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
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
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
Tri-Force Heroes
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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
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
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 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
Minish Cap and Twilight Princess
None
Phantom Hourglass
Phantom Hourglass
Just a couple of minor animations
Spirit Tracks
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
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
Breath of the Wild
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.
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