Korrupting Metroid Prime

There's a version of Metroid Prime out there that when you play it and use a memory card that has a US save of MP1 on it, strange things happen to the game. This is the Korean version of Metroid Prime which I stumbled across accidentialy one day on eBay.co.uk It's so rare, that time was the ONLY time I've ever seen it on eBay. And I doubt very many more (if any more), will make it's way onto the US or UK eBay site anytime soon...

Apart from having its own version differences, this version of MP1 has its own unique release code: DOL-GM8E-0-30 USA. What makes this particular version so special, is that it mis-reads the save data of a US save-file and starts to mess around with the rooms in the game. The Korean version uses up the same number of blocks as the US version (1 block), however, the Korean version saves noticably faster than the US version. It appears that this is what is causing the data to corrupt, as it seems to be "speed reading" the US save data. If you play the Korean version on a memory card WITHOUT a US save, it'll play perfectly normally.

Thanks to Nate from M2k2 we've come to the conclusion that the MP save files store the room layouts (enemy locations, etc) and all relevent event triggers for each room (as room changes are set off when various "triggers" are activated). The Korean version seems to not only try and load ALL possible room states, but it can also stick enemies in rooms where there never where any, or even remove enemies entirely from rooms that had them! It messes the game up THAT bad, that once you reach the forcefield in the Phazon Mines (on the way to Omega Pirate), the red scanning area for opening the forcefield is missing and you're now unable to finish the game! Please also note, that once you've corrupted the save file, the screwy aspects are PERMANENT!. The ONLY way to remove the corruption is to delete the save file and start a fresh...

It's understandable how Retro would have missed such a thing, after all, who would ever buy an American copy of MP1 when this is - essentially - the same as the original US release of MP? And as such, they'd have no reason to test the compatibility of saves between each version. On the next page is the most complete list of these file corruption glitches available anywhere on the internet, which include movies and a brief description of what's gone wrong.