Castlevania Dungeon Forums
The Castlevania Dungeon Forums => Hardcore Gaming 101 => Topic started by: theANdROId on November 25, 2014, 05:06:47 AM
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So, I stumbled across this earlier today.
NES Longplay [096] Gryzor (Japanese Contra - English Fan translation) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XyAuFJc71s#)
I guess I can't testify to the actual existence of the game (or the translation accuracy for that matter), though I don't see why there couldn't be a Japanese version and US version. I watched their playthrough and as a fan of Contra, it was interesting to note the differences between this and the US version...like some of the animated backgrounds, and the fact that there were a few story elements.
I know there have been differences due to censorship or whatever, but when it comes to differences like those seen in here, it makes me wonder why they changed/scrapped certain things. Anyway, I thought I'd share in case anyone else was or is fond of Contra.
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Konami were known for utilizing custom chips in their Famicom cartridges. In the US, things were more standardized and so you had more limited capabilities.
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So Konami was so OP at time, that Nintendo needed to strip it down to US, or their games would sell more than Nintendo's. XD
Someone else noticed that "B" (barrier) item at 6:16? At 11:31 you can see a eagle item that acts as a Castlevania rosary too. It was removed too isn'it?
Strange that even in arcades they have removed these features. Its called Gryzor in Japan until when?
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I feel like I remember both items being in the US version of the game, but not very common.
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I have the Japanese to English rom of Gryzor on my PC and I find it a better play. Not game-wise as there's no difference there. But in terms of the story elements were are given a background as to what had transpired. The meteor impact on the island of Galuga, the rise of the Red Falcon terrorist organization, and their eventual purpose of humanity's destruction. These story elements remained largely unknown until the release of Contral: Shattered Soldier. Through Shattered Soldier's story and the background files you unlock, only then did we learn the complex history of the Contra series. And also the fact that Red Falcon itself is actually not a hellrazor alien overlord, but a biological construct of an advanced alien race. And its purpose was to guard over and protect something called the Relic. The very reason why Red Falcon kept coming back to Earth time and again was because the Earth federation government had stolen the relic and Red Falcon was simply trying to recover it. Black Viper on the other hand is very much a US-made villain and does not appear at all in the Japanese story. Shattered Soldier's story explanation of Operation C is that an undisclosed country was experimenting with and using alien tech so the federation sent in Bill Rizor to shut it down. With the release of contra 4 in which Black Viper returns, I would need to see a translated version of the Japanese game in order to see how "it' fits into the Gryzor series. I'd really like to know about this one. This is one of the many reasons why I hate localization; they like to change and/or strip down games to what they think is acceptable for us. Why can't we be allowed to make up our own minds? Granted we were all kids at that time...well most of us anyways.
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In the video I thought it looked like the "angry defensive linemen"* didn't spawn as continuously (read: relentlessly or endlessly) as they do in the US version. Maybe it only looked that way though.
I'm pretty sure the whole Mario 2/Doki Doki Panic issue was the first instance I discovered there were differences between the Japanese and US releases of games...although I realized this about the Final Fantasy series, Earthbound/Mother, and the differences in CV games all about the same time, so I'm not positive about that. I find the whole thing dumb and annoying. Even things that are allegedly copyrighted (like all the issues with Earthbound) it makes me think things like, "Really? Did someone really lose out on this? Are people really so sensitive that their feelings are hurt over this? Are people really such babies that they can't handle satire/whatever?"
Then again, I also haven't created anything to be used "satirized" anywhere, and I'm sure I don't completely understand the whole issue...but I also think I'd be thrilled to be made fun of in a video game, or by Weird Al, or whatever.
But I too wish all the localization stuff wasn't such a big deal.
*credit where it's due -- this is Brentalfloss' term for some of the enemies...though my cousins and I did always call them "Football players"...never considering how it made no sense that there would be football players in any of these places, attacking us. ;-P
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*credit where it's due -- this is Brentalfloss' term for some of the enemies...though my cousins and I did always call them "Football players"...never considering how it made no sense that there would be football players in any of these places, attacking us. ;-P
LOL! Same here! For the longest time I had thought they were football players and of course it doesn't help the fact that you shoot flying footballs in order to get the power-ups. It was like the NFL except with guns.
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Haha! And all these years I thought I was weird for thinking they looked like football players. Never heard anyone else mention that until now. Glad I wasn't the only one.
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I feel like I remember both items being in the US version of the game, but not very common.
The B and the screen clearing item are indeed in the US version. Other than cutscenes and background animation, the rest of the game is untouched, though I believe the Japanese version has a level select, and gets harder faster than the US version.
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Maybe I've never noticed these items because I was busy dying.
Haha! And all these years I thought I was weird for thinking they looked like football players. Never heard anyone else mention that until now. Glad I wasn't the only one.
I thought that they were football players too, so add me on that.
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Finally, a Contra thread! ;D
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lol, welcome aboard darkmanx_429
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So Konami was so OP at time, that Nintendo needed to strip it down to US, or their games would sell more than Nintendo's. XD
That would be funny if that were the case, but I think part of Nintendo's Seal of Quality is they manufactured all the carts themselves to combat unlicensed games and also get more money out of publishers and game developers. In Japan, publishers could make their own carts and add their custom chips. Hence why a game like Castlevania III is so stripped down compared to its original Japanese version because it used standard hardware.
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The B and the screen clearing item are indeed in the US version. Other than cutscenes and background animation, the rest of the game is untouched, though I believe the Japanese version has a level select, and gets harder faster than the US version.
I was thinking this version looked like it might be a touch easier than the US version.
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Wow, this is pretty sweet. I had no idea all those things were in the Japanese version. It really makes the US one look incomplete, especially with that lame ending we got.
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Yeah...but at least it wasn't something like, "Conglatrations!" or "A winner is you!" or "Many Combolations Elizagerth!" ;-D
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There are actually quite a few games that were 'stripped down' in the US.
Metal Storm and S.C.A.T. (<- what were they thinking!) both had their intros removed.
Fortunately, there are retranslation patches for "Gravity Armor: Metal Storm" and "Final Mission".
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I realize this isn't Contra, but I thought it fit here and didn't need a new topic. It's along the same point of Japanese/US differences -- I found the Japanese version of Battletoads. This time, it seems theirs is easier...particularly the Jet Bike part of the Turbo Tunnel level that everyone remembers and hates! Here's a link that (I think) will start just before the jump part.
http://youtu.be/eVigdRzhgwc?t=9m34s (http://youtu.be/eVigdRzhgwc?t=9m34s)
Instead of 4 ships to dodge there are 3, and instead of being required to make some jumps on your own there are ramps. RAMPS!! Plus, the walls definitely come more slowly! It kinda makes me wish I was friends or neighbors with AVGN so I could share this with him and hear/see what he does with it. I'm sure he could make an entertaining video about it!
That's really the only part I watched...I don't feel like watching to see how it all compares. It's another interesting difference, and I wonder why, this time, they decided to make the US one so much harder!
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S**T! That WAS a lot shorter then the US version. Now I really feel let down that we were forced to undergo such torture.
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I've got mixed feelings.
On the one hand, I find this a bit frustrating. Again it's a question of why in the world would you change x, y, and z the way that you did? With many of the differences I've seen it's as if someone is trying to mollycoddle the US. Things are changed or removed as if to "protect" us from the difficulty or whatever various implications. Then the Battletoads difference comes along and our version is harder! What in the world?!! X-D
On the other hand, having beaten the game (with a few warps, but I still had to survive a few of the really hard parts) I'm not as bothered by this one. I feel quite a sense of accomplishment having overcome this particular example of "Nintendo Hard"
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another series, like Valis series had much of its story content removed from the localized or mainstream console versions.
Just compare the MSX / X6000(?) versions compared to the Turbografx 16 and Genesis versions for example.
Each version of each game/sequel were practically like a different game in itself.
also the most complete Valis games came complete with cinematic animated sequences AND voiceovers.
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Ture that. Valis IV I believe suffered the most damage out of all the other games in the series. The only thing the SNES version had going for it was the music. That and a slightly better level layout that wasn't overly difficult like it's Turbo-Due counterpart.