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{{trope}}
[[File:MQ.jpg|link=The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time|frame|Not available in stores!]]
So you've followed all the press about your favorite video game for months; watching every trailer, reading every interview, playing every demo, until you finally get a release date. You're anticipating this game so much that you head on over to your local [[Trope Co]] game store to pre-order, because you ''have'' to be the first person to play this amazing game. But that's not the only reason you preorder. Only the first shipment of 10,000 units is going to have the super ultra limited edition behind-the-scenes DVD and bonus cloth overworld map with limited-edition action figures not sold in stores! The game developers just lured you in with a
This is a limited bonus offered by retail chains or publishers to incite you to pre-order an upcoming game. Is commonly the game's official sound track, a free [[Strategy Guide]], "behind the scenes" featurette, a demo of another game, or the usual suspects.
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The really cool ones probably won't reach Europe, or be standard there. Though on the other hand, the really ''really'' cool ones will probably never leave Japan.
See also [[Limited Special Collectors' Ultimate Edition]].
{{examples}}
* One of the best pre-order bonuses is perhaps that of the American version of ''[[The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker|The Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker]]'', which was a disc that contained an updated Gamecube port of ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time|The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time]]'' and a version of the same game previously unreleased in the West that featured harder, alternate dungeons, dubbed "Master Quest." Of course, the European version of ''Wind Waker'' had this as standard.
** ''Ocarina of Time'' came with a T-shirt at select store locations.
** ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass|The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass]]'' had a limited-edition quill pen stylus. To receive the stylus you had to register ''Phantom Hourglass'' on Nintendo's website within a certain time frame from the game's release or until the stylus supply was exhausted.
** In a strange twist of fate, the '''European''' version of ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks|The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks]]'' has a collector's tin and action figure preorder bonus, which is [[No Export for You|not available in either America or Japan]].
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** One of ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'''s April Fools jokes was that pre-orders of ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess|The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess]]'' would come with a remake of ''[[The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker|Wind Waker]]'', done up in the former's more mature style.
* ''Manhunt 2'' had a very limited doctor costume including bloody scrubs and surgical mask if you preordered it.
* Many, many DS games offer a custom stylus as a
* Most ''[[Harvest Moon]]'' games offer a plush cow keychain. Yeah, I know.
** Now, they, and their [[Rune Factory|fantasy counterparts]], come with plushies. Usually, cows or chickens.
* ''[[Galaxy Angel (video game)|Galaxy Angel Eternal Lovers]]'' offered an [[Expansion Pack]] for the previous game, ''Galaxy Angel Moonlit Lovers''.
* ''[[Ōkami|Okami]]'' preorders came with a water-sensitive calligraphy board.
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* Parodied by ''[[Penny Arcade]]'' [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/5/30/ here.]
* Buyers that preordered the American version of ''[[Pokémon]] Colosseum'' for the [[Game Cube]] also received a bonus disk that allowed them to download a Jirachi, a Legendary Pokémon. At the time of this writing that preorder disk remains the only legitimate way (apart from importing) for American players to get Jirachi and completionists often pay upwards of $70 for the preorder disk at various auction sites (Though [[Wii]] modding now allows for shadier people to get a legitimate Jirachi, uhhh, illegitimately. Assuming they still have a GBA and GC-GBA Link Cable. Yeah, that's weird.) This is a unique case of the preorder bonus being more valuable than the game after the fact.
* Amazon.com has been getting into this for the past couple of years. People who paid a little more got a load of extra stuff for ''[[Grand Theft Auto IV]]'' (Which included stuff like a Lockbox, Dufflebag, and Audio CD); While more recently those who wished to pre-order the newest{{when}} [[Mega Ten]] game (''[[
** Pre-orders for [[Persona 3]] at Amazon included an artbook. For [[Persona 4]], Amazon pre-orders recieved an art book and a Teddie plushie.
** Oddly enough, they have even offered store credit as a preorder bonus...
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*** In Japan, if you preordered them both, you'd also get an Arceus figure. Whilst game shops in the US and UK didn't do this, a special Trading Card Game set was released stateside that contained the Arceus figure
** Preordering Diamond or Pearl got you a stylus with a Dialga or Palkia topper respectively. They're actually quite durable and easy to hold.
* Many game retailers have different
* The preorder bonus for ''[[Luminous Arc 2]]'' have the game comes in a very pretty, shiny box, along with a soundtrack and artbook.
* ''[[Lunar|Lunar: The Silver Star Story Complete]]'' came with a punching doll of Ghaleon, one of the major characters. The PC release of the game was supposed to come with the Alex doll to go with it, but the game was never released, and [[Working Designs]] went bankrupt soon afterwards.
* ''[[God of War]] 3'' was pretty bad about this. There was only 1 bonus costume on the disk, several others that were preorder bonuses, from ''different places'', and another one obtained through a code bundled with the [[Interquel]] ''Ghost of Sparta'' much later in the year. Unless a bunch of friends give you their codes, you would have to spend several hundred dollars on preorders to get all the costumes available.
* Preordering ''[[Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep]]'' nets you free stick-on decals for your PSP (one for dark models and one for light models)
* Pre-ordering ''[[Rock Band]] 3'' worked this way for multiple retailers: with Amazon, you got an exclusive in-game guitar, with Walmart you got 10$ off on your next purchase and with Gamestop you got three songs for free that didn't become available for weeks otherwise (Burning Down the House by [[Talking Heads]], Shove It by [[Deftones]], and Blue Monday by [[New Order]]).
* Preordering ''[[Banjo-Kazooie]]: Nuts & Bolts'' for the Xbox 360 gave you a code that allowed you download the original [[Banjo-Kazooie]] for free, 2 weeks before it was released to the general public.
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* Preordering ''[[Transformers: War for Cybertron]]'' at Gamestop gave early and free access to Shockwave in Escalation and use of his chassis in multiplayer. Doing the same elsewhere gave you similar rewards for [[Transformers Armada|Demolisher]] and Jazz.
* ''[[Dragon Age]] Origins'' had a [http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Downloadable_Content#Exclusive whole lot] of vendor-exclusive pre-order bonuses in the forms of various pieces of equipment. If you bought the PC version, a lot of these could be manually installed using special lines of code. If you bought the console version, you were SOL.
** Preorders of [[Dragon Age 2]] before January 11, 2011 were upgraded to the "BioWare Signature Edition," which included DLC codes for the Black Emporium, the Exiled Prince, the game's soundtrack, and five exclusive items. BioWare also got players to play the demo and follow them on Facebook by promising more items for it.
* ''[[Persona 3]] Portable'' had Junpei's hat.
* ''[[Portal 2]]'' had a reduced price and a free copy of the original Portal (which can be gifted if the buyer already owns Portal) when preordered on Steam.
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* ''[[Star Wars: The Old Republic]]'' has the bonus (aside from the nigh-standard "Free month of game time") be early access to the game - which will carry over once it's officially released.
* ''[[Sonic Colors]]'' came with a hat that looked like Sonic's quills.
** Someone who pre-ordered the game decided to put the hat [http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2010/360/d/f/skip_the_hedgehog_xd_by_jrmetails99-d35qwsb.png on their dog]{{Dead link}}
** Pre-orders in the UK came with action figures of Sonic and some wisps, with different wisps being exclusive to the version pre-ordered. Not everyone got the figures, though, since they ran out of supply.
* ''[[Deus Ex: Human Revolution]]'' had two different pre-order packs, both of which became [[Downloadable Content]] shortly after the game's release.
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* Japanese players who pre-ordered ''[[Baten Kaitos]]'' got a [[Game Cube]] port of ''[[The Tower of Druaga]]''.
* The Atari ''[[Star Wars]]'' arcade game was the main advertising point for preordering ''[[Rogue Squadron|Rogue Squadron 3: Rebel Strike]]'' in advance. The game was included, already unlocked, on the preorder exclusive bonus disc. Although its inclusion within ''Rebel Strike'' itself, even if you have to go through a little extra effort to unlock it, seems to make the bonus disc thing moot outside the hobby of collecting video games.
* ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]: Anniversary'' gave players who preorderd access to the Grunt Funeral Skull, which caused the weakest mooks in the game to explode upon death.
* Preordering ''[[Modern Warfare]] 3'', at least on Steam, netted players a free copy of ''Call of Duty 4'' along with it.
* Preordering ''[[Forza Motorsport]] 4'' would give you the [[Cool Car|Mazda RX-7 Spirit-R]] ([[Rare Vehicles|A "unicorn" car]], which cannot be acquired through normal means) for use in ''Forza 3''. You could then import the car into ''Forza 4''. Multiple retailers had their own preorder cars, like the Honda CR-Z from the online Microsoft Store, a BMW 1M from Best Buy, 2011 Subaru Impreza WRX STi fro Amazon, Alfa Romeo Giulietta from GameStop, and the Mini JCW Clubman from Wal-Mart. The pre-order store cars can all be unlocked for 560 MS points, but the RX-7 remains exclusive to people who preordered, or players who win official contests.
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