CPS2 - MSH vs Street Fighter

[FalcomAdol]

Norimaro.

I played MSH vs Street Fighter a lot on an imported console port back in the day. Now I'm jonesing for authentic CPS2 loving, but I'm not sure what the deal with with Norimaro.

So he's only in the Japanese version of the game, and Green/Blue boards are cross-compatible.

Is his absence based on the A-board region, or based on the B-board region?

If the A-board region is the one that matters, I guess this brings up other questions about whether you can swap the BIOS on the board out, ala MVS.

What combination of hardware/software boards do I need in order to play as Norimaro?

 

[Tyranix95]

Read: curious about cps2

Then ask your questions.

 

[FalcomAdol]

Ok, answers:

Different versions of the Japanese software board have Norimaro as either a secret or a default character.
Phoenix ROMs from Razoola include the software that is in the Japanese board with Norimaro as a secret character (presumably this means even if you have a Blue board, if you get "real" Phoenix edition ROMs, you will have him).
The A-board does not affect whether or not Norimaro will appear, only the software on the B-board matters.

Hooray, answers!

 

[WilalvesBR]

From here:

Norimaro can be enabled in any non-Japanese region by changing a single byte which serves as a setting flag (offset 0xCC in ROM 03: Value 0x00 = Norimaro disabled, 0x01 = Norimaro enabled). This works on a board whether it is phoenixed or encrypted, as the flag is in a non-encrypted data region.

He actually has English language sprites too:

ROM hacking

 

[Heinz]

From here:

Norimaro can be enabled in any non-Japanese region by changing a single byte which serves as a setting flag (offset 0xCC in ROM 03: Value 0x00 = Norimaro disabled, 0x01 = Norimaro enabled). This works on a board whether it is phoenixed or encrypted, as the flag is in a non-encrypted data region.

He actually has English language sprites too:

ROM hacking

This here is what I like to see, awesome! I had no idea.

I've got the saturn version but man Id love the CPS2.

 

[daskrabs]

I have Japan 970707. What I and one other forum member have found is that if you have a blue board (US) in your machine prior to MvSF, and you set Free Play, Norimaro is gone. But if you have a green (Japan) board in previously and set Free Play, he's there. Weird but true.