wrote:Which are the rarest titles from the "very popular" software?
André
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Atari Frog
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The Synapse combos are pretty rare, Montezuma's Revenge and Mr. Do'!s Castle on disk, some SSI titles...
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Atari Frog
http://www.atarimania.com
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Atari Frog
http://www.atarimania.com
Combos don’t count, they are just a particular release, not a particular title. Montezuma is not common, but I don’t think it reaches the rarity of the other titles mentioned. SSI titles unlikely belong to the “very popular” category. They are popular for certain people only.
Ok, here are my rules:
Only rare titles, no rare versions or releases. I don’t care if a combo or compilation is rare. What it matters is if overall (all the releases and versions together) it is rare or not.
Only very popular titles. Popular in the “playing” sense, and not in the collecting one. For example, collectors like old Sirious titles, but most of them are crappy games that nobody wants to play. A few Synapse titles are crappy too.
Only software in English.
Tape releases don’t count (nobody wants to play tapes on a real computer).
Only main releases. For example, Alley Cat is rarish (I don’t think it deserves the prices it usually fetches, but it’s certainly not common). But Alley Cat is also available in one of Smash Hits, which is very common. In this case, the common Smash Hits doesn’t affect the rarity of the title. Because Smash Hits is a very late re-release, can’t be considered a main release.
This is just a chat and many issues are subjective. So if you insist, feel free to break the rules
Ok, here are my rules:
Only rare titles, no rare versions or releases. I don’t care if a combo or compilation is rare. What it matters is if overall (all the releases and versions together) it is rare or not.
Only very popular titles. Popular in the “playing” sense, and not in the collecting one. For example, collectors like old Sirious titles, but most of them are crappy games that nobody wants to play. A few Synapse titles are crappy too.
Only software in English.
Tape releases don’t count (nobody wants to play tapes on a real computer).
Only main releases. For example, Alley Cat is rarish (I don’t think it deserves the prices it usually fetches, but it’s certainly not common). But Alley Cat is also available in one of Smash Hits, which is very common. In this case, the common Smash Hits doesn’t affect the rarity of the title. Because Smash Hits is a very late re-release, can’t be considered a main release.
This is just a chat and many issues are subjective. So if you insist, feel free to break the rules
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Atari Frog
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Yep, you're right about Alley Cat: immensely popular but the original version is hard to find. Threshold is another one that's difficult to track down nowadays. Mr. Do!'s Castle can only be found on a super rare disk or cartridge...
Now if we delve into the re-releases and foreign releases of classic games, there are some nice candidates: Lucifer's Realm by US Gold, the French MCC releases...
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Atari Frog
http://www.atarimania.com
Now if we delve into the re-releases and foreign releases of classic games, there are some nice candidates: Lucifer's Realm by US Gold, the French MCC releases...
--
Atari Frog
http://www.atarimania.com
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deathtrappomegranate
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Yes, generaly it should be a conflict. But obviously there are some exceptions.
Probably there are two possible cases for the exceptions. Some titles might be very popular but for one reason or the other, they actually didn't sell too much. Others might have sell good, but for some reason very few copies were preserved.
I was thinking that sometimes, a game might be rare today precisely because it sold out. Remember that most of these games were bought for kids. A kid usually doesn't preserve his games in good condition, certainly not the box. On the other hand, titles less popular were left in warehouses and stores, where they were better preserved.
Of course that if a game was extremely popular, probably was produced in bigger quantities. But I guess that many titles were produced once in a single batch, disregarding the future popularity of the game. Tapper could be a good example of this. If when it sold out Sega already left the market, this might explain why they didn't produce more copies.
Then we have the other case, popular games that didn't sell too much. A good example is MULE. Of course that MULE is not really rare. But MULE is probably the most popular of all the games (at least today) and it wasn't a best seller. I remember one of the MULE authors complained that he didn't make much money with MULE, and that Seven Cities sold much more than MULE. No idea why MULE wasn't really a top seller.
Probably there are two possible cases for the exceptions. Some titles might be very popular but for one reason or the other, they actually didn't sell too much. Others might have sell good, but for some reason very few copies were preserved.
I was thinking that sometimes, a game might be rare today precisely because it sold out. Remember that most of these games were bought for kids. A kid usually doesn't preserve his games in good condition, certainly not the box. On the other hand, titles less popular were left in warehouses and stores, where they were better preserved.
Of course that if a game was extremely popular, probably was produced in bigger quantities. But I guess that many titles were produced once in a single batch, disregarding the future popularity of the game. Tapper could be a good example of this. If when it sold out Sega already left the market, this might explain why they didn't produce more copies.
Then we have the other case, popular games that didn't sell too much. A good example is MULE. Of course that MULE is not really rare. But MULE is probably the most popular of all the games (at least today) and it wasn't a best seller. I remember one of the MULE authors complained that he didn't make much money with MULE, and that Seven Cities sold much more than MULE. No idea why MULE wasn't really a top seller.
How about HawkQuest?
Already I think, I've lost the disk cover/art for it...
Harvey
Harvey
Re: How about HawkQuest?
Hi Harvey!
Nice to see you in this forum Btw., I like the outstanding graphics of LaserHawk and HawkQuest.
The game HawkQuest is too good to be a scarce game. Due to its late release date is wasn't a bestseller, but a fair amount of games must have been sold - any serious gamer and collector (at least in Europe) has it in complete and like new condition.
Hint: You even can buy this game in new condition at ebay nowadays.
Who did the cover art?
Nice to see you in this forum
Btw., I like the outstanding graphics of LaserHawk and HawkQuest. The game HawkQuest is too good to be a scarce game. Due to its late release date is wasn't a bestseller, but a fair amount of games must have been sold - any serious gamer and collector (at least in Europe) has it in complete and like new condition.
Hint: You even can buy this game in new condition at ebay nowadays.
Who did the cover art?
André
re: MULE
IIRC, I saw a sales figure for MULE some time ago at approximately 70,000 units sold (Atari and C64 combined). That's not too much these days, but was quite a lot back then.
I wouldn't call it rare, but it takes some time tracking it down, and it's usually quite expensive. One possible reason could be that most collectors would want a copy, since it's arguably the best game ever made, at least one of the best! So, demand is big, and those sitting on a copy are not likely to part with it.. I sure as hell am not, and I have five copies of it.
Another thing that sort of gives away that it sold well is the fact that I don't think I've ever seen a shrinkwrapped MULE. Has anybody in here? Most of the other EA titles were sold in bargain bins later, shrinkwrapped and all, and they pop up now and then when old warehouses are discovered and such. But there are never any MULEs in there.. Could be that it wasn't sold for too long, perhaps only during 83 to early 85 and then went EOL, and not being reissued for bargain bins throughout the 80s? I think that is true for most of the early EA titles, with the odd exception they are all pretty uncommon in shrinkwrapped condiiton, whereas games from 85 and onward are quite common. I mean, we could as well be talking about Archon, Pinball Construction Set, Worms and those.. All pretty damn hard to find shrinkwrapped. (though possible, I've seen a few during the years, but not many at all)
Just a theory, but it sounds plausible.
IIRC, I saw a sales figure for MULE some time ago at approximately 70,000 units sold (Atari and C64 combined). That's not too much these days, but was quite a lot back then.
I wouldn't call it rare, but it takes some time tracking it down, and it's usually quite expensive. One possible reason could be that most collectors would want a copy, since it's arguably the best game ever made, at least one of the best! So, demand is big, and those sitting on a copy are not likely to part with it.. I sure as hell am not, and I have five copies of it.
Another thing that sort of gives away that it sold well is the fact that I don't think I've ever seen a shrinkwrapped MULE. Has anybody in here? Most of the other EA titles were sold in bargain bins later, shrinkwrapped and all, and they pop up now and then when old warehouses are discovered and such. But there are never any MULEs in there.. Could be that it wasn't sold for too long, perhaps only during 83 to early 85 and then went EOL, and not being reissued for bargain bins throughout the 80s? I think that is true for most of the early EA titles, with the odd exception they are all pretty uncommon in shrinkwrapped condiiton, whereas games from 85 and onward are quite common. I mean, we could as well be talking about Archon, Pinball Construction Set, Worms and those.. All pretty damn hard to find shrinkwrapped. (though possible, I've seen a few during the years, but not many at all)
Just a theory, but it sounds plausible.
Hi Andre - re: HawkQuest
Thank you for your comments.
The artwork/advertising for the disk cover/etc was of course done by Red Rat. I don't know who did the artwork for them?
I did all the graphics within the game. Andrew did all the graphics programming, so High Score screens, and all graphics animation is usually by him.
I actually don't know players' reactions to Laser Hawk and HawkQuest -
how they viewed the games? Feedback is welcomed, even if it be 20 years later...
I hoped HawkQuest would be keenly sought after these days, as my wish for the game, is for it to be recognised as a very special game for the Atari's indeed. It should be possible for keen enough players to design their own levels (similar to Boulderdash Construction Kit) and even to design their own graphics, that will appear in the game --- if players want to do this? I have about 90%+ of the info to do this, the rest needs to be worked out, when someone is keen to be the guinea pig to do the first version of the Alternate version of HawkQuest... the graphic editors should be easy enough to chase down, or I do have them somewhere. MAC 65 is used to write the files to a boot disk, and I think a disk editor is needed to change some header bytes, so that MAC 65 can load the files into it.
There is no need for any changes to be made to the game code or source, because the graphics and level design data is stored separately from gaming code on the game disk.
See my other post, about HawkQuest, elsewhere in this forum for further details.
Harvey
The artwork/advertising for the disk cover/etc was of course done by Red Rat. I don't know who did the artwork for them?
I did all the graphics within the game. Andrew did all the graphics programming, so High Score screens, and all graphics animation is usually by him.
I actually don't know players' reactions to Laser Hawk and HawkQuest -
how they viewed the games? Feedback is welcomed, even if it be 20 years later...
I hoped HawkQuest would be keenly sought after these days, as my wish for the game, is for it to be recognised as a very special game for the Atari's indeed. It should be possible for keen enough players to design their own levels (similar to Boulderdash Construction Kit) and even to design their own graphics, that will appear in the game --- if players want to do this? I have about 90%+ of the info to do this, the rest needs to be worked out, when someone is keen to be the guinea pig to do the first version of the Alternate version of HawkQuest... the graphic editors should be easy enough to chase down, or I do have them somewhere. MAC 65 is used to write the files to a boot disk, and I think a disk editor is needed to change some header bytes, so that MAC 65 can load the files into it.
There is no need for any changes to be made to the game code or source, because the graphics and level design data is stored separately from gaming code on the game disk.
See my other post, about HawkQuest, elsewhere in this forum for further details.
Harvey
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deathtrappomegranate
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Indeed it seems something strange happened with MULE. Most other contemporary ECA titles kept selling for a longer period. May be MULE was heavily pirated, don't know. What I do know is that other ECA titles, not as popular as MULE, sold more copies.osgorth wrote:re: MULE
Another thing that sort of gives away that it sold well is the fact that I don't think I've ever seen a shrinkwrapped MULE. Has anybody in here? Most of the other EA titles were sold in bargain bins later, shrinkwrapped and all, and they pop up now and then when old warehouses are discovered and such. But there are never any MULEs in there.. Could be that it wasn't sold for too long, perhaps only during 83 to early 85 and then went EOL, and not being reissued for bargain bins throughout the 80s?
More about MULE sales ...
Interview with Danielle Berry (MULE lead programmer) ...
"Actually, given some caveats, it didn't do all that badly. It sold 30,000 copies" ... "It was during the days when players would say 'Have you heard about "M.U.L.E.? You want a copy?'" ...
(Seven Cities) Was it more successful than 'M.U.L.E.' commercially?
"By a long shot! 150,000 sales vs. 30,000!"
Interview with Danielle Berry (MULE lead programmer) ...
"Actually, given some caveats, it didn't do all that badly. It sold 30,000 copies" ... "It was during the days when players would say 'Have you heard about "M.U.L.E.? You want a copy?'" ...
(Seven Cities) Was it more successful than 'M.U.L.E.' commercially?
"By a long shot! 150,000 sales vs. 30,000!"