Nintendo "Middle East" releases

[theodw]

Hello there.

(To the mods: Sorry, I posted this in the General → Modern games forum by mistake. Now posting where it should be)

Just got a copy of Zelda:TOTK in South America, but it was a "Middle East" edition (ESRB rating, -USA cartridge, packaging in English and Spanish, same barcode as the US version, but the back doesn't fully match the US version. How do you classify this to add it into the database?

Below is a scan of the legal texts on the back.

[dhaabi]

An item like this belongs in Nintendo Switch [CN]. There are several other general Asia items like this already within the database, and they're all placed in CN categories (or JP if no CN exists.). There are also others like Bayonetta 2 without any attached TLD.

[nathan776]

An item like this belongs in Nintendo Switch [CN]. There are several other general Asia items like this already within the database, and they're all placed in CN categories (or JP if no CN exists.). There are also others like Bayonetta 2 without any attached TLD.

Should Items that have -MSE in this category have TLD's or should they be excluded?

[dhaabi]

An item like this belongs in Nintendo Switch [CN]. There are several other general Asia items like this already within the database, and they're all placed in CN categories (or JP if no CN exists.). There are also others like Bayonetta 2 without any attached TLD.

Should Items that have -MSE in this category have TLD's or should they be excluded?

Technically, many of the aforementioned linked items don't need TLDs because there are currently no other items with the same name in the sub-cat. Although, there could (and probably are) other Asian releases in the form of outer labels being affixed relating to these game items. From my understanding, an item like what OP is questioning about is the general Asia release according to PlayAsia. The item itself also doesn't mention any specific countries on the packaging unlike older "World Edition" releases, although the same green/blue/grey design is used.

So, do -MSE items need to omit TLDs? If we can't confirm any other general CN item, then perhaps so. Regarding Bayonetta 2 which currently lacks a TLD, I never attached one because PlayAsia only mentions this item as the sole Asia release. But, like I mentioned above, there could be other regional variants not yet known to us, and PlayAsia could also be wrong. Let's wait to take any action before others' input.

[nathan776]

After looking for a bit, I found https://vgcollect.com/item/252108 on various HK Websites. I can't be certain if its only released in Hong Kong - assuming the sticker label indicates just the language (Chinese Traditional). Would it be better to use a HK tld in this instance or use the TLDS mentioned in the other listing? (Been told items prior to 1997 use HK tld)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/265874366688

[tripredacus]

For the Zelda item, it is sold sealed without labels, has no inserts and a USA cart. I can find it confirmed for sale this way in Malaysia and Singapore. So a no TLD entry would be fine in the CN category, you just should put into description which countries it was sold in.

EDIT: I deleted the dupe topic. In the future you can just ask a topic to be moved, instead of creating a new topic.

[dhaabi]

So, how should we determine which of these two items is the general Asia release?
https://vgcollect.com/item/223392
https://vgcollect.com/item/252108

[tripredacus]

There is no general Asia release to consider because there is no general release category. The cat is for China, HK is part of China so the one with the Chinese text and sold in HK is the one that should not have a TLD.

You add the TLDs onto 223392 because it is not a CN release.