Nowadays its rare to see a game released that doesn't have some stupid collector's edition with a metal case, a mouse pad and six cloth maps of levels that are only in the DLC that is exclusive to the store you pre-ordered the $100 version of the game from. But what I'm wondering about is when collector's editions of games still meant something.
I didn't really pay attention to new games coming out until about 7 or 8 years ago when I finally got a PS2 and then a PS3 and a 360. I usually had the previous generation's systems and a bunch of new-to-me games to play. So I don't really remember very much about people pre-ordering games and there being collector's editions.
Did they have collector's editions and pre-order bonuses as far back as the NES? What about before that? When did these ideas really start to take off? Was there a lot of fanfare when they released new arcade games? Oh...and pics and stories are a must