Games With Useful & Physical Bonus Content

[Thief]

Segata Sanshiro Jr. got me thinking about how cool it is when games include little bonus' such as maps, journals, et cetera, and how much cooler it is when they provide an actual use in game. Reminds me of the de-coder rings I used to use when I was a little kid.

Off the top of my head I can think of Policenauts and Metal Gear Solid using its manual and game case to help solve puzzles in the game, and the anti-piracy attempt of infocom adventure games known as "feelies".

Can anybody else think of some games with cool and useful bonus content? I'm sure there will be plenty of RPGs in this thread.

[Segata Sanshiro Jr.]

The most recent one had to be Ninokuni on DS.

Back in the 16 bit era, most RPGs came with maps, I used to have the one that came with Phantasy star 2, I (duh) have the comic book that came with Rent a hero.

Startropics came with a note from your uncle that if you got wet revealed a secret message. I've got a complete boxed copy that even has the note.

I'll have to sit and think of some more really cool ones.

[Spokane]

Red Dead Redemption and Undead Nightmare maps.

[Vyse Hazuky]

Can't really think of anything that would be useful apart from maps. Tokyo Bus Guide had a "guide" that was really quite useful as it had such rigid rules.

Games on USB-pen drives at least you can use them later if you saved up the content somewhere else.

Oh, and WARP's (D, D2, etc) soundnovel Real Sound: Kaze no Regret came with flower seeds for you to plant, and instructions in braille (the game was made to be played by blind people, although the Dreamcast remake had static pictures)

And of course, can't really talk about Kenji Eno without mentioning his Enemy Zero limited box

Only 20 were made, and delivered personally by the mad man, it had all of this:

A copy of the “regular” Enemy Zero special edition
A full set (leather outfit w/gloves, hat, tights, EO-logo badge and earrings) of the outfit worn by the companion girls at WARP’s 1996 Tokyo Game Show booth, designed by Yasushi Nirasawa
A towel embroidered with the EO logo
A model of an “enemy” corpse, complete with bodily liquid
A metallic bookmark
A flyer and ticket to an Enemy Zero art exhibit held in 1996
A set of press releases for Enemy Zero (back when these were faxed around instead of emailed)
A VHS video of Enemy Zero music clips
A large 3D lenticular sheet
A set of stickers
An Enemy Zero T-shirt
A replica of the gun Laura uses in the game, again designed by Nirasawa
Actual design documents used in developing the game
Floppy disks, envelopes, and paper bags with the WARP logo
A Sega Saturn-stamped CD-R (contents unknown)

There was also the REZ Trance Vibrator, which allegedly added to the experience.

But again, useful?

I'll try and think of more.

[Samanosuke Akechi]

Can't think of any other besides Morrowind.With such a massive world it's really easy to get lost,the map that was included help me a whole lot.

[Strikeout]

Demons Souls (first edition here in europe) with a complete walkthrough was very comfortable, otherwise you had checked the internet for beating the game, i just say enchanted moon falchion

[Let's Get Sweaty]

Sonic 3D (Blast) on the Mega Drive (Genesis) came with a little rubber pencil topper of the hedgehog himself (seen on this page). Not useful in the slightest, but I thought it was way past cool at the time, being a 3D model and all.

[MiTT3NZ]

I actually hate having something physical most of the time unless it's actually useful in some way. Pointless clutter pisses me off.

[Henry Spencer]

^My 3DS actually got stolen a while back, never did retrieve all of my digital downloads. If I want them back, I'll have to rebuy them again. Shit sucks, man. Regardless though, I don't buy everything physical and can see your point, I've practically run out of shelf space for all of my games now (and I'm no collector, believe me!)

Demons Souls (first edition here in europe) with a complete walkthrough was very comfortable, otherwise you had checked the internet for beating the game, i just say enchanted moon falchion

Yes! I use that guide whenever I play a bit of Demon's Souls now and get stuck (which has happened on a few occasions).

Another one that is useful is Shadow Hearts includes a strategy guide with it too. As far as other RPGs goes, Ghostlight (the European equivalent to Atlus or XSEED) always include some nice goodies with their RPGs which are almost all on the PS2 or PSP (Shin Megami Tensei series, Trails in the Sky). And whenever I import, the likes of Atlus, Aksys, XSEED and Square-Enix (yes, them too!) always include nice stuff like how Atlus: Radiant Historia has the soundtrack CD, or Square-Enix: Tactics Ogre PSP includes both an artbook and soundtrack CD and let's not forget the *gasp* full colour manuals. Such a rarity in these times of cost cutting/money saving.

[MiTT3NZ]

I don't mind havin a stack of DVD cases, I just don't like a shitloada "collector's content" or whatever. Maps are fine as long as they ain't preventing the case from closing, and I got the Arkham City Black & White statue, but that's coz the missus bought it. I woulda preferred to just have a simple DVD case for the game and nowt extra, but no, they had to put the disc in a fucking booklet, didn't they? Worst thing is that, aside from the statue, every other physical bonus content (Gotham Knight DVD, art book, and whatever the hell it was that was in there), I already had.

The value of all this kinda shit is nothing, in my eyes. Peeps constantly bitch and moan about the recession, but when you see everyone splash out on such useless bollocks like collector's editions, cheap junk from B&Ms, and David Dickface's Real Deal, then you realise it ain't about the cost of living, it's about the cost of living in luxury. First world problems, indeed.

[KiBa]

George Bush doesn't care about feelies.