Akubi's recent dump of

Goukaku Boy Series - Shikakui Atama o Maruku Suru - Kokugo Battle Hen (Japan) (IE Institute)

made me do some research on this game series. First of all five of these games were incorrectly labeled in the database as

Goukaku Boy Series

while they actually are called

Goukaku Boy GOLD

Second I found at least nine of these games were released as standard and special editions. Four of the normal series which were initially released by Imagineer had rereleases by IE Institute as Special Editions. Akubi caught one of these:

DMG-BB4J-JPN 合格ボーイシリーズ ■いアタマを●くする。算数バトル編 スペシャルエディション
DMG-BE3J-JPN 合格ボーイシリーズ ■いアタマを●くする。社会バトル編 スペシャルエディション
DMG-BF3J-JPN 合格ボーイシリーズ ■いアタマを●くする。国語バトル編 スペシャルエディション dumped!
DMG-BH4J-JPN 合格ボーイシリーズ ■いアタマを●くする。理科バトル編 スペシャルエディション

合格ボーイシリーズ = Goukaku Boy Series
スペシャルエディション = Special Edition

And all five of the GOLD-editions had standard and special releases. However three of the special versions were both released by Imagineer and share the same serial. Only two had standard editions by IE institute and special releases by Imagineer:

合格ボーイGOLD ■いアタマを●くする。 - XXX
合格ボーイGOLD = Goukaku Boy GOLD

Goukaku Boy GOLD: Shikakui Atama wo Marukusuru - Joushiki no Sho IE DMG-BJ3J-JPN
Goukaku Boy GOLD: Shikakui Atama wo Marukusuru - Joushiki no Sho (Special Edition) imagineer DMG-BS4J-JPN

--> different, IE undumped

Goukaku Boy GOLD Shikakei Atama o Kore Kusuru: Kanji no Tatsujin IE ???
Goukaku Boy GOLD Shikakei Atama o Kore Kusuru: Kanji no Tatsujin (Special Edition) imagineer DMG-BK4J-JPN

--> different, IE probably undumped. Serial is unknown

Goukaku Boy GOLD Shikakei Atama o Kore Kusuru: Keisan no Tatsujin imagineer DMG-BC4J-JPN
Goukaku Boy GOLD Shikakei Atama o Kore Kusuru: Keisan no Tatsujin (Special Edition) imagineer DMG-BC4J-JPN
Goukaku Boy GOLD Shikakei Atama o Kore Kusuru: Zukei no Tatsujin imagineer DMG-BZ4J-JPN
Goukaku Boy GOLD Shikakei Atama o Kore Kusuru: Zukei no Tatsujin (Special Edition) imagineer DMG-BZ4J-JPN
Goukaku Boy GOLD Shikakui Atama wo Marukusuru - Nanmon no Sho imagineer DMG-BD4J-JPN
Goukaku Boy GOLD Shikakui Atama wo Marukusuru - Nanmon no Sho (Special Edition) imagineer DMG-BD4J-JPN

--> standard and special share serial and publisher. Most likely same dump

So we have five missing undumped versions - three standard Series and two GOLD releases. If anyone knows even more or can contribute the missing serial every help is welcome.

Update: There is also a special edition of

Goukaku Boy Series - Shikakui Atama o Maruku Suru - Suuji de Asobou Sansuu Hen
DMG-AM5J

I wonder if this is the unverified revA we have in the dat. If so the other special editions with matching serials might also be updated revisions.

Goukaku Boy GOLD Shikakei Atama o Kore Kusuru: Kanji no Tatsujin IE ???　=> DMG-BQ2J-JPN from Amazon

Goukaku Boy Series Shikakui Atama wo Marukusuru Shakai Battle Hen Imagineer => DMG-AK8J-JPN Amazon

合格ボーイシリーズ ■いアタマを●くする。理科バトル編 by Imagineer is DMG-AE8J-JPN, e.g. Otakarou or u-sindo

Also, it's shikakui atama wo maru kusuru for all of these, isn't it?

So we have now



How do you know if it's a special edition? The cartridges don't seem to say... I'd presume after a certain point they just had their Rev A and went with that. This might or might not have coincided with their re-release as "special" editions.

cYa,

Tauwasser

There are bigger boxes containing the smaller "regular" releases that feature the Special Edition tagline - see the new gb dumps thread:

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=2219&start=120

Yes, I saw that. It seems the special edition is just that the guide book was included in the set with the regular game box. It says so right on the box. However, the cartridge itself doesn't look any different. That was my point if there is anything different about them. So I guess this doesn't prove or disprove conclusively if the Rev A games were only found inside the special edition boxes.

cYa,

Tauwasser

Yeah, you are right but it's not really revisions but releases by different publishers with different codes as you know. All are v1.0 but the publisher logo has been replaced on bootup. Now we wonder if the regular and special editions coincide with a specific publisher each. Current state: It seems so. But if anyone can disprove this any picture is welcome