They seem to be easier to come by in Europe, England in particular, as
that's where Mastertronic was originally based prior to expanding to
Mastertronic Inc. in the United States. They were available for PC, Atari
ST, and Amiga, and all three systems seem about equally common.
There are 10 total. In numerical order, they are: Hitchhiker's Guide, Zork
I, Planetfall, Wishbringer, Leather Goddesses, Zork II, Zork III, Enchanter,
Sorcerer, Deadline. Instead of "Infocom from Mastertronic", Leather
Goddesses says "Infocom from Tronix". From what I can determine, Tronix
seems to have been a special Mastertronic label for more "mature" titles.
If you decided open them up, you'd find a 3.5" disk (plus a 5.25" if they're
PC), a small square manual like the kind in CD jewel cases, and depending on
the game, possibly a recreated prop: Zork I and Wishbringer have glossies of
the original maps. The manuals have the same instructions as the grey box
versions, but without the stories that occupy the first dozen or so grey-box
pages. Some props are printed in the manual -- Enchanter's scroll,
Sorcerer's field guide, Deadline's case file -- but the rest are not.
I've sold a couple, but most collectors won't pay a whole lot for them,
possibly because they're considered "budget" releases, or because their
contents aren't all that interesting.
Mastertronic also did a CD-ROM compilation called "The Infocom Collection"
which had 4 of these games on it. Not a very effective use of the then-new
CD-ROM medium.
BTW, if you ever see a Shogun by Mastertronic, it's not the Infocom game,
but an ultra-cheap graphic arcade/adventure that happens to share the same
title.
(P.S. I think I just visited the website where you saw them. B-)
----- Original Message -----
From: Pedro Quaresma <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, July 20, 2001 2:48 AM
Subject: [SWCollect] Infocom games' boxes
>
> Hi,
> I got a hold on three separate Infocom games, in a package that I do not
> know. I assume these are well-known, mostly by the Infocom collectors on
> this list, but I sincerely hadn't seen any of these before
>
> Let me describe them: the box itself is hard cardboard, small, about
lenght
> and height of a CD case, but with triple thickness. All three are
> shrinkwrapped, but I do not think it's the original one. All three games
> have the original box drawing and a small yellow label saying "Infocom by
> Mastertronics". The games are numbered on the side (Enchanter is 3,
> Deadline is 8 and Planetfall is 10, I think). I've attached a pic of the
> box, which I've taken from the site. All games are for the Atari ST.
>
> (See attached file: Deadline.jpg)
>
> OK, so don't laugh at me :) What is this type of box? Any European release
> of Infocom games (like the Mindscape releases of Ultimas)?
>
> Thanks and regards,
>
> Pedro R. Quaresma
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> "All your base are belong to us"
>
>
>
>
> http://www.salvador-caetano.pt
> http://www.globalshop.pt
>
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