Post by Evie ❤✿ on Jul 18, 2019 10:18:07 GMT -5
In this thread I share a rare listing I found concerning the physical Korean versions of Pokémon Gold and Silver.
I also talk about early official Korean Nintendo games and hardware in general. Which ones do you know? (or other interesting Nintendo games in other languages! So, for example, L'Aigle de Guerre (France version of the Napoleon game).)
Auction details/'Quick' version of post
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ultra-Rare-Korean-Pokemon-Gold-and-Silver-GBC-GameBoy-Color-Carts/183856560787
The above auction was from a US based seller who was looking for the games for a long time and got them from a Korean shopping site with the help of a friend's Korean contact. At $400 for both games, that would mean $200 for Gold/Silver ignoring shipping (the shipping is not too bad for me). However, for my country (England) there is some confusing information: "No additional import charges on delivery." and "Import charges: US $157.29 (amount confirmed at checkout)" which sounds way too much (however, this auction is extremely expensive as it is). I would need to save up a lot though, and practically buying a second hand Korean 2DS and purchasing the games from Korean Nintendo 3DS eShop (maybe using pre-paid cards) is cheaper from the current listings on eBay.
It's the first time I've seen these for sale outside of a Korean shopping site. I believe a Korean Gold was priced there significantly less (around $100 dollars or so) when I saw it, however, the auction had nearly (or had already) expired - the additional costs of using an external service to bid for you in Korea and then transfer it to may add up to closer to this auction's price for one cartridge though(?).
"Mario Family" is also not impossible. I saw it on a Japanese auction site, but it was very expensive too (however I believe it may have been complete in box unlike these Korean Gold/Silvers).
Release of Korean games and state import ban:
The Korean language versions of Pokémon Gold and Silver (포켓몬스터 금・은, Pocket Monsters Geum and Eun) are special official localizations of Pokémon Gold and Silver for South Korea.
Due to a ban on cultural import items in Korean state, Korean versions of overseas video games were uncommon during the time. Other examples however of Korean Game Boy games include the following (thanks to an imgur gallery linked to on Reddit by AppRetro).
In South Korea, an official Korean Game Boy was released under the Comboy brand as the Comboy Mini, similar to the Super Comboy (SNES) and Hyundai Comboy (NES).
However, like other Game Boy localizations, they do not seem to be region locked(?). I'm also unsure whether a Korean Game Boy Color (Comboy) was ever released.
Gameplay specific details
Now on to the original Korean Pokémon games. Pokémon Red/Green/Blue/Yellow were never officially released in South Korea (however there is a Korean fan-translation of Red/Blue with a planned Crystal fan-translation), and the first Pokémon title they received would be the above mentioned Pokémon Geum and Eun, which was licensed to 대원씨아이 (Daewon C.I); a division of Daewon Media; who typically works with third-party characters and animation.
Due to this, while the physical cartridge Korean Gold/Silver will allow you to connect with an international Red/Green/Blue/Yellow/Crystal, there are no Korean Generation I games and no Korean Crystal. A workaround is to try and make the trade with an international game anyway (which is seemingly possible with all Korean>international game combinations) and accept the glitches that come with it (based on incompatible character encoding). Note, it is also known that original Japanese and English Generation I/II games (and very likely French, German, Italian, Spanish) do not connect well and can typically result in a freeze.
Side-note:
Along those lines, you can still exploit the different data structures between Japanese and English versions to obtain illegal Pokémon and avoid the freeze, such as by using a glitch technique between Red/Green and Red/Blue that allows you to generate a Mew from a remaining HP of 21 - specifically on Red/Blue you attempt to trade to obtain Red/Green's fifth Pokémon in the party; and the Pokémon Red/Blue receives is based on the remaining HP of Red/Green's first Pokémon in the party. (you can also use another Pokémon using a different remaining HP, of which the index numbers/Special stat values for Trainer-escape glitch match and 191-256 (modulo 256) correspond with non-MissingNo. glitch Pokémon and 39 other unused indices MissingNo.). Due to the data structures, the Pokémon is referred to as a "hybrid" (half the traits of Mew/half the traits of another Pokémon) and will not be accepted in the Stadium games or for trades between Generation I and Generation II. The glitch is still significant though because the Pokémon is registered in the Pokédex as Mew, and you can do things such as obtaining Mewtwo early this way (in addition to the Select glitch, Trainer-escape glitch, and arbitrary code execution exploits).
With the technical glitches, it may be the case that international trading (and between Red/Green/Blue/Yellow/Crystal) in the final Korean Gold and Silver games was never intended at all. Despite this, the Time Capsule text is translated, as so is I believe the Pokédex diploma (at least while I was datamining the game by bringing up the diploma directly; and haven't confirmed it by loading it from its intended completed Pokédex trigger), and possibly the higher Professor Oak's Pokédex ratings only available by trading with Generation I. You can also exploit the Hall of Fame SRAM glitch and 기술머신49 arbitrary code execution to cheat the unavailable Pokémon into the game or directly modify the Pokédex seen/own counters (like simulating a Gameshark or another cheating device to do that but set up with complex glitches basically).
As a side note, on September 22, 2017 the Korean games were re-released on the Korean Nintendo 3DS eShop (with details on this official Nintendo page).
It's also commonly reported that like how attempting to trade between Japanese Generation I/II games and English, French, German, Italian or Spanish Generation I/II games on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console versions is impossible as the emulator will not let you connect (of note too, the English/French/German/Italian/Spanish versions can link with each other; which was never a problem even between the original cartridge versions except for "TRAINER" in-game trade Pokémon OTs being translated each time you trade - as the "TRAINER" is a single control character; the text is automatically retrieved from the ROM in this case every time the OT is loaded), it is impossible to link Korean Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console Gold/Silver with any international game.
This means that using the Time Capsule is not an option, and abusing the above Hall of Fame SRAM and 기술머신49 arbitrary code execution glitches may be the best option of completing the Pokédex on that release.
Finally, the cartridges are different in design and were Game Boy Color (CGB) only titles. This means they have their own GBC only screen if played on a Game Boy/Super Game Boy or if a Glitch Dimension is forced.
이 카트리지는 게임보이 컬러 전용입니다. 게임보이 컬러에서 사용을 부탁드리겠습니다.
(This cartridge is designed for the Game Boy Color. Please run it with a Game Boy Color.)
What the games look like:
Below are pictures from a very rare complete in box copy of Geum courtesy of koreanversion.com.
Geum (Gold):
Below we can view some more details about the production of the game and Daewon contact details:
Additionally, here is an official image of both Geum and Eun box fronts together:
I also talk about early official Korean Nintendo games and hardware in general. Which ones do you know? (or other interesting Nintendo games in other languages! So, for example, L'Aigle de Guerre (France version of the Napoleon game).)
Auction details/'Quick' version of post
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ultra-Rare-Korean-Pokemon-Gold-and-Silver-GBC-GameBoy-Color-Carts/183856560787
The above auction was from a US based seller who was looking for the games for a long time and got them from a Korean shopping site with the help of a friend's Korean contact. At $400 for both games, that would mean $200 for Gold/Silver ignoring shipping (the shipping is not too bad for me). However, for my country (England) there is some confusing information: "No additional import charges on delivery." and "Import charges: US $157.29 (amount confirmed at checkout)" which sounds way too much (however, this auction is extremely expensive as it is). I would need to save up a lot though, and practically buying a second hand Korean 2DS and purchasing the games from Korean Nintendo 3DS eShop (maybe using pre-paid cards) is cheaper from the current listings on eBay.
It's the first time I've seen these for sale outside of a Korean shopping site. I believe a Korean Gold was priced there significantly less (around $100 dollars or so) when I saw it, however, the auction had nearly (or had already) expired - the additional costs of using an external service to bid for you in Korea and then transfer it to may add up to closer to this auction's price for one cartridge though(?).
"Mario Family" is also not impossible. I saw it on a Japanese auction site, but it was very expensive too (however I believe it may have been complete in box unlike these Korean Gold/Silvers).
Release of Korean games and state import ban:
The Korean language versions of Pokémon Gold and Silver (포켓몬스터 금・은, Pocket Monsters Geum and Eun) are special official localizations of Pokémon Gold and Silver for South Korea.
Due to a ban on cultural import items in Korean state, Korean versions of overseas video games were uncommon during the time. Other examples however of Korean Game Boy games include the following (thanks to an imgur gallery linked to on Reddit by AppRetro).
In South Korea, an official Korean Game Boy was released under the Comboy brand as the Comboy Mini, similar to the Super Comboy (SNES) and Hyundai Comboy (NES).
However, like other Game Boy localizations, they do not seem to be region locked(?). I'm also unsure whether a Korean Game Boy Color (Comboy) was ever released.
Gameplay specific details
Now on to the original Korean Pokémon games. Pokémon Red/Green/Blue/Yellow were never officially released in South Korea (however there is a Korean fan-translation of Red/Blue with a planned Crystal fan-translation), and the first Pokémon title they received would be the above mentioned Pokémon Geum and Eun, which was licensed to 대원씨아이 (Daewon C.I); a division of Daewon Media; who typically works with third-party characters and animation.
Due to this, while the physical cartridge Korean Gold/Silver will allow you to connect with an international Red/Green/Blue/Yellow/Crystal, there are no Korean Generation I games and no Korean Crystal. A workaround is to try and make the trade with an international game anyway (which is seemingly possible with all Korean>international game combinations) and accept the glitches that come with it (based on incompatible character encoding). Note, it is also known that original Japanese and English Generation I/II games (and very likely French, German, Italian, Spanish) do not connect well and can typically result in a freeze.
Side-note:
Along those lines, you can still exploit the different data structures between Japanese and English versions to obtain illegal Pokémon and avoid the freeze, such as by using a glitch technique between Red/Green and Red/Blue that allows you to generate a Mew from a remaining HP of 21 - specifically on Red/Blue you attempt to trade to obtain Red/Green's fifth Pokémon in the party; and the Pokémon Red/Blue receives is based on the remaining HP of Red/Green's first Pokémon in the party. (you can also use another Pokémon using a different remaining HP, of which the index numbers/Special stat values for Trainer-escape glitch match and 191-256 (modulo 256) correspond with non-MissingNo. glitch Pokémon and 39 other unused indices MissingNo.). Due to the data structures, the Pokémon is referred to as a "hybrid" (half the traits of Mew/half the traits of another Pokémon) and will not be accepted in the Stadium games or for trades between Generation I and Generation II. The glitch is still significant though because the Pokémon is registered in the Pokédex as Mew, and you can do things such as obtaining Mewtwo early this way (in addition to the Select glitch, Trainer-escape glitch, and arbitrary code execution exploits).
With the technical glitches, it may be the case that international trading (and between Red/Green/Blue/Yellow/Crystal) in the final Korean Gold and Silver games was never intended at all. Despite this, the Time Capsule text is translated, as so is I believe the Pokédex diploma (at least while I was datamining the game by bringing up the diploma directly; and haven't confirmed it by loading it from its intended completed Pokédex trigger), and possibly the higher Professor Oak's Pokédex ratings only available by trading with Generation I. You can also exploit the Hall of Fame SRAM glitch and 기술머신49 arbitrary code execution to cheat the unavailable Pokémon into the game or directly modify the Pokédex seen/own counters (like simulating a Gameshark or another cheating device to do that but set up with complex glitches basically).
As a side note, on September 22, 2017 the Korean games were re-released on the Korean Nintendo 3DS eShop (with details on this official Nintendo page).
It's also commonly reported that like how attempting to trade between Japanese Generation I/II games and English, French, German, Italian or Spanish Generation I/II games on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console versions is impossible as the emulator will not let you connect (of note too, the English/French/German/Italian/Spanish versions can link with each other; which was never a problem even between the original cartridge versions except for "TRAINER" in-game trade Pokémon OTs being translated each time you trade - as the "TRAINER" is a single control character; the text is automatically retrieved from the ROM in this case every time the OT is loaded), it is impossible to link Korean Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console Gold/Silver with any international game.
This means that using the Time Capsule is not an option, and abusing the above Hall of Fame SRAM and 기술머신49 arbitrary code execution glitches may be the best option of completing the Pokédex on that release.
Finally, the cartridges are different in design and were Game Boy Color (CGB) only titles. This means they have their own GBC only screen if played on a Game Boy/Super Game Boy or if a Glitch Dimension is forced.
이 카트리지는 게임보이 컬러 전용입니다. 게임보이 컬러에서 사용을 부탁드리겠습니다.
(This cartridge is designed for the Game Boy Color. Please run it with a Game Boy Color.)
What the games look like:
Below are pictures from a very rare complete in box copy of Geum courtesy of koreanversion.com.
Geum (Gold):
Below we can view some more details about the production of the game and Daewon contact details:
Additionally, here is an official image of both Geum and Eun box fronts together: