PGM owners, sign in (plus KoV question)

Being a PGM owner who's interested in collecting each of the installments of the Sangoku Senki / Knights of Valour series -- and having noticed that there are a good number of other PGM owners at n-g.com -- I'm posting this thread, hoping to accomplish two things:

1) Compile a list of all the n-g.com forum members who are PGM owners (to better facilitate communication and exchange of information between us, without alot of search-functioning to find other owners)

2) Compile a list of all the installments in the Sangoku Senki / Knights of Valour series of PGM games, including alternate titles for different geographic regions (the way the games listed in the 5 language sections of IGS' website is a mite confusing, to say the least, and for my own sake I'd like to get straight on how many installments exist, which countries received releases of each, and the (general) differences between them)

For those who are unfamiliar with IGS CO., LTD. and its PGM arcade hardware, IGS (International Games System) is a Taiwanese company, with a website at www.igs.com.tw . The PGM (PolyGame Master) is a mother-board / daughter-cart system, the design of which seems VERY reminiscient of recent editions of the NEO-GEO MVS 1-slot mobos. More info on the PGM can be found here (in English), and here (in German).

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Having searched thru old threads on the PGM and its games, here's the list I've compiled of n-g.com members who either have previously owned or currently own PGMs:

Dash no Chris
dougdesensi
Fox1
Galford Forever
Games_OnGames
Geese Amura
Greywolf
Husker Power
iamrandyray
Ill6
jefmcc
J0e Musashi
John_Smith
lill-c
MarcoRossi
MONSOON
Mr. Wizard
neo*geo --------------> you bought Greywolf's PGM + KoV, right?
NeoDragoN
neogeoholic
neojedi
NGT
pixeljunkie
PLECO
Pocket Man
Raiden Jetter Stahler
RevQuixo
Shou-sama
sonofx51
trunks
Verbatum
xtoo_short20x

I know this isn't everybody (and I know that a few of these accounts haven't been used in a while), but I think that's a substantial portion of us. If you are a PGM owner (whether your name is on the above list or not), could you please add a post to this thread, share your opinions of and experiences with the PGM system, and give us a list of the games you own (including which language each game is in)?

> NeoTurfMasta and chris1 -- you'd both previously indicated an interest in the PGM; have either of you taken the plunge yet?

> chimpmeister -- you mentioned that your friend owns a PGM with KoV; is he a member here, by chance?

> nruva and kaos -- you've both posted gameplay opinions in PGM threads; do either of you own PGM games, or do you have arcades in your area with PGM cabs?

> Alex0916 -- are you a PGM owner?

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IGS has produced a series of popular side-scrolling beat'em-ups based on the legendary heroes of China's "Three Kingdoms" era (also depicted in the Sangokushi / Romance of the Three Kingdoms series, the Sangoku Musou / Dynasty Warriors series, and numerous other games). The English-language editions of this series are called "Knights of Valour." In Kanji, the title is rendered as:

三国戦記

In Japanese, the title is pronounced "Sangoku Senki." I don't speak Chinese, so I don't know what the original pronunciation of the title is. Could any of our Chinese-speaking members explain the Cantonese and Mandarin pronunciations of this title?

So far, here's what I've been able to cobble together in my attempts to list all the installments in the Sangoku Senki / Knights of Valour series:

三国戦記
Sangoku Senki
Knights of Valour (LINK)
the first game in the series

三国戦記 PLUS
Sangoku Senki PLUS
Knights of Valour PLUS (LINK)
the first upgrade to the first game

三国戦記　風雲再起 (LINK-1) (LINK-2)
Sangoku Senki SUPER HEROES
Knights of Valour SUPER HEROES (LINK)
the second upgrade to the first game. I'm not sure why the Japanese version (this is the only KoV installment I've picked up so far) went with the English "SUPER HEROES" instead of sticking with the Chinese-language version's 4-kanji subtitle. Can someone explain the Cantonese and Mandarin pronunciations of that subtitle? In Japanese, it would be pronounced "Fuu'un Saiki"

三国戦記２ (LINK-1) (LINK-2)
Sangoku Senki 2 (LINK)
Knights of Valour 2
the first true sequel in the series

三国戦記２　飛龍在天 (LINK)
Sangoku Senki 2 -Hiryuu Zaiten-
Knights of Valour 2 NINE DRAGONS (LINK)
the first upgrade to KoV2

三国戦記２　武将争覇
Sangoku Senki 2 BUSYOU SOUHA (LINK)
is this another upgrade to KoV2?

三国戦記２　群雄争覇 (LINK)
Sangoku Senki 2 -Gun'yuu Souha-
is this another upgrade to KoV2?

新　三国戦記　七星転生
Shin Sangoku Senki -Shichisei Tensei-
Knights of Valour: The Seven Spirits
this latest installment is for Sammy's Atomiswave hardware, not PGM, but I included it here for completeness' sake

IGS' website lists 3 different subtitles for what appear to be different upgrades to KoV2. Can someone explain their Chinese pronunciations? In Japanese, they would be "Hiryuu Zaiten," "Bushou Souha" (rendered as BUSYOU SOUHA on the game's title screen) and "Gun'yuu Souha." I've seen an auction for a Japanese edition of BUSYOU SOUHA, so I know it was released in Japan under that title. I'm still trying to confirm whether or not "Hiryuu Zaiten / NINE DRAGONS" and "Gun'yuu Souha" had Japanese releases. I also need to know if "BUSYOU SOUHA" and "Gun'yuu Souha" had English-language releases -- if so, what were the English titles for them? Are Hiryuu Zaiten, Bushou Souha, and Gun'yuu Souha upgrades to the original SS2 / KoV2?

Or are Hiryuu Zaiten, Bushou Souha, and Gun'yuu Souha all the same game -- a single upgrade to SS2 / KoV2, but with 3 different secondary titles for 3 different languages? Upon closer examination, I've noticed a consistent difference in the way IGS' website URLs seem to differentiate between the Cantonese and Mandarin pages. On the frontpage (www.igs.com.tw) the 2 leftmost links go to the 2 different Chinese language pages (can someone tell me which one is Cantonese and which one is Mandarin?). The first language's KoV URLs tend to contain the word "chinese," while the second language's KoV URLs contain the word "china." This difference can be seen in the URLs for the Hiryuu Zaiten and Gun'yuu Souha pages. The Bushou Souha page, however, is only available in Japanese, even when accessed via either of the 2 Chinese sections. All this leads me to suspect that these 3 different subtitles may represent the same game (an upgrade to SS2 / KoV2), with Bushou Souha being the Japanese-language version, Hiryuu Zaiten being one of the Chinese-language versions, and Gun'yuu Souha being the other Chinese-language version. Can anyone confirm this suspicion?

The Korean-language portion of IGS' website would seem to indicate that at least some of the Sangoku Senki games have been released in Korea, but since I know nothing of the Korean language, I can't follow this up with my own research. Are there any folks here who can confirm whether or not the KoV series has been released in Korean? Have all the titles been released in Korean, or only a few -- if so, which ones? How are the titles pronounced in Korean? If you have the ability to enter Korean text in your reply, could you please include the titles written in Korean. I can't read Korean, but my computer can display Korean text and I'd like to be able to cut'n'paste the Korean titles alongside the Chinese, Japanese, and English titles for each game.

I know that xtoo_short20x posted a thread on this topic on 05/08/2004, but the Hiryuu Zaiten / Bushou Souha / Gun'yuu Souha issue didn't get addressed there. Just hoping to get some clarification on this. Thanks in advance for your help!

--Chris

Yep, I have one with the following games:

Knights Of Valour (Korean)

DodonPachi 2: Bee Storm: (US)

Demon Front (Japanese, USA)


I also Have Sengoku Senki: The Seven Spirits for my Atomiswave. Just thought I would include that.

Verbatum said:

Yep, I have one with the following games:
Knights Of Valour (Korean)
DodonPachi 2: Bee Storm: (US)
Demon Front (Japanese, USA)

I also Have Sengoku Senki: The Seven Spirits for my Atomiswave. Just thought I would include that.

Click to expand...

Thanks for reminding me, Verbatum -- on my way to work this morning, it occurred to me that my initial post should contain a request for PGM owners to indicate which games they own (easier to ask questions about a particular game if you know which members have it). Just edited the first post to include that request.

Re: your Korean edition of KoV -- do you speak Korean, Verbatum? or were you not particular about what language the cart was in when the opportunity to acquire it presented itself?

Re: Demon Front -- so, you own 2 copies of this game: one in Japanese and one in English? if so, are there any notable/noticeable differences between the two, other than text language?

Re: Seven Spirits -- what's your opinion of this game (I haven't read much on it, m'self)? how does it stack up against the PGM installments in the series? any shortcomings? what new features/improvements did the jump to Atomiswave provide?

--Chris

I sold off my PGM to Mike...who prompted sold it on eBay.

I owned Dragon World 2 a rather craptacular Shanghai rip-off and that's it.

I believe it was the Tawainese / Chinese version if that helps.

Interesting thread.
I think the PGM is a good system, pretty fun games. Although they feel like
lost neogeo titles, which is not a bad thing. At least they're in hardcore 2D.

Anyway, I own the following:

1. English PGM Motherboard (Bought NEW)

2. Martial Masters - Full English Kit (Bought NEW)

3. Puzzle Star - Full English Kit (Bought NEW)

4. DoDonPachi II Bee Storm kit (Bought USED)

Now all three of my games play in English, but some of the flyers have
some Chinese writings on them, but mostly English...

Chris, why not make a full list of all the games available for the system?

I intend to go after a full PGM collection, but my road will be full with obstacles,
as I wished to seek full kits only, of course loose carts can do while I find
full beautiful kits.

Also include Ketsui and ESPGaluda, as they're based on the PGM hardware,
just in different PCB format, instead of cart.

Here are some pics of those kits:

http://www.click-stick.com/game/photo/PCB/espgaluda.htm

http://www.click-stick.com/game/photo/PCB/ketsui.htm

Yeah, I have a PGM and a small collection (so far a puzzle game and DFront kits).

Really like the system, funny how people diss it but really rate the dedicated games from Cave.

System16 has info on the games.
There are 5 KOV games on the system, 3 variations of KOV (9D is the best) and 2 of KOV2. I remember a few threads about it on here some time ago. You should start by pulling that stuff together.

This system looks very interesting, it has what I would like to be made for the Atomiswave. Most likely I will buy one in the future.

Can somebody please tell me how much can I expect to pay for a motherboard and some loose carts?

Yep i'm one of them, i sold off all my ST-V stuff to buy the PGM stuff and i definately made the right decision. Its so much like playing the Neo its unreal! espeicially since i use my Old Style Sticks on it Any how heres what i have and who i bought them from:

PGM Mobo - Used - Bruce_Choo Ebay

Martial Masters - Used - Bill Burger Ebay
Bought a Flyer from NBM for it

Knights of Valour Superheroes - Used - Bruce_Choo
Has the Flyer with it.

Demon Front - Used - DougDsensi
With Stickers + Flyer

Puzzle Star - Used - DougDsensi
Kit - no box

Photo Y2K - Used - Forum Member in Germany whose name escapes me

Knights of Valour 2 - Used - SonoFX

Killing Blade - Used - KaedesBlade

Anyone got the Korean/Taiwan version of Martial Masters as the English version has a character missing just wanted to know if i was missing anything

Hey Mr. Dragon,

Are there animals to ride in the KOV series? like horses or dragons?

Anyone here played Killing Blade?
A small review would be appreciated...

xtoo_short20x said:

Hey Mr. Dragon,

Are there animals to ride in the KOV series? like horses or dragons?

Click to expand...

Not in KOV, + or Superheroes, as for KOV2 i don't know......yet

I'm also after some Killing Blade info, it seems like a hard one to find. ( apart from coinopexpress )

Dash no Chris said:

> nruva and kaos -- you've both posted gameplay opinions in PGM threads; do either of you own PGM games, or do you have arcades in your area with PGM cabs?

Click to expand...

An arcade in So. Cal, well the old Golf Land and now Camelot, has PGM games. They've had Martial Masters, KOV games, and Demon Front... probably others from time to time.

I've got a PGM with a few games:

DoDonPachi II Bee Storm
Knights of Valor
Photo Y2K
Martial Masters
Dragon World 2

Not sure what versions they all are though...

My PGM collection

I currently own the following PGM carts:

- Demon Front (for use in all countries except China, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Korea)
- Knights of Valour Super Heroes (for use in Hong Kong only)
- Knights of Valour 2 Nine Dragons (for use in Hong Kong only)
- Martial Masters (for use in China only)

And yes, I'd also be very interested in any info concerning Killing Blade ...

EDIT: I've just recently sold/ traded away my Oriental Legend and Road of the Sword.

Dash no Chris said:

Thanks for reminding me, Verbatum -- on my way to work this morning, it occurred to me that my initial post should contain a request for PGM owners to indicate which games they own (easier to ask questions about a particular game if you know which members have it). Just edited the first post to include that request.

Re: your Korean edition of KoV -- do you speak Korean, Verbatum? or were you not particular about what language the cart was in when the opportunity to acquire it presented itself?

Re: Demon Front -- so, you own 2 copies of this game: one in Japanese and one in English? if so, are there any notable/noticeable differences between the two, other than text language?

Re: Seven Spirits -- what's your opinion of this game (I haven't read much on it, m'self)? how does it stack up against the PGM installments in the series? any shortcomings? what new features/improvements did the jump to Atomiswave provide?

--Chris

Click to expand...

No problem!

1: I don't speak Korean, and usually I prefer Japanese versions, but a $50 bucks, I wasn't going to complain!

2: The only difference Between the Japanese and US Demon front is the text and title screen.

3: Seven Spirits: I really dig the game, and I love the sprites-against-Poloygon Background style that they choose to use. The Combat system is a bit simplified, and there are some very nice additions like a rage meter that makes you invinceable, and lets you do "arts" (super moves) till the meter runs out. It's very solid, with branching paths and character specific levels. The music is decent, and the SFX are wonderful, with plenty of bass for the beefy hits.

One other thing: The game is BALLS HARD on default. Much harder than the PGM versions. Also, the game isn't as long as the other KOV games. That can be a good thing though: KOV was 1 Hr and 35 Min when I timed it! Also, like the other KOV games, you cannot grapple, which I wish you could.

Over-all, it's a good Beat-em-up. I still dig Demolish fist more, but it's totally worth the price!

i got a pgm including demon front, bee storm, martial masters and knights of valour but i have to look wich regions they are

Here's the updated owners' list. I'd planned to simply edit it in the first post of this thread, but the modifications I made brought that post to just over the 10,000-character limit. For the time being, I'll update it in this post:

*** LEGEND ***
DDP2:BS = Dodonpachi 2: Bee Storm
DF = Demon Front
DW2 = Dragon World 2
KoV = Knights of Valour
KoV:SH = Knights of Valour SUPER HEROES
KoV2 = Knights of Valour 2
KoV2:9D = Knights of Valour 2: NINE DRAGONS
KoV:7S = Knights of Valour: The Seven Spirits (for Atomiswave)
MM = Martial Masters
OL = Oriental Legend
PS = Puzzle Star
PY2K = Photo Y2K
RotS = Road of the Sword

C = Chinese
E = English
HK = Hong Kong
J = Japanese
K = Korean
PCB = PCB release (not in PGM cart format)

B.I.GPSYCHE ===== Former Owner; used to have DF (?)
Dash no Chris ===== MM (J), KoV:SH (J)
dougdesensi
Fox1
Galford Forever
Games_OnGames
Geese Amura
Greywolf ===== DF (E), KoV:SH (HK), KoV2:9D (HK), MM (C), OL (C), RotS (J, PCB)
Husker Power
iamrandyray
Ill6 ===== DF (?), a puzzle game (?)
jefmcc
J0e Musashi
John_Smith
lill-c
MarcoRossi
MONSOON
Mr. Wizard
neo*geo
NeoDragoN ===== DF (E), KoV:SH (E), KoV2 (C), MM (E), PY2K (E), PS (E)
neogeoholic
neojedi
NGT
pixeljunkie
PLECO
Pocket Man ===== DF (?), DDP2:BS (?), KoV (?), MM (?), OL (?)
Raiden Jetter Stahler
RevQuixo ===== Former Owner; used to have DW2 (C)
Shou-sama
sonofx51
The Chief ===== DDP2:BS (?), DW2 (?), KoV (?), MM (?), PY2K (?)
trunks
Verbatum ===== DF (E), DF (J), DDP2:BS (E), KoV (K), KoV:7S (Atomiswave)
xtoo_short20x ===== DDP2:BS (E), MM (E), PS (E), ESPGaluda (PCB), Ketsui (PCB)

BIG thanks to everyone who's replied so far!

xtoo_short20x said:

Chris, why not make a full list of all the games available for the system?

Click to expand...

I plan to do so. In the meantime, I wanted to start by getting things straight in my head re: the KoV series, and by identifying the PGM owners on this board.

Ill6 said:

Yeah, I have a PGM and a small collection (so far a puzzle game and DFront kits).

Click to expand...

Which puzzle game do you have, Ill6? and which language-version(s) are your games?

Ill6 said:

There are 5 KOV games on the system, 3 variations of KOV (9D is the best) and 2 of KOV2.

Click to expand...

So, to your knowledge, there are 3 editions of KoV1:
Knights of Valour
Knights of Valour PLUS
Knights of Valour SUPER HEROES

and 2 editions of KoV2:
Knights of Valour 2
Knights of Valour 2 NINE DRAGONS

So, that would mean that the alternate KoV2 "sub-titles" I mentioned at the start of this thread ("Bushou Souha," "Gun'yuu Souha," and "Hiryuu Zaiten") are the same game as KoV2:9D, just with different "sub-titles" for different regions of release?

@The Chief: I've added your name to the owners' list; please let us know which language-versions you own
@Pocket Man: please let us know which language-versions you own

--Chris

oh i forgot my oriental legends

I used to own a PGM mobo/Demon Front combo,but sold it off rather quickly due to the lack of support/quality titles.

It's an average system,in my opinion,and nothing more.

Thought i would bump the thread and give you my opinion on KOV2

Its pretty good! Not as good as Super Heroes but still damn good! The first thing i noticed is the chracters are smaller, now i don't know if they are smaller sprites or its zoomed out because there are actually more enemies.Still it looks gorgeous as ever all chracters animated very very well and some outstanding BG's remind me alot of the MM BG's which of course are like LB/LB2's BG's so its all good!

Again multiple routes are with us and some are super sneaky this time, very hard to find and certain ones can be only opened in certain times its very tricky but all adds to longevity of the game. Items are galore as always with many armours, weapons, throwables and magic availible again, from the old bomb and spike ball to new stuff like healing herbs and Morale boosters.

Control is tight as ever with every charcter playing very different, the only thing i don't really like is the Special move system which this time is done by selecting it in your Item menu and pressing D to activate, although they can be done with commands like KOVSH it just dose'nt feel as easy and combos don't flow well for me at all. This seems to have been fixed in 9D which is the only one i have found a FAQ for, infact alot seems to have changed between 2 and 9D but then again alot happened between KOV and SH.

All in all i am happy with it, very happy actually! The one thing that does annoy me is i bought the Chinese version and tbh i would love the english version but then again i did get a good price and PGM games aint the easiest to get!

So yes its worth picking up but if i had the choice i would have definately picked up 9D instead it looks like its what SH was to the original KOV.

Hehe... I must have turned up in the REALLY old searches, but I still have my board. I have an English Martial Masters cart, English Bee Storm, and a KOVSH in some Asian language that I've been putting off getting rid of forever.

I'd really like a quality KOV release like either 9D or Gladiator, but I hate the prices on them and contacting IGS regarding direct sales is a nightmare.

so no killing blade info?

can someone review this game for me please:


I've only seen 2 screenshots, it looks like Last Blade/SF Alpha. anyone? I see alot of you have it.

DevilRedeemed said:

can someone review this game for me please:

I've only seen 2 screenshots, it looks like Last Blade/SF Alpha. anyone? I see alot of you have it.

Click to expand...

Alot of people say its "last Blade without Weapons" and there pretty much right. Nice Cast of characters, great moves, very comboable and Animation that rivals SF3! This is the game alot of people buy the PGM for and I LOVE IT!

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/themightyspud/Martial Masters Animation showoff.AVI

Small vid of a couple of my fave Standing Animations!

I have 3 PGM Motherboards and 12 carts.
All English,except for Knights of Valour 2.
I got most of them directly from IGS.
I really like this system and wish more games would get made for it.

Demon Front...................over $300 from IGS when it came out
Bee Storm.......................$150 from IGS
Dragon Wolrd 3...............Ebay with system
Dragon World 2001..........$120 from IGS
The Gladiator...................Over $300 from IGS when it came out
KoV Super Heroes.............$150 form IGS
KoV 2................................Ebay with system
KoV 2 Nine Dragons..........$150 from IGS
Martial Master...................Ebay with system
Oriental Legend Special....$150 from IGS
Puzzle Star.......................Ebay about $75
Puzzli Plus 2......................$120 from IGS

And KoV Seven Spirits for AW.

I am also looking to find a Killing Blade English bare cart.
and for artwork I'm looking for :
Dragon World 3 Flyer.
Oriental Legend Special Flyer & DIP Sheet.
Killing Blade DIP sheet.
Copys of the DIP sheet is okay.....scanned?