Pre-Order Bonuses

Dante’s Inferno was an action game from Visceral Software and Electronic Arts that was released in 2010. Customers who pre-ordered the game at GameStop were given a collectible Dante action figure from the folks at NECA toys. The figure was well-sculpted, the paint job was fantastic, and it came with some cool accessories – including a flexible scythe. The figure was also remarkably poseable and had 15 points of articulation. My toy-collecting days are behind me, but Dante would have looked right at home with the He-Man figures I grew up with. When you look at the Dante figure up close, you can’t help but think that it was way too good to be included as a freebie. That’s going to be a recurring theme on this list.

Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors is an adventure game that’s centered around nine characters who find themselves on a sinking cruise liner. They’re forced to participate in a twisted game in order to escape with their lives, and they’re all given special watches with countdown timers to remind them of their impending doom. Customers who pre-ordered the game from GameStop were given replica watches for free! The promotion was conceived as an exclusive for GameStop customers, but Aksys Games also made the watches available on their website due to low pre-order sale numbers. The watches were made from rubber tubing and were kind of tacky, but they were thematically appropriate and ideal for the cosplay community. Aksys Games had trouble getting rid of the watches at first, but they command a ridiculously high price on the second-hand market today. The game itself sold well enough to warrant two sequels, and replica watches were made available as pre-order bonuses for both of them. If you had no interest in the watch, you could sell it for more than the game cost and effectively subsidize your purchase.

Scribblenauts hasn’t gotten a lot of attention on this website, but I applaud its creative gameplay and I absolutely adore its art style. The number of outfits and accessories that Maxwell can wear in the series is almost limitless, but he is most often seen in his trademark rooster hat. The hat is part of his default costume, after all, and all of his family members wear similar hats. When GameStop offered a real-life version of the hat as a bonus for pre-ordering Scribblenauts, it was exciting for a number of reasons. Not only did it look awesome, but it could actually be worn by adults and children alike. If you were too cool to wear the hat in public, you could probably find someone in your life that would wear it with pride.

In the same vein as the Scribblenauts rooster hat, we have a Sonic the Hedgehog hat that was offered as a pre-order bonus for purchasing Sonic Colors at GameStop. Recent 3D Sonic games had been met with contempt, so it was reassuring to have a cool hat to fall back on if the game ended up sucking. (Thankfully, Sonic Colors was pretty awesome.) I’ve seen this item listed as one of the worst pre-order bonuses by other commentators around the web, but I think those people need to lighten up. I’ll concede that it’s more than just a little bit goofy, but everything has its place. I (probably) wouldn’t wear the Sonic hat to a job interview, but it would make for a pretty cool snowboarding hat. It’s perfect for those situations where you gotta go fast and keep your ears warm at the same time.

It’s difficult to launch a new video game franchise, and this is especially true in certain genres. Shadow Hearts was the sequel to an obscure JRPG called Koudelka, and it’s fair to say that the series didn’t get as much attention as heavy-hitters like Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest. When the first Shadow Hearts sequel hit in 2004, many gamers were still unfamiliar with the franchise. You’ll always have people who are afraid to jump in mid-series, but Midway set their fears at ease by giving the first Shadow Hearts game to anyone who pre-ordered the sequel. The game wasn’t merely a bonus disc, either. It came with its own case and everything! The cynic in me knows that Midway was probably just trying to offload unsold inventory, but it was a good way to build momentum for the series. Similar pre-order bonuses have subsequently been offered for other games – including South Park: The Fractured But Whole – but the Shadow Hearts example is especially noteworthy since so many people had missed out on the game the first time around.

In Mirror’s Edge, runners use special multi-pocketed bags to carry items and documents through a futuristic metropolis. If you pre-ordered the game at GameStop, you would be given a real-life version of the bag! Like the in-game model, the bags were both stylish and practical. They had seven compartments for smaller items, and they had ample room for your laptop or your favorite console. The bags were surprisingly well-made, and they were durable enough to use in daily life. There are people who are still using the bags nearly a decade later, and it’s not hard to find them on the second-hard market in good condition. Electronic Arts also released a special edition of Mirror’s Edge for $130 that included a hand-made designer bag from Timbuk2, but I actually prefer the banana-yellow messenger bags that were given away for free. They were more closely tied in to the game, the branding was more subtle, and they were more practical. You certainly couldn’t beat the price.

It’s not especially unusual for a game to come bundled with a bonus soundtrack, but Atlus went above and beyond with the release of The King of Fighters XIII. Most bonus soundtracks feature a small handful of tracks, and almost all of them can fit onto a single CD. In contrast, the soundtrack that was included with The King of Fighters XIII was a 4-disc set that featured music from every game in the series. Over 100 tracks were included in total, and it was a great way to look back at 15 years of history. Needless to say, it wasn’t your typical sampler CD. The soundtrack compilation easily could have been sold as a separate item, but it was available free of charge. It’s rare to see a video game soundtrack that’s so comprehensive.

In what’s easily the most peculiar item on this list, customers who ordered Lunar: Eternal Blue Complete for the PlayStation received a punching Ghaleon puppet. The concept was completely absurd, but it harkened back to the boxing nun puppets that were all the rage in the ’90s. Ghaleon even dressed like a nun! In any regard, it was fun to make a powerful mage like Ghaleon throw goofy punches. It was undoubtedly cool as a bonus item, but there was no way it was cost-effective. You can say what you want about Working Designs’ localization process, but the company always went the extra mile to please their fans. A second punching puppet in the likeness of Alex was slated as a bonus for fans who also purchased Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete for the PC, but the game was scrapped and the Alex puppet was never released. Without an opponent, I guess we’ll call Ghaleon the winner by forfeit.

You shouldn’t need an incentive to buy a Castlevania game, but customers who pre-ordered Portrait of Ruin at GameStop locations were given a cornucopia of awesomeness. The bonus items included a special game case, an extendable Castlevania stylus, a 48-page artbook highlighting every Castlevania game, and a 20th anniversary soundtrack that covered the best music in the series. It also included a timeline poster detailing key events from the Castlvania universe. The collection seemed tailor-made for existing Castlevania fans, but it was also a great way to introduce new fans to the series. The package would have been substantial enough to sell as a limited special edition, and it was unexpected to see so much swag included as a mere pre-order bonus. Honestly, the soundtrack alone would have warranted a mention on this list even if the other items weren’t included. If you want to track down all of the pre-order bonuses today, it will cost you more than the game itself.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker was one of the most highly anticipated GameCube games, and its fair to say that most Nintendo fans would have happily bought the game on day one with or without any added incentives. Nevertheless, Nintendo decided to include a special two-game bonus disc as a pre-order bonus. The disc included Ocarina of Time, which was widely viewed as the best Nintendo 64 game ever released. If that wasn’t enough already, it also included Ocarina of Time: Master Quest. This was a reworked, never-before-released version of the game with rearranged dungeons that were more difficult than the original version’s were. A redesigned version of Ocarina of Time had been slated for the Nintendo 64 DD, but it was ultimately shelved. I don’t think anyone was realistically expecting for the game to see the light of day after its apparent cancellation, and it certainly wasn’t something anyone expected to get for free. In a sense, the bonus disc could be viewed as an olive branch for the segment of fans who were still skeptical about The Wind Waker’s bold new art direction.