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Was GP Rider for the Game Gear developed in South Korea?

I was looking through some ROMs and noticed this in GP Rider - text from the title screen/menus...

ONE PLAYER
TWO PLAYERS
1994 SEGA
1994 LEE SANGHUN=
TOURNAMENT
GRAND PRIX
ARCADE
WORLD TOUR

That "Lee Sanghun" mention is not shown on-screen.

JOHN JIMMY MICHAEL LUCA KENJI MIGUEL WAYNE ALEX KENNY DOUG FREDDIE NIALL EDDIE KEVIN RANDY PLAYER1 PLAYER2 MR=SHIM MISS=N= K=ONOGI DR=JUNG INCHON BANGBAE SEPHIA H=Y=K= KIM=M=Y D=LINE= KAPIN J=Y=Y= ILOVEYK SEXYMAN OZZY= SANGHUN YUNKI

"JOHN"-"PLAYER2" are rider names. Are the rest staff names? Or perhaps this is all just replacement text for when you play the game on a Korean Game Gear. Does this game have credits?

I think the sign below says "LEE SA" on the bottom.

GP Rider000.png (12.95 KB)

It says LEE SH which matches even better.

Turns out Lee Sanghun was the programmer and director on the unlicensed SMS fighting game Sangokushi III.

Are there any more known games the guy did?

I know:
Legendly Knight (MSX)
Double Dragon (MSX)
Three Dragon Story (MSX, SMS)

Anything else?

Games that could be:
Cyborg Z (MSX) and Wonsiin (MSX, SMS) look like they run on the same engine as Three Dragon Story. However, I think none of those is dumped yet, right?

(from http://www.smspower.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12147): Jang Pung 3 has strong similarities to Sangokushi 3.

Dodgeball King: Published by the same company as Jang Pung 3 and Sangokushi 3, no credits.

Edit: Any Mention of Lee Kyu Hwan in GP Rider and/or Sangokushi 3? The two used to be a team on many of their games.

Had no idea he did all that. I'm reading that SangYoun Lee also worked on some arcade game called FireBall.

Outside of the names I noted above, I don't know if GP Rider has credits. Lee Eunhee is credited with "background and visual design" on Sangokushi III.

I've got to correct myself:

Lee Sangyoun und Lee Sanghun are not the same person! Most Korean sources only mention Sangyoun, I could only find a single source that mentions both.

The source claims that all three (Lee Sangyoun, Lee Sanghun and Lee Kyuhwan) formed a team as which they developed their first games. However, why Lee Sangyoun isn't credited in a single pre-Phantagram game remains a mystery.

Lee Sanghun is said to have split from the team early, which would explain why the later games, like Sangokushi-3 and GP Racer only list him in the credits. What he's doing nowadays: http://comeonbaby.com2us.com/

Another interference:

Sankokushi 3:
Music Composer: Hwang Gyudae

Metal Force (Famicom):
B.G.M. Composer: G.D. Hwang

Seems to be the same person.

I guess you're right. Legendly Knight credits both "Lee Sang Hun" and "Lee Sang Youn."

derboo wrote

Lee Sanghun is said to have split from the team early, which would explain why the later games, like Sangokushi-3 and GP Racer only list him in the credits. What he's doing nowadays is kinda embarassing: http://comeonbaby.com2us.com/

What is that? And where are you finding out about Lee Sanghun?

There's an interview with him (in Korean):
http://www.thisisgame.com/board/view.php?id=12454&board=0&page=15&ca...

It has quite a bit of cool info, but I'm not satisfied. I'm totally going to try to get a few questions through to the man.

The Google translation is confusing and contains swearing...

The Babel Fish translation is confusing and contains no swearing...

Hmm, there's absolutely nothing in the original to justify the swearing... I almost want to think that some moron programmer at google tried to be funny.

Google uses statistical translation and also allows people to suggest improved translations that get some statistical weighting. So it's probably a moron on the internet - and there are plenty of those.

For added fun, use Yahoo! Honyaku to translate the Korean into Japanese. Then translate the Japanese into English.

Derboo: What is Sanghun's position with Expotato? I'd like to write a post on the GDRI blog about all this stuff. Any more info on Sanghun, et al. would be appreciated.

He's running the joint. CEO, I guess. In the interview he also briefly mentions his cooperation with SEGA for GP Rider (though he doesn't name the game).

There's also a 1996 PC RPG called EXP: The Excellent Potato by Open, but I don't know if he had anything to do with it.

Lee Sangyoun is CEO of Phantagram, I dunno what he did in between Legendly Knight and the founding of Phantagram.

Lee Kyuhwan is credited on the Zemina games Lee Sanghun did (Double Dragon and The Three Dragon Story). He co-founded Phantagram, currently he's with a company called Nemonix.

Were these guys were some of Korea's first game developers?

Yeah, not the very first, but close.

I read another article confirming Lee Sanghun for some of the games that were suspected. Here's my current list of confirmed games by him:

Legendly Knight - MSX (1988)
Double Dragon - MSX, probably Master System (1989)
The Three Dragon Story - MSX, Master System (1989)
Samgukji / Sankokuji 3 - Master System (1994) [btw. I find it odd to use a Japanese transcription for a Korean program based on a Chinese series]
Jang Pung 3 - Master System (1994)
GP Rider - Game Gear (1994)
EXP - The Excellent Potato - PC (1996) [was originally planned as a Mega Drive game]
Come on Baby series - Arcade, PC, PS2 (2000-2010)

He did also that arcade game called Fireball, but if I'm not mistaken, that's not a video game. There has been an arcade machine by that title in 1992, and it was a machine where you shoot balls up a ramp to hit through opening and closing doors. Of course the name "Fireball" isn't very distinctive, so I can't be 100% sure about that yet.

derboo wrote

I read another article

Could you post that source please?

OK, but it is a print article in Korean.

It is a report about the development of EXP - The Excellent Potato, introducing Lee Sanghun as staff member. I also added a closeup of his profile, with Jang Pung (it actually says Jang Pung series, but I wouldn't take Jang Pung II as confirmed just yet) and Samgukji/Sankokuji (although he's confirmed by the credits for that anyway) marked red.

gamecom96-02p60.jpg (150.29 KB)

gamecom96-02p61.jpg (180.97 KB)

leesanghun.jpg (33.25 KB)

Wow that's really cool, Phantagram is one of my favorite developers.

Wrote a new blog post on GDRI about Sanghun Lee, plugging Derboo's research:
http://gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/Blog:Seoul_Train

Great post. There's one small fact I didn't know before that need correction, though. Lee Sanghun split with Lee Sangyoun and Lee Kyuhwan before the founding of Phantagram, or actually it seems the other two were the ones that split. All three were shown in a 1992 article featuring the founding of Open, but the latter two don't appear in any known Open game credits (the credits for the two 1992 games, Wonder Kid and Red Wiz, are unknown, though), and of course they founded Phantagram by 1994.

There also seems to have been some kind of relationship going on between Open, Sieco and Gameline. Jang Pung 3 is copyright by both Open and Sieco, and Dodgeball King by Gameline is full of signs reading "Open" in game. Samgukji 3 is mostly by the same people as Jang Pung 3 save for the artists, and it doesn't have any mention of Open whatsoever. I sent an email to Expotato asking for an interview, but I haven't got any reply at all, so far (sent it on monday).

Oh, and btw., Jang Pung 3 was released before Samgukji 3, if you care about the exact order.

Were there more people involved with New Age than just Sanghun, Sangyoun, and Kyuhwan? Were Sangyoun and Kyuhwan the only co-founders of Phantagram?

For the people from the credits of Legendly Knight, aside from the three known guys:

Choe Ji Young -> Worked on the 2000 RTS Kingdom under Fire (credited as JiYoung Choe) and maybe Zyclunt, I don't know

Kim Kwon You -> Never saw that name elsewhere

Choi Kyu Chul -> Never saw that name elsewhere

Lee Gil Ho -> Worked on Zyclunt/Blade Warrior, Kingdom under Fire and Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders (credited as GilHo Lee)

Doo Jin -> Was managing the games publishing at Topia, so he wasn't really part of the actual team. Later became president (and maybe was the founder) of Softry, a PC game developer and school active from 1994-1998.

So Choe Jiyoung and Lee Gilho were also involved with Phantagram, but Lee Kyuhwan and Lee Sangyoun were the bosses.

Also never saw Choe Jiyoung and Lee Gilho assossiated with Open, so it is likely they were "called back" by the other two for Phantagram. Wish I had the full credits for Zyclunt, though...

Double Dragon was done by just Lee Sanghun and Lee Kyuhwan, Three Dragon Story by the two and musician Kwon Daeyong, who later also worked for Open (and even later did the music for Astonishia Story on Sonnori team).

Author	Message
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	Whodunit: Lee Sanghun? Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 10:45 am
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	Was GP Rider for the Game Gear developed in South Korea? I was looking through some ROMs and noticed this in GP Rider - text from the title screen/menus... ONE PLAYER TWO PLAYERS 1994 SEGA 1994 LEE SANGHUN= TOURNAMENT GRAND PRIX ARCADE WORLD TOUR That "Lee Sanghun" mention is not shown on-screen. JOHN JIMMY MICHAEL LUCA KENJI MIGUEL WAYNE ALEX KENNY DOUG FREDDIE NIALL EDDIE KEVIN RANDY PLAYER1 PLAYER2 MR=SHIM MISS=N= K=ONOGI DR=JUNG INCHON BANGBAE SEPHIA H=Y=K= KIM=M=Y D=LINE= KAPIN J=Y=Y= ILOVEYK SEXYMAN OZZY= SANGHUN YUNKI "JOHN"-"PLAYER2" are rider names. Are the rest staff names? Or perhaps this is all just replacement text for when you play the game on a Korean Game Gear. Does this game have credits? I think the sign below says "LEE SA" on the bottom. GP Rider000.png (12.95 KB)

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14728 Location: London	Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 8:12 pm
	It says LEE SH which matches even better.

CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 1:30 pm
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	Turns out Lee Sanghun was the programmer and director on the unlicensed SMS fighting game Sangokushi III.

derboo Joined: 08 Dec 2009 Posts: 115	Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2010 11:06 am Last edited by derboo on Wed Jan 27, 2010 4:08 am; edited 2 times in total
derboo Joined: 08 Dec 2009 Posts: 115	Are there any more known games the guy did? I know: Legendly Knight (MSX) Double Dragon (MSX) Three Dragon Story (MSX, SMS) Anything else? Games that could be: Cyborg Z (MSX) and Wonsiin (MSX, SMS) look like they run on the same engine as Three Dragon Story. However, I think none of those is dumped yet, right? (from http://www.smspower.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12147): Jang Pung 3 has strong similarities to Sangokushi 3. Dodgeball King: Published by the same company as Jang Pung 3 and Sangokushi 3, no credits. Edit: Any Mention of Lee Kyu Hwan in GP Rider and/or Sangokushi 3? The two used to be a team on many of their games.

CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2010 1:00 pm
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	Had no idea he did all that. I'm reading that SangYoun Lee also worked on some arcade game called FireBall. Outside of the names I noted above, I don't know if GP Rider has credits. Lee Eunhee is credited with "background and visual design" on Sangokushi III.

derboo Joined: 08 Dec 2009 Posts: 115	Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2010 1:40 pm Last edited by derboo on Thu Jan 28, 2010 7:12 pm; edited 1 time in total
derboo Joined: 08 Dec 2009 Posts: 115	I've got to correct myself: Lee Sangyoun und Lee Sanghun are not the same person! Most Korean sources only mention Sangyoun, I could only find a single source that mentions both. The source claims that all three (Lee Sangyoun, Lee Sanghun and Lee Kyuhwan) formed a team as which they developed their first games. However, why Lee Sangyoun isn't credited in a single pre-Phantagram game remains a mystery. Lee Sanghun is said to have split from the team early, which would explain why the later games, like Sangokushi-3 and GP Racer only list him in the credits. What he's doing nowadays: http://comeonbaby.com2us.com/ Another interference: Sankokushi 3: Music Composer: Hwang Gyudae Metal Force (Famicom): B.G.M. Composer: G.D. Hwang Seems to be the same person.

CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2010 1:46 pm
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	I guess you're right. Legendly Knight credits both "Lee Sang Hun" and "Lee Sang Youn." derboo wrote Lee Sanghun is said to have split from the team early, which would explain why the later games, like Sangokushi-3 and GP Racer only list him in the credits. What he's doing nowadays is kinda embarassing: http://comeonbaby.com2us.com/ What is that? And where are you finding out about Lee Sanghun?

derboo Joined: 08 Dec 2009 Posts: 115	Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2010 2:06 pm
derboo Joined: 08 Dec 2009 Posts: 115	There's an interview with him (in Korean): http://www.thisisgame.com/board/view.php?id=12454&board=0&page=15&ca... It has quite a bit of cool info, but I'm not satisfied. I'm totally going to try to get a few questions through to the man.

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14728 Location: London	Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2010 7:48 pm
	The Google translation is confusing and contains swearing...

CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	Posted: Wed Jan 27, 2010 6:22 am
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	The Babel Fish translation is confusing and contains no swearing...

derboo Joined: 08 Dec 2009 Posts: 115	Posted: Wed Jan 27, 2010 9:09 am
derboo Joined: 08 Dec 2009 Posts: 115	Hmm, there's absolutely nothing in the original to justify the swearing... I almost want to think that some moron programmer at google tried to be funny.

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14728 Location: London	Posted: Wed Jan 27, 2010 9:25 am
	Google uses statistical translation and also allows people to suggest improved translations that get some statistical weighting. So it's probably a moron on the internet - and there are plenty of those.

CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	Posted: Wed Jan 27, 2010 1:38 pm
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	For added fun, use Yahoo! Honyaku to translate the Korean into Japanese. Then translate the Japanese into English.

CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	Posted: Wed Jan 27, 2010 2:30 pm
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	Derboo: What is Sanghun's position with Expotato? I'd like to write a post on the GDRI blog about all this stuff. Any more info on Sanghun, et al. would be appreciated.

derboo Joined: 08 Dec 2009 Posts: 115	Posted: Wed Jan 27, 2010 5:22 pm Last edited by derboo on Mon Mar 01, 2010 10:12 am; edited 1 time in total
derboo Joined: 08 Dec 2009 Posts: 115	He's running the joint. CEO, I guess. In the interview he also briefly mentions his cooperation with SEGA for GP Rider (though he doesn't name the game). There's also a 1996 PC RPG called EXP: The Excellent Potato by Open, but I don't know if he had anything to do with it. Lee Sangyoun is CEO of Phantagram, I dunno what he did in between Legendly Knight and the founding of Phantagram. Lee Kyuhwan is credited on the Zemina games Lee Sanghun did (Double Dragon and The Three Dragon Story). He co-founded Phantagram, currently he's with a company called Nemonix.

CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2010 11:55 am
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	Were these guys were some of Korea's first game developers?

derboo Joined: 08 Dec 2009 Posts: 115	Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2010 12:36 pm
derboo Joined: 08 Dec 2009 Posts: 115	Yeah, not the very first, but close.

derboo Joined: 08 Dec 2009 Posts: 115	Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 3:31 am
derboo Joined: 08 Dec 2009 Posts: 115	I read another article confirming Lee Sanghun for some of the games that were suspected. Here's my current list of confirmed games by him: Legendly Knight - MSX (1988) Double Dragon - MSX, probably Master System (1989) The Three Dragon Story - MSX, Master System (1989) Samgukji / Sankokuji 3 - Master System (1994) [btw. I find it odd to use a Japanese transcription for a Korean program based on a Chinese series] Jang Pung 3 - Master System (1994) GP Rider - Game Gear (1994) EXP - The Excellent Potato - PC (1996) [was originally planned as a Mega Drive game] Come on Baby series - Arcade, PC, PS2 (2000-2010) He did also that arcade game called Fireball, but if I'm not mistaken, that's not a video game. There has been an arcade machine by that title in 1992, and it was a machine where you shoot balls up a ramp to hit through opening and closing doors. Of course the name "Fireball" isn't very distinctive, so I can't be 100% sure about that yet.

Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8648 Location: Paris, France	Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 3:55 am
	derboo wrote I read another article Could you post that source please?

derboo Joined: 08 Dec 2009 Posts: 115	Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 9:57 am
derboo Joined: 08 Dec 2009 Posts: 115	OK, but it is a print article in Korean. It is a report about the development of EXP - The Excellent Potato, introducing Lee Sanghun as staff member. I also added a closeup of his profile, with Jang Pung (it actually says Jang Pung series, but I wouldn't take Jang Pung II as confirmed just yet) and Samgukji/Sankokuji (although he's confirmed by the credits for that anyway) marked red. gamecom96-02p60.jpg (150.29 KB) gamecom96-02p61.jpg (180.97 KB) leesanghun.jpg (33.25 KB)

kingofcrusher Joined: 15 Aug 2009 Posts: 74 Location: Portland, Oregon	Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 12:08 am
	Wow that's really cool, Phantagram is one of my favorite developers.

CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	Posted: Thu May 27, 2010 1:11 pm
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	Wrote a new blog post on GDRI about Sanghun Lee, plugging Derboo's research: http://gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/Blog:Seoul_Train

derboo Joined: 08 Dec 2009 Posts: 115	Posted: Thu May 27, 2010 2:10 pm
derboo Joined: 08 Dec 2009 Posts: 115	Great post. There's one small fact I didn't know before that need correction, though. Lee Sanghun split with Lee Sangyoun and Lee Kyuhwan before the founding of Phantagram, or actually it seems the other two were the ones that split. All three were shown in a 1992 article featuring the founding of Open, but the latter two don't appear in any known Open game credits (the credits for the two 1992 games, Wonder Kid and Red Wiz, are unknown, though), and of course they founded Phantagram by 1994. There also seems to have been some kind of relationship going on between Open, Sieco and Gameline. Jang Pung 3 is copyright by both Open and Sieco, and Dodgeball King by Gameline is full of signs reading "Open" in game. Samgukji 3 is mostly by the same people as Jang Pung 3 save for the artists, and it doesn't have any mention of Open whatsoever. I sent an email to Expotato asking for an interview, but I haven't got any reply at all, so far (sent it on monday). Oh, and btw., Jang Pung 3 was released before Samgukji 3, if you care about the exact order.

CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	Posted: Thu May 27, 2010 5:02 pm
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	Were there more people involved with New Age than just Sanghun, Sangyoun, and Kyuhwan? Were Sangyoun and Kyuhwan the only co-founders of Phantagram?

derboo Joined: 08 Dec 2009 Posts: 115	Posted: Thu May 27, 2010 5:33 pm
derboo Joined: 08 Dec 2009 Posts: 115	For the people from the credits of Legendly Knight, aside from the three known guys: Choe Ji Young -> Worked on the 2000 RTS Kingdom under Fire (credited as JiYoung Choe) and maybe Zyclunt, I don't know Kim Kwon You -> Never saw that name elsewhere Choi Kyu Chul -> Never saw that name elsewhere Lee Gil Ho -> Worked on Zyclunt/Blade Warrior, Kingdom under Fire and Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders (credited as GilHo Lee) Doo Jin -> Was managing the games publishing at Topia, so he wasn't really part of the actual team. Later became president (and maybe was the founder) of Softry, a PC game developer and school active from 1994-1998. So Choe Jiyoung and Lee Gilho were also involved with Phantagram, but Lee Kyuhwan and Lee Sangyoun were the bosses. Also never saw Choe Jiyoung and Lee Gilho assossiated with Open, so it is likely they were "called back" by the other two for Phantagram. Wish I had the full credits for Zyclunt, though... Double Dragon was done by just Lee Sanghun and Lee Kyuhwan, Three Dragon Story by the two and musician Kwon Daeyong, who later also worked for Open (and even later did the music for Astonishia Story on Sonnori team).

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