Battle Gear 3 (Arcade)

This game/console's online features are no longer supported. While this game/console's online features were once accessible, they are (as of December 26, 2005) no longer officially supported and online-exclusive features may be documented as now-unseen content.

To do: There are three international versions - "O" with NESYS (online service) support, "E" without (neither of them are currently dumped), plus a "C" version that uses the Hong Kong server (battlegear3.com.hk). The US version has some unused WIP tracks from Battle Gear 3 Tuned, plus the Nissan March 14s (BK12) and Mitsubishi Colt Sport-X Version (Z27A) from that and the PlayStation 2 port.

Battle Gear 3 is one of the earliest arcade games with support for online services, with the NESYS service allowing players to save their progress in form of an actual car key (instead of save cards).

It's also the point when the series was getting dangerously close to provoking a cease-and-desist letter from Kodansha.

Car Listing#

Found in 0x1C1C70 (version "A" dongle) is a listing of cars featured in the game with not just spelling errors, but also misassigned manufacturer (the NSX-R being listed as a Subaru instead of Honda). There are also explicit references to Initial D (as well as implicit ones to Wangan Midnight) in entries referring to tuned cars.

Note that some garbled strings have been cleaned and line breaks have also been added.

SUBARU___[BGC]
MITSUBISHI_EVO4_SEIJI__________[SCN]
MITSUBISHI_EVO3_KYOICHI________[KCE]
MAZDA____[FDS]
MAZDA____[KFD]
MAZDA____[RFC]
HONDA____[TDC]
HONDA____[TEK]
NISSAN___[W34]
NISSAN___[W33]
NISSAN___[N32]
NISSAN___[S12]
NISSAN___[S18]
TOYOTA_____Vitz_TURBO__________[TNC]
TOYOTA_____SUPRA RZ_WANGAN_____[WJZ]
TOYOTA_____MR-2_KOGASHIWA______[KSW]
TOYOTA_____LEVIN_SUPER_CHARGER_[S86]
TOYOTA___[T86]
TOYOTA___[M86]
TOYOTA___[T85]
TOYOTA___[85L]
MITSUBISHI_LANCER EVOLUTION VII[CTR]
SUBARU_____IMPREZZA spec C_____[GDC]
SUBARU_____NSX_type_R__________[NAR]
SUBARU_____IMPREZZA S202_______[GDS]
NISSAN_____Silvia______________[S14]
NISSAN_____Silvia______________[S13]
MAZDA____[NB8]
SUBARU_____IMPREZZA 4DOOR______[GC8]
MAZDA______RX-7________________[FD3]
TOYOTA___[205]
SUBARU_____LEGACY B4___________[BE5]
SUBARU___[GDB]
MITSUBISHI_LANCER EVOLUTION III[CE9]
NISSAN___[R33]
HONDA____[NA2]
TOYOTA_____Vitz________________[NCP]
MITSUBISHI_LANCER EVOLUTION VII[CT9]
NISSAN___[R32]
NISSAN___[R34]
NISSAN_____180SX_______________[RPS]
MITSUBISHI_LANCER EVOLUTION IV_[CN9]
TOYOTA_____MR-2________________[SW2]
SUBARU_____IMPREZZA 2DOOR______[GC8]
MAZDA______RX-7________________[FC3]
MAZDA____[NA6]
TOYOTA___[L86]
TOYOTA___[T86]
HONDA______CIVIC TYPE R________[EP3]
TOYOTA___[SXE]
HONDA____[AP1]
HONDA____[EK9]
HONDA______INTEGRA TYPE R______[DC2]
TOYOTA_____MR-S________________[ZZW]
NISSAN_____Silvia______________[S15]
TOYOTA_____SUPRA RZ____________[JZA]
HONDA______INTEGRA TYPE R______[DC5]

Regional Differences#

The North American version of the game, distributed by Betson Enterprises in limited quantities and with different cabinet design (including side art from Side by Side 2), appears to be a recompile due to a different, higher media ID (M9005951A; the Japanese and international, NESYS-enabled English versions have media ID of M9005793A). The US English software is otherwise identical to the (NESYS-enabled) international English one, apart from the following changes:

• Following the boot-up legal disclaimer (where the lines prohibiting operation in the US on the international English version is replaced with one indicating it is solely for use there instead), an additional disclaimer appears that indicates the cars featured in the game are Japanese domestic market models and that USDM Honda/Acura models are not used. This disclaimer also appears when selecting a car, as well as in the pre-time trial screen (where the current best ghost lap times is displayed); however, both are stored separately, due to a missing plural.

{| class="wikitable"

|- !Startup |

Image of cars in this game are Japanese models and the U.S. Honda/Acura models are not used in this game.

|- !Car Selection
Time Trial Pre-Race |

Images of cars in this game are Japanese models and the U.S. Honda/Acura models are not used in this game.

|}

This change (and the necessary recompile) was because of licensing issues relating to Honda cars, as Honda's American branch handled licensing in that region, which resulted in racing games from that period having the NSX (and sometimes, the Integra) rebranded as Acura models, while Honda-branded cars have their trim names changed to reflect actual cars as sold in that market (or, if not having an USDM equivalent, carry a Japanese model designation). In North American versions of Side by Side 2 and the first Battle Gear, the Honda cars were disabled, and marketing flyers for Battle Gear 3 indicated the Honda cars were to be disabled again in the North American version. Coincidentally, stateside-bound Initial D Arcade Stage cabinets and flyers (but not necessarily in-game), which was released around the same time as Battle Gear 3, feature a licensing credit for Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Japan), and the Honda cars in those Initial D games were left unchanged.

• In order to allow the disclaimer scrolling text to fit in during the aforementioned screens, some of car selection/fastest ghost-related interface is placed slightly lower.
• The US English version uses a different server hosted by Betson, bg3.betson.com, while the Japanese and online-enabled international English version uses battlegear.net server. (A third server for use outside Japan, battlegear3.com.hk, is also known to exist, as that version also has a different software revision designed to connect to that server.)

References#