Collecting Doom

Hello.

I've sorta decided to start a collection of Doom games.

I've got about $750-1500 to spare... might as well, right?!

Anyways primarily I'm thinking about getting some Doom 1 games:
• All console editions of Doom (9: 7 + Xbox + 7th gen consoles)
• Handheld GBA
All CiB and European UK other than the region-free Jaguar edition (NTSC is easier to get).

Second I'm thinking about PC. Big boxes, American or European.
• Doom, post-order
• The Ultimate Doom... how many editions are there? All with demon cover? I've seen one that says CD-ROM and the Win95 edition, is there any difference?
• Doom II, exists on 3.5" floppies and CD I guess?
• Master Levels
• Final Doom
• Doom 3 (PC Big Box, Xbox), RoE (PC, Xbox) and BFG Edition (I'll settle for one)
Collections:
• Id Anthology
• Depths of Doom Trilogy (expensive)
• Collector's Edition (cheap)

Third I'm looking for Doom II (GBA) and Final Doom (PSX).

Finally I'm thinking I might spend any surplus cash on NTSC and even JAP editions which I've seen for decent prices.

I'm currently browsing Amazon, eBay and some other sites.
Anyone here wants to give me tips or sell me anything?

I've already got... Doom for XBLA, PSX... and D3LCE for Xbox. Impressive, yes? ;)

I'm not too interested in merchandise though.

Anyways is it a stupid fucking idea, eh?
Otherwise feel free to point out any games I've missed.
I know there's a Doom RPG, Doom II RPG and two iPhone games and I'm not interested in other computer games than MS-DOS/Windows games.

There are lots of interesting things you can collect. You've listed some of them already. As I have some of them myself I figure that the easiest way is to show you my collection and I'll give some insight into some of the more interesting items. I'll skip over the things that are less interesting.



From top to bottom, left to right.

• Chex Quest
  
• Demon Gate - shovelware CD. There are dozens of different shovelware CDs - some of them are quite rare, I don't find them that interesting.
  
• Depths of Doom collection. You describe it as expensive, and my experience is that it isn't that expensive. Often it's quite cheap if you get it without the box, although obviously with the box is much more desirable. Contains the Master Levels/Maximum Doom, but not Final Doom.
  
• Doom II EU/Virgin release. There are many releases of Doom II. This is one of the DOS versions.
  
• Doom II French edition. This is probably one of the rarer items in my collection. I went to the trouble of writing a post a couple of years ago about it and how I got hold of my copy.
  
• GBA Doom II
  
• Doom II for Mac. This is obviously a bit rarer than the PC versions. It's also unique in that the box cover art shows more detail than the normal boxes.
  
• Doom II: The official strategy guide. One of many strategy guide books that you can find on Amazon fairly easily.
  
• Doom 3
  
• Doom 3: ROE
  
• Doom 64
  
• Doom "Battlebook"
  
• Doom Collector's Edition. There are two releases of this (from 2001 and 2003) with slightly different covers, and the EU/US versions are different. The 2003 version has a second CD with Doom 3 preview content. Contains Final Doom but not the Master Levels.
  
• Doom comic. There are two versions of this with different adverts (I have both). Check out this post for some comparison shots.
  
• Doom Construction Kit. Book about making Doom levels.
  
• GBA Doom
  
• Doom movie DVD.
  
• Doom shareware CD. The nature of shareware is that there are lots of CDs from different shareware companies and none of them are worth much. The exception is the official Id ones (I think they're only on floppy)
  
• Doom shareware floppies. Same deal.
  
• Official Doom Survivor's Strategies and Secrets guide. This is actually quite an interesting book, partly because of the fact that it's the official strategy guide. But the really interesting thing is the shareware floppies it comes with - it has a unique version of Shareware Doom (v1.25) not found elsewhere.
  
• Final Doom. I don't have the big box, which is a shame because it's quite nice.
  
• Heretic
  
• Hexen
  
• Hexen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel (expansion pack)
  
• Id Anthology. These are probably the most sought-after item for collectors, and they aren't cheap, but they are very nice. There are lots of incomplete versions of the anthology floating around on eBay, especially versions that are just the "Book of Id" without the rest of the box. Finding complete versions can be quite hard. Worth noting is that there are two versions of this, one of which is notable because it has a different version of the Final Doom files that fixes a bug.
  
• Lost Episodes of Doom. A commercial WAD file masquerading as a hintbook for itself (a cunning publishing strategy). Quite nice.
  
• Masters of Doom. Novel about the making of Doom: a good read and pretty cheap.
  
• Strife
  
• Strife
  
• Boxed Windows 95 version of Ultimate Doom.
  
• DOS version of Ultimate Doom. For some reason, the CDs for different releases of Ultimate Doom all seem to look different (Doom II ones all look mostly the same).
  
• Ultimate Doom for Mac
  
• Urban Brawl \m/
  

DoomCollector said:

• Doom, post-order

I don't think there's any significant difference between pre-/post-order? Except the version number obviously. Earlier versions like v1.1 are probably rarer.

• The Ultimate Doom... how many editions are there? All with demon cover? I've seen one that says CD-ROM and the Win95 edition, is there any difference?

Earlier versions were for DOS, while later ones were for Win95 and used Doom95.

Bear in mind that there's Registered Doom as well as Ultimate Doom. Registered are rarer and worth more.

• Doom II, exists on 3.5" floppies and CD I guess?

Yes. And Registered Doom was on 5.25" floppies as well. By the time they did Doom 2/UD they only did 3.5".

I've always been curious what the contents of the Urban Brawl disc actually are.

That is one amazing collection, fraggle!

Oh my god, you have Strife!

I have that Doom 2 strategy guide, I had to choose between that, the construction kit book and the Doom 1 strategy guide at some market when I wwas really young. It irks me that you have all of them :p

Cire said:

I've always been curious what the contents of the Urban Brawl disc actually are.

An installer. :P

It contains Action Doom 1 and 2, as well as a couple bonus Action Doom 2 level things, like a Zombie survival mode.

If the Urban Brawl team permits it, I'd love to have an ISO of it.

Well Action Doom 2 is free. You gotta cough up a few dollars for the bonus stuff.

Though I won my copy, because I'm cool and stuff.

But it isn't for sale anymore, no?

Oh it's totally not. Silly me. Download it all off of http://action.mancubus.net/

DoomCollector said:

Anyways is it a stupid fucking idea, eh?

Others might think so, but it's your money and your hobby.

fraggle said:

Demon Gate - shovelware CD. There are dozens of different shovelware CDs - some of them are quite rare, I don't find them that interesting.

A few you might be interested in are the "Toolkit for Doom" CDs from Walnut Creek, which I think are basically mirrors of the old cdrom.com archive.

Depths of Doom collection. You describe it as expensive, and my experience is that it isn't that expensive. Often it's quite cheap if you get it without the box, although obviously with the box is much more desirable.

The expensive part is paying to have the big box airmailed halfway around the world. :(

Doom Construction Kit. Book about making Doom levels.

Often missing the companion CD, same goes for other editing books. It pays to ask before bidding on eBay.

Doom "Battlebook"

Which was later revised to cover Episode 4 from Ultimate Doom.

Heretic

There's also the less common 3-episode Registered Heretic on CD and floppy.

For some reason, the CDs for different releases of Ultimate Doom all seem to look different (Doom II ones all look mostly the same).

I get the impression they're for release on different sides of the Atlantic. The only red demon manual I have for Ultimate Doom is multilingual (English, French, Spanish and Italian), obviously intended for a European market.

And Registered Doom was on 5.25" floppies as well. By the time they did Doom 2/UD they only did 3.5".

If you're a completist, the Ultimate Doom floppies are available in labelled and screen printed variants, which I think were also destined for opposite sides of the Atlantic.

Nothing wrong with that.

Personally, I like collecting factory-sealed Doom games.

As seen here:











Happy Hunting!

BJ Blaskowicz, as played by Patrick Swayze.

I'm Swedish by the way.

Doom II European (with the typo stickers) in near-mint condition was auctioned recently and sold for about $75 I think... amusingly the original price tag was still on and said 800 SEK ($123) though that was in the 90s so I'm not sure what that translates into today.
Do you think $75 is a high or reasonable price? I think it's high.

Currently I'm paying an average of about $50 for various CiBs in VG or higher condition which is 67-80% of new PC games I guess and nearly half of new console games. That price is with shipping included by the way and mind that PALs are a bit pricier than NTSCs unfortunately.

Anyways, I mentioned "post-order" Doom and was corrected above. I was referring to the original Doom big box which I thought only could be gotten through post-order and therefore is very rare, is that wrong? I read it here somewhere when lurking the other night.

Edit: an auction for Doom II on 3.5" floppies including a big box with rather worn edges but otherwise fine condition is being sold for £5 on eBay right now... but the dick who put it up doesn't ship internationally :(

Edit: Ah, "REGISTERED" Doom is the original then?
Anyways I've seen The Ultimate Doom both on CD-ROM, floppies and Win95 now... first two are DOS and last one is Windows?

DoomCollector said:

I was referring to the original Doom big box which I thought only could be gotten through post-order and therefore is very rare, is that wrong?

Depending on where you lived, Registered Doom was available by mail-order or retail, with the mail-order boxes tending to be much slimmer than their retail counterparts. They're rarer and more expensive than Ultimate Doom. I'll post some side-by-side pictures tomorrow so you can see the difference.

Edit: an auction for Doom II on 3.5" floppies including a big box with rather worn edges but otherwise fine condition is being sold for £5 on eBay right now... but the dick who put it up doesn't ship internationally :(

Have you tried asking? Some sellers will change their shipping terms if they know someone's interested.

Edit: Ah, "REGISTERED" Doom is the original then?
Anyways I've seen The Ultimate Doom both on CD-ROM, floppies and Win95 now... first two are DOS and last one is Windows?

Shareware Doom was first, then Registered with Ultimate coming out after Doom 2. Ultimate Doom floppies are DOS only, while CDs can be DOS or Windows (Doom95).

DoomCollector said:

Anyways, I mentioned "post-order" Doom and was corrected above. I was referring to the original Doom big box which I thought only could be gotten through post-order and therefore is very rare, is that wrong? I read it here somewhere when lurking the other night.

Edit: an auction for Doom II on 3.5" floppies including a big box with rather worn edges but otherwise fine condition is being sold for £5 on eBay right now... but the dick who put it up doesn't ship internationally :(

Edit: Ah, "REGISTERED" Doom is the original then?
Anyways I've seen The Ultimate Doom both on CD-ROM, floppies and Win95 now... first two are DOS and last one is Windows?

When Doom first appeared, it was (generally speaking) not sold in shops. If you read the Doom FAQ it explicitly states that the Registered version of Doom sold in shops is illegal.

The way that Id sold it was with the shareware/mail order model. The shareware version (first episode) was distributed freely all over the world, then if you wanted the full version, you had to contact Id directly, and purchase a copy via mail order. This was the same model they had been using for all their previous games (Keen, Wolf3D, etc.)

Doom ended up being a huge success for them, even more than their previous games. Because of that, they changed their approach when making Doom II - they abandoned the mail order model and sold it through normal shops. Obviously people also still wanted the original Doom as well. So after Doom II, they went back to the first Doom and added an extra fourth episode ("Thy Flesh Consumed"). They then sold this extended version in shops as "Ultimate Doom".

The boxes for the Registered/Ultimate versions are different. Registered Doom has the picture from the title screen - the green marine standing under the Doom logo being attacked by demons. Ultimate Doom has the red/black demon face.

Final doom for psx is not that easy to get I believe, I was lucky to find it on an online marketplace. Great places for rare stuff.

one man's garbage, another man's treasure. what you use your money for is your choice. if you wish to spend it on Doom-related stuff, then do so. some people still exclaim to me on the internet "you buy music?!". of course it's easy to pirate it, but i don't see it as a waste of my money to use it on music.

Depths of Doom Trilogy doesn't seem to be that expensive, tbh. i got a box of it several years ago on Tradera (a Swedish local-kind of eBay thing) for ~30 bucks. granted not in perfect condition, but it wasn't in bad condition, most of the damage was the usual tattered corners and such. if you'd want a perfect condition box though it may cost more, of course.

I think I saw Final Doom for PSX just the other day. Didn't bookmark it but I'm fairly sure it's up on either Amazon/eBay.

Depths of Doom Trilogy is currently up for 80£... apparently in at least VG condition though.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/THE-DEPTHS-OF-DOOM-TRILOGY-BIG-BOX-PC-GAME-THREE-CD-ROM-COLLECTORS-SET-/261143542767?pt=UK_PC_Video_Games_Video_Games_JS&hash=item3ccd5e3bef

£80 seems a bit expensive, I'd wait and see what else turns up. They might drop their price if no-one shows any interest.

Here's the pictures I promised, taken under less than ideal conditions but should suffice.


(1200x1300 - 502k)

Top-left is Registered Doom from Manaccom, an Australian distributor. Top-right is one of id's mail-order boxes, underneath are the two Ultimate Doom box variants.


(1300x1200 - 446k)

This shot give a better indication of relative size.

Yeah, £80 is very expensive. Doom original in great condition is the only thing I'd be willing to pay that much money for I guess.

Australian Doom seems to have the least cropped artwork though I think the top-right one is the prettiest as it covers the entire box very cleanly with just an id logo, very different from most games today with "PC" or the console name, developer, publisher, rating and copyright all over.

Ah, for a moment I thought Ultimate Doom only was silver on jewel cases. I've only seen the red demon one for sale but I think it looks better anyways.

Your Ultimate Doom box looks very pixely though... what's up with that? Does the floppy cover always look like that?

I'd like to be able to find the original Doom, Ultimate Doom, Doom II, Final Doom and Master Levels all boxed though the red Ultimate Doom and Doom II are the only ones I've consistently come across so far... I've been considering getting the collection from the 00s but I heard it doesn't contain the DOS... errr... thing. And can't be played through DOSBox?
I played Doom emulated a few years back and it has rocket trails, scorch marks and even some blood I think and all sorts of things I didn't like. ZDoom I think.

DoomCollector said:

Your Ultimate Doom box looks very pixely though... what's up with that? Does the floppy cover always look like that?

The box cover looks better than that, I'd blame the cameraman.

I played Doom emulated a few years back and it has rocket trails, scorch marks and even some blood I think and all sorts of things I didn't like. ZDoom I think.

You might like Chocolate Doom, as source ports go it's as close as you'll get to the original without needing DOSBox.

Didn't the original DOS Doom have rocket trail sprites?

Avoozl said:

Didn't the original DOS Doom have rocket trail sprites?

I don't think it had particle trails, no.

Revenant rockets have particle trails (it reuses the bullet "puff" you see when you shoot a wall). Normal rockets of the type shot by a player or a Cyberdemon do not have trails. Lots of source ports have added trail effects, either by extending the Revenant rocket effect to normal rockets (I think Legacy did this?), or through implementing brand new particle effects (ZDoom/Eternity).

I find it interesting how people are so used to source port features now that they've forgotten a time before those features existed. I was amused when I got this bug report a few months back.

fraggle said:

I find it interesting how people are so used to source port features now that they've forgotten a time before those features existed. I was amused when I got this bug report a few months back.

Heh. That reminds me, the GBA Doom 2 port has that exact message. Anyone know if ZDoom added it before or after that came out?

Looks like it was in ZDoom (v1.22 - Nov 1999) at least 2 years earlier, haven't check any older versions.

fraggle said:

Revenant rockets have particle trails (it reuses the bullet "puff" you see when you shoot a wall). Normal rockets of the type shot by a player or a Cyberdemon do not have trails. Lots of source ports have added trail effects, either by extending the Revenant rocket effect to normal rockets (I think Legacy did this?), or through implementing brand new particle effects (ZDoom/Eternity).

I find it interesting how people are so used to source port features now that they've forgotten a time before those features existed. I was amused when I got this bug report a few months back.

That's brilliant.

Dragonsbrethren said:

Heh. That reminds me, the GBA Doom 2 port has that exact message. Anyone know if ZDoom added it before or after that came out?

ZDoom takes it from Quake, I think. It's not unreasonable to think that they both might have just taken it from there.

I dunno what the big deal about Strife and PSX Doom is. I got a factory sealed copy of Strife off Amazon for $21... I still have it in the shrink wrap. I also got PSX Final Doom in mint condition for $15 last year, as well as greatest hits PSX Doom. I was going to get the big box PSX Doom also, but I got outbid by $1 last minute :[

I also got big box Ultimate Doom (CD) for $40 new and it still had the badass poster.