It was the year 2012 when I pledged $125 UDS to the Kickstarter campaign for Pier Solar HD for the Sega Dreamcast.
Today, just about three years later my Pier Solar Collector’s Edition has arrived. My first thought was ‘Man, this thing is heavy’. Then after opening the shipping package my first impression was a pure and unbridled ‘Wow’.
The first point I want to make is that the quality of everything I’m about to show off is amazing. I have previously purchased Pier Solar for the Sega Genesis and it was then when I understood that the creators (Watermelon Team) value producing a very high quality product. And even now with my expectations set so high Watermelon Team managed to surprise me with this collectors edition.
Below is what came out of the package that I found on my door step. Right away I knew exactly what the jewel case was; my copy of Pier Solar HD for my Sega Dreamcast. Which is beautiful by the way. Packed with a professionally pressed Disc, cover insert, poster, stickers and a fat manual. The Jewel case has no room to spare.
But what are these other two significantly larger items?
Pier Solar? You’ve grown!
Regular Ed. Collectors and Guide.
Beneath the light brown Watermelon wrapping paper I found a very thick and sturdy white box with a flip top. In the cardboard box I found the Pier Solar Strategy Guide.
Some goodies.
Lots of goodies!
When opening the huge white Collectors Edition box I learned that my edition of Pier Solar HD is print number 595 of 999. I then found the Collector’s Edition disc of Pier Solar which looks the same as the regular edition you see in plastic in the first two images above. But there was still so much more room in this box.
There is more…
…much more.
Over the years Watermelon has dropped hints as to what we might find; including mention of figures. But beyond that I had no idea what to expect.
My very first collectible video Game Mug
Run Edessot! Run!!
Again, just like the game, the quality of the mug and figures is outstanding. To me the frog and the chicken feel like mascots for Watermelon Team. They are simple yet clever keep-sake’s that really capture the mood of Pier Solar. Of course the inclusion of Edessot one of the main characters is fantastic.
I find it amusing that the first thing that came to mind when I saw the mug was ‘Well, I don’t have the Tea Cup for Panorama Cotton but I’ve got the Pier Solar Mug!’ 😀
The game.
The manual.
Above you can see the contents of the Jewel case (which doesn’t include the figures). The Disc and the manual really stand out. They look really good.
Strategy guide.
Lots of images and text.
Pictures don’t do the Pier Solar Strategy Guide justice. This is a heavy hard cover book weighing in at 446 pages! I really could have used this sucker on my first play through of Pier Solar.
World Map
And at the back of the book you’ll find a very nice world map of Pier Solar. And in the jewel case you’ll find an extremely gold Pier Solar poster.
Sooo Gold!
Quality is exploding from this collectors edition which has turned out to be so much more than I expected. When I pledged my money I wanted a copy of Pier Solar for my Sega Dreamcast and to support a company that is doing amazing things for Retro Video Gaming… in the end I feel like I made out like a bandit to have scored this ‘literal’ treasure box.
Thank you Watermelon Team!!
**Update**
July 2016. I have sold my Dreamcast Pier Solar collectors Edition. As nice as it is I wanted a bit of extra money for other games. I still have my Dreamcast Pier Solar regular edition and the Pier Solar Strategy Guide… and my Sega Mega Drive Pier Solar Posterity Edition and my Sega Genesis / Mega Drive regular edition. So I’m good for Pier Solar! …I also have it for PS4 but who’s counting? Not me! 😀
I sold this Collectors Edition with my Limited Edition of Gunlord (also for the Sega Dreamcast). I sold both together for $270 CAD. Pier Solar I had originally bought for $125 USD (on par with CAD at the time) and Gunlord LE for about 50 Euro. I certainly would not have sold it at a loss. It’s a great product and I do miss it already.
I’ve since replace my Dreamcast Gunlord with the regular jewel case edition.
Retro Megabit 
Congrats! Looks awesome, the quality of the collectibles seems superb! The price you paid was more than fair for this package- though as you said it turned out to be a great deal on your end still.
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It really was a nice surprise to come home to. Normally I’m not into collector editions but this one is pretty cool. I’m feeling extra confident about Watermelon Team’s upcoming video game Project Y. I’m really looking forward to more from them!
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Seeing all of those extras bundled in must have made you feel like your Kickstarter pledge was worth the wait in every way. Awesome! 🙂
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I’m getting used to waiting for Watermelon Team 😛 And yes it was great to see this package show up! I might not spring for a collectors edition each time but I’m pretty sure I’ll buy whatever Watermelon Team comes out with.
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Wow that is a lot of stuff to stuff in one small box! I didn’t know the Dreamcast produced HD quality games… or is this unique to Pier Solar?
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I’m not sure if the Dreamcast can do what we consider HD now (like 1080p or 720p) but is does support VGA which give an image that is much better than the typical composite or S-Video of that time. I played a lot of Phantasy Star Online on my standard TV and then later got the VGA adapter and switched to my computer monitor and I was really impressed with the improvement.
But really, this Pier Solar HD edition is an upgrade from the original release that is a 16-bit video game for the Sega Genesis. Pier Solar HD is now out for the PS4 and it’s very significantly sharper and includes all new textures from the original 16-bit version.
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I have the Genesis and DC versions as well though I haven’t got to playing the game yet. I’ve heard some luke warm to negative things about the game itself but I agree the packaging and quality of the physical goods is very high. I just wish they didn’t take so agonizingly long to get the games out. whenever they give a release date its usually a safe bet to tack 2 or more years on to that date.
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I’ve also heard the comments about Pier Solar. I’ve played and finished the game and off the top of my head I would give it a 7/10.
There were some really frustrating puzzles… and I mean really frustrating.
At times I felt like I was forced to move on when I really wanted to stay and grind for some more XP or find a place to heal and re-stock but I just could not.
Some times I did not know where to go which was common for JRPG’s from the 90’s.
There are not enough unique types of enemy’s or even enough unique patterns and groupings of these enemies.
And there is no confirmation for dropping an item. I can’t count how many time I dropped an item by mistake only to have it be gone from the game forever!
However, I kept playing because there is a lot more good than bad in this game. The graphics are excellent and the story is very cool and unique. This game is without question worth playing. It is not a homebrew. This is a very high quality Indie game.
Oh yes, Watermelon Team is really slow at releasing games and not very good at setting release dates but for me all is forgiven just because of what they are actually accomplishing.
Pier Solar is their first game and it falls just short of being a master piece. I am really excited to see how their next game, code named Project Y turns out!
Maybe we’ll get a sequel to Pier Solar. If we do my guess is it will rock our worlds 🙂
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Well, I look forward to playing the DC release then. I will say they are pretty cool on a people level. When the first game finally shipped I actually did not receive it because it ended up going to my X’s who I recently split with after an extremely long term relationship. Well she neglected to inform me I got a package slip so the game actually shipped back to them. It was actually a very very bad time for me and I kind of just let it go and never bothered to contact them and get things fixed. I figured I wasn’t going to get the game. Well flash forward over a year later and I was encouraged by a friend to contact them about what happened. Anyways I did and explained what happened and they actually resent me the game, first print run and everything. After so much time had passed I didn’t feel they were under any obligation to but they did, I really appreciated that from them.
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