Welcome to the Summer of PCE! Available for shipping starting on June 20th is another exquisite 3-game bundle. Included are the deluxe Editions of Beyond Shadowgate and Might & Magic III as well the great caravan rendition of Konami’s classic Twin Bee Arcade shoot’em up.

This run is quite limited as we had a hard time sourcing enough of the packagings we’ve choosen for BSG and MMIII. For this reason fewer bundles than usual are available right now and we don’t know yet, if we’ll be able to provide a restock anytime soon. In other words: if you like to get ahold of this great bundle, don’t hesitate!

Of course all copies of the first run are individually numbered and include one of our PCEWorks coins. The bundle is available at 129 EUR including worldwide shipping. Orders for this bundle get shipped in two parcels.

BEYOND SHADOWGATE DELUXE EDITION

The first game for our Summer of PCE presentation is Icom Simulations’ Beyond Shadowgate. Definitely one of the rarer American TG16 titles and most certainly a quite special title. Beyond Shadowgate is sequel to the classic NES Shadowgate and one of the few exclusive TG16 titles really worth playing. A classic point’n’click adventure by nature and due to its rarity a commonly overlooked title.

For Beyond Shadowgate (and Might & Magic III as well) we decided to go with big packagings similar to what japanese PC titles (or FM Towns games for example) used back in the days. The packagings not only offer enough space for great cover artworks, but also for extended print materials and they don’t force us to fold everything down to CD size.

The big box includes a Beyond Shadowgate poster, a little foldout with new character art (read on for details), a jewel case with the game CD, a newly designed, full color game manual and an additional cover card in case you prefer the original US cover art. And while Beyond Shadowgate is a great game, it’s most definitely one of the titles with the worst original character art ever. For this very reason we had the character art re-imagined and redrawn. The game includes a small art folder with the new art along with more concept art (and the original art in comparison).

MIGHT AND MAGIC III DELUXE EDITION

The second game for our Summer of PCE bundle is New World Computing’s Might & Magic III – Isles of Terra. M&MIII was one of the best RPGs of its time and a true milestone in storytelling. The game was ported to a variety of gaming platforms and the TG16’s CD version stands out as one of the best looking (and sounding) versions of the game.

RPGs back in the days used a lot of print material to allow players to fully immerse into the game’s world. Might and Magic III is no different. The original version used the back of the map to give the player important tables with item and magic details. The big packaging allowed us to include an extra paperback folder with all the tables, allowing players to use both the map and the tables at the same time. An additional (and sealed) folder includes passwords which you can use to advance to new realms throughout Terra. Of course the game also includes a gorgeous full color manual packaged with the CD.

All in all we can humbly note that this is most certainly the most luxurious presentation M&MIII has ever seen.

TWIN BEE RETURNS

To accompany the two heavyweights above, we’ve choosen Twin Bee Returns – a time-attack version of Konami’s original 80s arcade shoot’em up.

Twin Bee Returns was originally included in Konami’s PC Engine version of Tokimeki Memorial. For iliterates of the japanese language it was almost impossible to access this game. The player had to spend hours after hours playing Konami’s dating sim, eventually accessing the game through the in-game’s computer club.

While Twin Bee Returns is based on the original arcade version of Twin Bee, meaning that it doesn’t have the great graphics Detana Twin Bee offers on the PCE, it’s still a great little title, easily surpassing the MSX or other conversions of the original arcade game. TB Returns is a caravan-style time-attack with a play time ranging from 4-8 minutes, depending on the player’s skills.

Of course our disc directly boots into Twin Bee Returns. And don’t forget to watch out for a little Twin Bee Returns contest starting soon.