Eye of Typhoon

Disc Archaeology

Findings from a byte-level analysis of the Korean retail disc (raw MODE1/2352 dump, 66,860 sectors — every sector's sync pattern verified intact; 136,929,280 bytes of user data / 66,560 filesystem blocks).

The KKH format

Virtually every asset on the disc — fighter sprites, backgrounds, fonts, score digits, the select screen, extras — is packed into a custom archive format with the extension .KKH. Each fighter's data follows a rigid six-file scheme: DATA (sprite archive), SEEK, ACT (actions), IDX, PAL (palette) and FILE, all .KKH. The extension is not a known 3DO SDK format; it reads like a personal signature (see Speculation).

Two hidden fighters, one shared ending

The character-data tree contains 15 fighters: the playable roster (roy_, wang, jiho, hoya, kawa, jaki, mui_, nata, nels, powe, saur, tlal, dalm) plus two directories named hidmdata and hidwdata — hidden male and hidden woman. They are real, distinct characters — their sprite archives differ completely (497,268 vs 228,552 bytes) and their palettes differ in 363 of 912 bytes — but their ending assets are lazy copies: hidm.cel and hidw.cel are byte-identical, as are their 'finish' portraits p1_hidmF.cel/p1_hidwF.cel. Whatever ending art the hidden pair earned, both show the same picture.

Strings in the executable

• The round-announcement table includes specialround and extraround alongside the standard round1–round3/finalround — bonus round types compiled into the shipping game.
• A high-score table survives: "RANKING TOP 5" / "INPUT YOUR NAME".
• The most emphatic error message on the disc: AAini ERR .!!!!!!!!
• No credits text and no plain-text Korean exist anywhere on the disc; all Hangul and any staff roll are pre-rendered into graphics.
• Naming discipline slips through in shipped filenames: p1_mui_W.cel but p1_mui_f.cel — the same fighter's win/finish art capitalized two different ways.

Mastering desynchronization in the filesystem itself

The Opera filesystem stores every directory as multiple redundant copies ("avatars"). On this disc the copies disagree: five system directories (Devices, Drivers, Folios, Programs, Scripts) carry one stale older-generation copy, and the two copies of the rom_tags boot table are different generations. These are coherent alternate versions pressed into the disc, not dump errors; the root directory copies verify hash-identical, every file extent is intact, and all 66,860 raw sectors carry valid sync headers.

Unallocated space

13,076 blocks (~26 MB, 20% of the disc) belong to no file, in three runs. Every byte was checked: 100% standard iamaduck mastering filler, nothing hidden inside.

Speculation

Informed guesswork, clearly separated from the findings above.

• Whose initials are KKH? A custom format named after its author would fit Korean 3DO practice — initials also turn up in filenames on other Korean pressings. K.K.H. matches common Korean name patterns (Kim/Kang/Kwon + given name). A more playful reading: Viccom was Korea's fighting-game studio (best known for the Neo Geo title Fight Fever), and "Kim Kaphwan" — SNK's famous Korean taekwondo fighter — shares the initials exactly. Whether it's a programmer's signature or an homage, the disc doesn't say.
• A shared Korean mastering pipeline. This disc carries the same filesystem "desynchronization" fingerprint — the same five stale system-directory copies and mismatched rom_tags generations — found on other Korean 3DO retail pressings of the same era. That pattern is most easily explained by a single mastering workstation and disc-layout template serving multiple Korean releases, presumably tied to LG's role as Korea's 3DO licensee, regardless of which studio developed the game.