This is the tenth anniversary of the GameCube in France ! I seized the opportunity when the GameCube occupies minds to present an exclusive list and asked me several months of research : the master list of games released in South Korea. After talking with a Korean collector and scoured many blogs of retro-gaming in this country I think I can say today that the list is complete ! The “Full-setters” be happy, since it does not count that 27 titles… Unfortunately, like the iQue GBA games, they will be quite hard to find.
10 years that the GC came out with us, we can say that time flies. I still remember perfectly the first night I brought the little craft and purple cube at home with Luigi's Mansion… On the eve of its sale. everyone adored him. This is a console that I like very much to its game library, often criticized, and for the overall design of its entire range (hardware & software).
I have more than a hundred titles on the console, mostly Japanese, but also multiple designs including my favorites Spicy (Orange) and the Q. All this with various other accessories, such as the Club Nintendo Japan controllers (viewable on my Instagram), the Hori pad, the RGB and Component cables (modified for Jap RGB), and the Gameboy Player, etc.. I love this console so it was fairly logical to link it to my exotic collection in recent years.
Let us start by recalling the facts : Osaka is the firm moved to Seoul, South Korea, very late, in 2006. Before this period, distribution of its games and consoles were running through intermediaries such as Hyundai (the NES to the N64) then a company called Daewon – Daewon Media (for GBA games, GC and NDS).
For those who missed the boat, I briefly recall that for “Hyundai era” Super Nintendo games were actually repackaged U.S. version of PCBs in packaging “Korean” hybrid (US/JP). Well, This is somewhat the case with the Gamecube games!
Between 2002 and 2005, Daewon to therefore supported the localization and marketing of games Gamecube (and a few GBA games) on behalf of Nintendo printing boxes and manuals in Korean. Two other third-party publishers have also located and marketed Gamecube games (THQ Korea Ltd. and Global Game Publisher), but Daewon which is responsible for major brand licenses… all confused for a total of 27 different titles only !
These games are, for the vast majority, games in English, encoded in NTSC-J (for the area of the console) and sold in packaging modeled on the Japanese versions (which is not without charm ^ - ^). These versions are in no doubt a range of exotic and hybrid products sympatic, but what I find amazing is that they combine the useful (Games in English) with pleasure (packaging japonais) !
Here is the list of Gamecube games sold in South Korea :(Took much care despite having done much research, it may be still incomplete, I do not guarantee its accuracy).
Of these 27 titles, I managed to loan 2/3 (18 titles + duplicates) I present to you immediately picture to close this ticket and especially for your viewing pleasure and discovery :
Enter the Matrix / Enter the Matrix more
Eternal Darkness / Eternal Darkness
Kirby Air Ride / Kabir Air Ride
Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (AGE) / Mario Kart double dash!!
Super Mario Sunshine / Super Mario Sunshine
Super Puzzle Bubble All Star / All-Star Super peojeulbeobeul
Super Smash Bros. DX / Daenantu Smash Bros. DX
Swingerz Golf / With!With! Golf
The Legend of Zelda: Bonus Disk / Zelda The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker / The Legend of Zelda: Tact of wind targeting Hangul
Time Splitter 2 / Time seupeulriteojeu 2
Wrestle Mania XIX / WrestleMania 19
Very interesting article, thank you!
The Gamecube Gameboy Player disc is also in Korean. Everything in the package is Korean, actually.
Indeed but I wouldn’t consider it as a game to include in the master list, even though there is a disc, I’d rather think it’s an accessory, same as memory cards and such.
One more thing, do you have any picture evidence that the Japanese games with Korean sleeve and manual actually came with a Korean manual? I own Digimon battle chronicle and the manual is definitely Japanese with a Korean sleeve. I can purchase Starfox assault any time I want. I have yet to see the Korean sleeve for Custom Robo and Pikmin 2. Also, technically Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance was also released by Daewon C.I., but as far as I can tell there was nothing Korean about it. There was no sleeve or manual in Korean, but it was still technically released by them.
I’m sending you an email. To clarify things, these games came with the regular Japanese manual + Korean foldable color instruction sheet. (Which for me is some sort of “Korean manual”). I’d be interested in getting Starfox Assault.
I haven’t seen Pikmin 2 yet as well, but a Korean collector told me it exists, so I took his word.
Regarding Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, how can you be sure it was imported from Japan by Daiwon and not any other third party distributor then ?
Hello do you know if Wario World for Korea is any different from the US version? Or is it based off of the Japanese release? Thanks!
It’s the same as the US version