My Croc Collection

[mrgimmick]

Hey all, I thought I would share some pics of the croc items in my collection. I have been collecting for a few years now, and although croc merchandise is very rare I have found some amazing items.

Here is a pic of my leather croc backpack.



I purchased this from a former employee from Fox interactive and I had no idea that this had even existed. After a bit or research I found out that there were 40 or so of these made in the US as part of an online contest. There was also a croc hat (which I am desparately trying to track down).

I also got this neat Croc T-shirt from the same seller, this was also part of an online contest back in the day.





And Last but not least....


My official Croc gold master / beta disc !



This is by far my favorite collection Item, it is a beta build of Croc and contains some minor differences from the final released game. The names of some of the levels are different, some of the menu graphics differ, and a few of the items are in different places in the levels.







One thing I have yet to try, which I will be trying soon is to use a gameshark or cheating device to try and find a debug menu and see if there are any hidden levels in the data. I will certainly post any information here if I find anything!

[Tyguy]

I have the games... does that count? Your collection is awesome... I can never find anything on Ebay or otherwise.

[proog]

"Gringo Bingo"... what an awesome title
And that's a neat collection.

[mrgimmick]

Thanks!

Yeah I thought the title was neat as well, I kind of wish they kept it in the final game.

I'm working on a list of croc memorabilia and items. There is a surprising number of croc items out there, but unfortunately all of them are very hard to find. So far I know there is a croc 2 memory card, a croc hat, croc 2 yoyo, croc plush, and a few other things out there. If only they made a plush gobbo as well, that would have been awsome!

[Forte Wily]

Hi and welcome, mrgimmick! That's one impressive collection, there. The leather backpacks are rare on this side of the pond (to my knowledge, only one or two were given away by magazines as prizes here, in fact).

If it's of any help, I know of;

Two more backpacks (there's the one given away with the purchase of the Microsoft Windows 95 port of the original game at the British chain Dixons, which is the one I have - it's dark green canvas with black nylon straps, with an embroidery of the Croc: Legend of the Gobbos logo, and the famous image of Croc holding a Gobbo; There's also a more cheaply-made one that promoted Croc 2 in the UK, which simply had a screen-print of the Croc 2 logo with the Croc-running-with-a-crystal-under-one-arm picture on it; It was often sent out as part of a prize pack containing some or all of the watch, CD wallet, and frisbee listed below)

A Croc 2 analogue watch

Croc 2 CD wallet

Croc 2 frisbee (these were quite common, to the point that some folks started making them into clocks, instead)

A sheet of Croc 2 magnets, a US-only item

The poster from the packaging for "Croc" for the Game Boy Colour

A black Croc: Legend of the Gobbos baseball jacket, with brown suede arms, an embroidery of the Croc: Legend of the Gobbos logo on one side of the chest on the front, and a huge Croc applique covering the back (this seems to have been a UK item given to Fox Interactive staff - that's how I obtained one)

The CD wallet made to promote the UK "Platinum" £19.99 budget release of the original game, which features the Croc: Legend of the Gobbos logo screen-printed in black on a silver leatherette case

The life-size four-foot-tall plush that was given away in a US-only online sweepstakes promotion for Croc 2 (this is how we know what Croc's height is supposed to be, incidentally), which was run on Fox Interactive's website back in 1999 (the winner won the plush and a family vacation to Australia)

And the wooden "?" box, containing a crystal with the Croc: Legend of the Gobbos logo set into its base, with an invite to the ECTS 1997 press party for the original game's launch etched into the lid (I was given the last one of these by a lovely Fox Interactive UK representative, who I corresponded with several times over the years back then, and then later got to meet in person when I was one of the winners of a trip to Argonaut Software Ltd. in 1999).

You already mentioned the plush (of which I believe there are fewer than ten in the UK - seven were given to those who won the trip to Argonaut, and at least a couple more were given away by magazines to promote Croc 2's launch; More of the plushes exist in the US, where they were used to promote the first game rather than the second, but I don't know how many - I would guess more than there are over here), and a few other items, and I think that our posts combined cover most of what I know to exist.

When I visited Argonaut in 1999 (it was part of a promotion for Croc 2, where the winners got to see the game being worked on, play-test a release candidate version* that was due to be sent off for approval the next day - which had some big textual differences to the final game, in that it was written in proper English and was full of British colloquialisms, instead of the toddler-style text that ended up in the final game - and, of course, take a tour of the studio and meet the team), I was told that there was believed to have been a set of plastic figures made to promote the first game in what they recalled as being the US, at Toys 'R' Us branches, but I have never been able to find such a thing in all the years since then. I don't know for sure, but it's possible that these could have been prototyped and approved, but then never mass-produced. If you can find these, or even any evidence of them, more power to you!

*I was, to my knowledge, the first member of the public to play Croc 2. I am proud of this. (Also, one of the bugs that was spotted by someone that day remained in the game - in the snowy stage where a Gobbo woodcutter chops down a tree, the woodcutter will flicker and become invisible a couple of times. It always reminds me of that trip. Thankfully, the horrible snow-head level was fixed, though.)

There is one more thing that remains a grail: There was a TV series pilot made by Saban in 1999, but it was never aired anywhere. It got a mention in at least one British magazine (at around the same time as the Rayman television series was in production for its first airing in Canada, if memory serves), and the guys at Argonaut had either seen it, or had input on its production (they spoke about it during my visit). I was unable to obtain any more information on what had happened to it when I contacted Saban about five years or so ago, however. Again, if you can find this, more power to you - I suspect it would be next to impossible.

If I can be of any further help with your list, please let me know.

[Haruka]

OMG I had no idea of the existence of those items Mr. Gimmick! That's excelent! Can you record footage from the BETA disc?

[mrgimmick]

Forte Wily: Thanks for the info on the croc items! Suprisingly I havn't heard of most of those except for the giant croc plush. I did find out about a few others that were US exclusives that you may or may not have heard of. I know there is a Croc Legend of the gobbos baseball cap, Croc 2 yoyo, and a croc 2 memory card.

I am very excited to hear that there is this much merchandise out there, even more than I had thought initially!

Haruka: Thanks! I'm going to try to take some more screenshots, etc and share as much info as I can on it.

[Forte Wily]

I forgot to mention that the Croc 2 backpack prize-pack usually had the yo-yo in it as well.

I have the memory card, here. That one is unusual among all Croc merchandise in that it was a retail item! To my knowledge, it's the only retailed piece of memorabilia from the series. As you probably know, it had a Croc picture set into it, which you could swap with a few others that you had to cut out from the packaging.

The hat, I've never encountered.

I hope you liked the small plush, by the way. (He was given to me by the guys at Argonaut. ) I forgot to mention, those are about the size of a soft drink can.

What are the exclusives you've found?

[SoniCroc]

What did you say, Forte Wily? Plastic figures? Like... Croc action figures? *drools*

And a TV pilot?! *faints*

Someone's gotta find these!!!

My dictionary says that "gringo" is offensive. But it means white person, and I sure don't find it offensive. Maybe it's one of those words that's only offensive in small circles. For instance, my dictionary also says that "poof" is a slang term for a homosexual person. I don't know about you, but I certainly haven't heard it used that way. If I'm gonna call someone a poof, it would be... a gobbo. Because they're all furry. That's what poof means to me. Sorry I'm getting off-topic now. I guess I'm just annoyed at how many words turn out to mean gay.

Btw, welcome to the forums, mrgimmick! It's nice to see people are still joining this forum and all!

[dingodile555]

Wow, awesome stuff!

[mrgimmick]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys!

BTW I actually just aquired another item for my collection !!! I have never actually seen one of these but have known for awhile that they existed.

So excited to finally own a Croc 2 Frisbee!






I also picked up a Factory Sealed copy of Croc Legend of the Gobbos (US black label version) recently. Got it fairly cheap too so I'm pretty happy with it!

[Forte Wily]

Wow, that's a second Croc 2 frisbee! Awesome find!

The one available here was bright green plastic, with the artwork from the game's box on a round sticker on one side of it. I had no idea there was a different kind.

[mrgimmick]

Wow, I didnt even know it was different than the one released in the UK, now I have another frisbee to track down lol!

Also, working on getting a croc Legend of the gobbos hat but there are no guarantees at this point. Trying to contact someone who has one.

Oh, I also found an interesting article about a croc 2 prize pack that was given away back in the day. Seems like there is more stuff I will need to add to the Croc merchandise list!

www.thefreelibrary.com/Mega+Mirror%3A+CROCS+AWAY!-a060438274

It amazes me how much stuff is out there for croc and how all of it is nearly impossible to find.

[mrgimmick]

Just hit the croc collecting jackpot !!!!!!!!

I've been talking to the wife of a former Fox interactive employee and already purchased one of my personal holy grails and am awaiting purchasing a huge lot of items!

More details soon to follow!!!

[Forte Wily]

What's the holy grail? ;D Enquiring minds want to know!