Hi there! I'm looking for official Korean region stuff, mostly Nintendo and Sega. Anything Gamecube era or older. Condition is fairly important but feel free to show me what you've got. I have some games that need boxes and boxes that need games. Items can be posted to the US or Korea, whichever suits the situation best.
many of Korean release especially ealier than PS2 were basically Japanese release with Korean sticker slab on. I have GBA Advance Metal Slug and it's Japanese release with Korean sticker on it. on the other hand PS2 release were pretty much fully localised with Korean instead of Japanese TXT.
I agree with this to some extent. But there are some rather large exceptions to this generalization (notably Korean SNES games) PS2 did mark the beginning of true localization on a wide scale but there are also early efforts with Korean translation. Some SMS games are simply Japanese carts with Korean stickers on them but the packaging was almost always Korean. GBA repacks (and a few GameCube ones) are the only ones that are really like what you describe. So technically these would be *later* than the PS2 launch, or at the very least contemporary.
that's because back then it was illegal(?) to sell games with Japanese in it from my understanding. hence why a lot of clones by Smasung, GoldStar, Hyndai, etc. before it was finally allowed legally(?) - around PS2?
It's really complicated There were periods of time where Japanese text and content was completely legal, even in the early 90s. There are also quite a few officially imported Super Famicom games with import stickers from 1993. I think the law you are referring to actually came into effect around 1994.