Korean video games [Archive] - Retrogaming Roundtable

Lord Contaminous

03-29-2005, 02:30 PM

anagrama

03-29-2005, 03:00 PM

Korean stuff still tends to be still shrouded in mystery a bit, but there were a fair number of Mark III (SMS) games released there. Samsung licensed the console and a load of games from Sega, and released them under the 'Gam*Boy' name. There's also a bunch of unlicensed carts which are mainly MSX ports.

Samsung also released some Mega Drive stuff, but details on those are even harder to come by.

Cryomancer

03-29-2005, 03:18 PM

I'm fairly sure that Korea is more PC-oriented, supposedely by law but I dunno about that. There is a PC version of XX#Reload if I remember correctly, and of course there's several Korean MMOs, ragnarok, maple story, gunbound (not really MMO but yeah). There was also that stargate (i think that was the title, not related to the show/movie) game that looked cool but I dunno what happened to that.

dj898

03-29-2005, 08:13 PM

OK let's get out of Japan for a bit. I was wondering, if anyone collects any, are there some good Korea only games for any system or everything they got is Japanese to Korean translated games?

I just played my first Korean import which was Guilty Gear XX#Reload (PS2)which I think is better than the Japanese version (new music, new stages), and all of a sudden I'm curious about what Korea has to offer in their gaming scene. I know there's more than just Tekken and Starcraft.

and there was different OST CD that goes with it...
localising for PS2 titles are fairly active and number of Japan only RPG titles do get translated into Korea with full voice support - sorry no English though...

I got number of KR PS2 titles picked up last time I was up there on business trip... sadly it's completely different story when it comes to xbox though. for their wisdom(?) M$ licensed to a small local company to handle xbox in Korea and put it into nicely they completely and royally screwed up... no localising titles apart from launch Halo and titles often released 6-12 months after rest of the world got 'em... it's simply sad really...

now on with other titles Korea also did get the PC Engine as official licensed console as well as Saturn and few others...
there's a electronics centre near CBD where you can find virtually anything you can think of and some others never though of...

Dimitri

03-29-2005, 09:19 PM

Samsung also released some Mega Drive stuff, but details on those are even harder to come by.
The only Korean Samsung MD cart I've seen is Slap Fight. Which I've actually seen twice -- once on Y!J and once on eBay. Obviously went for more than the Japanese version does...

For a while there were laws in Korea about importing Japanese cultural goods (or so I heard...can't speak for the credibility of wherever the hell I read that) so just about anything before around 2000 is probably bootleg anyway. Samsung was probably the only company releasing licensed home games until that point, including the TG16/PCE, MD, Saturn, and probably a few others as well.

Korea is also a hotbed of pirate arcade development -- making ripoffs of popular games on cheap hardware and calling them something similar but not the same as a popular game. Case in point: "Puckman Pockimon" -- a Pacman clone starring Pikachu. Though Semicom has put out some interesting original games...

Lemmy Kilmister

03-29-2005, 10:34 PM

I'm fairly sure that Korea is more PC-oriented.

Sure seems that way. The only game I can think of that hasn't already been mentioned is "Rhapsody of Zephy" for the dreamcast.

http://www.rpgamer.com/games/other/dc/zephyr/screens/zephyr004.jpg

Though even that game is a port of a korean PC title.

There are also a couple exclusive korean consoles or so I hear.

Steven

03-30-2005, 12:12 AM

I think RABBIT (on Saturn) was made in Korea... I could be wrong... but I recall it being called "A Korean fighter"

dj898

03-30-2005, 12:37 AM

I can look up mine tonight unless someone verify before me...

anagrama

03-30-2005, 03:36 AM

Samsung also released some Mega Drive stuff, but details on those are even harder to come by.
The only Korean Samsung MD cart I've seen is Slap Fight. Which I've actually seen twice -- once on Y!J and once on eBay. Obviously went for more than the Japanese version does...

Korean versions of Alex Kidd, Ragnacenty, Light Crusader and "Space Turtle Battleship" have all been dumped. I wouldn't know where to find them though, since I'm not really into ROMs.
Bock posted about the Samsung-developed 'Space Turtle Battleship' here a while back:

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=43005

I've been meaning to add these to the database at some point (along with all the rest of TecToy's Brazilian releases). I'll make a note to do so ;)

anagrama

03-30-2005, 06:12 AM

Done a little digging, and found this page which has details of the Samsung Saturn: http://nfg.2y.net/games/grafx/samsat.htm

aswell as a picture of a Samsung Mega Drive: http://nfg.2y.net/temp/samsat/samgenny.jpg

edit: a little more digging on NFG's site also turned up this Korean Turbografx: http://nfg.2y.net/games/vistar/

delafro

03-30-2005, 02:40 PM

[quote=anagrama]

For a while there were laws in Korea about importing Japanese cultural goods (or so I heard...can't speak for the credibility of wherever the hell I read that)

I think that sounds about right. There have been all sorts of bans on "cultural" goods between Japan and S. Korea and it wouldn't surprise me if games were included with that at some point. I think it's generally used as a bargaining chip whenever the two countries get pissed over an issue (I think it got used by S. Korea recently when Japan's Ministry of Education approved some nationalistic textbooks for use in schools).

dj898

03-31-2005, 12:41 AM

I think RABBIT (on Saturn) was made in Korea... I could be wrong... but I recall it being called "A Korean fighter"

I checked my import copy and it's from EA?
there's no mention of Korean company nor development house? o_O

cheers

mezrabad

04-09-2005, 07:52 PM

I spent March of 2003 to April of 2004 living in Korea.

There was a cultural ban on a lot of Anime from Japan but that's been lifted for the most part. Korea is the third largest producer of animation in the world and if you read the credits to a lot of Japanese anime you can find a lot of Korean names. So, seeing a lot of Anime in Korea can also mean that though it may have been a Japanese product, huge swaths of it were produced in Korea.

The big deal about Korea and video gaming consoles I discovered while I was over there was that they simply didn't sell all that well. This culture is 97% homogenous, and if you want to make a statement like "all Korean parents are very concerned with their children's education and in no way want to jeopordize it by polluting their time with videogames." you'd be hitting the nail on the head for about 90% of their population. Honest. Don't disagree with me until you've lived there. The members of this culture can define it by making broad generalized statements about certain behavior/preferences/opinions that can be applied to everyone in their culture and they're usually right. Ask a Korean about "fan death", then ask 20 other Koreans. You'll get the same answer.

PCs however are useful because they can HELP a person in their education, supposedly. Hence, I saw a large amount of pre-current gen games in PC-port form. Metal Slugs 1,2,3,4 and X are all there on PC. All the Tekkens are on PC. That PSX Castlevania is on PC. Mario All-stars. The List list can goe on and on.

Some significant PC games that I came across. Were anything recent from Softmax. Magnacarta (RPG), War of Genesis III (part I and II) and Talesweaver (MMORPG) were popular there when I went to SICAF 2003. I think the translation projects for MC and WoG are in very slow progress but haven't died completely.

Yongsan is where you want to go if you're ever in Seoul and you want to find anything related to computers or Videogames. Techmart is also where you want to go for the same reasons.

Copyright issues are a bit foreign to this culture. I've seen teachers in expensive private schools mass re-produce textbooks without a second thought. Hense earlier system bootlegs can be found. Particularly multi-cart famicom bootlegs. GBA, GBC and GB carts too. I'm pretty certain I've got two Metroid Fusion bootlegs, too. :(

Oh, and Famiclones! Lots and Lots of Famiclones. These come with cart slots, but they also come with a couple hundred variations of about 50 games. You can buy these in department stores. National chain department stores. They're crap, but you can get 'em. They also come in mega-drive flavor!

Pico is alive and well, too. Wonderswan were also available in good supply.

My understanding as far as what Korea gets from Japan and the US. Well, they're region 3 and as far as I could tell, it meant they got everything AFTER Japan and the US did. (I know region numbers really don't have anything to do with the order in which things were received). I never saw a single Korean game for the Gamecube while I was there that was localized. All of them were in Japanese.

Plenty of localizations of PS2 Games. Some, though, have an english text option and more have english voicings.

Someone mentioned Guilty Gear XX. There was a Korean variant to that and I forget what it was called, Carnival of Souls or something?

That's about all I can spew off the top of my head.

Lord Contaminous

04-09-2005, 08:15 PM

I just checked out play-asia.

in the PS2 section, they have a category strictly for Korean version PS1/PS2 games.

I think I'll snag up that Korean Assault Suits Valken/Cybernator for PS2 sometime soon.

dj898

04-09-2005, 09:41 PM

mezrabad

04-09-2005, 10:01 PM

Oh, Burnout 3 for PS2 in Korea. Instruction manual all in Korean. The game is all in English, voices and text. I haven't found an option for Korean in game. Isn't THAT strange? A game released for the Korean market that hasn't been localized? Can you imagine anyone trying that in the US?

"Here's Final Fantasy III (NES) for NA! No, we didn't bother translating it for you! Have fun!"

Admitedly, Burnout 3 requires very little reading to get the basic idea of getting in a car wreck, but then again, that's not a lot to localize, either.

edit: addendum

Otostaz is a game I picked up in Korea that I've never seen in the US and I don't know if it's in Japanese or not. It's a puzzle game.

Guilty Gear XX-Plus is called "By Your Side" and it came in a larger box with two capsule figurines and the soundtrack. There was another version that came out in a "Tin" type container that was called something else. I'm not real familiar with Guilty Gear so I don't know what iteration it was and I didn't get it.

dj898

04-09-2005, 10:21 PM

Gundam titles and La Pucell I picked up were in Korean only...

with these Asian release there really is no rule whether the only the manual will be localised or the game itself with the option of English... :(

maxlords

04-10-2005, 09:56 AM

I've been wanting to pick up a GP32 and I think you can only get teh official games from Korea.

Lord Contaminous

04-10-2005, 01:39 PM

becareful mate
with Korean PS2 it's usually Korean only with no sign of Japanese let alone English... Unless you speak Korea it will be of no fun...

if you want cheap copy Chinese version might be cheaper still...

Yeah, you're right.

Dealing with Korean is like playing Japanese with nothing but kanji, not a drop of gana/kana.

I found it interesting I also saw a Korean Final Fantasy X-2 & Shin Megami Nocturne.

Lord Contaminous

04-10-2005, 01:41 PM

Guilty Gear XX-Plus is called "By Your Side" and it came in a larger box with two capsule figurines and the soundtrack. There was another version that came out in a "Tin" type container that was called something else. I'm not real familiar with Guilty Gear so I don't know what iteration it was and I didn't get it.

That's the Korean Guilty Gear XX #Reload "Robo Ky" edition that comes in a tin case.

dojosky

04-10-2005, 09:45 PM

Yep also there was Zemmix by Daewoo i think ... and its a MSX clone but cool system it even had port of super mario bros for that system I believe pirated and altered in some ways of course ... sofar I have in my collection from Korea are ...

4 in 1 pc engine game (not 100% sure if it was from Korea)
2 Sega Master system games from Korea
2 Sega master system control pads by Samsung theyre cool theyre tiny and small ("dogbone pads for sms") LOL not really but theyre comfortable and nice !!
GP32 system FLU along with about 10 Original complete GP32 games !! :D

slapdash

04-12-2005, 02:37 PM

The only game I can think of that hasn't already been mentioned is "Rhapsody of Zephyr" for the dreamcast.

Though even that game is a port of a korean PC title.

Can anybody confirm -- the PC version was Korean, but there is not a Korean Dreamcast version, right? I mean the DC version is Japanese only, correct?

mezrabad

04-14-2005, 01:14 PM

Rhapsody of Zephyr was also recently re-released by Softmax with Tempest, another Korean PC game.

Sorry, can't tell you anything about a Dreamcast version.

Lord Contaminous

04-14-2005, 01:16 PM

There may have been no Dreamcast in Korea period.

Speaking of DC, a fact for fighting game enthusiasts, I noticed the Koreans are just as good at SF3: 3rd Strike as the Japanese are. I saw a promotional video for their own tournament.

slapdash

04-14-2005, 05:09 PM

There may have been no Dreamcast in Korea period.

Ah, okay. That pretty much answers the question I guess. Funny though that Samsung made Master Systems and Saturns only to stop there.

Arqueologia_Digital

04-19-2005, 01:16 PM

I just want some SMS korean carts and i�ll be happy...

anagrama

04-19-2005, 02:42 PM

I just want some SMS korean carts and i�ll be happy...

Bear in mind they're shaped like Mark III carts, so you need a Japanese or Korean system to be able to play them.