Hi there, I have some old PC games that are released in physical copy, that comes with CD/DVD, user manual and a big retail box
I would like to share some of my games here, for nostalgia.

If you have any nice retail box PC games to share feel free to post it here:

I'll start with mine, the legendary Half-Life 2:

It comes with 5 CD to install, and it is my first PC games that need Steam to activate online.
This is a smaller box version, around normal DVD box size.




This post has been edited by ngks: May 24 2021, 12:56 AM

This is another popular game back then, Unreal Tournament 2004.

It comes with a manual and 5 CD to install



This post has been edited by ngks: May 24 2021, 12:57 AM

Here is yet another big hit title, Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow

Come with a standard DVD case, and no more CD, the whole game now in fit in a single DVD





At the back of the manual still advertised Sony LCD monitor

This game is a bit rare on the PC as most people play this on PS2, Winning Eleven 9 (or Pro Evolution Soccer 5 depend region)
This time it comes with a bigger box (which is rare for 2005 game), the game fit in a single DVD

While everyone playing Microsoft Flight Simulator, this is the 2000 version, designed for Windows 95/98

It comes with the standard big box at that time, full user manual, and 2 CD for the game (or MS prefer to call it simulator)
This is the first time is comes with the Concord airplane.

This version like the typical Microsoft marketing, it have Standard and Professional Edition
The Pro version comes with 3 CD, more airplane and more detailed cities (mine is just the standard edition)






It comes with over 200 pages manual to read, very detailed information on how to fly a plane


A registration card and a 30 page about limited warranty, MS lawyer been busy


Typical Microsoft, must comes with software license

Command & Conquer, the popular franchise by Westwood, now EA.
They release the C&C The First Decade at 2006 to cover all the total 12 franchise games, including expansion, title as below:

Command & Conquer
Command & Conquer – The Covert Operations
Command & Conquer: Red Alert
Command & Conquer: Red Alert – Counterstrike
Command & Conquer: Red Alert – The Aftermath
Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun
Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun – Firestorm
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2
Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge
Command & Conquer: Renegade
Command & Conquer: Generals
Command & Conquer: Generals

All in one DVD, plus and extra DVD for documentary.


Also in the box included a 2 sided poster



This post has been edited by ngks: May 24 2021, 12:58 AM

it's great to see another PC collector i mostly collect games that are nostalgic too.

i'll share the very first big box i found locally: Commandos, comes with a little extras, pretty excited to find it as pirated stuff was the norm in the 90s/2000s. the game itself was quite funny and difficult, i remembering LOSing enemy patrols behind a wall and piling up their bodies instead of sneaking around



there's a huge PC box group on facebook that some local collectors are in, a lot of eye candy haha. but they have lots of rules though.

This post has been edited by svfn: May 23 2021, 03:15 PM

You got a pretty box there, I been looking for this but only find the later release which is the budget version, with normal DVD case, and possibly even without user manual
Something like this, I'll have to pass



This post has been edited by ngks: May 24 2021, 12:40 AM

Today another famous games, especially for Korean, the StarCraft and the expansion Brood War

This is a BattleChest which include the original game and expansion, and value added the official strategy guide as a bonus.



The unique about the bundle game catalogue is they still advertise the StarCraft Ghost (for console) which later they cancel it

Today something unique, a localize game packaging. Most game come in English packaging but this Ghost Recon 2, the packaging, the DVD case and even the user manual are translated in Malay, which I think are very interesting. The publisher must have certain volume to print in order to localize it, seem like they are pretty confidence in this game sales. (Game is in English)



This post has been edited by ngks: May 26 2021, 11:22 AM

Nice pictures! It's sad that they don't make it like that anymore.

We used to have a thread like this, probably more than 10 years ago. Like instead of taking pics of the shelve, we showed what's inside the box of each game.

I think it was even a pinned topic.

This post has been edited by khelben: May 26 2021, 06:12 PM

I can imagine your face kind of like:
"I was there, 3000 years ago"

Nice.

I remember was fascinated with the first System Shock game with its cool look and thick manual when I first saw it through my friend.



I remember PC shops back then filled with all these colorful big boxes of wonders. Got into PC gaming myself way late though and didn't manage to get any big box.

The time I was able to earn and buy my own games, big box games already start to disappear.
This is the first "ORIGINAL" game store I visited years ago

those ppl are queuing for massage? LOL. Man seeing this makes me really miss having a community place to talk hobby/do events together.

same here. i dump all my spare money to music but when i got extras the first one i got was Bioshock Infinite physical (bought in tsb also), but that time already no box.

This time I want to share the very popular game during my college time, Diablo 2.
This is the Diablo 2 Battle Chest, which include the original Diablo, Diablo 2 and the expansion, Lord of Destruction.

The box also include a full version of strategy guide, in full size, which is rare, as normally Blizzard tend to include a smaller booklet version.

[url=https://pictr.com/image/B7tudA][/url]

This round some horror survival game, the good thing is you can become the survivor, or the horror, choices is yours.
Aliens vs Predator 2 (2001), you can choose between Colonial Marine, Alien or Predator, with different play style on each.
At the back of the jewel case also advertise No One Lives Forever, which is also a big title at the time.
*The box is emboss, which is a plus for box art design

haha not anymore

missing in action already

haha used 2 bump its official thread in garage sale here

did not buy any bcuz back then mahai and postage over kedah more mahai cipet

pre-steam i ahem hard

now got 10 years total income all threw in 2 the steam wallet and buy games from there

everything digital killed physical already haiyaa

yeah DVDs in keep case not much use now since modern PCs usually don't have an optical drive anymore, and it is easier to install from Steam/GOG. and PC retail games are not like console games which can still sell, since for newer PC games the game key would be used. but for some titles that come in double DVD size and an outer cardboard box i still keep them since some do come with nice contents, like the latest Cyberpunk 2077 standard edition.

i was happy to find this Kotor2 in a box, although not as nice as the US release, most boxes i find are Asia Pacific ones, so the contents and box might be a little different. anyway still nice to see an original copy, even though for Steam version it is possible to still roll back to older legacypc version if you want EAX sound and without widescreen, latest version has already removed EAX/DirectSound.



Blizzard small boxes are quite nice, although i don't have the newer ones or WoW ones since i don't play them. i did not have any original games back in the 90s, so it's nice to see these thick strategy guides from Blizzard battle chests, during school years i remember having print out some guides and manuals out for Diablo II and Medieval Total War, so many builds and strategies to read in the toilet lmao.

i think this was the old thread haha: https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopic=561427&hl=

This post has been edited by svfn: Jul 25 2021, 12:27 AM

I see your KOTOR box are still in excellent condition, must have applied great care. My house are pretty high humid and not great to store paper box (the shining coating tend to fade easily), even the CD sometimes get caught fungus.

I think this is the most popular game at cyber café at the time.
Warcraft III and the expansion Frozen Throne.
Below is the big box copy of the game, with the Warcraft III Orcs, there some rare copy of different box art like Human, Elves and Undead
All the copy also available in small DVD box size, since that time is a transition from big to small box era.
*The Frozen Throne below is Asia Pacific edition, I think it missing a "notepad" bundle to cut cost.

haha not really since i only found it last year, previous owner kept it well.

yeah humidity is quite high in Malaysia. books tend to yellow fast. floppy diskettes especially the 5.25 ones are easy to get moldy. they even marketed some floppies that are suited to our climate xD



other than New World Interactive which is also in Thailand and Singapore, and Sendi Mutiara, TSB, were there other big distributors?



yeah i remember playing some DOTA at cybercafe haha, didn't really play the main campaign till much later, the look changed a lot from Warcraft II. i have some cybercafe versions, it has a big LAN sticker on the front cover.

This post has been edited by svfn: Jul 30 2021, 02:12 PM

There are only 2 big distributer I am familiar with, New Era and gamers.com.my. For me TSB more like authorized dealer than distributor, cause they do sell New Era game.


This game from TSB shop

New Era was huge back then, some boxes even have their printed logo (not sticker), mean they do mass production in local region, this is from my Supreme Commander


And this also an example of rare distributor, found it on my Microsoft Flight Simulator 2000



Sometimes New Era do re-release older budget game in ugly case, like my Quake III Arena

I love Spider-Man and don't think we have enough Spidy game for PC
This is the Ultimate Spider-Man from 2005



The front art is emboss, give you the 3D look, I love this kind of printing, make me think that the publisher give more attention for the box art.

fui yoh

carbon and pro street is my favorite nfs ever

TSB version that i kept is not the thick box but the thin DVD box type deng it

This round is the NASCAR RACING 2003 SEASON. Personally I think not very popular here, I think most people I know would rather play Need for Speed.
But interesting about this release is Asia Pacific Edition, it came in the old school big box!
My understanding is that US already change to small box (at ebay only found small box for sale)

I tried Carbon recently, still works on ultrawide lol, luckily got pcgamingwiki to guide which patches.



Wah got so many licensing logo on the back haha. Nice version even though is Asia Pacific it has gatefold, some Asia Pacific version don't have the front cover fold out.. but at least contents are the same.

That's all I got. The last few good NFS.
Games were also really cheap back then, the NFS titles I remember was only ~RM70 pre-order.
Nowadays we talking about RM250 for new releases, it's insanity...
So I just play F2P game mostly nowadays...

Finally got a 3 boxes for StarCraft II! Thank to a Lowyat member to get me the last missing copy.
The supply disc now purely for decoration as the new update making the data disc pretty useless.
Even this a small box but definitely not budget version, as the box are beautifully printed, emboss and shinning, especially The Legacy of The Void, the shining look more "golden" feel, like represent the Protoss Golden Armada.
My next target is to get StarCraft big box from 1998.






This post has been edited by ngks: Oct 1 2021, 09:35 PM

This time is the legendary Diablo from 1996 that define the standard of action role-playing today.
This copy is from Japan, their official distributor Sourcenext import the entire game box and add in some Japan goodies such as Japanese manual and registration instruction.
All other item are exactly same as the US version.

Haha same

Never bought a NFS after prostreet till GHOST GAMES rebooted last 3 games

Well i only bought RM300 preorder once a year

The rest i always buy 75%-85% off

Thats how i juggled new steam games already hahahaha

This post has been edited by skylinelover: Nov 29 2021, 04:40 PM

Nice thread bro! But lately quite busy with shoots and work so will take a while before I post some pics haha.

Counter-Strike, is must have game for any cybercafe in the 2000. This time is to share the later version of CS which is the lesser known Counter-Strike: Condition Zero. It have some improve graphics and single player mission, and it also compatible with the original CS map. This game do not have a great popularity and Counter-Strike Source launch 8 months after this.
This big box version do have a bonus disc of the upcoming Half-Life 2 footage.

wow nostalgic. good times. i used to collect pcgamer. now all hiding in parents house.

If the game are in the cardboard box type then have the check it once a while, Malaysia high humid easily damage paper and the disc, mold/fungus love them. Even the normal DVD keep case also need to take care of the disc itself, I have few DVD damage by those annoying mold/fungus.

Today want to share a popular shooting game from 1998, Forsaken. It have very similar game play like Decent, a 6 dimension shooter.
It's pretty hard to control at first as you control a floating vehicle, fly around and start shooting.
This copy is a localize Taiwan release, comes with Chinese manual but the game is still English version.
Earlier copy comes with 1998 6 months calendar.
My understanding is not all country got the calendar, at least EU don't have this, they have a totally different version of box art.

The model name is Donna DeCianni, if anyone wonder.




1998 game trailer


There is also a remastered version at 2018

One of the popular RTS game on years 2000 is Red Alert 2, joined by the expansion Yuri's Revenge on 2001 (a year before Warcraft III launch). Many cybercafe have them as the game enjoy by many.
This example is the Yuri's Revenge limited edition, one of the early print that include a mouse pad. Well, who doesn't like to swap their mouse on Yuri's face?
As usual this expansion require the full version of Red Alert 2 to run.

International Rally Championship, a rally game from 1997 for MS-DOS. It is not as popular as the Colin McRae Rally (1998), but still a solid rally game.
One of the things the caught my eye is the cover art is none other than our Proton Wira. I think this is the only game title I ever saw having our national car as the main cover, which is pretty impressive.

If you can find pro race driver damm nice

That one got Proton Satria can play at Bathurst

Didn't aware of that game, a little Google search found this, nice!

Today I shared something special, all PC games need an OS to run, so today I shared the legendary Windows 98 (Second Edition). This version is the full version, design for new PC, not pre-built or PC with existing Windows.
They have a few versions of Windows 98 for end users:
Windows 98 PCs without Windows (This copy)
Windows 98 upgrade version (For those already have Windows 95)
Windows 98 OEM (bundled with pre-built PC)

Keep going dude

I so easily sentimental especially on games (duke 3d) and phones (nokia 3310)

Game is still my all time favorite

Phone still on the shelf as DECO item

i forgot where my first pc Windows XP CD box and Windows 7 DVD box, original oem key

LAN Party!!! Those word are popular in the 2000s for First Person Shooter.
This can't go wrong with Quake III Arena. This episode of Quake excludes the story mode like Quake 1 and 2, this round it fully focuses to Death Match.
Also Quake III plays an important role in graphics card benchmarking, before "can it run Crysis" is a thing. Almost all graphics cards from the early 2000s must have Quake III as benchmark to show the potential of the card, such as GeForce 256, GeForce 2, GeForce 3, TNT2, Voodoo 3, Radeon DDR, just to name a few.

For OEM of Windows XP and 7 still can be found easily on Shopee/Carousell, there are pretty common, look like this



But if you looking for retail box version, they are a bit hard to come by, as they are not bundle with computer, but sold separately, look like this:

hahaha sometimes is a pain to figure out where to keep them, but i love them big boxes. And the huge manual! They were all so well written back in the days.

I loved walking into pc shops with ceiling height amount of pc games and stuff.. there were always some interesting stuff if you dig in.