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Variation for "Wimbledon" in Brasil
Post Posted: Mon Dec 27, 2021 8:46 pm
Last edited by Bock on Fri Apr 01, 2022 10:24 am; edited 2 times in total
As it happens, the version of Wimbledon included in "Gamebox Esportes" is surprisingly different from the released European version.

It is the same game, but many changes, title screens, texts, players etc.

As we know, TecToy obtained data from Sega, as some of their other releases uses different builds for same games, and of course they released games like Fire & Fice and Battlemaniacs which presumably were sitting on Sega data vault..

What I would need to know to be able to release this to find out which came first (from the point of view of developers making the game). That's assuming that one version is the later one. Did TecToy use an earlier or later version?
Gut feeling is TecToy one is earlier because lacking the Licensing text and Logo bullshit on title screen, but could do with more elements.

If someone can solve this mystery contact me, we can label and release the dump.

Thank you :)
Wimbledon-01.png (14.78 KB)
Wimbledon-01.png

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Post Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2022 5:32 pm
I think BR is earlier. Evidence is somewhat circumstantial:

At least some of the same code is moved a few bytes later in the non-BR version.

Not conclusive, but at least usually that means more code was added

Though optimization (opposite chronology) is possible in my experience code inflation during development is far more common

Also in either case both versions were built from sources, neither is a pure ROM hack of the other

Also player names differ but I think you knew it already

Countries changed too

Also some large regions that are all FF bytes in BR version became actual data in overseas one

Eg 0x1727a and onward

BR one mentions "Soviet", other one "Romania"

IRL there were Soviet seeds in 1991 Wimbledon but not in 1992 so this all points to BR being earlier
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Post Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2022 5:46 pm
Actually if anything the BR Wimbledon roster is based on 1990 Wimbledon but with strange spelling changes, for instance "Gomass" instead of "Gómez" for Ecuador
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Post Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2022 10:25 am
Thank you Ben this has now been released at:
https://www.smspower.org/forums/18978
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Post Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2022 5:03 am
Congratulations on the release, and happy birthday :)
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Post Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2022 5:29 pm
Looking at European reviews of this game it first started getting reviewed in magazines published from February 1992, with Mean Machines giving a March release date. These have the green title screen, examples;

92.02? Consoles+ (Feb 92 issue)
92.02.27 Mean Machines (Mar 92 issue)
92.04.02 Sega Power (May 92 issue)

Then reviews from May onwards have the blue title screen, examples;

92.05.14 Sega Force (Jun 92 issue)
92.06.1x Joypad (Jul 92 issue)

Lots of July issues of magazines reviewed it, so it looks like it got pushed back to coincide with that year's Wimbledon tournament which ran from June 22nd - July 5th. This is confirmed by a weekly newspaper computer games section dated July 2nd which says it had just been released.

Looking at the official UK ELSPA software charts compiled by Gallup it first charted in the Console Top 20 at #15 for the week ending June 13th, dropping out of the Top 20 for the following 2 weeks, before reappearing around the time of the final at #4 for the week ending July 4th, and #9 for the week ending July 11th. It then dropped back out of the charts.

Games released on Fridays in the UK, so the most probable release date was 92.06.12.

So it looks like the green title screen version was the earlier one originally intended to release in March, and the blue title screen version is the one that released in June.

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Post Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2022 5:55 pm
Sega released a few games with the "All England Club" license, the last one being the Japanese version of "Wimbledon Championship Tennis" for Mega Drive on 94.05.20. Game Box Serie Esportes released 96.11, probably some time after the license had expired. That must explain why they used the older pre-license rom, as Wimbledon is a place name it could be used without a license.
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Post Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2022 5:43 am
And as we know this early version is exclusive to the Game Box Series, as Tectoy released Wimbledon II as Wimbledon for the solo game release. Even its box has the early title screen.
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