Are these ancient Doom custom level CDs worth it?

I like how the pictures say "Heretic 1.1", "Rise of the Triad 1.2", etc. Remember when new versions were a big deal?

1 minute ago, Memfis said:

I like how the pictures say "Heretic 1.1", "Rise of the Triad 1.2", etc. Remember when new versions were a big deal?

Alpha to Beta, right? People were crazy about that kind of evolution during the early 80's!!

You can find the ISOs for most of them on the Internet Archive nowadays. So in terms of content you'll find on the discs they're not really worth buying. But some people collect them just to own the physical media I guess.

4 hours ago, fraggle said:

You can find the ISOs for most of them on the Internet Archive nowadays. So in terms of content you'll find on the discs they're not really worth buying. But some people collect them just to own the physical media I guess.

Two of the pics from OP are from the internet archive... I recognise them because I took them 🙂

A physical copy will, provided it is maintained, increase in value over time, just like anything else, from coins, to vinyl records, to disks, partly because of historical value and partly because these things become rarer over time.

So, yes and no, but I'll let you decide for yourself.

https://www.ebay.ie/itm/Doom-D-1000-Levels-Expansion-Big-Box-CD-ROM-1995-/172817176155?hash=item283cb4d65b

This copy is 39.95 British pounds, which converts to 45.31 Euros and 54.10 US dollars.

Citation: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=39.95+British+pounds+to+US+dollars

If you buy it now and maintain it, it will most likely increase in value, but on the other hand, 54 dollars is a lot of money, says the man who shelled out fifty dollars for a figure once that he could've (and did) purchase from Germany for fifteen.

I think the D-1000 levels disc is the same one i got while back. it was interesting to see how people without absolute knowledge back then make their maps( one of first for doom i think?).

"Worth it" depends highly on what sort of worth you're hoping to get out of them.  I'm going to assume since you're asking that you're not collecting Doom paraphernalia just for the sake of collecting it, so:

If you have an old Dooming PC and want to play them for the retro experience, then yes, they're great for this IMO.

If you want to emulate them on DOSBox, then generally no, because A) the frontend programs often don't work right in DOSBox and B) you could just use an ISO in most cases even if they did.

If you want them for "treasure hunting" of files that aren't on idgames, and don't care about the extra frontends and whatnot that usually come with them, then maybe, if there isn't a dump of the disc in question anywhere (in addition to Archive.org, check Wad-archive.com too, they have some discs indexed on a WAD-by-WAD basis.)  Otherwise you can just pull the files from a digital dump to sort through.

If you're looking for a collection of WADs that are endorsed as high quality, then no, these discs are pretty much always pure shovelware that drop in whatever WADs they can get their hands on probably without even playtesting them in some cases, so the selection's going to be hit or miss.  The few CDs that contain WADs that were actually developed as exclusive content for the disc are usually both well-known as such and rare to actually find physical copies of (Lost Episodes, Hell 2 Pay, Perdition's Gate, HacX, etc.)

As for the specific discs I can only comment on Fever and Ultimate Add-on as ones I have.  They both have a big enough selection of stuff though I'm pretty sure Ultimate is bigger, and also has a more interesting custom interface (not a good one, but an amusing one with animations and screaming sounds and stuff).  Doom Fever just has your more typical ANSI text interface.

Also note that Ultimate Add-on is a reprint of another disc called Deathday so if you already have that/can get it cheaper it's basically the same thing.

11 minutes ago, Aquila Chrysaetos said:

A physical copy will, provided it is maintained, increase in value over time, just like anything else, from coins, to vinyl records, to disks, partly because of historical value and partly because these things become rarer over time.

That’s not a given. I’m not sure they’re even worth how what the cost at the time. Also they won’t be readable forever.

As a collector's item? Probably, and depends on the item's condition as well.

For its disc's contents? Mostly no. You can get that from Archive.org's backups of what's available here.

There's a lot of shitty maps on the discs but a few gems mixed in so you'll have to do a lot of digging to find good content on the discs available.

They were great back in the day when I didn't have internet access, but not so useful now. My wife's collected a bunch of ISOs (since I lost my actual physical disks), but that's because she likes to collect things, not because there's much worthwhile on them. Mostly they're just levels you can find elsewhere and some outdated versions of old Doom editors. Unless you want to feel better about your own level design skills by playing some of the truly awful ones on the CDs, I wouldn't bother.

About the only useful thing I remember unique to the CDs was that one of the D!Zones had a utility that would autoload levels for you (useful in those days) and could randomize Thing placement. But you can find better options for that now.

H!Zone is a bit of an exception because it has a twelve episode campaign included, in edition to the shovelware stuff. But that's about it. And H!Zone requires some conversion work to make it practical to use with modern source ports.

7 hours ago, TFK said:

That pleasant little fellow appears on the disc of the Deathday Collection.

These at least have better artwork than D!ZONE boxes. 

Better get Tarns to play them all just to be safe

As a collector of Doom stuff, for me they would be worth it to just have on my shelf, especially if those jewel cases came with pc big boxes.

I would buy it just because. I love anything doom. (except doom 3)