A Question

[lgb]

Why exactly is there a Japanese Mahou Daisakusen and a Japanese Sorcer Striker? Are there differences between the two titles?

[Ed Oscuro]

Provide proof of this Japanese SS, or it didn't happen.

[lgb]

I'll post it tomorrow. You can check for yourself; go into Sorcer Striker and set the Country dip to "Japan". I swear it's there. I've seen it myself.

[ptoing]

Just checked both versions of SS in Mame, and they both have the same region options, USA, Europe, some Asian countries, but no Japan.

[Ed Oscuro]

I'll post it tomorrow. You can check for yourself; go into Sorcer Striker and set the Country dip to "Japan". I swear it's there. I've seen it myself.

Well, I'm pretty sure that SS was only released officially in Japan as MHD; saturn/marty ports and even a doujin sticks with the MHD name.

Also, I'm not seeing what you are in MAME; only MHD is listed as "Japan," but the two SS sets are marked World, one being an alternate set.

Assuming you're right, this is what I would say:

My guess is that for a lower-throughput company it would make sense to make some boards able to change their region so you could ship product where it was needed. The bigger arcade manufacturers played games with regions (I guess the concern with enforcing region-specific distribution was that a certain board, say one that was unpopular in one market and thus cheap, would crowd out the market for the region-specific version), but perhaps the flexibility argument won out for Raizing boards.

yes/no/maybe? I'm not the first source on these questions, admittedly.

[lgb]

Assuming you're right, this is what I would say:

My guess is that for a lower-throughput company it would make sense to make some boards able to change their region so you could ship product where it was needed. The bigger arcade manufacturers played games with regions (I guess the concern with enforcing region-specific distribution was that a certain board, say one that was unpopular in one market and thus cheap, would crowd out the market for the region-specific version), but perhaps the flexibility argument won out for Raizing boards.

yes/no/maybe? I'm not the first source on these questions, admittedly.

Possibly, but then again, Raizing wasn't that big at the time.

Anyway, here's the post.

Just checked both versions of SS in Mame, and they both have the same region options, USA, Europe, some Asian countries, but no Japan.

Which version of MAME do you run? Also, does it say anything about "Southeast Asia"? SMD did the same thing. I don't know if this relates to Japan or not, but Japan IS technically a SE Asia country...

[ptoing]

MAME32 0.109, not the newest version.

It had SE Asia, which is kinda odd, as Korea would count to those as well but that was extra. Perhaps SE Asia would cover anything that is there and is not specially covered.