Zombie's Ultimate X-COM Collection

[Zombie]

Today I got home and there sitting out in a snowbank under the mailbox was 2 big packages from the UK. The Unknown Terror collection has finally arrived! I took scans of the front and back panels of the carton and put them up on the Game Compilations page for everyone to admire. Did a little bit of digital retouching on the back cover since it was creased in a couple areas which detracted from the picture. Looks pretty good now (it's not perfect, but it's a lot better).

 

I got a good laugh out of the following text from the back cover:

 

Terror From The Deep and UFO Enemy Unknown plus the official strategy guides! Unknown Terror! If all else fails, you can always throw this box at the aliens! It's heavy enough.

 

So I guess the proper name for this compilation is actually Unknown Terror! (with the exclamation mark). It refers to itself in this way in a few areas (box and the install/loading guide flyer), but everywhere else it's without the exclamation mark.

 

- Zombie

[Pete]

I have visions of you living in a tent with all these X-COM games and a PC made out of cardboard after you've sold your worldly goods for just one more X-COM game

[Zombie]

LOL, I don't think it'll get to that point. It's cold here in Wisconsin and living in a tent at this time of the year would turn me into a popsicle. A cardboard laptop would be just as bad, though my laptop is nearing the end of it's useful life anyway...

 

Besides, there are only a limited number of game versions out there and I already own about 85% of them (wild guess, but it's in the ballpark). As long as I'm able to work and pay the bills, I'll have enough money leftover to purchase the oddball version which shows up.

 

- Zombie

[Zombie]

Speaking of Apocalypse, I obtained a Powerplus version of the game over the weekend. It should be arriving soon. This basically completes my Apocalypse section! Not sure about this, but if the game has English, French, German and Italian language support, that would mean that there might be a French version of Apoc out there. Will look for it, but I haven't seen any French X-COM games out there.

Yipes! I just was browsing the wikipedia article on Apocalypse and noticed there is a Russian version. Well, it's called a European release. And our friend Mouse Nightshirt uploaded the pic. Mousey, care to sell?

 

Guess I'll have to keep my eyes out for this one as well.

 

- Zombie

[Zombie]

Finally got around to scanning the covers and media for the Enemy Unknown German Amiga 500 version. You can find them on the UFO Game Versions page. Looks like whoever put the stickers on the floppies was drunk!

 

- Zombie

[Zombie]

Right, so over the weekend I purchased a couple German versions of X-COM from magazines. The first is the PC Player 9/2000 issue which has UFO: EU. The second is the GameStar 10/98 issue which has TFTD. Both are full versions of the game, not demos, so it should be interesting to see what they are. Have no idea where I'm going to put the scans of the games yet, perhaps the compilations page is the best place.

Finally got a chance to take a closer look at these game CDs today. The PC Player9/2000 actually has the WINDOWS version of Enemy Unknown/UFO Defense!!!! That's good to have. (Executable name is UFO.EXE not UFO Defense.EXE like the CE). I got it for a steal too (1EUR + 5EUR shipping). If anyone is interested, I see another copy is up for sale here for 13 Euros. Shipping is a little prohibitive to the States, but you folks overseas may find postage more reasonable.

 

Not much has been happening with my collection as of late. Purchased something from an overseas seller recently but have no idea what it is. I think it's a game magazine which features an article on UFO or TFTD but I'm not sure. Will report back when I get it. Other than that, there isn't anything en-route anymore. (Well, I never did get an Amiga version from overseas so I'm guessing I either got taken or the thing was lost in the mail/sank to the ocean floor). Should really be called "Terror in the Deep" now, lol.

 

- Zombie

[NKF]

Is PCPlayer a Euro version or a similar publication as PCGamer?

 

I specifically bought the PCGamer June issue in 2000 just to get a copy of the Windows edition of UFO (which was basically a stripped down CE without the other games). Has 10 other free games on it too like Wing Commander and Duke Nukum (sic) II, and had a few free games like Red Baron and Betrayal at Krondor. Would this be similar content?

 

Would sell this to you for a song - but it's been my master copy of UFO CE for the last 9 years.

 

- NKF

[Zombie]

Is PCPlayer a Euro version or a similar publication as PCGamer?

It must be, as my A & B discs are mostly all in German. Also, when I go to install the game, this is what comes up:

 

We will now extract X-COM: UFO Defense to the target directory. Though it's been reprogrammed for Windows this game does run a little fast. Please refer to the PC Gamer disc pages (July 2000) for technical assistance.

So from the surface it appears that the two are related somehow. I'll have to look on wikipedia to see what they say.

 

I specifically bought the PCGamer June issue in 2000 just to get a copy of the Windows edition of UFO (which was basically a stripped down CE without the other games). Has 10 other free games on it too like Wing Commander and Duke Nukum (sic) II, and had a few free games like Red Baron and Betrayal at Krondor. Would this be similar content?

For the full versions (on Disc B), there is Alone in the Dark, Kings Quest 1, Terminal Velocity and UFO Enemy Unknown. There's also a Disc A which has demos of Star Trek Voyager Elite Force, Bang! Gunship Elite, Deus X and Vampire: The Masquerade Redemption. Plus there are some short video clips, a bunch of previews and some patches too. Haven't really explored this disc in length though.

 

Would sell this to you for a song - but it's been my master copy of UFO CE for the last 9 years.

Hehe, you better keep it then. I'll keep looking.

 

- Zombie

[NKF]

Just grabbed the disc and it's actually the July 2000 issue.

 

Let's see - titles include full versions of:

 

X-COM UFO Defense (aka a stripped down version of CE)

Wing Commander

Alone in the Dark

Terminal Velocity

Duke Nukem II (I'm pretty sure it' was NUKUM due to some legal issue or other... oh hang on that was for the DN 1 set)

Kings Quest

Descent

The Need for Speed

Ultima Underworld

Ultima 1

Links golf

The Secret of Monkey Island

 

Plus free full versions of Red Baron and Betrayal at Krondor as a bonus. (and other shareware games)

 

Hmm, I'd forgotten about some of these titles. Sounds like the A disk is a copy of the above and B disk is probably titles from another issue.

 

edit:

 

No, hang on. My cd has 'volume 1' on it. So B must be a copy of volume 2.

 

edit: edit:

 

If our CD directory structures are the same, check out goodies\hints\xcom_strategies.txt for a copy of Kasey Chang's unofficial strategy guide date stamped May 1995. We've come a real long way since then, but that is a genuine piece of history.

 

- NKF

[Zombie]

Ah, I know which version you are talking about. The CD has a blue label, correct? Yeah, I have been planning to get that but have been holding off to research it a bit (you've just did all the legwork, thanks). Plus it's pretty expensive. Don't really know why that is the case since the PC Player version is nearly identical and goes for less. I guess it's the perception of rarity which makes yours more wanted.

 

Anyway, I searched both of my discs and there isn't a goodies directory or even the USG anywhere. Not that I need the USG or anything, I have about 10 copies of it scattered about on my hard drive. Much rather have the start of your strategy guide, NKF. It's probably more insightful and accurate too.

 

- Zombie

[Zombie]

Now I have some news on my collection. I just purchased the German CD32 Amiga version of Enemy Unknown this afternoon. I lost the last 2 auctions for this version and didn't think I'd ever find another one, but got lucky. It's not complete though, just the box, manual, and game. What's there is in great condition though so that's nice.

 

Speaking of complete versions... I was going through my collection last night and found a couple games which were not complete. Found a complete American X-COM Interceptor and purchased that right away. There's also another version I have which isn't complete, so I'm on the prowl for that too. Probably will be selling any spare game copies to fund other purchases eventually. If anybody is looking for something special, drop me a PM and I'll be happy to sell.

 

- Zombie

[NKF]

Hmm, Interceptor eh? Never did play that beyond the demo.

 

- NKF

[Zombie]

I gotta be really careful with Interceptor. Whenever I play it, it usually ends up being a marathon session lasting well into the night/morning. Quite addicting to say the least. There's plenty of strategy involved in the "starscape" (for lack of a proper term) portion of the game. And if you aren't a good dogfighter, it doesn't matter much since the wingmen are very proficient and will take up any slack. (Gotta love the strong AI here). The only gripe is the lack of real tactical land-based missions which is a little disappointing. If Ellis would have married that in somehow, Interceptor would be excellent. So I'd recommend trying it again if you run across a copy. Can usually get just the CD for really cheap off eBay (or even steam if you don't mind not having a physical copy).

 

- Zombie

[Zombie]

Took a while, but I got my copy of the German Amiga CD32 version of EU in the mail today. You can find scans of the front and back covers at the UFO Game Versions page. Interesting, the "Amiga CD 32... Commodore" part on the front cover is actually a sticker. Guess I didn't notice it till now because the sticker on my other copy is almost pristine. Speaking of stickers, Enemy Unknown has a lot of them for the different versions. Seems like a company manufactured a bunch of "blanks" (by blanks I mean no distinguishing UPC/version identifiers). Then the different distributors added stickers to show the version. There's exceptions though. See the Amiga 500 budget release? No stickers. Not only that, but the colors are really shocking. Must've decided to brighten it up a bit too.

 

- Zombie

[Drewid]

That's amazing. I didn't know we did a CD32 version .

[Zombie]

I'm still surprised at the number of different game versions out there. I've been collecting them a while and estimate I'm only 65-75% complete. And I have 50+ already. Wow.

 

Anyhow, I mentioned a few posts back that I purchased something Apocalypse. Well, turns out it was an Italian game magazine named "The Games Machine" which featured X-COM Apocalypse. There's a 4-page review starting on page 84 and the reviewer gave an overall score of 87. Don't know how that score was figured out, since I arrive at a mean score of 75. Maybe the "longevity" score of 100% is weighted heavier? Don't know, and to be honest, I really don't care either as score is meaningless since it's too subjective.

 

While browsing the pages, I caught sight of an advertisement for Apocalypse. So I scanned it and added it to Original Adverts site page. Interesting, the game was advertised to cost 99,900 Italian Lira (talk about an inflationary currency!) which works out to something like $58 USD in July 1997. Pricey.

 

- Zombie

[Drewid]

That's a good point, I may have some magazines in my files somewhere.

[Pete]

I recall my bro purchased TFTD for something like

[Zombie]

I recall my bro purchased TFTD for something like

[Pete]

Me? Have money? At age 12-13? Not likely!

[Zombie]

Well, I just added a new Italian version of Apocalypse to the Apoc Game Versions page today. I'm guessing this is sorta like the Power Plus variety as it is a low-budget release except for the folks in Italy. In the auction listing, the seller didn't specify he'd be willing to sell to the United States, so I composed a simple message, translated it via Babelfish, sent it his way, and after a reply and a reverse translation, I was the proud owner of this version. Took a little work, but it was sure worth it!

 

Late Edit: I just added a bunch of scans of the Media, Manual, Tech Supplement, Rookies Guide, Registration Card, etc, for the UK and Italian versions of Apoc today. Will try to get the German stuff up tonight or tomorrow... time permitting of course.

 

- Zombie

[Zombie]

Well, I just added a new Italian version of Apocalypse to the Apoc Game Versions page today. I'm guessing this is sorta like the Power Plus variety as it is a low-budget release except for the folks in Italy. In the auction listing, the seller didn't specify he'd be willing to sell to the United States, so I composed a simple message, translated it via Babelfish, sent it his way, and after a reply and a reverse translation, I was the proud owner of this version. Took a little work, but it was sure worth it!

In much the same way as this, I found a similar copy for X-COM Interceptor. Same deal as before: had to contact the seller (a different guy this time) to persuade him to ship to the United States. Once that was ironed out, I got a message stating it was in the mail. Received it today (in nearly perfect condition and complete) and took scans of all the contents. You can find it up at the Interceptor Game Versions page. Hope you guys like it.

 

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Whoa! A bit pricey at 39.900 :D

 

::

 

Have you ordered the glass displays yet ? And how about the LCDs for visitor test runs of those vintage UFO:EU versions ?

 

Keep up the good collecting, Master Zombie

[Zombie]

You're telling me! 39,900 Italian Lira translates to $23 USD back in 1998. At least it contains a manual though (albeit small).

 

Cash is tight these days. Think I'm going to wait on ordering display cases until I have a place big enough to house it all. Besides, I don't know how many more versions are out there yet.

 

- Zombie

[Pete]

You'll be gutted if it turns out you only have 5% of all the possible versions

 

When X-COM becomes big again at some point in the future you'll be the proud curator of a truly unique museum though