Hyper Street Fighter II Anniversary Edition - US version controversy. 56K WARNING

[DevilRedeemed]

so is this legit? according to Trieu and his criteria, no (even though I haven't shown him the pictures merely approached him about the board's existence) -

You may or may not know that when Capcom USA Coin-Op was in business, we purchased quite a bit of merchandise from them, so our knowledge of what is and aren't legitimate releases is pretty solid.

To be specific, SF AE is a true Japanese release only. The chips were sent to various countries, mostly Asian, making the item a Japanese converted board with English text. There is no US version, since Capcom Coin-Op was out of business during this release. We inquired with Capcom USA about these boards and they specifically told us that there is NO official US release. They offered a party outside the US to modify the board with Japanese chips to have the text translated to English, but again, this doesn't make the release a true US release.

so the asian release isn't even legit? in other words, if you accept that there is an asian version, maybe you must accept that there is also a US version - to the contrary you would only accept that the japanese version is the only legit copy of this board. these is only theory based on Trieu's argument. if I where to send Razoola (if he where to accpet) a board, would he be able to determine if it is legit or not?

board pics:
http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/9910/mvc057ftf7.jpg
http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/342/mvc059flr4.jpg
http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/7756/mvc060fkv3.jpg
http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/7/mvc061fmz3.jpg

 

[bk2099]

just letting you know that you can switch the region easily with the bootleg version

 

[DevilRedeemed]

just letting you know that you can switch the region easily with the bootleg version

check the pictures of the PCB - does that look like a bootleg version to you? or did you not read where I asked if sending it to Razoola would clarify matters? I mean you could add something a bit more constructive, is this not interesting enough to you that maybe you can add something more substantial?

 

[capo]

The board looks legit for me.

if anyone can change the image format so they load faster and I can replace these it would be greatly appreciated.

done

 

[NeoCverA]

There is an asia and japan version i believe. Im using the asian version on my psp which includes all english text.

 

[taitai]

If Capcom released anything in 2004, I wasn't aware of it.

 

[DevilRedeemed]

thanks capo.

lol.devilreemed - I suck at writing my own user name.

neocvera, yeah that's what supposedly came out, though in Trieu's opinion the asian version isn't a true regional variation either. what I'm saying is he sais the US version and the Asiasn version are not real variations of the only true version - the Japanese one. so.. I dunno. these are legit boards (i.e.not bootleg) I'm almost certain of this. Trieu's angle is coloured by his interpretation of what's legit and what isn't. in his opinion, the asian version does not truely exist either.

 

[DevilRedeemed]

another of Trieu's contestations to my enquiries:

Let me simplify this for you.

Like SFIII, 3rd strike, there is an Asian version with English text. The SF AE is in the same scenario. Capcom USA never got it's hands on the chips, so if it came from Capcom JAPAN, which it did, it's a converted or say unofficial release of the game. It's authentic, no doubt, but not official. It's worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it and given that I personally know it's not a true US version, it has no collector's value if that's what you're trying to get at.

The board that you have has been circulated throughout the Asian market, so it's by no means rare. You may have not seen this before, but it's VERY common. Most Chinese operators don't care for what version it is, they just use them to make money, but they are in fact using the exact same chipset that you see on your board.

The only TRUE release of this game was the JP release, which used the VA-1 board, a hybrid of the A and B board into one housing. All others are converted sets. I still have the emails from Capcom explaining this to me.

Regards,

A-S

highlighted are the parts I find most interesting. I don't know if Trieu is just pulling out of his arse or if it's true, but if Capcom endorsed this as for the US region - how the hell is it not legit?

A+B boards are conversion boards? the US version is very common? what to make of all of this...

 

[NeoCverA]

Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition (Asia 040202)

Thats what Razoola recently released the proper XOR's for in the emulation world. Take notice of the numbers compared to those on your screen - same.

Im sure you have Asian roms.

 

[KagerouSama]

Im sure you have Asian roms.

I'm sure a shot of penicillin will clear that up.

 

[AlphaONE]

No idea if this legit.

But I know for a fact Vinh is pissed that he didn't find this himself.

 

[DevilRedeemed]

Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition (Asia 040202)

Thats what Razoola recently released the proper XOR's for in the emulation world. Take notice of the numbers compared to those on your screen - same.

Im sure you have Asian roms.

I understand this, but how legit is this anyway? that's the question - how do you place this? do you consider the Asian roms to be legit? if not then you automatically throw this out too - but if you do, then maybe you can consider this to be the real deal. catch my drift? unless Capcom did not give to go ahead themselves to have CAPCOM U.S.A. along the bottom of the title screen, then how do you apraise this?

 

[billd420]

Hey your HSF2 is definately legit. Bootleggers dont' screen chip numbers/names on mask roms. Note how the mask roms have "HSF2, and the socket number on them.

Good score man!

 

[AlphaONE]

Vinh is probly not to happy at this point.
Awesome find though dude.
Hope you keep that fucker

 

[DevilRedeemed]

lol. thanks guys. the guy may be right to an extent, I don't know - I mean he's done his homework on alot of stuff. but there is bitterness in the way he answers emails. I don't know why he's so hostile but whatever.

here's the crux of the issue:

The opposite can be said for SF AE. If Capcom USA claims they never released this item themselves, so how can someone claim it's officially a US version? Again, the Coin-Op division was out of business when this was released, so how can you call this a US release when it wasn't released in the US? It's not an opinion, it's a fact. We're not talking about laws here, we're talking about proper procedures of what is considered official and unofficial. To be specific, it has to be released by Capcom USA Coin-Op to be called a USA version. There are no if's and buts about it. Call it semantics, call it anal, call it "well, I don't agree because someone who is knowledgeable with this tells me otherwise" the truth is Capcom has the last word.

interesting.


he still isn't giving me a straight answer as to what place these boards ocupy - why where they made with Capcom USA written on the title screen, even though by then the coin op section of Capcom USA had already shut down? all it is is a point blank dismissal that they are official goods - what they are is avoided completly.

I'm more interested at getting to the truth here, not to generate a smokescreen whereby I end up advertising being in possession of ultra rare ware. yes it would be cool if it where true, but if it isn't I'd like to know and I think others would be interested in this too.

 

[bk2099]

after looking into both the jap and asia roms through a hex editor i can see that many regions are programmed into the rom. there's JAPAN, ASIA, HISPANIC, USA and ETC (WORLD). my guess is that capcom intended to release the game in those regions but never did. lucky for me i can activate any of those regions with my bootleg board. here's some screens of the hispanic version

 

[taitai]

lol. thanks guys. the guy may be right to an extent, I don't know - I mean he's done his homework on alot of stuff. but there is bitterness in the way he answers emails. I don't know why he's so hostile but whatever.

here's the crux of the issue:

interesting.


he still isn't giving me a straight answer as to what place these boards ocupy - why where they made with Capcom USA written on the title screen, even though by then the coin op section of Capcom USA had already shut down? all it is is a point blank dismissal that they are official goods - what they are is avoided completly.

I'm more interested at getting to the truth here, not to generate a smokescreen whereby I end up advertising being in possession of ultra rare ware. yes it would be cool if it where true, but if it isn't I'd like to know and I think others would be interested in this too.

Doesn't capcom usa own the rights to Street Fighter?

 

[DevilRedeemed]

after looking into both the jap and asia roms through a hex editor i can see that many regions are programmed into the rom. there's JAPAN, ASIA, HISPANIC, USA and ETC (WORLD). my guess is that capcom intended to release the game in those regions but never did. lucky for me i can activate any of those regions with my bootleg board. here's some screens of the hispanic version

edit: that's awesome thanks for posting this up. so, then, what to make of it - if the roms are dumped would I have a definititve answer?

also can anyone tell me what color the cart label to Red Earth (US) is please?

 

[billd420]

Let me proceed this by saying Vihn is a dumbass. Why would an asian bootleg be set to the USA region? Also, what explains the mask roms with HSF2 screened on them? Final point I'm going to make, if this was a hackjob/boot why would it have the suicide battery? All of the boots I've seen are "pheonixed" so to speak.

Claiming this has no collectors value is ridiculous. That board is crazy rare, and thats a nice find you got there. My guess is the USA region was more or less a location test cartridge, much as USA Red Earth carts.

Igs- score me one of those USA HSF2's

Oh yeah, i'm pretty sure Capcom USA doesn't acknowledge Red Earth's existence as a US release... I could be wrong about that however.

 

[Trieu]

@Devil - The issue at hand isn't whether the board is legit or not. The chips themselves are absolutely legit as I explained, but are converted "B" boards, which were made for the Asian and some Hispanic markets. Capcom Coin-Op USA did not distribute any of these boards stateside, so once again, there was no official release by them. All the ENGLISH boards circulating out there were converted boards, legit, but converted, NOT an official release.

I think what you're trying to get at here is that this item is rare, which is far from the truth. Capcom referred us to one of their service centers in a Hispanic country to convert as many "B" boards as we wanted to with English text. For legal reasons, if I was to use this board in the USA, the menu would display USA, as you can see in those screenshots.


From the horses mouth:

Tuesday, February 17, 2004, 11:13 A.M.

Vinh-san,
Sorry to inform you that Hyper SF2 will not be available to US.
Capcom Japan sold off all the boards in Japan and no plan to produce
additional quantity.

It seems we did not received your package for repair yet.
Did you send the package under your name and with RMA on the package?
Would you please check your UPS tracking number following link for the
status.
http://www.ups.com/tracking/tracking.html

Regards,

XXXXXXXXXXX
Capcom

@AlphaOne - The whole story is Devil offered these boards to me as ultra rare US version. I passed on the offer and replied to him that there was no official release by Capcom Coin-Op USA and the ones circulating are converted boards. This is when Devil questioned the facts.

Devil is welcome to advertise this item any way he chooses, but when Capcom has told me via email and in phone conversations that they never released this game stateside, should I believe him or the main source themselves?

I am not interested in this game and declined Devil's offer to buy them up in my very next reply to him.

Like anything else, the value of this item is as much as you're willing to pay for them. I can tell you that there are plenty of these converted boards, mostly in Hispanic countries, so the rarity issue is not an issue.

If Devil really wanted to unravel the mystery of all this, he was given the direct Capcom contacts to do so, but instead, asked members who's expertise is more in the field of the NEO•GEO.

@Devil: So the question is: why don't you contact the people I gave you and find out the truth once and for all? Why ask more speculators, because all you'll get is more questions. The answer is a simple email away.

 

[billd420]

IGS: Are those capcom eprom stickers foil stickers with the blue foil "Capcom" embossed?

 

[Trieu]

Let me proceed this by saying Vihn is a dumbass. Why would an asian bootleg be set to the USA region? Also, what explains the mask roms with HSF2 screened on them? Final point I'm going to make, if this was a hackjob/boot why would it have the suicide battery? All of the boots I've seen are "pheonixed" so to speak.

Claiming this has no collectors value is ridiculous. That board is crazy rare, and thats a nice find you got there. My guess is the USA region was more or less a location test cartridge, much as USA Red Earth carts.

Igs- score me one of those USA HSF2's

Oh yeah, i'm pretty sure Capcom USA doesn't acknowledge Red Earth's existence as a US release... I could be wrong about that however.

Lol Bill. That's all I can say. Igs - One person has agreed that this is uber rare, so charge him accordingly.

TRIEU

 

[billd420]

@Vihn

What I dont' understand is since Capcom lead you to a service to get the cartridge converted, however you claim it is not an official Capcom game. Now I'm going out on a limb here but I'm 99% positive they didn't suggest sending it to Razolla to get English text in game LOL. That being said, this said conversion service has to have had some sort of support from Capcom. That being said, since the conversion service was endorsed by capcom, please explain why its not an official USA cartridge? Also, there has been a confirmed Hispanic version... why would this conversion shop in Spain be converting games to USA region and not Hispanic?

Finally, saying its not "rare" is obsurd. Now I haven't been into board collecting as long as you, but I'm by no means green... this is the first one I've ever seen pop up. Thats all I know, and I'm sure a few collectors (can think of more than one off the top of my head) would pay a pretty penny for it.

@Igs: What color is the shell on the case?

 

[billd420]

One person has agreed that this is uber rare, so charge him accordingly.

Zomg!!11! Its almost as uber rare as that $1200 USA 3rd strike "kit"...

 

[Trieu]

@Vihn

What I dont' understand is since Capcom lead you to a service to get the cartridge converted, however you claim it is not an official Capcom game. Now I'm going out on a limb here but I'm 99% positive they didn't suggest sending it to Razolla to get English text in game LOL. That being said, this said conversion service has to have had some sort of support from Capcom. That being said, since the conversion service was endorsed by capcom, please explain why its not an official USA cartridge? Also, there has been a confirmed Hispanic version... why would this conversion shop in Spain be converting games to USA region and not Hispanic?

Finally, saying its not "rare" is obsurd. Now I haven't been into board collecting as long as you, but I'm by no means green... this is the first one I've ever seen pop up. Thats all I know, and I'm sure a few collectors (can think of more than one off the top of my head) would pay a pretty penny for it.

@Igs: What color is the shell on the case?

In laymans terms, as explained in numerous emails to Devil, which he did not either absorb or relay properly....the board is legit, but not an official US release. Capcom Coin-Op USA never released this item themselves, as they had a third party convert these boards for them.

Capcom Coin-Op at the time folded, was in bankruptcy, was not around, was not in business, therefore, it was farmed out, hence not from Capcom themselves. Legit, but not official.

You are welcome to buy this as you choose. My emails to Devil were intended for private discussion to let him know as a seller that the item isn't as he advertised. He could've unknowingly sold these boards for a ridiculous amount and later the buyers would've been pissed if it was misadvertised. Instead, he wanted to go public, which is okay and will be resolved...IF he wants to make the phone call or email Capcom.

It's so simple here guys, but you guys, just make it ever so more difficult. Why don't you stop asking questions and go to Capcom to get the answer? Worried that the value would drop?