I found this from Taiwanese auction sites(s). I'm a bit confused was there really Dreamcast games released in Chinese language or is this bootleg?
Looks like a legitimate licensed original. It has the makers logo on it as well as Sega's info plus when would a pirate go to such lengths as the make a book case plus a real pressed GDROM. A very odd and rare find.
I've seen this before. There were at least a handful of other titles that received some kind of official "Asian"/HK packaging release. It would be interesting to see if the games themselves have Chinese translation/subtitles, or if the disc is a Japanese disc.
It's the Japanese version with Chinese covers. A lot of HK/Asia/Korea releases were made like that, though sometimes they used PAL versions, sometimes USA ones, sometimes unique ones - it depends on the game and the system (HK Megadrive was a stock PAL system, so they used PAL versions for those for example). But, this game has the Japanese serial number and even the Japanese barcode, and even says it on the back cover that it's in Japanese.
A lot of the big titles are translated now - but since that disk is about 10 years old, the chances are very good that it's just the Japanese release, complete with Japanese text.
It says "中文" in the back. I don't see 日文 written anywhere. Also http://www.pcstore.com.tw/hidtvgame/M14503046.htm this mentions that subtitles are in Chinese.
If I remember correctly there is another Asian version with Japanese box/obi, but with no "Crazy Games" logo in the bottom-right corner on the front.
It does, but the disc number (T-45601M) is identical to the Japanese release (which I happen to have a copy of here) - I am assuming that the "M" at the start of "MNTSC-J" is just a layout error and should be part of the disc number. I have never seen a localized version with the same disc # before.
Cover text: Do you dare enter the ghost house? (This is summarized, as the straight from Chinese to English is too difficult due to language barriers x.x) Back text: (red text) Something about the ghost house and a little girl, "enter if you dare" or something along the lines of that
Not only the serial, but the barcode also matches the Japanese version. And yeah, I've never seen a localized version that had the same serial - let alone barcode - as a different version. It is pretty odd. The disc should at least have a -18 or so suffix. Perhaps it is only visible in the disc inner ring, in which case it may actually be different than the normal Japanese version. The "MNTSC" refers to using ntsc-m system.
Given all the revision of the packaging into Chinese, and the fact it says "chinese language" (zhongwen) on it, it is funny that it still says "For Japan only" in English. Maybe an oversight?
What it most likely means is that it uses the Japanese region code. Asian PS2 games are also always labeled NTSC-J.
On the rear packaging, to the left of the "GD ROM" square it says: 日本版 DC which means Japan version Dreamcast.
I remember this release from way back when, it wasn't much of a story back then - just an official Taiwanese release... probably one of very (very) few.
