In many of the ROMs I have, there is are special codes after the title in the filename that tells you more info about the game:
Super Star Wars - Return of the Jedi (U) (V1.0) [h2+C].smc
Final Fantasy III (U) (V1.1) [T+Spa100_Sayans].smc
Final Fantasy - Mystic Quest (U) (V1.0) [h2C].smc
Super Bomberman 3 (J) (35326) [f2+C].smc
and so forth...
What does all these special codes after the title mean?
I figured out some of the obvious ones like (J) means Japanese, and (E) means English, but (U) is confusing, since it's also in English. Codes like (V1.1) is the version of the rom (or the game?). But the rest is a complete mystery to me.
Can anyone explain or provide a link that shows you what these codes stand for?
This are taken directly from a ROM site which I will not link here. I have no idea how uniform sites are in using these codes. Oh, and there is more to the country version of a game than just language.
Standard Codes:
[a] - Alternate - Bad Dump
[BF] - Bung Fix
[c] - Cracked
[f] - Other Fix
[h] - Hack
[o] - Overdump
[p] - Pirate
[t] - Trained
[T] - Translation
(Unl) - Unlicensed
[x] - Bad Checksum
ZZZ_ - Unclassified
[!] - Verified Good Dump
(???k) - ROM Size
Special Codes:
[C] - Color GameBoy
[S] - Super GameBoy
(M#) - Multilanguage (# of Languages)
[M] - Mono Only (NeoGeo Pocket)
(PC10) - PlayChoice 10 (NES)
(1) - Japan (Genesis)
(4) - USA (Genesis)
(5) - NTSC Only (Genesis)
(8) - PAL Only (Genesis)
(BS) - BS ROMS (SNES)
(ST) - Sufami Turbo (SNES)
(NP) - Nintendo Power (SNES)
(Adam) - ADAM Version (Coleco)
(PAL) - PAL Video
Country Codes:
(A) - Australian
(C) - Chinese
(E) - Europe
(F) - French
(FN) - Finland
(G) - German
(GR) - Greece
(HK) - Hong Kong
(I) - Italian
(J) - Japan
(K) - Korean
(NL) - Dutch
(PD) - Public Domain
(S) - Spanish
(SW) - Sweden
(U) - USA
(UK) - England
(Unk) - Unknown Country
(-) - Unknown Country
.................
................: SPECIAL CODES ::...............
: :\
: .-----Gameboy-----. .----Super Nintendo----. :\
: [ [C] Color ] [ (BS) BS ROMs ] :\
: [ [S] Super ] [ (ST) Sufami Turbo ] :\
: [ [BF] Bung Fix ] [ (NP) Nintendo Power ] :\
: `-----------------' `----------------------' :\
: .--------Atari---------. :\
: .-----Genesis-----. [ (PAL) Euro Version ] :\
: [ (1) Japan ] `----------------------' :\
: [ (4) USA ] .---------GBA----------. :\
: [ (5) NTSC Only ] [ [hI??] Intro hacks ] :\
: [ (8) PAL Only ] `----------------------' :\
: [ (B) non USA ] .--------Coleco--------. :\
: [ [c] Checksum ] [ (Adam) ADAM Version ] :\
: [ [x] Bad Checksum] `----------------------' :\
: [ [R-] Countries ] :\
: `-----------------' :\
: .--------NES/FC--------. :\
: .--NeoGeo Pocket--. [ (PC10) PlayChoice 10 ] :\
: [ [M] Mono Only ] [ (VS) Versus ] :\
: `-----------------' [ [hFFE] FFE Copier fmt] :\
: `----------------------' :\
:...............................................:\
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
.................
................: COUNTRY CODES ::...............
: :\
: (1) Japan & Korea (4) USA & BrazilNTSC :\
: (A) Australia (J) Japan :\
: (B) non USA (Genesis) (K) Korea :\
: (C) China (NL) Netherlands :\
: (E) Europe (PD) Public Domain :\
: (F) France (S) Spain :\
: (F) World (Genesis) :\
: (FC) French Canadian (SW) Sweden :\
: (FN) Finland (U) USA :\
: (G) Germany (UK) England :\
: (GR) Greece (Unk) Unknown Country :\
: (HK) Hong Kong (I) Italy :\
: (H) Holland (Unl) Unlicensed :\
:...............................................:\
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
.......................
.............: STANDARD CODE NOTES ::............
: :\
: [a] This is simply an alternate version of a :\
: ROM. Many games have been re-released to :\
: fix bugs or even to eliminate Game Genie :\
: codes (Yes, Nintendo hates that device). :\
: ------------------- :\
: A bad dump often occurs with an older :\
: game or a faulty dumper (bad connection). :\
: Another common source of ROMs is a :\
: corrupted upload to a release FTP. :\
: ------------------- :\
: [f] A fixed game has been altered in some way :\
: so that it will run better on a copier :\
: or emulator. :\
: ------------------- :\
: [h] Something in this ROM is not quite as it :\
: should be. Often a hacked ROM simply has :\
: a changed header or has been enabled to :\
: run in different regions. Other times it :\
: could be a release group intro, or just :\
: some kind of cheating or funny hack. :\
: ------------------- :\
: [o] An overdumped ROM image has more data :\
: than is actually in the cart. The extra :\
: information means nothing and is removed :\
: from the true image. :\
: ------------------- :\
: [t] A trainer is special code which executes :\
: before the game is begun. It allows you :\
: to access cheats from a menu. :\
: ------------------- :\
: [!] Verified good dump. Thank God for these! :\
:...............................................:\
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
......................
.............: SPECIAL CODE NOTES ::.............
: :\
: **** SNES **** :\
: (BS) These Japanese ROMs were distributed :\
: through a satellite system in Japan :\
: known as the Broadcast Satellaview. :\
: They were transmitted along with a TV :\
: show which was connected to the game in :\
: some way. These games were only playable :\
: during the show, and thus stop after an :\
: hour, and many were timed so that only :\
: certain time periods were playable. :\
: ------------------- :\
: (ST) The Sufami Turbo device allowed two :\
: GameBoy sized carts to be plugged into :\
: the SNES. Certain carts combined into :\
: new games much like the Sonic & Knuckles :\
: lock-on technology by Sega. :\
: ------------------- :\
: (NP) Nintendo Power has been known to release :\
: games only available to its subscribers. :\
: Most of these ROMs are Japanese, as this :\
: practice occured mainly in Japan. :\
: ------------------- :\
: :\
: **** Genesis **** :\
: (1) Carts with this code will run on both :\
: Japanese and Korean machines. :\
: ------------------- :\
: (4) While this code is technically the same :\
: as a (U) code, it is a newer header :\
: format and represents that the cart will :\
: run on USA and Brazil NTSC machines. :\
: ------------------- :\
: (B) This country code indicates that the :\
: cart will run on any non US machine. :\
: ------------------- :\
: [c] This code represents a cart with known :\
: faulty checksum routines. :\
: ------------------- :\
: :\
: **** GameBoy **** :\
: [BF] Bung released a programmable cartridge :\
: compatable with the GameBoy which could :\
: hold any data you wished to play. :\
: However, many games do not function on :\
: Bung v1.0 carts and have to be 'fixed.' :\
: ------------------- :\
: :\
: **** Nintendo **** :\
: PC10 The PlayChoice 10 was an arcade unit :\
: which played exact copies of NES games :\
: in an arcade cabinet. The machines had a :\
: choice of 10 games to choose from and :\
: ran for about 3 minutes on 25 cents. :\
: ------------------- :\
: :\
: VS The Versus system ran on similar hard- :\
: ware to the PC10 machines, but simply :\
: allowed you to play against each other. :\
:...............................................:\
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
...........
...................: Credits ::..................
: :\
: Document written by Psych0phobiA / q^-o|o-^p :\
: :\
: All codes developed by Cowering for the :\
: Goodxxxx series ROM file renaming utilities. :\
: :\
: Visit #rareroms on NewNet in IRC! :\
:...............................................:\
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
Generally, (U) roms are better than (E) ROMs. Japanese and USA versions run at a smooth 60fps. European games run at 50fps to synchronize with their televisions' refresh rate. Many European versions run slower than the developers intended.