Last year I was excited to finally get my hands on a boxed copy of Shadow of the Comet. Even if it was the relatively cheap CD-ROM version. At least, it was probably cheap back when it was released. Now it’s one of the pricier games on Ebay. And while I am happy to have a boxed copy, I could be happier with a nicer version. The CD-ROM version is bit sparse. Apart from the cheap looking box, it doesn’t contain a paper manual for instance.

So, we’re almost half a year later and I have bought the floppy version. The box is much nicer to look at with embossed gold lettering instead of the plain white letters on the CD-ROM version’s box. The picture is much lighter so you can see more details. The sleeve has a bit more wear and tear than the almost pristine CD-ROM version, but it’s not too bad. The back of the box contain more attractive screenshots as well as funnier marketing blurb.

It is mentioned that this is A FULL SCREEN ADVENTURE GAME. Wow! I think the marketeers thought that is sounded impressive to emphasize that the game doesn’t show an onscreen UI like the classic LucasArts adventures did. That in itself isn’t as innovative as they thought, because there were other games before 1993 that had an almost full screen look on the game world, going as far back as one of the earliest adventure games like King’s Quest I, that only had one line at the top of the screen for the statusbar and one line at the bottom for text input.

The other distinguishing features that are mentioned are that the game has 40 characters to meet. I think I’ll keep count so as the determine if I have met them all. It has 90 animated close-ups, which is pretty cool. There are 150 settings in 256 colours. 150 sure does sound like a lot, although I don’t know how that compares to other adventure games. It also has Music and SOUND EFFECTS. Wow again!

There’s a sticker on the front that proclamates that the game is compatible with THE SOUND SOURCE, which prompted me to rewatch videos from The 8-bit Guy and LGR. It would be really nice to have such a device for my retro setup. One thing always leads to another in this hobby, which is kind of cool I guess.

The marketing blurb also offers 50 hours of suspense which sure sounds like a lot for an old adventure game.

The game has nice additions in the form of two envelopes. One containing a death certificate and one with letters. Nice!
One thing that’s missing though is the manual. Not again! That’s a bummer, especially because the other version also doesn’t have a paper manual, but the manual on CD. I guess that’s why this copy was reasonably affordable. I’ll keep an eye out for the manual. You have to have something to be on the prowl for right?

I must learn to be more patient and wait for a proper version to turn up. Or learn to accept that upgrading is part of the collecting process. But that means I also need to learn to get rid of duplicates. A lesson I haven’t learned yet, because I’m hesitant to sell the CD-ROM version. And while I will probably try to sell it, I might regret it. That has happened before. With the Mac version of The Dig, for example. That had nice shiny boxart that the IBM version doesn’t have.