[Sanek]

East Meets West is a bundle pack of Duke Nukem 3D and Shadow Warrior, released in March of 1998. It was "packaged" by Matt Saettler.
It's extremely rare-to-find lot nowadays, I never saw it on ebay or anywhere else.
So the question is... what's inside? I never saw a single complete description, unboxing or review of this thing. What's inside the box and inside the CD's themselves? The product's page on old 3DRealms site says that this pack "includes all the goodies for each, such as the level editors". Obviously Build Editor is inside, some modding/mapping utilities such as EDITART, perhaps sharewares of Duke 1-2.
I can't believe that this pack is a mystery! At least a couple of you guys must have it! If it's possible, can you do a review of it? Just make of photo of unboxed pack and if you have the image's of the CD's, make a screenshot or just wrote it down here.
I hope I'm not the only one who's interested in this pack. We can also just discuss it just as it is here.

[Jimmy]

It's extremely rare. If I remember right it just has regular Atomic Edition and Shadow Warrior 1.2 jewel cases inside the box. I don't think there's anything unique about the package except the box itself. Fucking great box though. Maybe someone should get into contact with Matt Saettler about it. Maybe he could remember how many were made, because I don't think I've seen one for sale online in like ten years.

[Malgon]

I've got an open one that I can look through. Will dig it out a bit later on and see what it has.

Edit: Really sorry, guys, could have sworn I had two of these, with one of them being opened, but no such luck. Hopefully someone else here has one they can post the contents of.

[MetHy]

This bundle has a pretty big reputation but I've never seen it anywhere indeed. The only bundle I've seen irl I can't remember the name of, I suppose it was Kill-a-ton but I can't say for sure: I think it had Duke Nukem 3D v1.3D and all of its official expansions: Plutonium Pak, Caribbean Life, Duke It Out In DC, Nulcear Winter, Duke Zone, etc

I remember seeing it at the mall as a kid and begging my mother for it but my brother convinced her otherwise due to the price and the fact we already had 1.3D and Caribbean Life. The next week it was gone, never to be seen again.

[FistMarine]

I remember few years ago seeing one (or even two) of these selling on eBay for about 200-300 euros on an auction (it was a sealed box though, also by comparison, a sealed Kill-a-Ton Collection box sold for like 400 euros around same time). Of course since it was an auction, the price always gets inflated by inexperienced bidders. Too bad because of this, it is pretty much impossible to get these rare boxes. You have to get extremely lucky with the timing when one shows up and if the seller offers a "Buy Now" option (and an acceptable price), then if you have the money ready, you can get it.

As it has been pointed out by Jimmy, it contains Duke Nukem 3D Atomic Edition 1.5 and Shadow Warrior 1.2. I already have the Kill a Ton collection (jewel cases only, though they are sealed, at least CD 1 and 3 because few months ago I opened CD 2 as I heard stuff was broken inside and had to check to see, the CD is fine at least, also used to have Kill a Ton jewel cases in used condition which I sold them before I got the sealed ones) which includes much more than that: Duke Nukem 1, 2, 3D (both versions 1.3D and 1.5), Duke It Out In DC, Duke Xtreme and Duke Zone 2. Thus it is much more ideal to get the Kill a Ton Collection instead. And I have separately a Shadow Warrior jewel case as well (it unfortunately has quite a few cracks but the manual and CD are in excellent condition).

So in my case it may not be worth to spend hundreds of dollars/pounds/euros just to get a East Meets West bundle, in case it shows up again on eBay in future (though I still want to get a Kill a Ton box someday with all contents inside instead of just the jewel cases with their manuals and CDs). Which is sad because that box would be really cool to have in my collection, as I started collecting stuff in last few years, mostly sealed Jewel Cases/DVD boxes, sometimes even sealed big boxes if I can afford them (depending on price).

EDIT: Methy, you posted while I was writing this message. To answer your question, yes it was Kill a Ton collection although it doesn't include Caribbean and Nuclear Winter sadly (as they were released after Kill a Ton collection came out) and it also doesn't include the first Duke Zone (which isn't a big loss anyway). What's interesting is that it states Plutonium Pak is included, yet actually Atomic Edition 1.5 is included instead.

[ck3D]

MetHy, on 12 October 2020 - 03:01 AM, said:

I remember seeing it at the mall as a kid and begging my mother for it but my brother convinced her otherwise due to the price and the fact we already had 1.3D and Caribbean Life. The next week it was gone, never to be seen again.

Crazy to read this two decades later because if by chance it was at Cora Blois 2 that you saw your copy then I'm quite certainly the one who bought it in the end (also after arguing with my parents IIRC, it was the last one left). I still have the CD's, probably the manuals and I remember trying to keep the big box for a while, but it's been decades and I've moved a bunch of times since; I haven't ran into it in ages, too, so it's surely gone now.

But yeah your memory is playing tricks on you, Kill-A-Ton only included DC, Duke Xtreme and Duke!Zone II, plus Duke 3D 1.3d/1.5 and the first games like RunningDuke said, as well as some gimmicky Windows utilities (Duke-themed icons, etc.). The 2015 version on Steam was a different product.

[Sanek]

@RunningDuke Yeah I can say that it's woth collecting just for the sake of collecting. I own the big box of Duke3D and have Shadow Warrior on Steam. What I'm wondering about is the contents of the box itself, and all the "goodies" that 3DR was referring too.

@MetHy Gee that's sucks. I guess we all have stories like that. Though it's mostly just toys in my case.

@Jimmy Good idea about contacting Saettler.if somebody can just casually ask him a question like that, I can't see why not. Also Joe Siegler is a likely candidate...



btw, the 3DR site mentions GT Interactive's store as the place where you could order the pack. I opened it via wayback machine but couldn't find it, and by the time you'll open the Infogrames' store, there's no sign of the pack either.

[MetHy]

ck3D, on 12 October 2020 - 04:25 AM, said:

Crazy to read this two decades later because if by chance it was at Cora Blois 2 that you saw your copy then I'm quite certainly the one who bought it in the end (also after arguing with my parents IIRC, it was the last one left). I still have the CD's, probably the manuals and I remember trying to keep the big box for a while, but it's been decades and I've moved a bunch of times since; I haven't ran into it in ages, too, so it's surely gone now.

But yeah your memory is playing tricks on you, Kill-A-Ton only included DC, Duke Xtreme and Duke!Zone II, plus Duke 3D 1.3d/1.5 and the first games like RunningDuke said, as well as some gimmicky Windows utilities (Duke-themed icons, etc.). The 2015 version on Steam was a different product.

Yes it is that same store, I'll be damned

[necroslut]

RunningDuke, on 12 October 2020 - 03:18 AM, said:

EDIT: Methy, you posted while I was writing this message. To answer your question, yes it was Kill a Ton collection although it doesn't include Caribbean and Nuclear Winter sadly (as they were released after Kill a Ton collection came out) and it also doesn't include the first Duke Zone (which isn't a big loss anyway). What's interesting is that it states Plutonium Pak is included, yet actually Atomic Edition 1.5 is included instead.

IIRC the original release Duke!ZONE II includes the content of Duke!ZONE I on the disc -- is the one included with K-A-T-C different in that regard?

[Aleks]

necroslut, on 12 October 2020 - 11:07 AM, said:

IIRC the original release Duke!ZONE II includes the content of Duke!ZONE I on the disc -- is the one included with K-A-T-C different in that regard?

I remember the Duke!ZONE II included in Kill-A-Ton was just the 3 episodes. In fact I've never played DZ1, but it seems that I haven't missed much... It's funny that now when I think of the maps in DZ2 and try to remember them, it's mostly bad design, but back in early 2000's they were something new and I was quite hyped on the "original and creative" look made with quite random and chaotic texture choice. The inconsistency between levels was already striking back then though. And I remember there were some quite hard puzzles (secret level "Spelunking" and something with weird elevators comes to mind).

[Sanek]

Here's the tweet by Joe Siegler from February of this year, showcasing his "surviving legacy Apogee/3D Realms box collection".Unfortunately, East Meets West is not present in this photo(s).

However, I just found a post on Joe Siegler's personal blog titled "Shadow Warrior Turns 20": https://joesiegler.b...rrior-turns-20/

There's one particular photo that's showcasing the enitre classic SW swag, and one of these big boxes is what we're looking for! This blog post was posted back in 2017, and it's not clear when this photo was taken, but there's a chance that Mr. Siegler still have the box (he didn't include Kill-A-Ton and expansions in his twitter photos, after all)! I'm not going to ask him about it though, since I still hope that some of the forums members still have the box and can write a detailed review of it.

[Jimmy]

I didn't remember the Shadow Warrior fortune cookies. Does anybody know anything about them? Were they from E3 or something? Did they contain the funny lines from the game?

[PsychoGoatee]

Good stuff, East Meets West is the version that I bought. I have the jewel cases on my shelf, the big box may be in storage somewhere, I can't find it. But it didn't come with any notable knickknacks or anything that I recall. Maybe a piece of paper saying something for buying it at most. Since it's been so long I can't remember for sure, but nothing of note inside I'd say.

[ck3D]

necroslut, on 12 October 2020 - 11:07 AM, said:

IIRC the original release Duke!ZONE II includes the content of Duke!ZONE I on the disc -- is the one included with K-A-T-C different in that regard?

Yes. On Kill-A-Ton they only included the original Duke!ZONE II content.

@Aleks - I remember enjoying so much random stuff from those 1996/1997 shovelware CD's with 1000 levels on them before I ever had Internet access, you have no idea. Those old levels in general notoriously didn't age well, and were built under stricter limitations (and fewer consideration) than today but honestly finding a gem of an idea somewhere wasn't too rare, although the execution often left to be desired. You could just really tell those maps had been handicrafted by humans just from all the funny workarounds authors used to find to their own lack of technical ability and experience, a lot of them were complete ass pulls but in that naive fire, quite a few times you'd spot a bright flame. And to this day those unique qualities still stand, even though many others have been building similar structures differently since.

[dwtietz]

PsychoGoatee, on 12 October 2020 - 03:06 PM, said:

Good stuff, East Meets West is the version that I bought. I have the jewel cases on my shelf, the big box may be in storage somewhere, I can't find it. But it didn't come with any notable knickknacks or anything that I recall. Maybe a piece of paper saying something for buying it at most. Since it's been so long I can't remember for sure, but nothing of note inside I'd say.

This fits precisely with my recollection as well. I bought the East meets West box when it came out. All I can really recall is that it had the jewel cases of the regular Duke Atomic and Shadow Warrior discs in it - Other than that it was a large box with a lot of void space inside - Just a thin cardboard insert to hold the jewel cases in place. I don't even recall any extra printed materials at all.

[Sanek]

Eats Meets West appeared on eBay recently:
https://www.ebay.com...mwAAOSwqvFgTWov

It's in the bidding process right now. Theres no way I'm paying 100+ bucks for it (I have my Duke3D box so I'm done), but I hope some of you will buy it and make unboxing pics.

[Jimmy]

Daddy needs that stimulus check

[Ninjakitty]

it always gets them.. that dang font

[OpenMaw]

On the subject of vintage Shadow WArrior stuff, does anyone have the Shadow Warrior novel(s)?

[Jimmy]

Congrats to whoever won that. :/

[Ninjakitty]

I have both the novels, i think you could still get them off amazon if you wanted. They're basically about Wang being Wang and saving the world (in an adventure separate from the main campaign but also probably before the end of Wanton Destruction). also a little back story to explain the plot of the game in more detail.

[NightFright]

I also have the novels, but I remember I couldn't finish the first one even. Too cheesy and Wang actually gets girls. Not what I know from the game. The first Doom novel was pretty decent, though. But only the first one, all the others were utter garbage.

[Ryoma234]

Sorry for the necro bump, but I was actually in the middle of taking pictures of stuff in my game collection and I randomly ran into this topic since there are some games I like to search additional information about. Here are the requested photos of the East Meets West bundle which is hilariously larger than it needs to be given the contents.

 01 front.jpg (981.55K)
Number of downloads: 20

 02 back.jpg (1.02MB)
Number of downloads: 22

 03 inside box.jpg (327.05K)
Number of downloads: 12

 04 contents.jpg (670.69K)
Number of downloads: 15

 05 dat cardboard.jpg (220.67K)
Number of downloads: 12

 06 contents spread out.jpg (956.78K)
Number of downloads: 30

[Sanek]

Ryoma234, on 10 August 2021 - 04:15 PM, said:

Sorry for the necro bump, but I was actually in the middle of taking pictures of stuff in my game collection and I randomly ran into this topic since there are some games I like to search additional information about. Here are the requested photos of the East Meets West bundle which is hilariously larger than it needs to be given the contents.

Thank you, thank you very much man! At last, somebody unboxed this thing!

So,,,we have the usual jewel cases, which seems identical to the regular ones that you could buy separately.

What's really interesting is a Balls of Steel ad. I don't remember ever seeing this particular ad before, so it looks like even more valuable.

Once again, huge respect for taking this pictures!

[NNC]

If I had this box I wouldn't even play the games included, just marvel the artwork until drying out.

Thanks for the pics mate.