Special Reserve - did you ever order from them (90s game mail order)

Albear wrote:Yes!

Bought Super Cars and Super Cars 2 for my Amiga 500, Maniac Mansion and Hired Guns.

They were generally great discounts but took aaaaaaaaaagggggeeeesssss to deliver. Like 2 weeks, which for an 11 year old is 20-30 years.

Sorry to go slightly off topic (i will try and bring it round), but WHAT A GAME. So few people talk about this game, and it was incredible (especially on 1200 which my mate had). I remember 4 of us huddled round the Amiga each controlling a character. I bought it physical as well, it was a really beautifully packaged game as i recall.

I used to look at the Special Reserve adverts in the old C64/Amiga magazines longingly, but i don't think i bought anything from them until they had gone online. I may have subscribed to get a free PS1 dance mat (never used, in the loft :fp:

)

JT986M2 wrote:
Photek wrote:Man, I loved the 90's I'd LOVE to got back to that time.

If you think about it, you really wouldn't. It's just that time in your life you would want to go return to. The inconveniences compared to now would get on your nerves - banks closed at the weekends, pubs shut on Sundays, non-24 hour supermarkets, rudimentary internet, limited availability of certain games/films and a significant step back in healthcare.

Gameplay also had a free catalogue when you ordered. Wish I'd kept them now.

They also had a shop in I think Leeds but I never got to visit.

Is that Digitiser 2000 thing still going?

Photek wrote:Man, I loved the 90's I'd LOVE to got back to that time.

You could go back and invent XBox.

Mafro wrote:Is that Digitiser 2000 thing still going?

Kind of. Biffo has wound it down to focus on YouTube stuff. He's less games orientated now. Unless you are talking about something else that is more directly related to Special Reserve in more than it being from a bygone era.

KK wrote:Gameplay also had a free catalogue when you ordered. Wish I'd kept them now.

They also had a shop in I think Leeds but I never got to visit.

Ooh yeah, I might be thinking of this company myself. I've had a google but can't seem to dig out an image of their adverts....

Gameplay was great, before GAME bought them out and strawberry floated them up. Same with Gamestation, to a lesser extent.

Think I've still got some old Gameplay catalogues somewhere.

Victor Mildew wrote:
JT986M2 wrote:
Photek wrote:Man, I loved the 90's I'd LOVE to got back to that time.

If you think about it, you really wouldn't. It's just that time in your life you would want to go return to. The inconveniences compared to now would get on your nerves - banks closed at the weekends, pubs shut on Sundays, non-24 hour supermarkets, rudimentary internet, limited availability of certain games/films and a significant step back in healthcare.

From 1999:

Their graphics and website had an overhaul in 2000, and they were also available on NTL Cable and Sky Digital via Interactive services. However, rather like Dreamcast and those set top boxes with keyboards that allowed you to surf the internet via your TV, using it was BLOODY EXPENSIVE.

Let’s not forget Excitement Direct.

Which was basically exactly the same but the colours were a bit different,

You know what I would really like with my order of Brian Lara Cricket? A lava lamp.

I remember Gameplay being one of the best places to buy games online in the early-mid 00's. Prices were very competitive, pre-order always arrived on the day of release (if not the day before) and their shipping speed was far better than others at the time.

I got F Zero X and Yoshi's Story from this company. One of these games was great, the other one, not so great.

I remember their adverts in videogame magazines, but I don't think I bought anything from them. That was back in the days when I was young and living with my mum who was a skint single parent. So I basically just had to play the few games that I had.
Think I had a forced hiatus from games (5 years or so), due to being bored by the same old games. I had to wait until my first job and saved up money for a PlayStation with Resident Evil and Ridge Racer, total joy. Then I got my hands on Symphony of the night and it took over my life, as did the Tomb Raider games, the follow ups to Ridge Racer and Resident Evil 2.
I also remember buying a Namco gun and Point Blank which was amazing fun with a couple of people playing with you.
I'd love a new Ridge Racer(nothing fancy, just a tarted up disc with the first two games and Rage Racer all with modern graphics), and some way to play a new version of Point Blank.

Oh I remember them alright, pre-ordered an Xbox 360 paid upfront and they went bust before release day

Nintendonerd69 wrote:Oh I remember them alright, pre-ordered an Xbox 360 paid upfront and they went bust before release day

Gutted

The freebies are hilarious really. I think I got that Guyver vhs at some point from them but never watched it.

The best thing about ordering from Gameplay (and I presume other mail order companies) is that aside from the lower prices, the games were all brand spanking new and sealed. Not high street 'new', where they'd slapped a sticker on the box, everyone and the dog had handled the case on the shelf, and they'd stuffed all the discs and manuals in a cupboard behind the cash register or like HMV wrapped the manual so tight in cling film it was bent.

KK wrote:The best thing about ordering from Gameplay (and I presume other mail order companies) is that aside from the lower prices, the games were all brand spanking new and sealed. Not high street 'new', where they'd slapped a sticker on the box, everyone and the dog had handled the case on the shelf, and they'd stuffed all the discs and manuals in a cupboard behind the cash register or like HMV wrapped the manual so tight in cling film it was bent.

This.

Although I did usually end up getting 'factory new' games from Gamestation when my brother worked there.

I remember Special Reserve well, got Super Mario All Stars from them back in the day.

I always used to wish they would open a store near me as their games were always cheaper than the likes of Dixons, but the closest i think they came to opening here was a shop in Bristol somewhere so i never had the pleasure of visiting one of their outlets.

Special Reserve - did you ever order from them (90s game mail order)

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