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I've just received this variant of Ecco: The Tides of Time from Japan;

It's the same design with three language (English, Chinese, Malay) box & manual as late 1994/early 1995 Asian 32X and Mega Drive releases.

Box, manual, and cart sticker codes all end in 40, which was Sega's region code for Asia (excluding Japan & South Korea).

Searching for others I came across another Ecco: The Tides of Time in an old Thai forum post. Then in the Bootleg Game Gear Game thread I noticed two copies of Sonic & Tails 2 with the same design. One of those originated on Ruten, a Taiwanese site.

Credit to Black Squirrel on Sonic Retro for spotting this. I can't upload PDFs here, but there's PDF of the manual on Sega Retro.

$_12.JPG (20.88 KB)

$_57.JPG (403 KB)

Scan0024.jpg (1.16 MB)

Scan0025.jpg (1.27 MB)

Scan0026.jpg (245.05 KB)

Thailand.jpg (173.99 KB)

1429357605049.jpg (310.89 KB)

Ecco 2 seems to be the only attempt at a proper Asian version for the Game Gear (my guess is 1994-1995).

But there are other Asian releases that came later (my guess is 1996-1997). These are on the cheap side since they came in a generic cardboard box with a transparent plastic tray and no manual.

Here's Sonic Drift 2. It's up for sale/trade if anyone's interested.

2562 must be the game code, since the US release has the same code, but 670-13194 is a Japanese style code that seems unique to this version.

20190904_110303.jpg (117.14 KB)

really interesting find !
I've been collecting megadrive and 32x asian games for nearly two decades and never saw a game gear asian version game in my searches (as I did many times with korean games)
this must be pretty rare. wondering if there is a console also ?

No specific console to my knowledge :(

Kenneth wrote

really interesting find !
I've been collecting megadrive and 32x asian games for nearly two decades and never saw a game gear asian version game in my searches (as I did many times with korean games)
this must be pretty rare. wondering if there is a console also ?

I have the Ecco Tides of Time, but mine came from South Africa. A scan can be found on rfgeneration.com , sadly there was some writing on my box, but I think it maybe is the rarest Game Gear release. Only paid £10 for it though

Just wanted to mention that the ROM in that Asian Sonic Drift 2 is dated 9822, which is end May 1998. That's more than 3 years after the Japanese release.

Here's a close-up of the pirate Sonic & Tails 2. It's really strange that they copied the design style of the only legit Asian game (Ecco: The Tides of Time). They arranged the title and the artwork in a way that's not a straight rip-off of any legit label.

Also, it has a code that looks legit (670-4818-40) that matches the style of Ecco (670-4829-40).

Why they went that far, I can't explain.

v1_1.jpg (168.99 KB)

Maybe it's not unlicensed?

I think it's a pirate, a nicer one, but still a pirate. The photos in this thread show the box which is clearly a pirate.

Author	Message
BKK Joined: 01 May 2011 Posts: 371	Asian region Game Gear releases Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2015 1:29 pm
BKK Joined: 01 May 2011 Posts: 371	I've just received this variant of Ecco: The Tides of Time from Japan; It's the same design with three language (English, Chinese, Malay) box & manual as late 1994/early 1995 Asian 32X and Mega Drive releases. Box, manual, and cart sticker codes all end in 40, which was Sega's region code for Asia (excluding Japan & South Korea). Searching for others I came across another Ecco: The Tides of Time in an old Thai forum post. Then in the Bootleg Game Gear Game thread I noticed two copies of Sonic & Tails 2 with the same design. One of those originated on Ruten, a Taiwanese site. Credit to Black Squirrel on Sonic Retro for spotting this. I can't upload PDFs here, but there's PDF of the manual on Sega Retro. $_12.JPG (20.88 KB) $_57.JPG (403 KB) Scan0024.jpg (1.16 MB) Scan0025.jpg (1.27 MB) Scan0026.jpg (245.05 KB) Thailand.jpg (173.99 KB) 1429357605049.jpg (310.89 KB)

Tyree_Cooper Joined: 29 Dec 2008 Posts: 21	Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2019 3:19 am Last edited by Tyree_Cooper on Sun Dec 27, 2020 10:17 am; edited 1 time in total
Tyree_Cooper Joined: 29 Dec 2008 Posts: 21	Ecco 2 seems to be the only attempt at a proper Asian version for the Game Gear (my guess is 1994-1995). But there are other Asian releases that came later (my guess is 1996-1997). These are on the cheap side since they came in a generic cardboard box with a transparent plastic tray and no manual. Here's Sonic Drift 2. It's up for sale/trade if anyone's interested. 2562 must be the game code, since the US release has the same code, but 670-13194 is a Japanese style code that seems unique to this version. 20190904_110303.jpg (117.14 KB)

Kenneth Joined: 20 Dec 2004 Posts: 628 Location: Lyon, France	Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2019 7:26 pm
	really interesting find ! I've been collecting megadrive and 32x asian games for nearly two decades and never saw a game gear asian version game in my searches (as I did many times with korean games) this must be pretty rare. wondering if there is a console also ?

Tyree_Cooper Joined: 29 Dec 2008 Posts: 21	Posted: Fri Sep 06, 2019 2:30 am
Tyree_Cooper Joined: 29 Dec 2008 Posts: 21	No specific console to my knowledge :(

sharp Joined: 19 Feb 2008 Posts: 15 Location: Netherlands	Posted: Fri Sep 06, 2019 4:24 pm
	Kenneth wrote really interesting find ! I've been collecting megadrive and 32x asian games for nearly two decades and never saw a game gear asian version game in my searches (as I did many times with korean games) this must be pretty rare. wondering if there is a console also ? I have the Ecco Tides of Time, but mine came from South Africa. A scan can be found on rfgeneration.com , sadly there was some writing on my box, but I think it maybe is the rarest Game Gear release. Only paid £10 for it though

Tyree_Cooper Joined: 29 Dec 2008 Posts: 21	Posted: Thu Nov 21, 2019 10:01 am
Tyree_Cooper Joined: 29 Dec 2008 Posts: 21	Just wanted to mention that the ROM in that Asian Sonic Drift 2 is dated 9822, which is end May 1998. That's more than 3 years after the Japanese release.

Tyree_Cooper Joined: 29 Dec 2008 Posts: 21	Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2020 10:14 am
Tyree_Cooper Joined: 29 Dec 2008 Posts: 21	Here's a close-up of the pirate Sonic & Tails 2. It's really strange that they copied the design style of the only legit Asian game (Ecco: The Tides of Time). They arranged the title and the artwork in a way that's not a straight rip-off of any legit label. Also, it has a code that looks legit (670-4818-40) that matches the style of Ecco (670-4829-40). Why they went that far, I can't explain. v1_1.jpg (168.99 KB)

Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8274 Location: Paris, France	Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2020 2:33 pm
	Maybe it's not unlicensed?

Tyree_Cooper Joined: 29 Dec 2008 Posts: 21	Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2020 2:40 pm
Tyree_Cooper Joined: 29 Dec 2008 Posts: 21	I think it's a pirate, a nicer one, but still a pirate. The photos in this thread show the box which is clearly a pirate.

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