Gamecube Player's Choice

[Great Hierophant]

I like to buy my Gamecube games new, shrinkwrapped and without the Player's Choice label on them. The reason for the first two requirements are obvious. Copies of a game without the Player's Choice label rarely come at a premium. But the principal reason why I am not enthusiastic to buy Player's Choice labels is because of Metroid Prime. In Metroid Prime, the developers eliminated some of the tricks you could use to speed up the game in the Player's-Choice label and made it harder to beat. Now, is this unique or does this happen in many other games with the Player's Choice label?

[joshnickerson]

I know a lot of times they'll fix bugs found in previous versions. I think there's a trick in Smash Bros. called "waving", which is a complicated proceedure that involves completely skipping the jump animation, which can only be done on the first pressing. But for me, I dislike the PC versions because I don't like the yellow color on the spine. It just really makes it look awkward on a shelf with the other games.

[ProgrammingAce]

The most obvious example of changes i can think of is on the Xbox. In 007 Agent under Fire, in the first pressing there is a buffer overflow that you can use to softmod your xbox. In the platnum hits version they took it out.

Bug fixes are pretty common in a second printing of a game, usually i pass unless the first printing is horribly flawed. The only "Player's Choice/Platnum Hits/etc" that i have is Fable: The lost chapters. But that's only because they added an extra 20% to the game.

The ps1 reprints are the uglyest thing i've ever seen, and i refuse to buy them.

[goatdan]

As odd as this may seem, I purposely purchase the Player's Choice GameCube games. I actually like the yellow look. It's only the second games I've like the cheap versions of, after the Dreamcast.

The Xbox Platnium Hits series I absolutely despise. Why oh why isn't the case at least the same color as the others? Or the spine looking similiar? I purposely avoid those at ALL costs. I would've had Burnout 3 by now, had it not been for the fact I can only find it new as a Player's Choice, and used for $18.

[pacmanhat]

It's my understanding that the Player's Choice version of Super Smash Bros. Melee has some minor differences (in fact, I think there's three different 'versions' of the game). I'm not sure just what all the differences are, though.

[Great Hierophant]

The problem really is when there is a Player's Choice Version of the game available, how do you ensure that you don't get a Player's Choice Version if you are buying a new game?

[joshnickerson]

If you buy it online from a retail chain like Wal-Mart or Gamestop, there is no way to tell if you'll get one or not. However, if you go into a brick and mortar store, you have a better chance, especially if it's one where game sales aren't so hot. I found that the more remote the store, the better your chance of finding original issue games.
Also, check out the cases in stores like Wal-Mart or Target. The people who stock the cases push the old copies to the back when they get new stuff in, so ask to check out the copies in the back, or if you can get a good angle, look for yourself.
You just have to keep your eyes open. I was looking for a Super Monkey Ball that was non-PC for years, and I found one just last year at Circuit City, just sitting there on the shelf by itself.

[slapdash]

I was looking for a Super Monkey Ball that was non-PC for years, and I found one just last year at Circuit City, just sitting there on the shelf by itself.

Geez, if you see another one, or SMB2 for that matter, keep me in mind. :-)

(Oh, and Animal Crossing, Luigi's Mansion, Sonic Adventure 2: Battle or Sonic Mega Collection too...)

[sharp]

The only thing I hate about the rerelease for whatever system is the different boxart. The cube is quite ok in Europe with the silver boxes, but especially ps2 messed up, they already have the third design for their Platinum range (over here platnum is sony and Xbox is called classics), which make a stand with Platinum range games look like one big mess.

I buy them even though sometimes as a playingcopy to keep the orginal sealed. Also I wonder how rare some rerelease are as some games are first dumped for really low prices and suddenl they came back more expesive as platinum game.