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Accidentally found Taiwanese book scans

Discussion in 'General Sega Discussion' started by Black Squirrel, Aug 2, 2018.

  1. Black Squirrel

    Black Squirrel

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    http://game.signage-cloud.org/md_book/index
    http://game.signage-cloud.org/pce_book/index
    http://game.signage-cloud.org/ss_book/index

    So this could be the best accidental find in years - scans of video game books from Taiwan. The quality varies a bit, but it's well within the bounds of acceptability given the contents.


    This is a lot of content, and it needs to be mirrored on our wikis as a priority. It is far too much for me to handle on my own - I've had a hard enough time just proving these things exist before now, so I need volunteers to get these up there. Most are destined for Sega Retro or NEC Retro.

    Get this tool, crop some things, upload.


    Right this second I'm not too worried what happens after that (i.e. what happens about wiki pages). A solution to that will come later - the priority is to mirror.

    help pls
     
  2. Gryson

    Gryson

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    I've checked a few of these against the Japanese game guides and they appear to be exact copies with the text replaced.

    I wonder if they were authorized or not. There don't seem to be any credits connecting them back to the staff/publishers from Japan.

    It's known that Chinese game magazines would copy layouts exactly from Japanese magazines and just change the text without any kind of permission. Not sure what happened in Taiwan.
     
  3. Black Squirrel

    Black Squirrel

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    Do you know which Japanese books map to these Taiwanese editions? Some seem obvious but I don't have a Japanese library to compare against.


    Just because at some point I'll have to give the files names, and it's easier to translate Japanese into English. :eng101:
     
  4. Black Squirrel

    Black Squirrel

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  5. Black Squirrel

    Black Squirrel

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    One day I'll get people interested in this stuff.


    Anyway proof, if you needed it, that this stuff originates from Taiwan:

    [​IMG]

    China (as in, the People's Republic) exists in Super Daisenryaku, but Taiwan isn't keen on China existing (and vice versa) so it's removed the five stars from the flag and made it a bit more pink. That'll show them.
     
  6. Hivebrain

    Hivebrain

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    I'm in the process of saving everything.

    Taiwan uses traditional Chinese text instead of simplified, so that's another way to tell.

    https://www.chineseconverter.com/en/convert/find-out-if-simplified-or-traditional-chinese
     
  7. 360

    360

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    Excellent work guys. Sonic Retro remains the best and most exhaustive monolith of collected Sonic history in existence. Stuff like this is awesome to see.
     
  8. Gryson

    Gryson

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    I will do this soon. I recognize most of the game guides.

    However, the "Top! Mega Drive" volumes are a mystery to me. I recognize a bit of the content (mainly interviews) from Beep! MD, but there are some pictures (for example, of the tablet and keyboard) that I haven't seen elsewhere. These could be from a Japanese magazine or book I haven't seen.
     
  9. Gryson

    Gryson

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    Here is more information on the game guides (everything but the Top! Mega Drive issues).

    I'm linking to the original Japanese books on Surugaya for convenience. Most of the books are part of the "Terebi land wan pakku" (TV land one pack) series of game guides. Let me know if you need more info.

    1. Super Daisenryaku
    Contains three translated sources:
    1) Super Daisenryaku Attack Manual Book
    2) Super Daisenryaku manual
    3) Super Daisenryaku catalog

    2. Phantasy Star II
    Contains two translated sources:
    1) Phantasy Star II Attack Manual Book Part 1
    2) Phantasy Star II Attack Manual Book Part 2

    3. Tatsujin and Golden Axe
    Tatsujin and Golden Axe Attack Manual Book

    4. Herzog Zwei, Mystic Defender, and The Revenge of Shinobi
    I don't know the sources for these. Some parts are taken from the game manuals. They might otherwise be original works, or taken from game magazine walkthroughs.

    5. Sword of Vermilion
    Vermilion Attack Manual Book

    6. Sorcerian
    Contains three translated sources:
    1) Sorcerian manual
    2) Sorcerian Attack Manual Book Part 1
    3) Sorcerian Attack Manual Book Part 2

    7. Phantasy Star III
    The scans here are actually two books combined (look at the page numbers). I don't have the original Japanese books, but I'm almost sure they are these:
    1) Phantasy Star III Attack Manual Book Part 1
    2) Phantasy Star III Attack Manual Book Part 2

    8. Bahamut Senki
    The cover here shows both Shining in the Darkness and Bahamut Senki, but the book only contains Bahamut Senki. I think the Shining in the Darkness portion was not scanned.
    I don't have it, but the source is probably this book (there aren't any others):
    Bahamut Senki Official Guidebook

    9. Advanced Daisenryaku
    This is also two books where the pages have been mixed (check page numbers). The two original sources are:
    1) Advanced Daisenryaku manual
    2) Advanced Daisenryaku Official Guidebook

    10. Ransei no Hasha
    Not sure about this one. The back cover seems to suggest this is a general guide the PC-98, X68000, and MD versions.

    I'll finish the remaining few later.