Sonic Gems Collection JP import for Gamecube....

[CecilMcW00t]

Just a question to anyone who may have picked this up. I have been hearing about how Sonic Team made the game region specific for the PS2 version. One of the things that changes within the game is Sonic CD's soundtrack. If it is played on a NA PS2, you get the US ost. If played on an EU/JPN PS2 you get the EU/JPN soundtrack. I wanted to know if this was also true of the GC version but no one seems to have it yet.

And by the way, it really sucks that the Bare Knuckle games won't be on the domestic GC release...

[PFG 9000]

I thought there currently is no plan for a US PS2 release...?

[Kiken]

Just a question to anyone who may have picked this up. I have been hearing about how Sonic Team made the game region specific for the PS2 version. One of the things that changes within the game is Sonic CD's soundtrack. If it is played on a NA PS2, you get the US ost. If played on an EU/JPN PS2 you get the EU/JPN soundtrack. I wanted to know if this was also true of the GC version but no one seems to have it yet.

And by the way, it really sucks that the Bare Knuckle games won't be on the domestic GC release...

The PS2 version is NOT region specific. It is BROWSER specific. I'm playing the Japanese PS2 rev on my Japanese PS2 and can freely swap the entire game back and forth between Japanese (all in-game text, menus, title screen and Mega CD Sonic CD OST) and English (all in-game text, menus, title screen and Sega CD Sonic CD OST). All you have to do is go into the PS2's system browser and swap the display language. That's it!

[Kiken]

I thought there currently is no plan for a US PS2 release...?

There isn't. But it was a concern for importers playing on a modded console.

[CecilMcW00t]

On my US PS2 there is no option to change browser to Japanese unfortunately. =(

[Kiken]

On my US PS2 there is no option to change browser to Japanese unfortunately. =(

What other language settings are there? Remember, the European version of Sonic CD kept the Japanese OST.

[PFG 9000]

I thought there currently is no plan for a US PS2 release...?

There isn't. But it was a concern for importers playing on a modded console.

They would actually design the game to play differently on modded consoles? Would Sony ever stand for that, given their position on importing?

[Kiken]

I thought there currently is no plan for a US PS2 release...?

There isn't. But it was a concern for importers playing on a modded console.

They would actually design the game to play differently on modded consoles? Would Sony ever stand for that, given their position on importing?

The concern was that the PS2 version would detect the system region BIOS and run the versions of the games associated with that region. So, a modded US system still has a US Region BIOS... so the games will automatically play in their US versions... even though it's a Japanese copy of the compilation.

Thankfully, this isn't the case. The compilation detects the System Browser Language and runs the versions of the games associated with that language setting. However, as CecilMcWoot has noted, the US PS2 does not have a Japanese language setting in its browser.

This whole problem stems from the altered US soundtrack for Sonic CD. Now, in Europe, Sonic CD kept the Japanese OST... so, it might be possible to run the compilation in Euro Mode (since Japanese isn't selectable), meaning that US importers playing the game on modded domestic systems would not be limited to playing the US Region versions of the games.

[Kiken]

Apparently, there is no Euro-Mode for Sonic Gems, meaning that the Japanese versions of the games are locked out of everything save for a Japanese system (in which case Sega might as well have used a BIOS detection)...

Although, there has been quite an active thread on Gamefaqs about a trick involving the Select button which can shift the compilation into Japanese Mode:
http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmes ... c=22892587

However, given that only 2 "members" have been able to perform the trick... one has to take this with a grain of salt.

The GameCube versions are hardcoded with a specific region of software... so it doesn't matter what region console you run the game on, it will always play the same region (the Japanese GC comp will play in Japanese regardless of whether you play it on a Japanese or US GC).

[Gwen]

Hey, I have the Jpn version of Sonic Gems running on a UK PS2, and whatever language I set it to, (French, German, Porto) its still the American soundtrack for Sonic CD.... Bonanza Brothers and the Streets of Rage games are still here though and there the JPN versions too

Oh, and theres no Jpn language option on a UK PS2 either