Battletoads

Started by KEVMAN569, May 09, 2008, 07:47:09 pm

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Profeta Yoshitake

May 12, 2015, 10:55:35 am #30 Last Edit: May 15, 2015, 09:46:17 am by Profeta Yoshitake
Quote from: nintendodork on April 04, 2009, 01:51:14 pm
What are the differences between the JP and US Battletoads?


I'm six years late, but here are the differences for the first six levels only:

Battletoads secrets
Now Playing: Dragon Ball Fusions, Yggdra Union

Ghegs

The awesome drum beat from the Pause screen is the only thing I miss from the western versions.

nintendodork

Hey, thanks, Profeta Yoshitake! Still curious! :)
I like to glitch old VHS tapes and turn them into visuals for live music events. Check out what I'm working on - www.instagram.com/tylerisneat

L___E___T

Quote from: Profeta Yoshitake on May 12, 2015, 10:55:35 am
Quote from: nintendodork on April 04, 2009, 01:51:14 pm
What are the differences between the JP and US Battletoads?


I'm six years late, but here are the differences for the first six levels only:

https://tcrf.net/Battletoads_(NES)


I cannae see anything at that link - is it temporarily removed?  I get:

There is currently no text in this page. You can search for this page title in other pages, or search the related logs, but you do not have permission to create this page.
My for Sale / Trade thread
http://www.famicomworld.com/forum/index.php?topic=9423.msg133828#msg133828
大事なのは、オチに至るまでの積み重ねなのです。

nabbeth

May 15, 2015, 05:31:14 am #34 Last Edit: May 15, 2015, 09:49:40 am by nabbeth
It's just a broken link.

Here's a fixed one: https://tcrf.net/Battletoads_(NES) :D

Profeta Yoshitake

Sorry guys!
It's fixed now.
Now Playing: Dragon Ball Fusions, Yggdra Union

L___E___T

Thanks for the overview!  Ok, so the Famicom version is definitely easier, but do you think overall that balance and other fixes are an improvement, or a dilution?

Which is the better version in your eyes, purely subjectively?
My for Sale / Trade thread
http://www.famicomworld.com/forum/index.php?topic=9423.msg133828#msg133828
大事なのは、オチに至るまでの積み重ねなのです。

Profeta Yoshitake

I like the original version.
The localized one makes no sense at all. It has slow, pale and boring gameplay.
Bug fixing is always welcome, obviously, but the japanese version is just a shadow of the original.
I think they lowered too much the difficulty bar.
Now Playing: Dragon Ball Fusions, Yggdra Union

Ghegs

The original game is considered such a cult classic that to even suggest any changes (other than fixing the 2-player bug) would be thought as heretical in some circles. You'd have to find people who have never played the game in any shape or form and have them play both, it'd be interesting to see what they think. The JP version still isn't a completely braindead game you can waltz through on your first try, unless you're already experienced with the US Battletoads.

I also wonder what the consensus had been if the game was released in JP difficulty worldwide, and the US difficulty had been the game's Hard Mode.

Has there ever been any explanation from Rare as to why the JP version was made so much easier? The JP release happened about 6 months after the US one, that might have been enough time to tweak the the game's difficulty in response to the "OMG THIS IS TOO HARD" comments that I'm sure were prevalent after the game's US release. But then EU version has the same difficulty as the US one, so the adjustment probably wasn't in reaction to the reviews at the time. Unless the JP press condemned the game for being too easy in turn and Rare just threw up their hands in confusion and restored the difficulty for the EU release. But that feels like an unlikely chain of events.

Profeta Yoshitake

I guess it's all thanks to the US>JP localization process vision.

- How the japanese player would like this game?
- The japanese gamer would appreciate an easier version.

So they did the job.
One little question might have perfected the process:

- How much easier?
- Not so much.
Now Playing: Dragon Ball Fusions, Yggdra Union

L___E___T

I don't think it's that simple, I think they just had extra time and opportunity after the US release.  The 2-Player bug shows that, there's no way that could have properly been tested and got through.  I'm actually quite amazed, as we all know what was Nintendo's Seal of Approval policy back then - games were supposed to be completely bug free.

So I do like to think of it as a 'revisit' version - and yes while easier, I'm actually going to suggest it's a better game for it.  I finished the MegaDrive version as a kid, and the Turbo Tunnel was still hard enough (to me) back then that I had to devote several continues to it, it's no walk in the park.  I do remember finding the opening level easy, but an easy to moderate Level 1 is nothing new.

However, I am biased - I tend to prefer Japanese versions in any case.
My for Sale / Trade thread
http://www.famicomworld.com/forum/index.php?topic=9423.msg133828#msg133828
大事なのは、オチに至るまでの積み重ねなのです。

Profeta Yoshitake

I also tend to like the japanese versions.
But I became very frustrated when trying the japanese version, maybe for the first time.
Now Playing: Dragon Ball Fusions, Yggdra Union

P

Quote from: Ghegs on May 17, 2015, 06:40:53 am
Has there ever been any explanation from Rare as to why the JP version was made so much easier?

Well normal people thinks the Japanese version is super hard and the US and PAL versions are very close to impossible.

L___E___T

My for Sale / Trade thread
http://www.famicomworld.com/forum/index.php?topic=9423.msg133828#msg133828
大事なのは、オチに至るまでの積み重ねなのです。

Ghegs

Heh, yeah. Normal gamers we are not. Normal gamers think NES Contra is impossible without the 30 lives code.

I've sometimes read that the reason why some Japanese games were made harder in the US (for example Castlevania III and Ninja Gaiden III) is because in US games were rented a lot back in the day, and if the game was too easy, kids would rent it only once and beat it right away. So the games needed to be harder in order to entice the players to rent them again and again. In Japan renting games was illegal, so it wasn't an issue. Maybe Rare made the game deliberately extremely difficult with US/EUR game rentals in mind? And lowered the difficulty in Japan for the same reason.

With the 'toads in the public eye again thanks to their appearance in the XBox One version of Shovel Knight, it might be a good time to try and get an answer from Rare themselves. I somewhat know a guy in the gaming press, I'll have to drop him a line. Though I wonder if any of the staff who worked on the original game are still around...