Have you ever gotten a weird "bonus" buying games online?

[Edmond Dantes]

One of the wonderful things about buying used games, I've found, is that sometimes there is MORE than just the game and its documents in there. Sure, most of the time you get exactly what you pay for, but sometimes...

Well, here's one of my experiences: I bought Sam and Max Hit the Road for $25 on Amazon. It was a fully boxed copy that advertised coming with the original documentation, the hint book, the original sleeve for the game, and basically whatever else the original game came with.

The unexpected "Bonus?" It also came with what seemed to be an early release of Windows 95, plus some sort of Win95 add-ons disk. I never tried to install these two programs to figure out exactly what they were, but it was just amazing to me that this completely random thing was stuck in the box and given to me along with an amazing game. The description had NOT mentioned that these would be included, so I was completely floored when they were present.

On a little bit of the weirder side of things, my copy of The Ultima Collection--which was bought brand-new when it was released in the late-90s or thereabouts--included a text file in one directory on the actual disc, which seemed like an archive of a newsgroup conversation that someone just happened to find funny. Its a joke post plus its comments, and the joke had nothing to do with Ultima. It seemed like a completely random and arbitrary inclusion. I'll post the entire contents of it here at my next convenience. Again, I had no reason to believe something like this would be on the disk at all.

So, what about you guys? Any fun stories of "bonuses"?

[Gameguy]

On a little bit of the weirder side of things, my copy of The Ultima Collection--which was bought brand-new when it was released in the late-90s or thereabouts--included a text file in one directory on the actual disc, which seemed like an archive of a newsgroup conversation that someone just happened to find funny. Its a joke post plus its comments, and the joke had nothing to do with Ultima. It seemed like a completely random and arbitrary inclusion. I'll post the entire contents of it here at my next convenience. Again, I had no reason to believe something like this would be on the disk at all.

There's a few games that include hidden text files like this, often various rants by the game programmers that they just wanted to slip into the final game. I forget some of the titles at the moment but there was a youtube video mentioning some of them.

[SparTonberry]

Some N64 Tetris game. Reportedly it was discovered like three days after the game was released and Nintendo was NOT happy. :P

Pretty sure I ordered a Super Famicom game from Japan once and got some PS1 Ultraman fighting game demo disc randomly included with it.

[understatement]

I got a "fun bonus" in a game at a thrift store once.

[jperryss]

I got a "fun bonus" in a game at a thrift store once.

Dirt weed?

[understatement]

Dirt weed?

That, and/or its probably as old as the game is. Party like it's 1999!

[bb_hood]

One time at a flea market I found a Secret of Manual Mana at the bottom of a bag full of atari 2600 games I had purchased.

[Tanooki]

Yeah I've had it happen games and other stuff. Not online but locally really, luck I guess. The whole game in the console is common enough, but lately I've grabbed up a few toy lots and got pleasantly surprised with some bonus goodies that weren't part of the lot I picked up. I got a pair of Lego lots in the last month, and versus what I did see, to what was came up with heaps of unadvertised extras as far as sets go. That second though though, I found in the bottom of the box 5 G1 Transformer Micromasters! And then yesterday I more or less borderline dumpster dove in the heat at the flea market some large cardboard boxes with old toys and loaded up 2 shopping bags full and it was a surprise to see what I ended up with, not so much what I did get, but what I found stuck to things in little bags or tossed in stuff that ended up going to others that should have had nothing.

Online though I think I ended up with a Tetris in a Gameboy once, that's really about it, people have gotten too overly predatory and conscious of such things online to let anything worth a buck slide by anymore which makes sense and is sad too.

I know it's not in the spirit, but I'm sure people buying 'classic' games on GoG during any of those random sales or seasonal ones ended up getting a random free game, or them on a rare day just giving one away for 24 hours if you click on it. That is kind of like finding a bonus buying online, you grab a Star Wars game or something, then get some Apogee game free.

[Edmond Dantes]

Damn, I wish I could buy a pack of toys and find some rare transformers.... especially if I ever got the Constructicons. Devastator was awesome.

GOG's giveaways aren't really the same thing as you're told in advance that they're gonna be doing it. And they never gave away Windows 95, so its automatically worse (Actually I like 98SE more than 95 and its damn two-gigabyte limit, but whose complaining).

Oh, I thought of another one, though this might not count.... when I bought Daggerfall (brand new for $17) at Electronics Boutique in the mall (remember when that used to be a thing?) it came with the strategy guide. I forget if that was advertised on the box, but I knew it wasn't normal for Daggerfall to come with that.

Also awhile ago I was collecting boxed copies of the AD&D and Buck Rogers Gold Box games (Well, Purple Box in the case of Buck...) and some of them came with hex paper, many with maps drawn on them. Not quite the same thing but I do enjoy these signs of a previous owner having a good time. Also one of those was originally a 5.25 floppy version which I thought I would have to find a way to convert, but unexpectedly (and unmentioned in the description) it included 3.5 floppies as well.

I just thought of another actual example. I bought a lot of Adventure games that included one of the Journeyman Project games and some others, all boxed, as well as the Zork Legacy Collection. The auction mentioned no bonus games.... so I open up the Zork and it happens to include Zork Grand Inquisitor (which is NOT normally part of the legacy collection). Even better, that happened to be the only Zork game I didn't own in any form.

[Tanooki]

I know where to get a complete G1 Devastator for $100, he's just missing the canopy off one of the tractors is all, which sucks as I'm sure IF it pops up on ebay it would be a possible pissing contest. I've known where that thing has been for over 6 months now and it's at a public place kind of around here but off display, just pulled out if someone asks for a Transformer. Given you can snap up the thing for $90~ complete on ebay with a little perseverance I've left it there (for now.)

As it is in that lot of stuff I ended up with one part of Defensor(blades) and one part of Computron(afterburner.) I'm kind of thinking I should read more into those, see if the full blown big bot has any added parts that would have come in the big ol' box, or if you can just pick off the other bots individually to get the parts (or if that would be cost prohibitive.) I've been wondering if I'd like just one large one ever since I stumbled upon Devastator and he's one of the coolest of them anyone other than maybe Superion since the autobots didn't have crap for planes until that came along.

[eskobar]

Secret of Manual Mana

Collector's item

[FrankSerpico]

My Japanese copy of KOF '98 for the Dreamcast came with a green tea packet

[celerystalker]

My Japanese copy of KOF '98 for the Dreamcast came with a green tea packet

Sounds like ryoplanshop

[AdamAnt316]

Not game-related, but I bought a bunch of stereo equipment from a guy on eBay a few years back. The gear was listed as local pickup-only, and we set up a meeting time and place using email. The seller saw the link to my website in my email sig, and threw in a box of vacuum tubes along with an old DEC laptop.

[Tanooki]

Sounds like ryoplanshop

Yup it does, they did that on a couple GB games I ordered last year and it was damn good tea too. If I were in a game buying mood I'd go with them again, not that the tea was much of an influence but they're not scumbags on shipping and their prices are very reasonable compared to most.

[Dire 51]

I bought a copy of Ninja Gaiden for the SMS from a seller in the UK six years ago. When I opened it up, I found this packed in with the game.

[SparTonberry]

"Shut up! Shut up! Kiss my ass! Go to hell! Go to hell! ... Dad, I will never get tired of this."

[poppj]

Recently I purchased Sonic Adventure for Dreamcast at a retro gaming convention. It was complete in the case, but when I got home and opened the manual, one of those mini-dvd discs fell out. Upon insertion into my computer, it auto-played on my DVD player someone's home movies from the 1960-70's I'm guessing. Looked like rednecks riding 3 and 4 wheelers and just hanging out on back roads and old farm houses. Very Strange, I still don't know what to do with it.

BTW, turns out the sonic game disc wouldn't read, so I don't count it as bonus

[Niku-Sama]

well I didn't buy it online but when I picked up a stack of Saturn games last summer I got disc 4 of Panzer Dragoon Saga in the black paper sleeve still....it was in with Panzer Dragoon 2

some ones gonna hate life I figure.
I still have it, figure I could use it as a trade, looks new still too.

[The S]

Sometimes when I buy 3+ games from some sellers on eBay (normally ones located in Asia), I'll get an extra game or two slipped in. I ask every time just in case it was an accident and they all inform me it's intentional. I don't really care if it's just the ones they can't seem to get rid of and so they just throw them in to keep from having to relist... free is free!

"Shut up! Shut up! Kiss my ass! Go to hell! Go to hell! ... Dad, I will never get tired of this."

I get it. Classic.