Crayon Shin-Chan 3 (found South Korean Nuon port of PC platformer; 2000-2003)

The disc and case for the game.

Status: Found

Date found: 20 Oct 2023

Found by: emceebois

Nuon was a DVD player/game console hybrid based on the Aries processor from VM Labs. As VM Labs lacked the funds to manufacture the consoles themselves, they instead chose to pitch the technology to various DVD player manufacturers as a replacement for the video processing chips. The intent was to create a new generation of DVD players capable of playing 3D games and build them into a computer platform of their own. ^[1] As negotiation with DVD manufacturers continued, it was decided that movies with special enhanced features would be added. Samsung, Toshiba, and Thomson Multimedia Inc. all produced their own versions of the hardware with different capabilities and features. ^[2]

However, the Nuon was a financial failure. Common criticisms of the Nuon consoles were that they looked just like ordinary DVD players, and the public largely saw them as more expensive DVD players, its then-high launch price of $599 U.S. dollars, and being generally seen as a less appealing alternative to Sony's PlayStation 2 console due to its low amount of games and movies released for the system.

Only eight games and five enhanced movies were officially released, though many more projects were known to be in development before VM Labs filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.

Media Preservation and the DVD-N591

Seven of the eight known released games have been widely circulated through internet downloads for many years. The boxart, disc art, and manuals for these games are also widely circulated. However, while the eighth game was long known to exist in the hands of private collectors, it had not been dumped online, nor had its art or manual been circulated.

Crayon Shin-Chan 3, also known as Jjanggu the Unhelpable 3, was a licensed game based on the manga and anime of the same name. This game was exclusive to South Korea and is believed to be the only Nuon game to contain region-locking. The gameplay itself is a side-scrolling platformer starring the title character, who must run from left to right attacking various other characters with weapons that are picked up. ^[3]

The only known release of this game was in a bundle with the Samsung DVD-N591, which was the only model of the Nuon released in South Korea. It is not known how many units were sold, but discussions among collectors who have received these consoles have yielded very low serial numbers. It is believed that the DVD-N591 had an extremely limited release, possibly even restricted to test markets. ^[4] Most knowledge of the DVD-N591 and the elusive Crayon Shin-Chan 3 comes from videos and forum posts by litoskin, who owns the player bundle, but has not chosen to release the game or materials. He has revealed that the DVD-N591 is the only player that can play the game, due to region-locking. He has also revealed that Crayon Shin-Chan 3 is the only game out of the eight that works on the DVD-N591. ^[5] He has posted a full playthrough on YouTube, as well as an unboxing video of his DVD-N591 bundle. ^[6]

On October 20th, 2023, Internet Archive user emceebois uploaded an ISO image of the game. ^[7] The same user also uploaded scans of the box art, disc art, and manual. ^[8] The game is not currently able to be played through emulation, though Nuon emulation is still very much a work-in-progress.

The DVD-N591 Bundle

As a side note, two other pieces of officially released Nuon material were either included or promoted in the official DVD-N591 bundle with Crayon Shin-Chan 3. These were revealed in litoskin's unboxing of the bundle. First, there was a DVD of the South Korean film Shiri (1999). This movie is seemingly forgotten in discussions of Nuon-enhanced titles on official Nuon websites and fansites alike. Litoskin did not discuss the content of the DVD during his unboxing, so it was not known at the time whether this release had Nuon-enhanced features. Years later, Internet Archive User emceebois ripped the DVD, and they were able to confirm that there was no "NUON" directory or "nuon.run" file ^[9]. Therefore, this release of the movie did not have Nuon-Enhanced features.

Second, the bundle contained a mail order flier for a South Korean release of Ballistic, which was released in Europe and the U.S. As the DVD-N591 uses region-locking, this release would have needed a different region code. It is unknown if there were any other differences, and it is unknown if any copies were sold.