List of Famicom/NES game differences

[Forever Zero]

Here are a few I found and haven't seen listed here:

Castle Excellent
Known as Castle Quest on the NES

In the NES version you begin with 50 lives. In the Famicom Version you begin with just 3 lives.

Bomber King
Known as Robo Warrior on the NES.

In the NES version, with full health, it takes about 3 bombs to destroy yourself. In the famicom version, if you acidently bomb yourself with just one bomb, that's pretty much it for you regardless of health.

The famicom versions of both of these games are more difficult than the NES.

[tankexmortis]

I know of one:

Zombie Nation/Abarenbou Tengu
In Zombie Nation you play as a disembodied samurai head, which is pretty cool. In Abarenbou Tengu, you play as the disembodied head of a tengu, which is actually sort of cooler. Also, the title screen is radically different, the Japanese one is so awesome:

Other differences: in Zombie Nation you start with autofire, not so in Abarenbou Tengu. In Zombie Nation the first boss is a green Statue of Liberty with snake hair, in Abarenbou Tengu she's red and has her normal crown. Also it may just be the ROMs I played, but I think Zombie Nation may have slightly tighter controls, I'll have to get a hard copy of both games to confirm this. There may be other differences, but I've only played the first level of each game.

[ReyVGM]

I just found out the Japanese version of Rampart was developed by Konami and it's really awesome. Much much better than the USA version.

[Xious]

Xious' additions to the list:

Castle Excellent (Castlequest): Has a save/load feature that saves to tape, requiring the HVC-007 BASIC Keyboard (and a tape recorder, such as the HVC-008 Family Data Recorder) to save or load.

Wrecking Crew: Level edit mode that saves to tape, requiring the HVC-007 BASIC Keyboard (and a tape recorder, such as the HVC-008 Family Data Recorder) to save or load.

Vs. Excitebike (FDS):  Level editor saves to disk.

Pyramid (Hacker) :Has nude anime-girls in Egyptian clothing cut-scenes; Pauses between levels.

Tetris: This release by Bullet Proof Software (BPS) is completely different, and is much more like the Game Boy version; Blocks rotate only right (by pressing UP on the D-pad); There is no speed drop by pressing down, but only instant-drop (all the way down instantly) by pressing B, making it tedious to slip blocks into place sideways; You have three lives, so you can fill up the screen three times before you get 'Game Over'; scoring does not scale with level.

Ghostbusters: There is a bug that allows you to sell items for much more than you paid for them, which allows you to build a huge bankroll rapidly. This was removed in the US release, which sucks, as it 3liminates some of the BS of getting into the 'Zuul Building'; Ghosts on the stairs are easier to avoid.

Ice Climber (FDS): Level and enemy differences; Port of the arcade version.

Metroid: Has some enemy differences (IIRC), plus enhanced music, different sound effects, and three save slots (like Zelda no Densetsu); There may be slight level differences.

Zelda no Densetsu FDS (Legend of Zelda): Lots of differences here: The font used in the game is different. The 'Magic Book' is called a Bible', the opening score is different due to enhanced sound, as are the following effects: Sword beam sounds more like electricity/fighting; Bombs sound like farting/exploding; link makes a more 'ouch' like sound when hurt; enemies make a different sound when killed; loading time for dungeons (when entering or exiting); Pols Voice is killed by shouting into the mic on Controller II, not by arrows; I think that the whistle and secrets make different sounds too.
1994 Cartridge Release: Same as USA release, except for game language. Pols Voice is killed by arrows in this version, as it was made for the New Famicom (A/V) which has no microphone.


Link no Boken (Zelda II): Message text, when speaking to people makes a unique, burbling sound, rather than beeping.

Hikari Shinwa: Parutena no Kagami (Kid Icarus): Musical differences and some enemy differences; Three save slots instead of password system.

Also…although these nest items aren’t technically game differences, they fit in with the vein of this thread:

Ghostbusters II: Well, although there are no differences here, there there is actually a different game, titled 'New Ghostbusters II' for the FC that is everything you'd want in a GB video game. It follows the movie and all you do is go through areas and trap ghosts. Unlike Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II (both by Activision), New Ghostbusters II is an awesome game that everybody should try!

You choose two characters: Egon, Winston, Ray, Peter or Lewis: One is the zapper and the other the trapper, and you go through stages such as Dana’s apartment, the courthouse, and the subway/railway underground using the two characters to catch ghosts until you reach the boss of each level, who you must trap as well.

The graphics are top-notch and the gameplay is great, with only a few control problems (when trapping). There is also an options menu that allows you to set up your beam length, game difficulty, and number of lives. It also has cool, upbeat music and excellent sound effects!

HAL Labs coded this masterpiece, which was released for the Famicom and for the PAL NES market. The only problems IMO is that it is too short, and that there is no Statue of Liberty scene. At least you aren’t running around popping things with slime or shooting at dancing birds over the harbour… Here is a link to a great review of it: http://www.vgmuseum.com/reviews/nes/nghostbstrs2  ...  Check it out!

Tetris 2 + Bombliss: Not the same Tetris 2 as released in the US. (Our Tetris 2 was released as  Tetris Flash on the Famicom), this is a 2-Player version of Tetris, with much more fluid controls, cool and clean graphics and nice music. It also features a second logic-solving game Bombliss, (a game similar to Tetris Blast) that requires you to use specific pieces to clear levels by causing chain reactions.

Definitely a must-have for puzzle-game lovers, it was also released for the SFC in two versions (normal and Special Edition), although I refer the 8-bit release myself. There was a follow-up, Tetris 3 that includes a new spin on Bombliss and a game called Magicliss as well as a four-player mode. (There is even a special multitap for Tetris 3's four-player mode, but any SFC multitap works.)

I also suggest DeBlock, which is like Tetris in Space.


I can probably remember some more presently...

-Xious

[UglyJoe]

Wrecking Crew: Level edit mode that saves to tape, requiring the HVC-007 BASIC Keyboard (and a tape recorder, such as the HVC-008 Family Data Recorder) to save or load.

The save/load features still exist in the NES version of Wrecking Crew, there's just no hardware to hook it up to.

Vs. Excitebike (FDS):  Level editor saves to disk.

There was no version of Vs. Excitebike for the NES.

[Xious]

I didn't recall a save feature on the US 'Wrecking Crew' cart, but I never use that version, as I prefer to play the disk releases of most games.

'Excitebike' for the NES has an option to design levels, but not save them. You can save them on the FDS version, which also has a two-player mode. It's still a game difference to the NES 'Excitebike' cartridge version, even if it is a Vs. release. Most people tend to either drop or ignore the Vs. designation, so adding it to the list isn't a bad idea.

-Xious

[UglyJoe]

I would say Vs Excitebike is more like a sequel to Excitebike.  They're not the same game.

Also, Excitebike for the NES had the save/load features, they just didn't do anything without the hardware.  Those old games are the exact same ROMs regardless of region.

[lkermel]

This is an awesome threat !!!!

I'm surprised no one has mentionned Power Blazer (aka Power Blade) which was entirely redesigned for the American/European markets - I have some information on my site

Also, the ending of the Japanese Salamander shows you that the pilot is in reality a girl - more info there

[Xious]

Rainbow Islands: The FC version has simpler music, and less complex graphics, as well as differing gameplay in many aspects, whereas the NES version is more of a true port of the arcade release.

Also, to NeW Ghostbusters II, there are differences between the PAL and Famicom releases as follow: Music on PAL version is livelier, game is easier and fewer ghosts attack you in normal play.

-Xious

[BrianC]

Rainbow Islands: The FC version has simpler music, and less complex graphics, as well as differing gameplay in many aspects, whereas the NES version is more of a true port of the arcade release.

There's more than one NES version. The US version is also different from the EU version.  It's very similar to the JP version, but with altered music.

Also, the ending of the Japanese Salamander shows you that the pilot is in reality a girl - more info there

The JP Salamander also has three options/multiples max instead of two like the US NES version.

[tappybot]

Been looking for a thread like this!   

I'm in Japan until the end of March, and I want to make sure to pick up all the Famicom games that are different from their US counterparts, as well as the best Famicom games we never got in North America.

Right now I have probably about 380 unique Famicom titles, but there are still a great number of good games I don't have!   I NEED THEM!  Haha..  It's been lonely here, and retro game shopping has become my number one hobby.   Man, I can't wait till pay day.


So keep adding my friends.  Keep it up!     

[topshelfgamer]

Only read first page, is it being actively updated/an interactive project or considered canonoical?  The blank spaces mean differences known just not listed yet?  I didn't check the other 9 pages to see if anyone else mentioned.

http://blog.hardcoregaming101.net/2009/08/maniac-mansion-famicom-version.html lists some of the differences

[demonolith]

I don't believe anyone mentioned Air Wolf yet. The Japanese version is an entirely different game than the American version. In the JP version the game is a sidescrolling shmup that only switches to first person view for boss fights.

[nerdynebraskan]

This thread should be stickied. There's a lot of cool information here, which is very helpful to collectors like me that are trying to figure out which games are worth buying... again.

I've got a couple of suggestions for additions to the main post:

1) Adventures of Bayou Billy/Mad City: Japanese version has easier level design and enemies take fewer hits to defeat, at least in beat 'em up stages. I've not played my copy of Mad City very much, but others could probably corroborate.

2) Double Dragon II: Japanese version has CONTINUES! And continuing takes you back to the main menu to decide if you want to change difficulty and/or 1P/2P options. US version: No continues, except for cheat codes.

[Nightstar699]

I agree, this is worthy of a sticky.

Kaiketsu Yanchamaru/Kid Niki: Radical Ninja

The sprite for Yanchamaru has a different hairdo depending on the region. A chonmage in the original, and a rat-tail in the U.S. version.
Other than the obvious logo change, the sky in the title screen is black in the U.S. version, while it's blue in the original.