What I Wish I'd Done . . .

As a different kind of retrospective, this is a, “What I wish I had done,” kind of post. Knowing what I know now about how the video game industry has turned out, along with what is important to me and how I’ve learned to take better care of things as I matured, this is all the stuff I would do if I could meet my younger self and convince him to do a couple of things differently (along with some money to buy the stuff I wish I had bought all those years ago).


NES/Gameboy Era

First and foremost, I would have been very careful with the boxes and manuals, and kept them in good shape in a bin or tote in my closet so I wouldn’t have had to buy replacements for the Zelda stuff, and I would have also had original copies for all the other games. I also would have kept the issues of Nintendo Power in good shape as well, or perhaps had a subscription for two copies each month - one to use, abuse, and read on the toilet, and the other to keep on a shelf in pristine condition. My friend Michael got that one right.

I would have also been more careful with the actual hardware and games. I wouldn’t have let my mom mark up our games with a permanent marker, nor put the address label on the back side of them after convincing her that I was being very careful and responsible with these items because they were precious to me. I would have kept them in a better state of repair (cleaning gunk off of them and making sure they were put away carefully so the labels don’t get ruined) and put Zelda II away when Michael borrowed it so the basketball didn’t chip the corner off.

I didn’t know at the time how easy it was to replace the door on the original NES, so I could have kept it and fixed it. Even after the system stopped working entirely, I still should have kept it to pull out and possibly repair now. For all I know it was just a 72–pin connector that needed fixing or by disabling the lockout chip it might still be working.

I should have also kept one of the three Gameboys for myself when I moved out to go to my first year of college, and then also kept one when I moved to Utah, and perhaps told my mom to let me know when she was planning on throwing them out so I could take possession of them instead of just relying on my Super Gameboy as a way of playing the games.


SNES/VB/N64 Era

Like before, I should have kept boxes and manuals in good shape. That’s not really much different. By this time, I did keep the actual hardware and games in better shape so there’s not much regret in that department. The only real thing that I wish I had done is keep the Virtual Boy stand and the clip that connects the unit to the stand. It was the "leg" joint on the stand that broke, and these days people can 3D print replacement parts for that particular piece. But I cannot attach the Virtual Boy to a new stand or anything without that clip, unfortunately. However, new replacement stands are now available from stoneagegamer now. 

Overall

I would have left a pile of money with specific instructions to purchase particular things (like hard-to-find games) and directives to become members of certain things. So for example, I should have purchased a Game Boy Color when they came out to play the DX version of Link’s Awakening, as well as bought a Game Boy Pocket when they released. I have been able to find working models of these handhelds through eBay, but it would have been cheaper to just have had my own copy for the past 25 years. Ultimately, it hasn’t been a huge deal because their prices haven't gone up that much over the years but having to find the alternate version of Twilight Princess has been more difficult and expensive (I originally only bought the Wii version and haven’t had the GameCube version until very recently). I also wish I had been a Nintendo Power subscriber (or maybe a Club Nintendo member) so I could have gotten the Collector's Edition disc and not had to pay an arm and a leg to get it last year.

One big thing is that I had the perfect opportunity to acquire some Nintendo history while I was in Japan, but didn’t have the funds (or the inclination) to do so. I really wish I would have purchased both a Famicom and Super Famicom and just shipped them home to wait for me. I could have also landed a N64-DD there in person along with a bunch of games. I had the opportunity, just not the foresight that I would become a collector of such things and the money would have taken to purchase them and ship them home. While I’m at it, I might as well have gotten a second version of each Zelda game to get to keep new in the package to sit and look pretty on the shelf.

First!

There was a joke/meme in early internet forums where the first person to leave a comment usually just left, "First!" to leave a record that they were the person to pull up the article the soonest after its publication. Ultimately, it’s just human psychology, but we put a great deal of emphasis on being first. First person to win a race, sure - that’s obvious, but what I’m talking about is something like first person to discover penicillin, first President of the US, first person to do a 900 on a skateboard in competition, etc. What’s funny and/or interesting to me is when further distinctions and qualifiers are added so that there can be more firsts, especially when the motivation behind the qualifiers are easily discerned.

The best example of this is how I learned in school who some of the American “firsts” in space were, including Alan Shepherd, John Glenn, and Sally Ride. But names I never learned were Laika, Yuri Gagarin, and Valentina Tereshkova - Russians who did it before the Americans. That’s when I realized that the qualifiers were there to make me feel better as an American, since we weren’t actually the first. However, that distinction is never made with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin - they’re never listed as the first Americans on the moon, but as the first humans on the moon.

What brought up this shower thought? It’s been a bunch of things in recent pop culture history. It seems like everyone in politics and Hollywood (which, let’s face it, are almost the same thing these days) is racing to become the first at something. Since she wasn’t the first dwarf portrayed on screen, or even the first female dwarf as she claimed (that credit goes to some actresses in the Hobbit movies), Sophia Nomvete had to correct her statement to be the first female dwarf of color to be shown on screen. They’re just tripping over themselves to be the first at something, and each time the “accomplishments” get more and more insignificant with each qualifier, and they all seem to be centered around some identity characteristic - the first black person of Caribbean descent to host the New Year’s Eve countdown on NBC, the first Latino to dance the box step in the Ed Sullivan Theatre in the month of February, etc.

Instead of being just some interesting footnote in history that is destined to become the answer to a Jeopardy! or Trivial Pursuit question, they all but break their arms patting themselves on the back about this momentous occasion, thinking they’re basically the same as Jackie Robinson when it comes to breaking down barriers. Once I noticed this, it dawned on me that it was akin to the stupid stats that bored sports commentators bring up during a lull in the game, such as the fact that this team has never lost when playing on Halloween while wearing purple uniforms when there’s a full moon. So many qualifiers means that they’re reaching to make a big deal out of essentially nothing. In a world where justice "frontiers" are increasingly rare, everyone is clamoring over recognition of being the first to stand against vanishingly small incidents of "oppression," in other words. 

But to really answer the question about what brought this on, it was Jennifer Lawrence’s statement about being the first female lead of an action movie (as if Aliens, Terminator 2, Red Sonja, Kill Bill, Charlie’s Angels, Underworld, Resident Evil, and Tomb Raider didn’t exist).

But putting politics and Hollywood aside, it did actually cause me to think about primacy when it comes to certain things in video games and other pop culture. The thing I realized after contemplating this is that sometimes being the first isn’t the best but it lingers because it makes an indelible mark on the human mind. It's called having a Primacy Bias.

There really are “original absolutists” who will argue till they’re blue in the face that no matter what, it’s better just because it came first. The Adam West Batman theme has been a staple in pop culture ever since it was on TV, but the upbeat, surf rock song pales in comparison to Danny Elfman’s far superior theme used in the Michael Keaton movies and the Animated Series. But solely due to being the first official Batman theme, the music from the 60’s has stuck around, even more so than the music used in the Nolan-directed movies. Basically the same argument can be made for the original animated Spider-Man theme ( . . . “does whatever a spider can” . . ) as being the default theme despite (again) the existence of a much better Elfman theme.

There were previous Superman themes from various radio and television productions, but John Williams’ composition for the 1978 Christopher Reeve movie was so perfect that it should have been the de facto theme for all things Superman going forward (and was for the Brandon Routh movie), but it has been replaced by inferior themes in animated series and the Snyder-directed movies. Not sure how much of it was ego and how much was copyright as far as reasons to not use those themes, but clips of Henry Cavill flying to John Williams’ music are much more inspiring.

Other examples of the first one not necessarily being the best are Terminator 2, Portal 2, Street Fighter 2, The Dark Knight, The Empire Strikes Back, Aliens, the aforementioned Danny Elfman Batman theme and John Williams Superman theme, John Ottman’s X2 theme (and while we’re at it, X2 as a movie), Spider-Man 2, and Mega Man 2.

I honestly think that if the Twilight Princess Hyrule Field music (which is iconic in its own right) had been the music for the original Legend of Zelda, that’s what would be called the “Zelda Theme” and have little musical references to it in future games. While I love the original theme song, I think future musical themes were objectively better (both in terms of composition and because of improved audio technology) but the original has stuck around just because it’s the original. The same can be said for the first Super Mario Bros. music and the Phoenix Wright music - the original ones are the ones that are thought of as THE theme for their respective franchises.

Something similar happens to movies/games that are changed or updated - a debate over original or “new and improved” inevitably ensues. I kinda hate when changes are made to something and I like the new one better, because it makes me wish they had just done it right the first time so there wouldn’t be a debate over original vs. improved versions. A great example of this is the Gerudo symbol in the Zelda series. It was first introduced in Ocarina of Time along with other symbols for the various tribes like Deku, Zora, and Goron. But what made it more prominent was its including on all of the various floor switches that Link presses to open doors or whatever. The original symbol had a crescent moon and a 4-pointed star. However, because of its similarity to the Turkish Flag it was changed to avoid drawing the ire of the Islam nation (along with the Fire Temple music). I like the new symbol just as much as the original, but it bugs me that it wasn’t made right the first time. I did like the original Fire Temple music better, however, and the updated version that uses a re-worked version of the Shadow Temple music is inferior.

Another example is the Special Edition of Star Wars: A New Hope. There were at least 15 major changes, and quite a few other minor tweaks made to the movie. Most of them are ones I agree with, but a few I would leave out (Han shot first, in other words). But I have the choice of watching the original theatrical version, or the one that has enhanced visuals and sound but includes Greedo’s badly aimed shot. Many people prefer the original theatrical cut of the film and consider it to be the superior product despite its flaws/limitations just because it was first/original.

Even Tolkien went back and revised the story originally told in the Hobbit about how Bilbo acquired the ring so it would work better for the Lord of the Rings, and basically just made the original story (where he won the ring fair and square) the one that Bilbo told people in order to hide the truth and make his claim on the ring stronger. It just also happens that a publisher made the corrections to the manuscript and the Hobbit has been published with the updated story ever since, and only the first couple of printings had the original tale.

Ultimately, being a fan of something means that we’ll get into pointless internet debates over which version of something is better, can an elevator lift Thor’s hammer, etc. But I weary of the weight given to something just for being the first (sometimes also called the Anchoring cognitive bias) over all of the other characteristics that would otherwise make comparisons easy and straight-forward.

Regional Differences in Zelda Games (Part 3)

Regional Differences Games (Part 1)

Regional Differences in Hardware (Part 2)




Regional Differences of Zelda Games

Here is a list of significant regional differences for the main Zelda games. Note that bug fixes and revisional differences aren’t included here - just purposeful changes to the game by developers for one reason or another. For the most part, I’m only really interested in Japan-US changes and not so much in the EU ones. There are no regional differences for the CDi games or BS-X games, as they were never localized, and the same goes for basically all of the spin-off games and remake games. Interestingly, it’s AoL and MM that have the most differences, being the 2nd and 6th games in the series. Almost everything outside of those games are very minor changes that really don’t alter the game in a noteworthy way. It seems as if the amount of differences per game goes has gone down quite a bit since the NES era. 




The Legend of Zelda

Sound/Music - The most notable differences are in the sound effects and the music. Because the Famicom Disk System added an extra sound channel, there were slightly different sounds for the dungeon bosses yelling, the door unlock sound, and the sword beam sound. Musically, the only two tracks that are different are the title screen and credits music, which added a ringing bell sound to the music.

Gameplay - The only gameplay change is that the Pol’s Voices can no longer be defeated by yelling into the Player 2 Controller microphone, and an arrow was made to be able to kill them in one shot instead.

Translations - Some of the hints from the old man were shuffled around, and a couple were changed to something else entirely.

Adventure of Link

This one is a case where it seems the developers put the final polish on a game that wasn’t quite ready to be released.

Sound/Music - Like the first game, there are a few differences in some of the sound effects, like the fairy sound, the door unlock sound, the shield blocking sound, the death sound, and the Great Palace barrier being removed sound effect. The title screen music also used the extra sound channel so it’s a bit different, most noticeably in the first 6 seconds. The music for the battle encounters was completely overhauled and changed, and the boss music was improved from a 3 second loop to a 9 second loop by way of a key change. Some of the bosses also emitted a roar that had to be eliminated in the non-FDS release.

Graphics - Many of the sprites were changed up, including giving Link a mouth and adding a few more townspeople to give the towns more variety. The map screen sprites of Link on the raft, the 3 types of enemy encounters, and the River Devil were all upgraded. For some reason, the sprites of the Holy Water (which was renamed to Water of Life in the manual) and the Goddess Statue (which was renamed to the Trophy in the game) were changed, and the “cage” around the captured child was removed. The water in lakes and oceans was originally animated, but not in the US version (the same goes for the “lava” around the final area). Zelda’s chamber had some renovation and raised the ceiling and added columns. The cross on a building in one town was changed, though none of them in the graveyards or Link’s shield were.

Gameplay - Inventory items like the Candle needed to be stabbed in Japan, but just touched in the US version and an animation of Link holding the item was added. King’s Tomb was changed from a fighting area into a peaceful one with a villager visiting the site. The Game Over screen was given a silhouette of Ganon instead of a black screen. The biggest gameplay change was how in Japan the levels for the life/magic/attack always reverted to the lowest of the three upon a game over but were kept intact for the US release at the cost of significantly increasing the points needed to do so.

Palaces - Temples were called Palaces in the manual and in-game text, elevators were sped up, and each one was given a unique color and brick texture. The second Helmethead fight was removed and replaced with the barbarian Gooma, and Volvagia’s name in Katakana (Barubajia) was shortened and mistranslated as Barba, as well as giving him a completely different sprite and attack pattern. The translation also explains why Japanese players recognized the Fire Temple boss's on OoT as a reference but American players did not.

Translations - the Japanese title text more clearly implied that this Zelda was different from the one who was rescued in the first game, and references to religious things (holy water, goddess statue, temple) were changed, though the term “devil” was left in the in-game text despite changing the sprite to resemble a spider instead of a demon.


A Link to the Past

Not many significant changes were made to this one. The biggest one is changing the title from Triforce of the Gods to A Link to the Past so as to not run afoul of Nintendo of America’s policies. There were a few other religion-related things like renaming the priest to be a cleric and the church to be a sanctuary, as well as a symbol that sort of resembled the Star of David was changed. Interestingly, the title change implied that the game was a prequel instead of a sequel as originally intended, and NoA changed the text on the back of the box to reinforce the implication. Along with the title change came a title screen change - instead of a black screen there was a castle next to a lake and mountains. There were a few minor translation and font changes (like changing “finger webs” to “flippers”), renaming the ocarina to a flute, and adding a wind sound effect on Death Mountain.


Link’s Awakening 

The original title in Japanese is, 'The Island of Dreaming,' which kinda gives the plot twist away, so calling it 'Link’s Awakening' is better. As with the last game, the title screen and its logo were changed as well. But the main changes are that the Hippo model in Animal Village originally had boobs and implied that the artist is doing a nude portrait, and the mermaid originally loses her seashell bra instead of a necklace. There were a few other small changes to the caves and dungeons to fix an oversight that could cause Link to be permanently stuck. Other than that, there were not any more other than some very minor differences that take eagle-eyes to spot, and they aren’t the kind of thing that really change the game.


Ocarina of Time 

This game had lots of revisional differences, but virtually no regional differences other than title screen logo. The notable version differences changed the Gerudo symbol and the Fire Temple music, various bugs, and the color of Ganon’s blood.

Majora’s Mask 

Like the previous game, this one has a lot of revisional differences, but also has many regional differences as well. Ocarina was released in Japan and the US simultaneously, but there was a 6-month localization gap in this release, and so Nintendo took the opportunity to implement a few bug fixes and put some additional polish onto the game.

The title screen had some text color change and the stars were made brighter. The names of the days were changed from First, Next, Last to be First, Second, Final, and the clock was changed from 24hr time (aka military time) to 12hr time. The Japanese version could only be saved by playing the Song of Time, but “owl saves” were added at the cost of losing the third save file. The save file screen in Japan shows a death counter (standard up until this point for a Zelda game) but was changed to a rupee/heart/mask counter for the US version.

Audio - Many small changes were made, like having music play in the US version where there wasn’t any in the Japan version, or changing the location of where the audio originated from. There were also a lot of small audio bugs that were corrected.

Gameplay - Zora Link’s physics were changed quite a bit, and the ability to grab onto Mikau was added to make getting him to shore easier. The waterwheel puzzle elements in the Great Bay Temple were changed to automatically stop at convenient points to make it easier. The 10-second mailman game was made easier by only having tenths of second and not hundredths, and the town shooting gallery was given more time. The Marine research lab was given a ledge that is easy to climb onto instead of needing to dolphin-jump onto the platform. The bean salesman under the Deku Palace was originally reached by going through several grottos, but was given a more direct path in the US version. The Japanese version of the Pirate’s hideout had a direct path from where Link causes bees to attack to the location of the hookshot, while the US version added a wall necessitating leaving the room and entering through a different door.

Many of the cutscenes were altered in some way for one reason or another. The Skull kid was changed to have a wood texture face making it look less racist. The scarecrow was made to automatically tell the player about the Inverted and Double songs of Time.

There were also many little tiny things that aren’t worth mentioning, like moving a chest a smidge, slightly changing the layout of a room, or changing where text appears on screen so as to not obscure something.



Oracle of Seasons/Ages 

The titles in Japan translated roughly to, “Mystical Seed of Earth/Space-time”, various text differences, the Kanji symbols for present/past or the seasons were replaced with picture icons, a room in the first dungeon was changed slightly to teach players to push jars, the drawers in the mailman’s house were changed, the Clairvoyant Goron was added to give additional hints for a 4th-dimensional puzzle, and a “To be continued in [the other game]” screen was added to help entice players to buy the second game as well.

Four Swords

None


The Wind Waker 

The “Sploosh” game changed the target from a battleship to squids, all of the kanji symbols were removed, and some of the treasure chest contents were shuffled around.






Four Sword Adventures

The only change is that outside of Japan and Korea, the secondary game mode called Navi Trackers isn’t included on the disc.


Minish Cap and Twilight Princess 

None


Phantom Hourglass

Just a couple of minor animations


Spirit Tracks

The only significant change is that a puzzle on the 6th floor of the Tower of Spirits was made slightly harder for the US version.



Skyward Sword  and A Link Between Worlds

None

Tri-Force Heroes 

The only change is that the “sorry” icon changed so it looks like Link is shrugging instead of praying.



Breath of the Wild

Home menu screen icon is different depending on the region, the title logo in Japan looks more similar to the original Legend of Zelda FDS logo, the US temperature gauge is in Fahrenheit instead of Celsius.

There are also various translation things (like the Japanese apparently uses the same descriptor for the Master Sword as the one given in Triforce of the Gods, which until recently was translated as, “the blade of evil’s bane,” but has been called in the West, “the sword that seals the darkness” in a few games now). But it’s to be expected as any text or dialogue-heavy script will find numerous slight changes because of translation issues. That being said, I do have an issue with the localizers taking some creative liberties and injecting personal/political bias into things, since it sometimes ruins future things if the same localization team isn't used. An example of this is that Proxim Bridge should have been called "Aboda Bridge." In Japanese, it was a direct reference to the starting village in Spirit Tracks, but since the localization teams for these games were different, it wasn't caught. 

Regional Differences in Hardware (Part 2)

Regional Differences in Games (Part 1)




The Famicom and the NES

Though they played many of the same games, the Famicom and the NES were very different consoles for a variety of reasons. The Famicom was first released in Japan in 1983 as Nintendo’s first console that wasn’t a Pong clone console. It was fairly small in size and featured a maroon and white color scheme. The controller cords were short and hardwired to the rear of the system, and could be stored on the side of the console when not in use. The second controller had a microphone and volume slider instead of a set of Start and Select buttons. The power button slid forward and back, and the cartridge slot had a small flap to cover it which needed to be manually moved. There was a serial port on the front which was used for attaching the light gun and other accessories. Cartridges were plugged into the top of the system, just like the Atari and all consoles had been up till that point, and the carts came in many colors. The Famicom also had an Eject slider that popped the cartridges up.

The Disk System add-on was released in Japan just as the American NES was barely hitting shelves in the West. Though disk-based games added loading times, it also included the ability to save files and have bigger games with more content. It plugged into the cartridge slot of the Famicom and actually added an additional sound channel.

By contrast, the American version came out over 2 years later, so Nintendo redesigned the system to appeal to American consumers and made a few changes to the hardware. For starters, the whole system was changed to be a front-loading console to resemble a VCR in order to make it seem less like a video game machine (which included making the cover flap angled) and changing the color scheme to grey and black. The cartridges were also uniformly grey (except for unlicensed games and both Zelda games). The redesign also entailed reconfiguring the motherboard and making a few convenient upgrades. A lockout chip was added to combat piracy, composite video and audio ports were added to the RF Switch A/V port, and the controllers were made to be removable and their cords lengthened. The power switch was changed to a push-click button and an LED was added. An expansion port was built into the motherboard and could be accessed from the bottom of the system, but it was never used. Instead of having a disk-based peripheral, cartridges with expanded memory capabilities and battery backups were used instead.



The Super Famicom and the SNES

In late 1990, the 16-bit successor to the Famicom was released in Japan – the Super Famicom. And only 9 months later, North America was basking in the 16-bit graphical glory of the SNES, which was a much smaller span of time than the Famicom-NES gap. The regional differences make a rather short list. Internally, the motherboards were identical, and all of the differences were purely cosmetic changes to the outer shell of the system. In fact, the only thing stopping American and Japanese players from using each other’s games (besides the inability to read

a foreign language and the difficulty of obtaining them via mail in a pre-internet era) was the physical shape of the cartridge. Games from other regions could be played by either removing the ROM board from the cartridge and inserting it directly, or by removing the small plastic bumps surrounding the cartridge port.

The Super Famicom’s four controller buttons were all convex and colored with red, blue, green, and yellow. By contrast, the SNES featured two lavender and two purple buttons, with the lavender ones being concave to have a different tactile feel. The rest of the differences in the systems were just the particular shape and coloring in the hunk of plastic surrounding the main board.

The Nintendo 64

Finally, by 1996, the Nintendo 64 was released in North America only 3 months behind the Japanese date, and the only difference between the consoles was the position of two pieces of plastic that straddled the cartridge slot. This form of physical region locking was easily defeated by pliers back in the day, and now can be overcome with a $7 tray ordered from eBay that replaces the stock version in a 5-minute mod job. From this point onward, there have been basically no regional differences and the only thing preventing cross-region gaming is a software lock.

Regional Differences in Zelda Games (Part 3)

Regional Differences in Games (Part 1)

 

Ever since I found out that the US version of Super Mario Bros. 2 was very different from what Japan got, I have been curious about the difference in experiences that I got versus someone who grew up in Japan, and the ‘compare and contrast’ type of essay we sometimes have to do for English class was always my favorite assignment. 

During the NES and SNES days, information on this type of thing was scant. The internet wasn’t around to easily spread the details, and the only sources were monthly magazines and (even more rarely) the occasional newspaper blurb. I only found out about the SMB2 thing because of a small allusion to it in an issue of Nintendo Power. Since having access to Japanese games either through emulation, collections (like the Mega Man Legacy Collection or Castlevania Collection), or from the Nintendo Switch Online Famicom games, I have really enjoyed finding all the little tiny differences between versions.

There are many reasons for such changes. Sometimes it’s because there was a several month gap between the Japan release and the international release to give them time to translate/localize the game, and the developers were able to get some feedback from players to make some improvements. Other times it’s because the developers ran out of time before the game shipped, so they used the localization time to put the final polish on it. What follows is a list of types of changes with some examples. 

Different Media

The most obvious changes are ones where the physical medium had an effect. Kid Icarus and Metroid were on disks and had save files in Japan, while they were on cartridges and had password systems in the US. The Zelda games were on cartridges and had save files (getting the best of both worlds), so the loading and waiting times as well as having to change sides of the disc were eliminated for the US audience. The FDS games also often utilized the extra sound channel to enhance the music or sound effects which had to be cut out for the cartridge release. This type of change isn’t limited to regional differences, though, as it can also apply to any kind of port. Ports from an Arcade machine won’t need quarters to run, but also will come with a downgrade in graphics. Ports from PCs won’t have a whole keyboard to use, so a lot of adjustments will need to be made to be able to play it with a controller. 

Small Improvements (usually)

Often there are tiny bug fixes or slight changes to correct oversights, such as putting a small 1-block notch in the back of one of the ships in Super Mario Bros. 3 that makes it possible to get back on the ship without being “stuck.” Sometimes the sprites got garbled in the process of finalizing the game or a math error was found that causes unwanted behavior in enemy AI. Occasionally there’s a palette change due to unforeseen problems with sprites clashing or something. 

Cultural Issues

Sometimes it comes down to the differences in cultures that compels the changes. Capcom changed Phoenix Wright’s base of operations from Tokyo to LA in the text, even though the graphics weren’t changed at all. Also, references to ‘ramen’ were changed to ‘hamburgers’ as being the default fast food option. Many games that were steeped in Japanese culture were just not released internationally, as it would take too much effort to explain why kids were wearing uniforms to school or why the whole family bathes together in a game. However, since the popularity of manga and anime has exploded, many aspects of Japanese culture are more well known to the world and so games that wouldn’t have gotten an international release now can do so.  

Difficulty Change

Some of these regional differences are simple things, like Mega Man 2 having an option to select either a normal or hard difficulty, while Japanese players only got to play the hard mode. Super Mario Bros. 3 in Japan was also harder because getting hit always made Mario revert to Small Mario, whereas the US version would let Mario go back to being just Super Mario. For some reason the transition between the map screen and the level starting was also sped up. It was also clear in this game that the Princess’s name is Peach, something we didn’t learn in the West until Super Mario 64. Ironically, the US release of Ninja Gaiden 3 was made more difficult so that the game couldn’t be rented and finished over a weekend, forcing players to purchase the game and “get gud” if they wanted to complete it. In fact, it was the perceived difficulty of the original Super Mario Bros. 2 that inspired Nintendo to completely overhaul Doki Doki Panic into the western release that we know and love. 

Title Rename

Another oddity is that sometimes games are called by completely different titles, so games that are obviously from the same series in Japan don’t always appear as such in the US. For example, the games Final Fantasy Adventure and Secret of Mana were intended to be parts 1 and 2 of a trilogy (one where the third game never got released in the US) called the Seiken Densetsu (Legend of Sacred Sword). Nintendo of America thought it would sell better under the Final Fantasy name, so it renamed the first one and called the second one Secret of Mana. (Earthbound and Mother is another example of this). Square also didn’t release the 2nd, 3rd, or 5th Final Fantasy game in the US, so 4 was renamed to 2, and 6 was renamed to 3 so we Americans didn’t feel like we skipped a game. It just so happens that when Final Fantasy VII was switching teams to the Sony Playstation was when the internet started to take off, and we could find out why the games were numbered 1→ 2→ 3→ 7. 

A non-video game example is how the Transformers franchise came into being. There were two separate companies in Japan making toys that turned into robots. One was mostly cars and planes that changed into robots, while the other was made up of everyday objects like cassette tape players, microscopes, and guns. Japanese kids could play with these toys as is, but American audiences needed a backstory. So the American toy company gave them team names (Autobots and Decepticons) and wrote a story and created an animated series out of it. Voltron and Power Rangers kinda got the same treatment, where separate animated series were linked together under the same name in the US creating a connection unintended by the original creators in Japan. 

Translation Issues

Occasionally the translation changes the meaning of the original intent of the Japanese authors. In the case of the Final Fantasy games, the Japanese developers didn’t leave enough memory for text in other languages because Japanese is such a compact language when written down. As such, Ted Woolsey had to try and compress it down and make it fit and the result is that some of the story beats are simplified or changed entirely. Nintendo of America renamed The Legend of Zelda: Triforce of the Gods into A Link to the Past to avoid religious connotations, and decided that this game was a prequel (at least according to the back of the box) instead of the sequel that Miyamoto had intended. Some things were translated more literally, such as the infamous, "It is a secret to everybody" quote, and some were just really bad Engrish. 

Censorship

Many of the differences can be chalked up to censorship and cultural reasons. Nintendo of America had a fairly strict policy against religious things (as previously noted) and anything considered not family-friendly. The spell called “Holy” was changed to “White” in Final Fantasy 4, and to “Pearl” in Final Fantasy VI, while 'priests' were changed to 'clerics' or 'shamans,' and ‘prayers’ into ‘wishes’ in several instances. Castlevania had some background statues that resembled the Venus de Milo changed to look less nude and more covered up, many crosses were taken out, and Medusa was changed to look like a male. Several sprites were more covered up in Final Fantasy VI as well. The cigar-chomping gorilla’s stogie was taken out of Little Nemo, and the wording of the hint to call Edna in Maniac Mansion had the suggestive connotations removed. Many games had words like, ‘dead,’ or, ‘killed’ replaced by softer euphemisms like, ‘eliminated.’ Blood was removed from some games (Mortal Kombat) or had it changed to green (Ocarina of Time) or to look like sweat or vomit (Street Fighter 2). Wine was changed to Grape Juice, and bars (called cafes) serve milk for some reason. 

What’s interesting is how certain things got let through, like the cross on the shields and the graves for the first two Zeldas, even though the “Temples” were changed to “Palaces” in Zelda 2.

Regional Differences in Hardware (Part 2)

Regional Differences in Zelda Games (Part 3)

The Spider-Man Movies (part 2)

 

The Spider-Man Movies (part 1)

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

The Buildup: 

After Spider-Man 3 was panned by fans and critics, the Webslinger gets rebooted less than 5 years later so that Sony can maintain the rights. It promised to right the wrongs of the past trilogy and give our hero a fresh start.

The Plot: 

After being abandoned at his aunt and uncle’s house as a young child, Peter Parker has always wondered about the mysterious circumstances of his parents’ disappearance. He sneaks into Oscorp to find answers and is bitten by a genetically modified spider, giving him powers. He later witnesses his uncle get killed by a thief. He uses his powers to try and track the thief down but is ultimately unsuccessful, and decides to turn his skills to preventing other crime. Meanwhile, Kurt Connors is developing a limb regeneration technology and is given the missing algorithm by Peter using his father’s notes. Dr. Connors turns into the Lizard, and seeks to implement his evolutionary cure to the entirety of New York City.

What went right: 

Mostly all the stuff that the Raimi movies got wrong, like using mechanical web shooters instead of organic webbing. Spider-Man was a lot more lively and funny when in the costume and seemed more similar to his comic book version. Updated elements like Spider-Man playing on his phone while sitting on the web in the sewer were nice. Starting his love life with Gwen Stacy (who is played fantastically by Emma Stone), and seeing a new villain (also well-acted by Rhys Ifans). I also like how they stuck to Peter being in high school and didn’t jump ahead to adulthood. The costume was pretty good, and because they didn’t use the raised rubber it didn’t look silver colored, but the webbing pattern looked more like a wire-frame model and didn’t have the traditional “scoop” shape to it.

What went wrong: 

Peter was a little too angsty and focused on the mystery of his parents’ death, which was never emphasized in the original source materials. On the other hand, he wasn’t as nerdy or unpopular as he should have been (specifically the scenes with Flash being a bully and the basketball practice). Aunt May and Uncle Ben were okay but not as good as they were in the Raimi movies, and they tried to say Uncle Ben’s famous line without actually saying it. There was also a distinct lack of J. Jonah Jameson, but to be fair, it would be hard to follow up J.K. Simmons' amazing performance, which is why the MCU version is also played by Simmons. 

What I would have changed:

While it was intentionally different from the first trilogy (to avoid as many retread comparisons as possible), about the only things I could think of is to do some stuff more like the Raimi movies. I honestly liked this movie only just a little bit less than the first Spider-Man movie, despite having the various plot elements changed (like the focus on his parents). Though it was a reboot (which felt really early since not a lot of time had passed between Spider-Man 3 and this) and all the effort going into making this movie distinct from the Raimi trilogy, all things considered it was pretty good. I do feel like if we could have chosen about 80% from the Raimi movies and 20% from this movie and frankensteined it together, we would have made the perfect Spider-Man movie.

 

 

  

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

The Buildup: 

After keeping the rights alive by releasing a new Spider-Man movie reboot, Sony is looking to keep the momentum and build something similar to what Marvel was starting to pull off with the MCU. A few new cast additions like Paul Giamotti and Jamie Foxx, as well as characters like Harry Osborn making an appearance had fans excited.

The Plot: 

Peter continues the case concerning his parents’ disappearance while dealing with being a high school student and juggling his responsibilities as Spider-Man. Harry Osborn starts to fall ill with a genetic disease, and it’s determined that Spider-Man’s blood may save him. Peter’s refusal angers Harry, who uses his father’s research and equipment to become the Green Goblin. Meanwhile, an Oscorp employee falls into a tank of electric eels being used for research and acquires electricity-based powers. Both villains team up to take out Spider-Man, but after Electro is stopped, Harry drops Gwen from a tower and Peter is unable to save her.

What went right: 

The suit was improved with the big white eyes, and the blue was a bit brighter. Seeing Gwen’s death done right was both exciting and unexpected.

What went wrong: 

Sony was competing with the MCU and tried to set up their own little Spider-verse here, and there was waaaay too much focus on that and not enough on the main plot concerning Spider-Man. Some of the plot elements, like Spider-Man’s blood being the cure for Harry, were not well thought out. Electro’s portrayal seemed on par with Riddler’s from Batman Forever. The way they turned Rhino into (essentially) an Iron Man suit tank was just silly. It seems like this movie fell into the same trap that Iron Man 3, X-Men 3, Spider-Man 3, and Blade 3 all fell into with trying to do too much in a movie by combining two disparate stories together into one narrative.

What I would have changed: 

Mainly focused only on one villain, so I would have gone with Electro since we’d already seen two versions of the Goblin in the Raimi films, and save him for the third movie (assuming one got made). And with only one villain, there is now adequate screen time to fully develop the character and make the origin less silly and more believable. That said, if Gwen’s death was still in the movie, I would have had Captain Stacy’s subtle ghost behind Peter as he is mourning over Gwen’s grave to hammer in the guilt just a bit harder. I also would have taken out Paul Giamotti’s role entirely.

The Spider-Man Movies (part 1)

 

Spider-Man (2002)

The Buildup: 

After years of having the legal rights tied up in various bad deals, Sony/Columbia finally got the project off the ground. Spider-Man has always been Marvel’s main mascot and most popular character, so there was a lot of anticipation for this to be done right and become the second Marvel movie to do so. With the recent success of X-Men, coupled with advances in CGI, this movie had the opportunity to finally give the world a cinematic Spider-Man.

 

The Plot: 

Peter Parker is an unpopular but intelligent student at Midtown High, and during a field trip he is bitten by a genetically altered spider which results in him acquiring strength, climbing abilities, some precognition, and web-making capabilities. He first uses his new powers to get money but it results in his uncle’s death which leads him down the path of becoming a crime-fighter. Meanwhile, a lab experiment gone wrong turns a businessman/scientist into an insane villain who must be stopped.

What went right: 

Just about everything. The origin story was a nearly beat-for-beat updated version of what happened in the original comics. Tobey Maguire was great as Peter, Willem DaFoe was excellent as Norman Osborn, and JK Simmons nailed his role as J. Jonah Jameson. It had the famous line, “With great power comes great responsibility,” and showed the guilt that motivated Peter to use his powers for good. The costume looked great with the texture on the fabric and the raised rubber webbing so that it didn’t just look like tights (though its shine did make it look almost silver colored instead of black). Most of the effects were really good, and the script updated some things such as eschewing a radioactive spider in favor of genetically altered spiders, and a cage match at the wrestling league instead of a circus tent.

What went wrong: 

While he was great at being Peter, Tobey wasn’t quite the quipping, talkative Spider-Man who annoys and distracts enemies with his mouth (a feat surpassed only by Deadpool), but part of the blame can be put onto the script writers. While it wasn’t particularly egregious, there was a little bit too much of the Saturday morning cartoon villain-ish-ness in the Green Goblin, and the way the love story ended at the cemetery was a tad cliché to the point of seemingly being written by a 5th grader. I also wish they wouldn't have skipped over his high school years (and Gwen/Betty) so quickly and jumped ahead to adulthood (and Mary Jane). But other than those minor things, there wasn’t really anything to complain about. 

 

What I would have changed: 

I would have taken out Mary Jane’s sudden profession of love at the end of the movie. I would have tried something similar where she maybe wanted to start dating, but is rejected by Peter. As it is in the movie, it just sorta comes on too strongly out of seemingly nowhere and smacks of lazy writing. There’s a few other lines that I would re-work, such as, “We’ll meet again, Spider-Man!” when the Green Goblin is first foiled. Ultimately, I see why the producers chose to stick to the most popular elements instead of trying to retell the comics story beat-for-beat, but in hindsight, it probably would have made for a better series with more longevity and needing fewer reboots. 

  

 

 

Spider-Man 2 (2004)

The Buildup: 

After a very successful first movie, the sequel looked to be even better, following the trend that the X-Men movies seemed to have going on – meaning that the second movie is better than the first.

The Plot: 

Spider-Man tries to balance his personal life (school, work, love, friends, bills, etc.) with his superhero life, and it starts to wear on him. After losing confidence in himself, he gives up being Spider-Man until the guilt can no longer allow him to side-step his responsibilities, coupled with Mary Jane being put in harm’s way again forces him back into the superhero life. Meanwhile, a scientist experimenting with nuclear fusion accidentally welds 4 mechanical arms to his spine and its programmed AI encourages him to commit crime in the pursuit of science. Harry finds out the truth about Peter and his father’s alter-egos.

What went right: 

Nearly everything. Alfred Molina was great as Doc Ock, and simultaneously more sympathetic and much less cartoony, over-the-top villain than Green Goblin. The director and writer nailed showing how being Spider-Man takes its toll on Peter. The cameo from Dr. Kurt Connors had one sleeve pinned up (as it should), and all of the peripheral characters returned from the first movie. The story was a bit tighter than the first one.

What went wrong: 

The only thing that stands out to me is shoe-horning in the love sub-plot so much. While I realize that it’s a major motivating factor for Peter, it is just handled in a bit of a ham-handed manner.

What I would have changed: 

I would have had Peter dating someone like Betty or Gwen during the second movie while Mary Jane is tied up with JJJ’s son, and set up the love story between Peter and Mary Jane for the third movie.

 

 

  

 

Spider-Man 3 (2007)

The Buildup: 

The main focus of the hype was that we were going to see the Venom story. Being one of the most popular Spider-Man villains, it’s understandable how excited people were for the third installment.

The Plot: 

Spider-Man has gained a positive public following, but is informed that the man that robbed the wrestler promoter from the first movie wasn’t Uncle Ben’s killer – it was actually Flint Marko, who recently escaped from Prison and fell into a scientific experiment which turned him into living sand. Peter and Mary Jane’s relationship is starting to have problems, and Harry becomes a new Goblin to enact revenge. An alien form lands on earth and bonds with Peter, enhancing his powers but his personality takes a dark turn.

What went right: 

Thomas Hayden Church is a great pick for Sandman, had his talents not been wasted on such a poor script. There were a few bright spots here and there, like seeing the black-suit Spider-Man (though it lacked the distinct white scorpion logo).

What went wrong: 

This movie had far too much going on, and didn't devote enough time to let the various plots play out. From what I’ve read, this one had a lot more producer input (read: meddling). There were two major villains, and a third minor villain, and each one had his own plot happening, and there wasn’t enough screen time to do any of them justice. JJJ was laid on too thickly, and Topher Grace was dreadful as Eddie Brock, and he had more screen time in the Venom costume showing his face than having the eyes/mouth typically associated with Venom. Introducing Gwen Stacy as an alternate love interest in the third movie wasn’t a good choice. Mary Jane being used as spider-bait for the third time is a row is too much of a worn-out trope. Peter dancing. Retconning Uncle Ben’s death takes something away from the first movie. Due to having too many sub-plots running and needing to keep the runtime under control, a lot of the explanation about how Venom works was skipped entirely, and "normies" were probably confused as to why hitting construction poles defeats aliens. 

 

What I would have changed: 

First of all, ret-conning Uncle Ben’s Death is a terrible idea. I would have taken that point out, and just focused on Marko trying to rob banks (or something) because his daughter needed money for some medical procedure and is using his newfound powers to do so, but keeps getting thwarted by a (powered-up, black-suited) Spider-Man. The Gwen Stacy sub-plot would also get the axe, and assuming that the second movie had been changed per my recommendations (see above), then this would be the official start of Peter and Mary Jane dating, and in this movie she wouldn’t be kidnapped or in danger. Harry would still become the New Goblin and he ambushes Peter about halfway through the movie. Spider-Man wins, and delivers Harry’s unconscious (but still alive) body in the same way he did to Norman’s (in the first movie), and when he comes to is when Bernerd tells Harry what he knows, causing him to have a change of heart. I still would have included the alien symbiote plot, but instead of it just randomly landing from space near Peter’s scooter, it would have attached itself to a space shuttle being flown by JJJ’s son (referenced as being an astronaut in the second movie) which causes it to crash into the Hudson. Spider-Man rescues the astronauts and gets the “black goo” all over him. It goes on to enhance his powers and change his personality, further escalating the divide between Peter and Eddie Brock (played by Channing Tatum). Mary Jane convinces Peter to ditch the suit and when he finally does, it attaches to Eddie. Peter has to fight an enhanced Sandman without his stronger powers but is joined by Harry, who promptly retires after getting injured in the fight. A flash of Venom is shown in a mid-credits scene, setting up the fourth movie. I also would have made the spider symbol on the black suit a medium gray so it stands out a bit.

Alternatively, instead of Sandman, he could be replaced with the Lizard to let Dr. Connors’ appearance in the second movie setup the villain for the third one. I might even save the Sandman/New Goblin story for the fourth movie, and have Venom for the fifth (along with Peter and Mary Jane’s wedding) and then Carnage for the sixth and final movie. But all of this would mean actually having a plan and having faith that it’ll work (like what the MCU did).

The Spider-Man Movies (part 2)