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Awesome regional differences in games

DiipuSurotu said:
The father character was actually the original version. The androgynous guy from the JP version is the one who's actually changed due to Square Enix's wishes.
And only for the PS3 version.

The Xbox 360 version in Japan is the same as the US version.

The game makes a lot more sense with the father character, to be honest. Although as in interesting note, in the Grimoire Nier text floating around, Yoko Taro considers Ending C as the ending for Father Nier and Ending D as the ending for Brother Nier.
 
PixyJunket said:
And only for the PS3 version.

The Xbox 360 version in Japan is the same as the US version.

The game makes a lot more sense with the father character, to be honest. Although as in interesting note, in the Grimoire Nier text floating around, Yoko Taro considers Ending C as the ending for Father Nier and Ending D as the ending for Brother Nier.

Thanks, that's interesting to know.
 
Buzzati said:
I'm not understanding - they put sunglasses on Hitler to make it easier to localize or is this picture representing the game before it was localized (because it's in Japanese)?

They censored Hitler in the PSP remake, for some reason. Presumably for the eventual US release.

Shiggy said:
Xenoblade Chronicles:

EU:
[IMG ]http://www.abload.de/img/xenotitlea8ue.jpg[/IMG]

US:
[IMG ]http://m1.ikiwq.com/img/xl/iAToG8tsLNqzX0Oivnr1Aa.jpg[/IMG]

Well played, I was laughing my ass off when I read your post... and now I'm depressed.
 
Buzzati said:
I'm not understanding - they put sunglasses on Hitler to make it easier to localize or is this picture representing the game before it was localized (because it's in Japanese)?

Here's the original:

PE2EI.jpg


The shades are a change made to the PSP rerelease, which is coming out stateside. I was being facetious about the reason for the change, I can't remember the last time it was a big deal to put Hitler in a video game for us Yanks (as a villain, anyway). Maybe they think the French and Germans can't recognize Der Führer when he's covering his eyes? P2PSP doesn't even have a confirmed EU release afaik.
 
In the German version of Soldiers of Fortune 2 all humans were replaces by robots and a new background story was made up so it all made sense.

menschuu7m.jpg
robotervu0k.jpg
 
Marrshu said:
They censored Hitler in the PSP remake, for some reason. Presumably for the eventual US release.

Seems silly to me - it's not like Hitler's most defining trait is his eyes; any ratings board that would raise an objection to having Hitler in your game surely isn't going to go "Oh, he's wearing sunglasses, never mind."...
 
Super Double Dragon (SNES) vs Return of Double Dragon (Super Famicom)

- Added an extra stage in the Japanese version
- Extra Difficulty
- Fought the 2 bosses on stage 3 separately


Any fans of Super Double Dragon should check out the superior Japanese release of the game. You will thank me later.
 
Lucky Number Seven Force said:
For a rare audio example, the US version of Castlevania III lacked the VRC6 chip that the Famicom version had implemented. The added sound channels make the tracks in the Famicom version sound better than the ones in the NES version.
Ooh, there are a couple other games that suffered a similar fate. Because the American/European NES didn't have the capability to add extra sound channels like the Japanese Famicom did, we missed out on a couple pieces of enhanced music.

The Legend of Zelda 1 and 2 had a couple enhanced pieces of music.
Zelda 1 title screen in Japan
Zelda 1 credits in Japan
Zelda 2 Title Screen in Japan

Zelda also had "better" sound effects in Japan. The enemies' cries, for instance, sound a little more... cry-like.

I read that Gimmick! (which came out in Europe) had enhanced music as well, but I can't find any Youtube examples of the European soundtrack.
 
Tranced Shadow said:
Seems silly to me - it's not like Hitler's most defining trait is his eyes; any ratings board that would raise an objection to having Hitler in your game surely isn't going to go "Oh, he's wearing sunglasses, never mind."...
I personally think they just added Sunglasses to make Hitler look cooler.
 
YoungFa said:
In the German version of Soldiers of Fortune 2 all humans were replaces by robots and a new background story was made up so it all made sense.

menschuu7m.jpg
robotervu0k.jpg


So fucking insane.

This is making me insane.

Those "robots" freak me out.
 
Since someone has to say it; Probotector!
Saddest recent thing is; didn't Wayforward add the characters to Contra 4 just for us Europeans then Konami go and not release the game in Europe.

Team Fortress 2 German is another one. I'll leave it someone who knows the game though.

My one similar, to the Dragon Power one...well maybe it makes more sense. Since you know once Street Fighter 2 came along any 2D beat em' up was hot property...but animu in 1993*? Thats got to go:
ranmacombat.png

Ranma ½ became Street Combat (why are these screens the wrong way round...)
ranmacombat2.png

No mono sound for America & where did the border graphics go.
ranmacombat3.png

I never noticed the Panda Hadoken until now & IIRC this was the only stage to be changed as I guess it looked too Japanese.
ranmacombat4.png

Clearly an accurate translation.
ranmacombat5.png

More gender changing...in fact:
eastvwest.png


Now I'm wondering what Happosai and Cologne got changed into (they appear in the bonus stage). Reading in an FAQ they appear to be called Happy 1 and Happy 2.

*-Ranma ½: Hard Battle came out in November 1993, Steet Combat April 1993. Acceptance was only 7 months away.
 
Why would you do that? said:
Ooh, there are a couple other games that suffered a similar fate. Because the American/European NES didn't have the capability to add extra sound channels like the Japanese Famicom did, we missed out on a couple pieces of enhanced music.
Actually, the America and European NES are fully capable of these extra sound channels. That extra hardware was added to the cartridges themselves. I have a few Famicom games I've housed in NES cases with pin converters that have their full sound capability.

Nintendo streamlined the cartridge process for the US market, probably to better control licensing (and because the cost of some of the carts were quite high). In general, games that had extra graphics or sound chips had to be converted to one of the more standardized mappers for overseas releases. Although there are a few instances where more complicated carts were made.

Why would you do that? said:
The Legend of Zelda 1 and 2 had a couple enhanced pieces of music.
Zelda 1 title screen in Japan
Zelda 1 credits in Japan
Zelda 2 Title Screen in Japan

Zelda also had "better" sound effects in Japan. The enemies' cries, for instance, sound a little more... cry-like.
Those are due to a built-in extra sound channel of the Famicom Disk Drive. Also see: Metroid and Kid Icarus. When converted to cartridge for overseas release, they had to follow the same process I noted above. Metroid and Kid Icarus also were changed to password whereas the FDS versions had Zelda-like save screen.

Why would you do that? said:
I read that Gimmick! (which came out in Europe) had enhanced music as well, but I can't find any Youtube examples of the European soundtrack.
The European (and US) Mr. Gimmick has down-converted audio.
 
Ace Combat 3. It stll burns the fact that I discovered that the EU (and US) version was dumbed down only after I purchased it :/
Still, awesome game.
 
Computer said:
In my (French) version of Final Fantasy VIII, Zell says he like eating 'Bretzels' but he is shown eating hot dogs in the ending cutscene.

It's bread in the Japanese version. It was the American version that used hot dogs.


Gentleman Jack said:
Here's the original:

http://i.imgur.com/PE2EI.jpg[/IMG]

The shades are a change made to the PSP rerelease, which is coming out stateside. I was being facetious about the reason for the change, I can't remember the last time it was a big deal to put Hitler in a video game for us Yanks (as a villain, anyway). Maybe they think the French and Germans can't recognize Der Führer when he's covering his eyes? P2PSP doesn't even have a confirmed EU release afaik.

(Note: haven't played the game)

Looks like they also changed his name from Hitler to Fuehrer.
 
DiipuSurotu said:
The father character was actually the original version. The androgynous guy from the JP version is the one who's actually changed due to Square Enix's wishes.
No, it was the other way around. Brother Nier was the original intent, but Square Enix USA suggested Father Nier. The script was initially about a brother and a sister.
PixyJunket said:
And only for the PS3 version.

The Xbox 360 version in Japan is the same as the US version.

The game makes a lot more sense with the father character, to be honest. Although as in interesting note, in the Grimoire Nier text floating around, Yoko Taro considers Ending C as the ending for Father Nier and Ending D as the ending for Brother Nier.
I disagree, but there is no need to derail this thread.
 
ninj4junpei said:
No, it was the other way around. Brother Nier was the original intent, but Square Enix USA suggested Father Nier. The script was initially about a brother and a sister.
Provide a source.

As far as I know, Cavia hasn't stated specifically on the matter, either way.

Although as I said, the father/daughter dynamic in the game works well, it's a rather universal dynamic whereas the brother/sister dynamic (to the degree presented in the game) is pretty exclusive to anime world.
 
I remember that outside Japan they removed swastikas from the amazing Maken X (which is kinda ironic, since the game has a strong Nazi theme).
 
DiipuSurotu said:
Xenogears JP credits: boring, static dark red "X" that just stays this way
jqXqJ.jpg


Xenogears US credits: awesome red wavy watery shit that changes pattern during the whole credits roll
SzBYf.jpg


EDIT:

The father character was actually the original version. The androgynous guy from the JP version is the one who's actually changed due to Square Enix's wishes.

Actually, this was supposedly the planned ending video. It's hidden on the disc, only accesible by gameshark. No clue why they didn't use it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlI6l0GH_7M
And sorry, couldn't find the japanese version
 
PixyJunket said:
Provide a source.

As far as I know, Cavia hasn't stated specifically on the matter, either way.

Although as I said, the father/daughter dynamic in the game works well, it's a rather universal dynamic whereas the brother/sister dynamic (to the degree presented in the game) is pretty exclusive to anime world.
http://docs.google.com/View?id=dgvmkf89_228fxgghgg3
In the planning stages, “the story of siblings” was the only idea, but taking into account the different markets for the platforms, “the story of a sturdy father fighting to protect her daughter” was born.
Yokoo: I don’t want to complicate the main point of the story. “An older brother saving his sister” was the main theme we wanted to portray, and I wanted to deliver all the drama involved as a first impression.
Yokoo: We planned to make a sibling story in the first place.
http://www.siliconera.com/2010/05/20/barbarian-nier-was-born-in-los-angeles/
Originally, the young Nier was the only main character. “I made the youthful version (the protagonist of Nier Replicant) first, during development Saito-san (producer) talked about considering overseas markets,” Taro Yokoo, Director at Cavia, explained in an interview with Inside Games. “At Square Enix’s Los Angeles studio we had a discussion, it was said having a fragile young character was not possible. So, I started preparing a macho protagonist for North America.”
 
Gentleman Jack said:
Well if you're asking for the awesome ones it's hard to top this recent change made to P2: Innocent Sin

itiaV.png


presumably it's to make it easier to localize (likely to Europe)

Holy Reich, Hitler looks boss in those glasses. I bet if he had worn them during the war he would have been able to deflect the sheer calming cool of Stalin and overcome his Red army instead of loosing the war to them.
 
Gentleman Jack said:
Well if you're asking for the awesome ones it's hard to top this recent change made to P2: Innocent Sin

itiaV.png


presumably it's to make it easier to localize (likely to Europe)
Hitler Shades is awesome. :)
 
ninj4junpei said:
Thanks. Everything I've heard indicated that there was no official response. Even though the Grimoire Neir is text is slightly odd, indicating that they had that idea first but that version was being developed second (and almost cancelled until they decided to dub with Japanese voices). Not to mention that Siliconera points out that it was originally going to be 360 exclusive (and the Japanese 360 version ended up being the father version).

I am glad they made the change though. It just added to how great Nier was to not have to suffer the awful shonen anime tropes that every other JRPG seems to stick to. It also felt more natural to Cavia/Yoko's oddness.
 
Why would you do that? said:
Ooh, there are a couple other games that suffered a similar fate. Because the American/European NES didn't have the capability to add extra sound channels like the Japanese Famicom did, we missed out on a couple pieces of enhanced music.

The Legend of Zelda 1 and 2 had a couple enhanced pieces of music.
Zelda 1 title screen in Japan
Zelda 1 credits in Japan
Zelda 2 Title Screen in Japan

Zelda also had "better" sound effects in Japan. The enemies' cries, for instance, sound a little more... cry-like.

I read that Gimmick! (which came out in Europe) had enhanced music as well, but I can't find any Youtube examples of the European soundtrack.
It also had entirely different tracks in its place. Some were really annoying. One track in particular would reappear in Minish Cap.

Minish cap
Adventure of Link Japan
 
Bankoiia said:

The true majesty of this one is the region change is not dependent of where you buy the game from, but the region of your PS3. All versions of the disc include both versions of Ratchet and there is no way (except perhaps hacking) to see the other region version without buying a PS3 from the other region.

Related to this, the button switch between X and Circle on the PS3 for pretty much every game is a biggy. In Japan, Circle is generally the OK button while X is cancel while in the US and PAL regions, they use the opposite. Despite the PS3 being region free, this actually makes a few games that were only released in the US unbeatable on Japanese PS3s as the developers did not test on Japanese consoles. One game requires you to push the X button to solve a puzzle or something, but that exits the puzzle as the check for the 'back button' being pushed has priority over the 'X button' that you need to use to complete the puzzle.
 
Clipper said:
Despite the PS3 being region free, this actually makes a few games that were only released in the US unbeatable on Japanese PS3s as the developers did not test on Japanese consoles. One game requires you to push the X button to solve a puzzle or something, but that exits the puzzle as the check for the 'back button' being pushed has priority over the 'X button' that you need to use to complete the puzzle.
What's an example of this?
 
Clipper said:
Despite the PS3 being region free, this actually makes a few games that were only released in the US unbeatable on Japanese PS3s as the developers did not test on Japanese consoles. One game requires you to push the X button to solve a puzzle or something, but that exits the puzzle as the check for the 'back button' being pushed has priority over the 'X button' that you need to use to complete the puzzle.
Whoa, this kind of stuff really happens? The only "problem" with X/O that I've encountered while playing Japanese games on EU PS3 was the thing when accept/back button change during saving in the "console menu" (when you select the save slot etc.) but it was only a bit annoying, nothing more.
Your story is scary though.
 
ico had an added 2 player co-op mode for the european version,yes,you could play as yorda!

Forkball said:
This.
American main character:
http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/nier/nier.jpg

Japanese main character:
http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/nier/nierjp.jpg

You are either the father or brother of the damsel in distress, because Square thought that America likes old burly geriatrics and Japan likes waify androgynous teens.

on top of the design change

Young Nier moves a bit slower than father Nier or older Nier, because he has shorter legs.
 
FoxSpirit said:
Actually, this was supposedly the planned ending video. It's hidden on the disc, only accesible by gameshark. No clue why they didn't use it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlI6l0GH_7M
And sorry, couldn't find the japanese version

I've never heard of that sequence being the intended ending video, and given that the song in question appears as the second track on the OST, it was probably more likely suppose to be an opening video.

Stars of Tears and Small Two of Peices are in English originally, on that note. The English ending credits animation wavy effect is also more awesome.

Another change (illustrated below from the fan patch) in Xenogears is that the buttons were originally Square (weak) Triangle (medium) Circle (heavy) in the Japanese version. This was presumably changed because the Confirm/Cancel input was also changed.

sshots3.jpg


Anyone who has played Xenosaga 1 will reconize the same button layout for Deathblows there as well. Speaking of which, there's probably a whole lot of stuff that could be mentioned on Xenosaga 1's US changes.
 
YoungFa said:
In the German version of Soldiers of Fortune 2 all humans were replaces by robots and a new background story was made up so it all made sense.

Holy shit.

I need to play this.
 
Dwayne said:
What's an example of this?

Ryu ga Gotoku Of the End can be a little wonky at times with a NA PS3. On-screen button press sequences ask for O (to access a weapons cache or enter a vehicle), but the system wants you to press X.
 
YoungFa said:
In the German version of Soldiers of Fortune 2 all humans were replaces by robots and a new background story was made up so it all made sense.

menschuu7m.jpg
robotervu0k.jpg
Carmageddon 2 got the similar treatment. As far as I remember 3 versions of the game were released:
- Version with humans (red blood)
- Version with zombies (green blood, different skin) made for Germany
- Version with dinosaurs (yellow blood?) was made for Australia or something like that, don't remember much about this one.
 
Dwayne said:
What's an example of this?

Keiician said:
Whoa, this kind of stuff really happens? The only "problem" with X/O that I've encountered while playing Japanese games on EU PS3 was the thing when accept/back button change during saving in the "console menu" (when you select the save slot etc.) but it was only a bit annoying, nothing more.
Your story is scary though.

I had forgotten which game had the bug I mentioned, but I eventually found it in Google. 007 Bloodstone is the game I mentioned that cannot be completed on Japanese PS3s due to Cancel being mapped to X . The developers refuse to fix it due to it being a regioning issue.

It appears that very few games are unbeatable like this, though. Most just ask you to push one button and you need to push the other instead.
 
Ristar for the Genesis
ristar-jap.gif
ristar-us.gif


"the shooting star" was removed from the title screen, the backstory and ending was changed, the level names were changed, one of the bosses was changed...

But the funniest thing is that for all the Kirby jokes, Ristar got the real "Angry Eyes" treatment. He originally had a "happy" look during the level and turned angry only when fighting bosses, but in the US version they rigged him to look angry all the time. Some of the enemies were edited to look angrier, too.

happy-jap.gif
vengeful-usa.gif


w5-1-ice-guy-jap.gif
w5-1-ice-guy-us.gif

w3-2-flamer-jap.gif
w3-2-flamer-us.gif


You can find lots more images, including the different ending image, right here.
 
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