Soul Calibur II SYS246 Region Differences

[rtw]

Is anyone aware of any regional difference in Soul Calibur II on SYS246 ?

i.e. is the Japanese version harder than the English one ?

And can someone explain what the different regions mean ?

SC21A - Japan
SC22A - English (Asia ?)
SC23A - ???

[idc]

Is anyone aware of any regional difference in Soul Calibur II on SYS246 ?

i.e. is the Japanese version harder than the English one ?

And can someone explain what the different regions mean ?

SC21A - Japan
SC22A - English (Asia ?)
SC23A - ???

Not sure on any actual in-game differences, since I have only SC23 and thus no basis for comparison, but I think the regions for Soul Calibur II are as follows:

SC21 - Japan
SC22 - Export
SC23 - USA


Tekken 3 (System 12):

TET1 - Japan
TET2 - Export (MAME says Asia, but I'm certain this is for Europe and possibly other regions too)
TET3 - USA

Tekken 4:

TEF1 - Japan
TEF2 - Export (English, no violence warnings)
TEF3 - USA (English, from my memory, this has "animated violence in a fantasy setting" warnings, or wording to that effect)

Soul Calibur III I am not sure about, since it's numbered differently:

SC31002-NA-A - game is in English. (I would welcome input from anyone with a different code on their dongle!)

[rtw]

Thank you for the information IDC, much appreciated

On a sidenote, I just saw an auction for SCII & TEKKEN 4 on eBay, both items located in USA and both were region 3!

[idc]

Thank you for the information IDC, much appreciated

On a sidenote, I just saw an auction for SCII & TEKKEN 4 on eBay, both items located in USA and both were region 3!

Perhaps I have the 2s and 3s the wrong way around. Not much info around, unfortunately. I just thought that the violence warnings on TEF3 would suggest USA...

[rtw]

Had a look at some of the NAMCO games in MAME this seems to be the norm:

1 - Japan (Region warning)
2 - World ?
3 - USA (Animated Violence Warning)

edit: removed region which is not on sys24X.

[subbie]

I don't think there is any changes between SC2 U & J.
There is version A, B & D with changes between them (dvd dictates version).

I'm not fully sure on the numbering but I kind of took 2 & 3 to be USA & Europe but they could be swapped. There is no known 4 in Sys246 games (trust me, I have a lot of them).

See my sig for a detailed list I built up with a few people (the list on the AO wiki is from my sheet but is sometimes not up to date).

[idc]

I'm not fully sure on the numbering but I kind of took 2 & 3 to be USA & Europe but they could be swapped. There is no known 4 in Sys246 games (trust me, I have a lot of them).

Exactly my theory, subbie. Never seen a region 4 on 246. I originally thought region 2 was USA, until I got a region 3 Tekken 4 dongle which had the "animated violence" warning, where my previous region 2 dongle has no such warning.

[rtw]

I'm not fully sure on the numbering but I kind of took 2 & 3 to be USA & Europe but they could be swapped. There is no known 4 in Sys246 games (trust me, I have a lot of them).

I was taking the region 4 from Soul Calibur, you are of course right there is no region 4 on sys24X at all (post updated to remove confusion). So can we now assume that region 2 is World except USA on the sys24X ?

[subbie]

I'm not fully sure on the numbering but I kind of took 2 & 3 to be USA & Europe but they could be swapped. There is no known 4 in Sys246 games (trust me, I have a lot of them).

Exactly my theory, subbie. Never seen a region 4 on 246. I originally thought region 2 was USA, until I got a region 3 Tekken 4 dongle which had the "animated violence" warning, where my previous region 2 dongle has no such warning.

hmm... I'm going to have to take a deeper look into this over the weekend. I think I should have multiple Tekken 4 region dongles.

You could be right and it's 2 that is Export and 3 is USA.

[idc]

hmm... I'm going to have to take a deeper look into this over the weekend. I think I should have multiple Tekken 4 region dongles.

You could be right and it's 2 that is Export and 3 is USA.

Well for reference, I have TEF2 Ver.B2 and TEF3 Ver.C. I wouldn't be surprised if you had these versions already, but if there are any specifics you want me to check out regarding those, let me know.

Edit: Just occurred to me that my Soul Calibur 3 dongle is SC31002-NA-A, but the dongle dumped in MAME is SC31001-NA-A.

[subbie]

Boo-urns. I do have ver B2, C & D but all dongles are TEF2 (at least from the label side, didn't boot to check further). =(

Interesting enough, I don't think i've come across a ver A of Tekken 4. I do notice the AI is pretty dumb and doesn't move much in B2 vs D.

Just for kicks I checked my SC2 and both are region 3. =/ No SC3 in my collection (yeah, I need to fix that).

On the subject of change in labels. I never fully broke down the meaning but at some point namco changed to a different setup for labels. If a region 2 or 3 of SC3 exist it would probably be SC31002-NA-A since the first 3 numbers after SC3 is version info. Never fully figured out what NA means but it seems to signify the game setup as terminal games use ST.

[rtw]

On the subject of change in labels. I never fully broke down the meaning but at some point namco changed to a different setup for labels. If a region 2 or 3 of SC3 exist it would probably be SC31002-NA-A since the first 3 numbers after SC3 is version info. Never fully figured out what NA means but it seems to signify the game setup as terminal games use ST.

I saw a Soul Calibur 3 kit on eBay which was pulled from a working machine. Providing it was complete it had 2 serial numbers:

Code: Select all

DISC  : SC31001-NA-DVD0-B
DONGLE: SC31002-NA-A

I believe that the number before the "-NA" is a part number of the set. I.e. the DVD is number 1 and the dongle is number 2. So therefore I believe that a region 2 dongle would have the code: SC32002-NA-A. This of course is only speculation

[subbie]

I believe that the number before the "-NA" is a part number of the set. I.e. the DVD is number 1 and the dongle is number 2. So therefore I believe that a region 2 dongle would have the code: SC32002-NA-A. This of course is only speculation

That would be incorrect. I kind of forgot but someone already made mention of a SC31002-NA-A dongle. This would be the English/western version of the game. The first 3 numbers after SC3 are version numbers. I have Druaga Online 1.65 dongle and it's "DOL165-1-ST-I". I also have a dongle/dvd for a memory/brain game which is version 1.60, The dongle is the same across all versions (1.0/1.5/1.6) but the DVD changes and thus is "ZNT160-1-NA-DVD0-A" for version 1.6.

DVD tend to sometimes not change between different versions of games. A USA/Export game would still use the same DVD as the JPN version. The only odd exception in the bunch is Tekken 5, where the Export/USA version of 5.1 is only compatible with TE52 Dongle, and the JPN version is only compatible with TE51 Dongle. The big difference between dongles is TE51 has a NET ID on the dongle for the Live Monitor (which I do have) annd the TE52 dongles do not. Yet even with the above a Tekken 5 (verA) DVD is compatible on both games.

[idc]

Amended my post above, since I've realised that whereas my dongle SC31002-NA-A, the one in MAME is SC31001-NA-A. So I think that confirms which digit represents the region.

[subbie]

Amended my post above, since I've realised that whereas my dongle SC31002-NA-A, the one in MAME is SC31001-NA-A. So I think that confirms which digit represents the region.

Yeah it definantly seems to be. I noticed going through my DB today to change for some recent finds that I had a "TSF1002-NA-A" for Time Crisis 4. While I don't own TC4, I did lift the numbers off a western dongle.

So the break down seems to be (on the 2nd revision of namco labels) (colorized to make it easier to follow)
3 Letter/Number Product code - 3 Number Version - Region Code - Game Setup (NA/IS/SI/?) - Revision (Incremental)
So SC31001-NA-A

The reason I say that last bit is Revision Incremental is because it seems to keep with the A,B,C of previous but does not signify that a game had a major revision (which seems to mostly happen with network games like Duraga). Dragon Chronicles that I have (which pre-dates the revision change) doesn't have the Revision info in the serial like Duraga does and instead just list a V2.12 on the disc.

[idc]

3 Letter/Number Product code - 3 Number Version - Region Code - Game Setup (NA/IS/SI/?) - Revision (Incremental)
So SC31001-NA-A

So what does the NA/IS/IS "game setup" signify?

Also, I got my SC3 dongle from a seller in the US, so I would expect that it would be the USA release, but it's region 2... So this doesn't help with the region 2/3 confusion at all.

[subbie]

So what does the NA/IS/IS "game setup" signify?

Sorry I made a Typo. I mean ST & TS, not IS & SI.

If I had to take a guess, But not sure what the actual wording for this would be
NA - Normal Game / Non Server Game
ST - Terminal Software
TS - Server Software

I'm still not fully sure on TS. The DVD to my copy of Dragon Chronicle: Online says "DCO31-TS CD0" and after messing about I think my copy is a server or view and not the normal game due to the way it acts (it doesn't even require a touch screen to boot, unlike other ones I have). My Druaga Online on the other hand is the terminal software (since the Server is a PC and not a 256) and it's Dongle ID is "DOL165-1-ST-I". The Server PC DVD software has a CP notation as well "DOL160-1-CT-MPR0-H"

Also, I got my SC3 dongle from a seller in the US, so I would expect that it would be the USA release, but it's region 2... So this doesn't help with the region 2/3 confusion at all.

I just recently got a Time Crisis 3 that is Region 3 from a USA seller. =P I think we would need someone like AG to maybe clear up which is which.


All this stuff is kind of confusing because there is a design and setup for it all but at times even Namco makes errors. There are two games with the same NMXXXX serial on them (Vampire Night & Technic Beats both have NM00003).

[rtw]

Amended my post above, since I've realised that whereas my dongle SC31002-NA-A, the one in MAME is SC31001-NA-A. So I think that confirms which digit represents the region.

IDC could you please tell me what your setup screen shows with the dongle marked SC31002-NA-A, my SC31001-NA-A shows the following:

ROM1: SC3100-2-NA-MPR0-A10
ROM2: SC3100-1-NADVD0-B03

I'm curious if my region 1 dongle has been reprogrammed to a region 2...

[subbie]

Amended my post above, since I've realised that whereas my dongle SC31002-NA-A, the one in MAME is SC31001-NA-A. So I think that confirms which digit represents the region.

IDC could you please tell me what your setup screen shows with the dongle marked SC31002-NA-A, my SC31001-NA-A shows the following:

ROM1: SC3100-2-NA-MPR0-A10
ROM2: SC3100-1-NADVD0-B03

I'm curious if my region 1 dongle has been reprogrammed to a region 2...

Can you post a picture of your dongle?

Also are you using a Ver A or B DVD? What is the serial number on your DVD?

[rtw]

Can you post a picture of your dongle?

Sorry I got the digits mixed up I actually have exactly the same dongle as idc i.e. my setup is:

Code: Select all

DISC  : SC31001-NA-DVD0-B
DONGLE: SC31002-NA-A

edit: can't spell