The Japanese DQ1 played on fucking early Ultima rules, with 1-way sprites and the talking and checking options had an extra menu for cardinal directions
I recall hearing that Spyro The Dragon on the PS1 was a case of the Japanese getting an inferior version due to executive mandates. The game was originally developed in the US with a player-controlled camera, but the Sony executives thought their audience in Japan wouldn't understand it and mandated a fixed camera instead. It was not well received as a result, and yet the idiots ordered it done again with the sequel. Insomniac didn't bother porting the third instalment.
This is correct, yeah. Japan was worried about "3D sickness" so they changed the camera to be really slow and mostly-fixed, basically minimizing the amount of camera movement. They also slowed Spyro's movement speed and made it so charging is.....literally the same as your normal walking speed. There's other bizarre changes like the levels are all numbered, and the first world has these signs all over the place that tell you how to play the game. Yeah, it's no surprise that only two Spyro games were localized over there, with these weird and annoying changes.
Strange they worried about camera sickness when half or more of their shmups, run n gun and action games are crazy movements and seizure inducing lights and fast paced action
Generally, Pokemon games are also a lot rougher around the edges upon their Japanese release as the localization process allowed a lot more time for bugfixes in the GBA/DS entries. Now with the games essentially launching simultaneously in all major regions, everyone has to deal with the most broken and buggy entries the franchise has ever had, with basically all post-launch efforts being focused on adding DLC to the game and almost no efforts being made to actually improve performance or fix glitches
That's not just pokemon, that's literally gaming till PS3/360 era when Japan stoped being the main producer of games. Games were stable and worked because we literally were always getting the 1.1 versions
I like the way it happened with the PSP launch. The firmware version 1.00 was only found on Japanese launch PSPs and the only one that let people run homebrew without exploits so you could just run any unsigned code in it. Then Sony went oops, better fix that and patched the PSP with 1.50 for the US launch where the need for custom firmware began
Though, one thing I will say sucks is you can't actually play the slots in the HGSS hack. Would be nice if somebody just translated the Japanese version and redid the whole hack to accommodate it.
for speedrunning, the US version of illusion of Gaia is surprisingly the fastest version. a majority of its textboxes draw out all of the text in 1 frame, meaning that they can be mashed through a lot quicker than the japanese, which do 1 character per frame. this saves around 11 minutes in the speedrun, which is quitea bit for an action RPG!
There's tons of outliers to the "Japanese version is better" claim, the US version of Super Mario Bros. 3 lets you go back to super Mario instead of small Mario when you get hit with a power up, which greatly improves the overall experience and makes the game feel more fair. Another example (although not as extreme) would be how the American/International version of Mario Kart 64 actually has better voice acting compared to the Japanese version. One last Nintendo related example would be how the European version of Luigi's Mansion 1 is better than any other version of the game due to it having a better new game plus mode that flips the entire mansion and even changes boss fights.
Well Luigi's mansion was still a time when games still had huge gaps im release between regions allowing developers to tune and add things. Like kh1 japan only had sephiroth and the other secret boss besides the xemnas one were added in the american release. Heck the name of the desert boss was from a contest
Doki Doki Panic has a ton of things that they cut out of Mario 2 like having to *replay every level as each character* that I'm stil amazed people consider it THE REAL VERSION, especially after it was planned as a Mario game to begin with
apparently the smb2 prototype is very much based on doki doki panic, including the fact that, like ddp, you cant run, thank f*cking god that was changed
In the Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 3 when Mario takes damage instead of reverting to whatever powerup Mario had previously, he'll always revert to small Mario. The international version made it to where you'll instead revert Mario to the mushroom state which I believe to be not only easier but also more fair. It's really strange that Super Mario World goes back to the Mario 1 approach in ALL versions up until Mario Advance 2 especially considering it was clearly designed to be a much easier game than Mario 3.
probably because super mario world started development before mario 3 was even out in the west. that and honestly, the gba version becomes too easy because of the different damage system.
Many Squaresoft/Square-Enix titles had additional refinements and balance tweaks when brought to the US (a few were also modified even further in Europe), particularly the Kingdom Hearts series and PS2-era Final Fantasy games. Oftentimes, these games would have optional bosses and other side content that wasn't in the original Japanese version. Though this content would often be retroactively introduced to Japan through rereleases (Final Mix for Kingdom Hearts and the "International" versions of Final Fantasy games).
Thank you! Always great seeing you on here. Yeah it was released under Captain Saver, but the gameplay is exactly the same. Same character sprite and everything.
Two things I will say regarding Power Blazer/Power Blade: 1. This is me personally, but most of the time, I do not like when games with cartoony designs get a more realistic "serious" makeover in an attempt to appear more "grown-up" and appeal to hardcore-loving Americans that might be under the impression that cartoony designs are "kid's stuff". I don't see why they couldn't have stuck with the cartoon aesthetic when they were updating everything else about Power Blazer for its Western export. I'm sure Western audiences could have still accepted it. 2. You forgot to mention the time limit that was added in the Power Blade games. I also do not see why THAT mechanic was included when it wasn't in Power Blazer. As far as other games that are superior in the US or outside of Japan, the main one I can think of is the first two Spyro games. Those got bad exports for the Japanese market.
I remember seeing a preview of Power Blade/Blazer in a gaming mag, thinking it was a megaman in a tank top. then it never showed up. later i realized they changed the design when they released it in the US.
The absolute biggest example of this for my money is Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link. While there are a couple of features that the Japanese version has that are lacking in the US (such as animated water/lava on the overworld), overall the US version is better in virtually every possible way. The effects are better, the graphics are more varied and clean looking, the dungeons all have unique appearances, the leveling system is completely reworked and is much more balanced and intuitive, there is an extra boss enemy, and overall, it's just the definitive way to play this underrated game. They also completely redid the "encounter" music in the US version to be less dull and droning; and they added a chord change in the boss music to make it much less repetitive. And they fixed the Barba/Volvagia encounter to remove an exploit. Though the very last boss (which I won't spoil just in case) has an exploit that isn't in the Japanese version. Swings and roundabouts. Overall, standing side-by-side, the Japanese version is more of a novelty than anything else compared to the international release. It's basically no contest.
Same with Yūme Kojo: Doki Doki Panic, when they've changed into SMB2 (USA): - They put a dash button. - They slowed down the waterfall speed. - The Albatross bird has a better flying animation. - You can change your characters on each level - An extra boss such Clawgrip And the most importantly. - No need to beat the game 4th time in the row to see the ending.
In addition to Power _Blade_ getting a sequel over Power _Blazer,_ Power Blade II would also see a Japanese release under the name "Captain Saver." Whether Captain Saver has anything to do with Power Blazer or how the story differs from Power Blade II, I don't know. (Judging from screenshots, it uses the same "serious" graphics.)
When I was a kid I always loved the japanese versions and hated the internationals because censorship and all. Today, I can really apreciate the differences and like them all. With the excepction of pokemon green sprites. They are are the stuff of nightmares :')
As others here have pointed out it's actually hardly uncommon for international releases after the initial Japanese ones to have a ton of bug fixes and additional content or gameplay tweaks. Some commonly cited examples: • Super Mario Bros. 2 is much better than Doki Doki Panic • Super Mario Bros. 3 gave Mario an extra hit point if he has a power-ups instead of always downgrading to small Mario • the vast majority of Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts titles Some things I would like to point out: • Some titles like Decap Attack (it finally a tie-in game for the Magical Hat anime series)_ and Yo Noid! _(originally part of the Ninja Hanamaru series)_ are two examples among many where they have extensive graphical changes and even gameplay tweaks where it is strictly a matter of taste as to which version is better • Zelda 1, 2, Metroid, and really any game that was originally on the Famicom Disk System that later became a cartridge title in the US. Yes, often the music was a bit weaker or small things were cute _(such as being able to defeat Pol's Voice enemies by shouting into the Player 2 mic in Zelda 1),_ but not needing to pause the game to periodically flip the disk/insert a second disk/3-10 second load times seriously bogged down the pace of a ton of these games and makes them borderline unplayable in the modern day • a lot of games that were maybe a little too easy; _such as Metal Gear Solid 1 and 2 as well as Resident Evil 4,_ had complimentary difficulty increases that make them a more satisfying game • people that love ridiculously difficult games will find a lot of US releases push the player extremely hard by comparison to their Japanese counterparts, _such as many games by Konami like Contra and Castlevania or the difficulty chanhes that Working Designs applied to many of the games that they localized,_ though that's a matter of taste • speaking of Working Designs, when it comes to a loud sector of the internet there is a major demand for translations to be more accurate but Working Designs and some noteworthy translators such as Ted Woolsey went in the opposite direction and altered the script quite a bit. This process can be hit and miss and vary based on opinion, but there are often gems to be found in the rough for these titles that even more accurate retranslations keep _(such as FFIV's famous "You spoony bard!" line, as well as many of Kefka's lines in FFVI)._ There are also English translations with an insane amount of effort poured into them that vastly outshine their original Japanese scripts, such as Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions delving into borderline Shakespearean quality wordplay and flow So yeah. I still think that overall the Japanese versions of most games are better, but it's not down to a single title here or there going against type, oftentimes it's a bit of a mixed bag or personal flavor.
Honestly, 10 minutes on a single game comparison is overkill. Comments are there to provide more, and these days most of us are wiser than thinking all localisation ruins JP media.
A modern example would be Resident evil 2 remake. They got 2 different rated versions and the higher rated one is still more censored than the western release.
Would love your take on games that are better in Japan than the US. There’s definitely some well-known ones but would love to hear about more obscure titles.
Yeah that would be a cool idea. I talked about a few of them in the " Konami nerfed their own games in the US" video, including contra and life force. I may do some others in the future though
I can throw irem's Metal Storm out for you. The US release is essentially a beta for the JP release several months later(yes, we got it first). They added a cool opening cutscene, changed some of the colors, and reworked one of the stages to be more challenging by adding force fields along the top and bottom of the screen.
I love Power Blade, one of my favorite nes games. I recommend Prison City for anyone who enjoys Power Blade. It's on Switch (and other platforms) and feels like an updated power blade - you even need to collect keycards from other agents to get into the boss rooms.
9:30 That probably goes without saying, but even though Power Blade might look like a "ROM hack", it is definitely not one. They had the game sources, so there was no need for them to have fun hacking the binaries like cavemen.
I think most US or EU Versions are better than the Japanese Versions and that is for one simple reason. These Games where released later. So bugs and glitches that exist in the earlier version of the game, often got patched out in the later version of the game, which was usually the US/EU Version. Of course there are some cases where features where taken out because for political reasons, but i think they are rare. If a translation is botched up, i have a good laugh about it. As Example Extreme G III for the PS2, in the German Version the controls tell Press R1 to Lift the Weapon and L1 to Lower the Weapon, what they actually meant was to switch up and down between the weapons. So in my opinion when someone claims that the Japanese Version was better, was for the fact that they want a broken game. So that they can exploit bugs or glitches.
It doesn’t, and they never said it was. Maybe you’re over thinking it? At least it informs viewers a sequel was made. Its just letting you know for informative reasons and how it was a US game based out of a JP game and that it was becoming a franchise or good enough to produce and add/improve upon the original for more gaming and capitalizing. A JP version WAS made after the US version called captain saver. So at least we got that and inspired something
Here are a few games that are better in the western version than the Japanese one. 1. Mortal Kombat II for Super NES - Japanese version was heavily censored and had green blood. Fatalities are grey out instead of darken. 2. Super Mario Bros. 3 for NES - In the international version Mario could take 3 hits before death if he had a power-up instead of 2 hits like the Japanese version. 3. Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold / Street Fighter Zero 2 Alpha for PS1 and Sega Saturn - The Japanese version didn't get Cammy as a hidden fighter. 4. Legend of Zelda for NES - You can enter the 2nd Quest at anytime by entering the name Zelda as your profile. In the Japanese version you had to beat the game first and had a save file from the 1st Quest in able to get the 2nd Quest. 5. Tetris - The Famicom version of Tetris had input lags with awkward control, the revised Tengen and Nintendo versions for NES fix this. 6. Tetris Attack / Panel de Pon for Super NES - You could continue from where you last left off in Tetris Attack via continue or passwords, both which are not in Panel de Pon. CPU Mode is also not in Panel de Pon, this mode lets you watch the CPU play the game for you while you collect passwords. 7. Final Fantasy for NES - In the Famicom version during a battle, if one particular character is targeting an enemy like say with a Fire spell or something and that same enemy was killed by another character in the party before that one specific character could use the spell then that spell would get its charge wasted indefinitely so if the Fire spell had 3 charges it'll dropped to 2 regardless if the character use it or not. In the USA version if the same thing happen, the charge spell won't be wasted so instead of losing one charge the cancel spell charge won't decrease. You'll still retain 3 charges like before.
It is more appealing. We don't get attracted to cute nature. We like action muscular heroes. It's a good role model to grow up to become so we can get girls.
Well mega man was changed a bit. They changed his “Rock” name because the name “Mega” man is a better fit for American culture. And they didn’t over do it with anime. Also they didn’t want the box art to be cutesy so they got Artists to draw the American box art which the artist didn’t know anything about the franchise he sent why we got the infamous box art for mm1 which I kind of like. It’s ugly of course as I first noticed as a kid since I got MM2 first. But in a retrospective, nostalgic and reasons artistically... I appreciate now and would not change it. MM2 pal version box art is badass as well. I kind of loved the US box art of NES games over their anime counterparts in Japan which was the main art. It’s almost like a cultural phenomenon and impactful now and it should be a cool NES thing of the past we should cherish and think is neat that that’s how we were and thought and made back then. Part of the NES story and legacy.
Hey, awesome!! I made a surprise guest appearance on a Pojr video! That made my day and thanks for the shout out! Power Blade is one of my favorite NES games.. I had no idea there was a Japanese version because of the name difference. After seeing this I agree, the US version is waaaay better. Power Blade 2 is probably the better game, but I'm in the same boat, I prefer the first one. Probably because it maintained some of the charm the Japanese version had. Great video Pojr!
Spyro the Dragon is a prime example of this. The Japanese version of the game significantly slowed down/altered the movement and they messed the camera up. The Japanese version is definitely interesting but it is overall a significant downgrade to its international counterpart.
The nerfing in the Spyro games was on purpose. Apparently the japanese publisher thouht the game was moving too fast and that could lend to japanese kids to get motion sickness. Also in Japan Spyro and Crash Bandicoot games were marketed towards small children instead of pre-teen or teenage kids.
Another example is Super Mario Bros 3, they made Mario turn into big Mario instead of tiny Mario when he gets hit while having one of the power ups other than just the mushroom. Mega Man 2 also because it has an easy mode, the "normal mode" while the difficult mode is just like the original Japanese version.
I'm trying to think of if there were other examples of this, but can't think of anything. I think Natsume actually did make a lot of changes to their games based on region, but how many of those were gameplay related and made it better I'm unsure of. Another great video, pojr. All the best!
Dragon Quest/Dragon Warrior is another example. The US version has a lot of improvement graphically, as well as a battery save (the Japanese original only had a password system)
I always preferred Probotector over Contra. Sure, playing strong men fighting aliens is bad ass... But Robots are even cooler and - I dunno, they fit the vibe of the game best.
Seems Power Blazer is trying to be like Megaman with the stage select and action platforming yet nowhere near as good While Power Blade is a good rival(successor?) to Contra!
They should have included the Japanese version as a difficulty setting and called it Nightmare or something. Of course it is super hard to do the job of an action hero when you are just some chubby kid.
I don't think this is really a fair comparison. They might have been built in the same engine but they're clearly different games. I mean, it's cool that they saw the game had issues and completely redesigned it for a US release, but that not really the same thing as Contra where they're the same game but one is better.
One thing that I should point out that you got pretty wrong in this video is that Natsume didn't decide on the changes for the international version of Power Blazer to Power Blade. It was actually an American US representative from Taito that once had previous experience working at Nintendo (and who famously worked as a Game Counselor for Nintendo of US, who also originally pitched the Captain Nintendo concept which later became Captain N The Game Master) that revamped Power Blazer into Power Blade. So, no one from any Japanese office nor anyone from Natsume had anything to do with it. It was mainly one guy at Taito from their American branch that is responsible for how Power Blade turned out.
Really, just one example? There’s countless games in the 8bit & 16bit era that were updated in a positive way (but a lot more that got downgraded obviously, but that’s not the topic here lol)
Now for a real challenge. PAL versions of games that are better then the NTSC versions. Bonus points if they're games that weren't developed in PAL countries
I can't think of any names off the top of my head, but there are many games that had improvements when localized for the west. Usually much more minor improvements than the game presented here though. Developers would often fix bugs or minor gameplay issues that they didn't catch the first time around.
In SMB3, the Famicom version would set you back to mini Mario when you take a hit even with a power up. In the US NES version, you revert to Super Mario from a power up.
Yes, that has... historical reasons. Crash getting stomped by tree trunks in Crash 2 is changed in JP because a serial flatliner had an M.O. involving how Crash looks after the tree lifts up.
it's more of CERO (japanese equivalent of ESRB and PEGI) than government and seems midway and warner knew that censoring mortal kombat will be the 2nd coming of snes mk1
If you like tough games, another example is Mr Bones for Sega Saturn. The US version was balls to the wall difficult, and the Japanese version released later is greatly toned down in terms of difficulty.
Japanese to English change: Silhouette Mirage. I rented it from a video store and that game was really hard. It turns out that when the company ported it over to the USA, they made it more difficult. The game had a really cool aesthetic.
Some Japanese versions of Castlevania games (particularly the classics) are extremely easy compared to the western versions. Or maybe it's better to say that they aren't extremely easy, the western versions are just extremely difficult. Basically, if you grew up with Castlevania 3 and beat it as a kid (and aren't Japanese), you're probably a god.
I believe there was a game called Magic John in Japan that was redone as Totally Rad in the US. Apparently while the stages and gameplay are identical, the hit boxes were improved and character designs were overhauled for Totally Rad. Otherwise they were identical. I do feel we got the better game as a result of the overhauled character designs though.
I prefer Renegade over the Japanese Kunio. The 1950’s atmosphere is really compelling and makes the game far more fun and exciting. Had no idea the Japanese version of Power Blade was so terrible. Especially considering how great a game it was in the USA. I did collect the Famicom Mini over the Nintendo Classic because I much prefer the disk versions most of all and the Japanese versions in general.
All I saw in Renegade was a Warriors knockoff with generic characters and a bare-boned story. Kunio-kun is where it’s at, Japan even made a live-action series based on the game.
So it's not quite fair as it was an American game first, but Spyro the dragon 1 was made SO much worse in Japan by forcing fixed camera , apparently some people felt ill with the normal camera? Which is weird
Jumping height is part of gameplay, not controls. Most people use the word incorrectly. Things like button delay or uncomfortable button mapping are part of controls. Or whether you use a thumbstick or Dpad etc.
It is very blatantly obvious that Power Blazer (the Japanese version) is a Rockman (Mega Man) inspired game. At least Power Blade (the US version) is a lot more original and has more original mechanics that separate it from Capcom's blue ass ni- *cough* child.
I'm going to completely disagree on this one. The Japanese box art for Power Blazer is an ugly mess that is not at all even coherent or sensible to look at at a first glance. The US box art is objectively better in every way.
@@johns6265Rob Liefeld also introduced a much more dynamic style to comic books that was a much-needed breath of fresh air. He has problems drawing digits, and actively gives the finger to scale, but he also draws cool-looking pages. He's also just a nice guy that genuinely loves comic books, and being affable and enthusiastic goes a long way. The people that don't like Liefeld for the most part aren't the people that buy comic books.
I thought this was insane when I first found out! I remember being able to beat Power Blade, but then couldn't beat a single stage in Power Blazer... the small changes they made really were game-changers. Dying from falling off-screen was bad though, and I guess limited the level-design in some ways. I also personally think the scenario graphics fit perfectly with the realistic art-style, but look too detailed with the anime art-style originals. I could never get into Power Blade 2, it's a very impressive game but tbh, too gimmicky! You forgot to say Power Blade 2 did get a japanese version, and called it Captain Saver. No idea if there were more changes though, but it'd be cool to hear! Good vid tho :D
Another example of a western game better than the Japanese original is Super Mario Bros. 2 vs. Doki Doki Panic. Our SMB2 made a lot of gameplay improvements over Doki Doki Panic. The only downside was that you couldn't save your progress like Doki Doki Panic.
usually in the 80s and 90s they would make USA games harder because RENTAL companies asked them to make them harder to keep people renting them longer.
And we Europeans probably got the worst versions of the games, with the notorious slowdowns caused by the bad NTSC -> PAL conversions, which were very poorly made.
Except for legend on the Super Nintendo weirdly enough. The pal version of that game has a “turbo” mode which makes the gameplay more fast and fluid which helps negate the sluggish base game, and neither the Japanese nor American versions have this setting in the option menu. Also you got banger exclusive Genesis games like second samurai and daffy duck in hollywood(this is a great game trust me I know the name sounds stupid)
It's not like all European NES releases were garbage, quite a fair share were adjusted and optimized for the PAL standard. I knew games were faster in the US and Japan back then, but I had never experienced it, so I didn't see the problem. I think it was worse later on like letterboxed versions of games on the PS2 when PAL/NTSC standards should have been irrelevant (Since all TVs in Europe were capable of RGB and S-video.) Today I of course play the games as they were intended.
The US version of SMB3 is objectively superior. The SNES version is pretty good but i don't like the slippery physics of it and the GBA version is near perfect but the screen resolution is pretty bad compared to the other versions
The belief was (and still is) that western gamers prefer realism and macho guys, so a lot of games had different marketing or were completely changed for the western release. This is why you have a lot of bizarre western box art (e.g. mega man) for example. One of the most famous examples of this was NieR Replicant --> NieR Gestalt. On a sidenote, realism is probably the reason you can't fall down onto a lower screen and survive. I personally wouldn't say that the design of the US version is better but that's probably also because I'm an Indigenous person and don't really get the appeal of these designs.
I feel like taito was trying for a MegaMan clone with Power Blazer but didn't quite hit the mark with the gameplay. Honestly sounds like it's an unfinished game. Then US Taito decided to make it more like Contra and finished it up.
This is probably the first time I discovered that the Japanese version is worse than the American version… imagine if the angry video game nerd made a review on this… that would be wild. The character in the American version of power Blazer looks like either Arnold Schwarzenegger or Duke Nukem. Also Spyro had something like this except the fact that since he was made in America and was brought to Japan, it was sort of the other way around where the original American version was good, but the Japanese version was bad because there had to be some modifications.
This is especially true in terms of difficulty level.If you're someone who likes a challenge, always go with the world/U.S. versions.The Japanese versions, nine times out of ten, will be significantly less difficult to beat.
Probably the biggest example of an American game being better than the Japanese one to me is magical hat on the genesis to decap attack. Magical hat isn’t TERRIBLE, but it’s a painfully forgettable mediocre tie in game with annoying one hit deaths that don’t work with the level design, a boring set of worlds that all follow the base Mario platformer themes such as green island, desert, etc, and has some pretty unnapealing and poorly drawn spritework to go along with it. When porting it to the U.S. as Decap Attack, however, they not only gave the game a more memorable cartoon horror style with tons of really well drawn gnarly monsters, but they also gave it a more rocking grungy soundtrack that like the graphics stick out more, gave you a super forgiving life bar, changed the minigames so you only play them at the end of levels, and now that the game has original characters instead of licensed ones, the game is accessible on nearly every official sega genesis collection out there nowadays. I’d love to see a decap attack comic or sequel game someday since it’s such a unique game with a personality unlike anything else.
I like how the original is just "let's make a rockman-like with a boomerang" and the US version is "okay, megaman isn't cool enough, let's bring in some Contra!"
I finished power blazer multiple times when I was around 14 years old. My favorite boss is that bee hive where I can grind then after I got buffed from power up dropped by bees, I finish it off.
I feel like the "japanese version is always better" is mainly a square issue. Final Fantasy having this be true all the way to 12. And the last one being the ps3 edition of birth by sleep. Granted we got the ability to play them natively the past few years with additional upgrades and now the steam version is by far the best. But it took a while for square games to release of similar quality overseas as japan.
Check out Zelda 2 and Final Fantasy 7. Zelda 2 seems like a game where they put out the Japanese version to hit a deadline, weren’t happy with it, and took an extra year to polish it up for the US release. In porting it off the disk system, they improved a ton. And FF7 was so much better in the US, that they are-released it in Japan as Final Fantasy 7 International.
You should have skipped talking about power blade 2 since there is no counterpart. Also the U.S is pro macho man so not changing his appearance to match the audience
Final Fantasy 7: Crisis core for PSP is better outside Japan. Firstly, some of the scenes got little tweaks for better appeal. Secondly, the additional missions became more linear, not to mention the fact that, if you die on these said missions in the Japanese version, you get a game over. If you die on these missions in an international version, you just get sent back to the save point.
Regarding not being able to grab ladders: are you playing on an emulator with an Xbox controller? Those controllers have a bug where if you press up too hard on the d-pad it doesn’t register.
The japanese version was worse 99% of the time because the us version came out months later and had time for bug fixes and added content, only game I know with it the other way around was matio and luigi partners in time, which had an english release first and bosses adjusted to he easier in the japanese version because they had way too much health in the US versiob
![Cody Johnson - I'm Gonna Love You (with Carrie Underwood) [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/yy9PuYMU29g/mqdefault.jpg)
Dragon Quest/Dragon Warrior is another good example. It was improved a ton graphically and had a battery so you could save without use of a password
I played the Japanese version of DQ a long time ago and was surprised to see how different the main character sprite was.
Was going to mention DQ/DW 1 and 2 and this was the first comment I saw hahaha
The Japanese DQ1 played on fucking early Ultima rules, with 1-way sprites and the talking and checking options had an extra menu for cardinal directions
Zelda 2 was arguably better in the US, at least better than the FDS version.
@@mirabilisYeah
US doesn't have that annoying sound when you talk with the NPC, has a bew boss instead to used Horsehead in the Ocean Palace.
I recall hearing that Spyro The Dragon on the PS1 was a case of the Japanese getting an inferior version due to executive mandates. The game was originally developed in the US with a player-controlled camera, but the Sony executives thought their audience in Japan wouldn't understand it and mandated a fixed camera instead. It was not well received as a result, and yet the idiots ordered it done again with the sequel. Insomniac didn't bother porting the third instalment.
At least Ratchet and Clank seemed to fare somewhat better in JP after that.
This is correct, yeah. Japan was worried about "3D sickness" so they changed the camera to be really slow and mostly-fixed, basically minimizing the amount of camera movement. They also slowed Spyro's movement speed and made it so charging is.....literally the same as your normal walking speed. There's other bizarre changes like the levels are all numbered, and the first world has these signs all over the place that tell you how to play the game.
Yeah, it's no surprise that only two Spyro games were localized over there, with these weird and annoying changes.
Strange they worried about camera sickness when half or more of their shmups, run n gun and action games are crazy movements and seizure inducing lights and fast paced action
@@Gotmilk0112 imagine what they would do with reignited trilogy…
Generally, Pokemon games are also a lot rougher around the edges upon their Japanese release as the localization process allowed a lot more time for bugfixes in the GBA/DS entries. Now with the games essentially launching simultaneously in all major regions, everyone has to deal with the most broken and buggy entries the franchise has ever had, with basically all post-launch efforts being focused on adding DLC to the game and almost no efforts being made to actually improve performance or fix glitches
That's not just pokemon, that's literally gaming till PS3/360 era when Japan stoped being the main producer of games.
Games were stable and worked because we literally were always getting the 1.1 versions
I like the way it happened with the PSP launch. The firmware version 1.00 was only found on Japanese launch PSPs and the only one that let people run homebrew without exploits so you could just run any unsigned code in it. Then Sony went oops, better fix that and patched the PSP with 1.50 for the US launch where the need for custom firmware began
Though I definitely prefer a strong amount of sprites in Red and Green. Also HGSS has the Game Corner. Both can be restored with patches, at least.
Though, one thing I will say sucks is you can't actually play the slots in the HGSS hack. Would be nice if somebody just translated the Japanese version and redid the whole hack to accommodate it.
Don't forget Iwata being on the debug team until BW2.
3:43 He looks like Duke Nukem.
Haha yep. Replace the blue tanktop with a red one and voila, Duke Nukem
Terminator for me
"Let's rock!"
@@civilwildman Come get some.
kick gum and chew ass
for speedrunning, the US version of illusion of Gaia is surprisingly the fastest version. a majority of its textboxes draw out all of the text in 1 frame, meaning that they can be mashed through a lot quicker than the japanese, which do 1 character per frame.
this saves around 11 minutes in the speedrun, which is quitea bit for an action RPG!
Plus, you can get a Y U M M Y R O A S T L E G O F Y A K !
@@RyusutaOk this must be a second Welfz Twingo case because I keep seeing you everywhereee
There's tons of outliers to the "Japanese version is better" claim, the US version of Super Mario Bros. 3 lets you go back to super Mario instead of small Mario when you get hit with a power up, which greatly improves the overall experience and makes the game feel more fair. Another example (although not as extreme) would be how the American/International version of Mario Kart 64 actually has better voice acting compared to the Japanese version. One last Nintendo related example would be how the European version of Luigi's Mansion 1 is better than any other version of the game due to it having a better new game plus mode that flips the entire mansion and even changes boss fights.
the voice acting being better is quite subjective, i like the jp voices as much as i like the us ones
@@ssg-eggunnerI was gonna mention this lol
@@ssg-eggunnerWario's "d'oh I missed/so ein mist" is iconic
Yup, I haven't played the hard mode yet but I made sure to play through the PAL version so I could have it unlocked.
Well Luigi's mansion was still a time when games still had huge gaps im release between regions allowing developers to tune and add things. Like kh1 japan only had sephiroth and the other secret boss besides the xemnas one were added in the american release. Heck the name of the desert boss was from a contest
Power Blazer - Australian Megaman
Power Blade - Australian Duke Nukem
Excatly what i thought ! hahaah
Doki Doki Panic has a ton of things that they cut out of Mario 2 like having to *replay every level as each character* that I'm stil amazed people consider it THE REAL VERSION, especially after it was planned as a Mario game to begin with
The Lost Levels should have remained lost. lol
apparently the smb2 prototype is very much based on doki doki panic, including the fact that, like ddp, you cant run, thank f*cking god that was changed
i feel like that if doki doki panic was never conceived and the mario idea was done from start, it would still end up different
The changes made SMB2 too easy. By far the easiest Mario game ever.
@@MrHurricaneFloyd nsmb2
In the Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 3 when Mario takes damage instead of reverting to whatever powerup Mario had previously, he'll always revert to small Mario. The international version made it to where you'll instead revert Mario to the mushroom state which I believe to be not only easier but also more fair. It's really strange that Super Mario World goes back to the Mario 1 approach in ALL versions up until Mario Advance 2 especially considering it was clearly designed to be a much easier game than Mario 3.
But world lets you keep the previous powerup
probably because super mario world started development before mario 3 was even out in the west. that and honestly, the gba version becomes too easy because of the different damage system.
What's odd is that in all versions of Mario 3, on the title screen, Mario downgrades all the way to small Mario when getting hit.
So they dumbed down the game for americans, got it 👍
@@bulb9970*screams in pain*
It's weird to see the US version of a game being better than the original, but we got a pretty great game out of it.
Great Video Pojr!
Thank you! Yeah it's nice to see that for a change. There are a few other examples out there
Super Mario Bros 2 is way better than Doki Doki Panic.
Not that weird if at all
3:44 dude became Duke Nukem lol
Many Squaresoft/Square-Enix titles had additional refinements and balance tweaks when brought to the US (a few were also modified even further in Europe), particularly the Kingdom Hearts series and PS2-era Final Fantasy games. Oftentimes, these games would have optional bosses and other side content that wasn't in the original Japanese version. Though this content would often be retroactively introduced to Japan through rereleases (Final Mix for Kingdom Hearts and the "International" versions of Final Fantasy games).
The same was also true for a lot of Level-5's early output. Dark Cloud and Rogue Galaxy being the biggest examples.
Power Blazer has my boy Nova looking like Great Value™ MegaMan.
LOL 😆
And then Power Blade gave us Great Value Duke Nukem
Great video Sir, Was Power Blade 2 released in Japan?
Ayyy hello Larry Bundy, remember watching your videos when I was younger. Love from Northern Ireland
Apparently it was, under the title of Captain Saver (キャプテンセイバー ).
Thank you! Always great seeing you on here. Yeah it was released under Captain Saver, but the gameplay is exactly the same. Same character sprite and everything.
You misused a comma.
Two things I will say regarding Power Blazer/Power Blade:
1. This is me personally, but most of the time, I do not like when games with cartoony designs get a more realistic "serious" makeover in an attempt to appear more "grown-up" and appeal to hardcore-loving Americans that might be under the impression that cartoony designs are "kid's stuff". I don't see why they couldn't have stuck with the cartoon aesthetic when they were updating everything else about Power Blazer for its Western export. I'm sure Western audiences could have still accepted it.
2. You forgot to mention the time limit that was added in the Power Blade games. I also do not see why THAT mechanic was included when it wasn't in Power Blazer.
As far as other games that are superior in the US or outside of Japan, the main one I can think of is the first two Spyro games. Those got bad exports for the Japanese market.
I remember seeing a preview of Power Blade/Blazer in a gaming mag, thinking it was a megaman in a tank top. then it never showed up. later i realized they changed the design when they released it in the US.
The absolute biggest example of this for my money is Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link. While there are a couple of features that the Japanese version has that are lacking in the US (such as animated water/lava on the overworld), overall the US version is better in virtually every possible way.
The effects are better, the graphics are more varied and clean looking, the dungeons all have unique appearances, the leveling system is completely reworked and is much more balanced and intuitive, there is an extra boss enemy, and overall, it's just the definitive way to play this underrated game. They also completely redid the "encounter" music in the US version to be less dull and droning; and they added a chord change in the boss music to make it much less repetitive. And they fixed the Barba/Volvagia encounter to remove an exploit. Though the very last boss (which I won't spoil just in case) has an exploit that isn't in the Japanese version. Swings and roundabouts.
Overall, standing side-by-side, the Japanese version is more of a novelty than anything else compared to the international release. It's basically no contest.
Very true.
Same with Yūme Kojo: Doki Doki Panic, when they've changed into SMB2 (USA):
- They put a dash button.
- They slowed down the waterfall speed.
- The Albatross bird has a better flying animation.
- You can change your characters on each level
- An extra boss such Clawgrip
And the most importantly.
- No need to beat the game 4th time in the row to see the ending.
Agreed, Zelda 2 is better in America. Arguably Mario 3 also as it gives you an extra hitpoint.
@@MidoseitoAkageDon't forget Clawgrip.
Funny both the USA version of Zelda 2 and Mario 2 have a new boss.
@@beauwalker9820 Ah yeah, Instead the white Mouser.
In addition to Power _Blade_ getting a sequel over Power _Blazer,_ Power Blade II would also see a Japanese release under the name "Captain Saver." Whether Captain Saver has anything to do with Power Blazer or how the story differs from Power Blade II, I don't know. (Judging from screenshots, it uses the same "serious" graphics.)
When I was a kid I always loved the japanese versions and hated the internationals because censorship and all. Today, I can really apreciate the differences and like them all. With the excepction of pokemon green sprites. They are are the stuff of nightmares :')
Yeah, I wanted to offer a very rare exception to the rule!
The sprites of Pokemon Green is a very good example of "programmer art" all around
I actually preferred a handful of the Green sprites a lot. Off the top of my head, Blastoise and Koffing look a ton better.
Sooo. That is a total of 1 example.
As others here have pointed out it's actually hardly uncommon for international releases after the initial Japanese ones to have a ton of bug fixes and additional content or gameplay tweaks.
Some commonly cited examples:
• Super Mario Bros. 2 is much better than Doki Doki Panic
• Super Mario Bros. 3 gave Mario an extra hit point if he has a power-ups instead of always downgrading to small Mario
• the vast majority of Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts titles
Some things I would like to point out:
• Some titles like Decap Attack (it finally a tie-in game for the Magical Hat anime series)_ and Yo Noid! _(originally part of the Ninja Hanamaru series)_ are two examples among many where they have extensive graphical changes and even gameplay tweaks where it is strictly a matter of taste as to which version is better
• Zelda 1, 2, Metroid, and really any game that was originally on the Famicom Disk System that later became a cartridge title in the US.
Yes, often the music was a bit weaker or small things were cute _(such as being able to defeat Pol's Voice enemies by shouting into the Player 2 mic in Zelda 1),_ but not needing to pause the game to periodically flip the disk/insert a second disk/3-10 second load times seriously bogged down the pace of a ton of these games and makes them borderline unplayable in the modern day
• a lot of games that were maybe a little too easy; _such as Metal Gear Solid 1 and 2 as well as Resident Evil 4,_ had complimentary difficulty increases that make them a more satisfying game
• people that love ridiculously difficult games will find a lot of US releases push the player extremely hard by comparison to their Japanese counterparts, _such as many games by Konami like Contra and Castlevania or the difficulty chanhes that Working Designs applied to many of the games that they localized,_ though that's a matter of taste
• speaking of Working Designs, when it comes to a loud sector of the internet there is a major demand for translations to be more accurate but Working Designs and some noteworthy translators such as Ted Woolsey went in the opposite direction and altered the script quite a bit. This process can be hit and miss and vary based on opinion, but there are often gems to be found in the rough for these titles that even more accurate retranslations keep _(such as FFIV's famous "You spoony bard!" line, as well as many of Kefka's lines in FFVI)._
There are also English translations with an insane amount of effort poured into them that vastly outshine their original Japanese scripts, such as Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions delving into borderline Shakespearean quality wordplay and flow
So yeah.
I still think that overall the Japanese versions of most games are better, but it's not down to a single title here or there going against type, oftentimes it's a bit of a mixed bag or personal flavor.
Honestly, 10 minutes on a single game comparison is overkill. Comments are there to provide more, and these days most of us are wiser than thinking all localisation ruins JP media.
A modern example would be Resident evil 2 remake.
They got 2 different rated versions and the higher rated one is still more censored than the western release.
Would love your take on games that are better in Japan than the US. There’s definitely some well-known ones but would love to hear about more obscure titles.
Yeah that would be a cool idea. I talked about a few of them in the " Konami nerfed their own games in the US" video, including contra and life force. I may do some others in the future though
I can throw irem's Metal Storm out for you.
The US release is essentially a beta for the JP release several months later(yes, we got it first).
They added a cool opening cutscene, changed some of the colors, and reworked one of the stages to be more challenging by adding force fields along the top and bottom of the screen.
Castlevania 3 Dracula's Curse
I love Power Blade, one of my favorite nes games. I recommend Prison City for anyone who enjoys Power Blade. It's on Switch (and other platforms) and feels like an updated power blade - you even need to collect keycards from other agents to get into the boss rooms.
buddy, you have to find a way to soften the edges of the greenscreen
Overall, green screen intro is a bit cringe. With good headphones there is a lot of slurping sounds when he talks.
Another example is Mario 2 vs doki doki panic, better animations that aren't seizure enducing in some cases
Yeah, and a run button (you couldn't run in Doki Doki Panic).
And you can change characters between levels iirc in SMB2, which you would only be able to change between worlds in DDP.
9:30 That probably goes without saying, but even though Power Blade might look like a "ROM hack", it is definitely not one. They had the game sources, so there was no need for them to have fun hacking the binaries like cavemen.
I'm thinking this. They probably had it on a basic game engine
I think most US or EU Versions are better than the Japanese Versions and that is for one simple reason. These Games where released later. So bugs and glitches that exist in the earlier version of the game, often got patched out in the later version of the game, which was usually the US/EU Version. Of course there are some cases where features where taken out because for political reasons, but i think they are rare. If a translation is botched up, i have a good laugh about it.
As Example Extreme G III for the PS2, in the German Version the controls tell Press R1 to Lift the Weapon and L1 to Lower the Weapon, what they actually meant was to switch up and down between the weapons.
So in my opinion when someone claims that the Japanese Version was better, was for the fact that they want a broken game. So that they can exploit bugs or glitches.
half the video is about power blade 2, what does that have to do with being better than the Japanese version
It doesn’t, and they never said it was. Maybe you’re over thinking it? At least it informs viewers a sequel was made. Its just letting you know for informative reasons and how it was a US game based out of a JP game and that it was becoming a franchise or good enough to produce and add/improve upon the original for more gaming and capitalizing. A JP version WAS made after the US version called captain saver. So at least we got that and inspired something
Not really a topic about when western games are better than the Japanese ones, but more a video simply about Power Blazer 🤨
Exactly what I was thinking.
Power Blade II was released in Japan as Captain Saver.
Edit: Fixed
Power Blade II
@@marioxb Thanks, I fixed the comment.
Here are a few games that are better in the western version than the Japanese one.
1. Mortal Kombat II for Super NES - Japanese version was heavily censored and had green blood. Fatalities are grey out instead of darken.
2. Super Mario Bros. 3 for NES - In the international version Mario could take 3 hits before death if he had a power-up instead of 2 hits like the Japanese version.
3. Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold / Street Fighter Zero 2 Alpha for PS1 and Sega Saturn - The Japanese version didn't get Cammy as a hidden fighter.
4. Legend of Zelda for NES - You can enter the 2nd Quest at anytime by entering the name Zelda as your profile. In the Japanese version you had to beat the game first and had a save file from the 1st Quest in able to get the 2nd Quest.
5. Tetris - The Famicom version of Tetris had input lags with awkward control, the revised Tengen and Nintendo versions for NES fix this.
6. Tetris Attack / Panel de Pon for Super NES - You could continue from where you last left off in Tetris Attack via continue or passwords, both which are not in Panel de Pon. CPU Mode is also not in Panel de Pon, this mode lets you watch the CPU play the game for you while you collect passwords.
7. Final Fantasy for NES - In the Famicom version during a battle, if one particular character is targeting an enemy like say with a Fire spell or something and that same enemy was killed by another character in the party before that one specific character could use the spell then that spell would get its charge wasted indefinitely so if the Fire spell had 3 charges it'll dropped to 2 regardless if the character use it or not. In the USA version if the same thing happen, the charge spell won't be wasted so instead of losing one charge the cancel spell charge won't decrease. You'll still retain 3 charges like before.
spongebob atlantis squarepantis for the ds patched skips in the japanese version so the us version is better
Spyro 1 & 2 are also prime examples of the non-Japanese versions of international games being superior.
The reason the character got changed between jp and usa is because they thought "this is more appealing to americans"
It is more appealing. We don't get attracted to cute nature. We like action muscular heroes. It's a good role model to grow up to become so we can get girls.
@@JohnyTheWizKid To Be Fair As someone who live in egypt I Prefer The Power Blazer Design Because I Think he look more cute
Mega Man: Huh, I wonder who that's for
@@samuelpounds1475 Bad Box Art Mega Man has enter the chat
Well mega man was changed a bit. They changed his “Rock” name because the name “Mega” man is a better fit for American culture. And they didn’t over do it with anime. Also they didn’t want the box art to be cutesy so they got Artists to draw the American box art which the artist didn’t know anything about the franchise he sent why we got the infamous box art for mm1 which I kind of like. It’s ugly of course as I first noticed as a kid since I got MM2 first. But in a retrospective, nostalgic and reasons artistically... I appreciate now and would not change it. MM2 pal version box art is badass as well. I kind of loved the US box art of NES games over their anime counterparts in Japan which was the main art. It’s almost like a cultural phenomenon and impactful now and it should be a cool NES thing of the past we should cherish and think is neat that that’s how we were and thought and made back then. Part of the NES story and legacy.
Hey, awesome!! I made a surprise guest appearance on a Pojr video! That made my day and thanks for the shout out! Power Blade is one of my favorite NES games.. I had no idea there was a Japanese version because of the name difference. After seeing this I agree, the US version is waaaay better. Power Blade 2 is probably the better game, but I'm in the same boat, I prefer the first one. Probably because it maintained some of the charm the Japanese version had. Great video Pojr!
The main character in Power Blade looks like a Arnold knock off
Spyro the Dragon is a prime example of this. The Japanese version of the game significantly slowed down/altered the movement and they messed the camera up. The Japanese version is definitely interesting but it is overall a significant downgrade to its international counterpart.
The nerfing in the Spyro games was on purpose. Apparently the japanese publisher thouht the game was moving too fast and that could lend to japanese kids to get motion sickness. Also in Japan Spyro and Crash Bandicoot games were marketed towards small children instead of pre-teen or teenage kids.
Another example is Super Mario Bros 3, they made Mario turn into big Mario instead of tiny Mario when he gets hit while having one of the power ups other than just the mushroom. Mega Man 2 also because it has an easy mode, the "normal mode" while the difficult mode is just like the original Japanese version.
I'm trying to think of if there were other examples of this, but can't think of anything. I think Natsume actually did make a lot of changes to their games based on region, but how many of those were gameplay related and made it better I'm unsure of.
Another great video, pojr. All the best!
Dragon Quest/Dragon Warrior is another example. The US version has a lot of improvement graphically, as well as a battery save (the Japanese original only had a password system)
Apparently Air fortress is another example of a game that was buffed in the US
I always preferred Probotector over Contra. Sure, playing strong men fighting aliens is bad ass... But Robots are even cooler and - I dunno, they fit the vibe of the game best.
I’m Japanese and in my childhood I played Power Blazer and found it too difficult.
I didn’t know it has such a cool international version.
i think a romhack that replaces power blade's presentation with blazer would be very neat
Seems Power Blazer is trying to be like Megaman with the stage select and action platforming yet nowhere near as good While Power Blade is a good rival(successor?) to Contra!
They should have included the Japanese version as a difficulty setting and called it Nightmare or something.
Of course it is super hard to do the job of an action hero when you are just some chubby kid.
So in the Japenese version you play with fatso Mega Man🍕 and the 2nd US edition you get Duke Nukem💪
I don't think this is really a fair comparison. They might have been built in the same engine but they're clearly different games.
I mean, it's cool that they saw the game had issues and completely redesigned it for a US release, but that not really the same thing as Contra where they're the same game but one is better.
I think it's hilarious that Blazer looks like a Mega Man game and Blade looks like Ninja Gaiden.
One thing that I should point out that you got pretty wrong in this video is that Natsume didn't decide on the changes for the international version of Power Blazer to Power Blade. It was actually an American US representative from Taito that once had previous experience working at Nintendo (and who famously worked as a Game Counselor for Nintendo of US, who also originally pitched the Captain Nintendo concept which later became Captain N The Game Master) that revamped Power Blazer into Power Blade. So, no one from any Japanese office nor anyone from Natsume had anything to do with it. It was mainly one guy at Taito from their American branch that is responsible for how Power Blade turned out.
Really, just one example? There’s countless games in the 8bit & 16bit era that were updated in a positive way (but a lot more that got downgraded obviously, but that’s not the topic here lol)
Now for a real challenge. PAL versions of games that are better then the NTSC versions. Bonus points if they're games that weren't developed in PAL countries
I can't think of any names off the top of my head, but there are many games that had improvements when localized for the west. Usually much more minor improvements than the game presented here though. Developers would often fix bugs or minor gameplay issues that they didn't catch the first time around.
Yeah, that is the biggest reason why the issue is less black and white than many people make it out to be.
Still doesn't explain why Konami removed the end credits to Life Force (Salamander) when it was ported for the American NES. 😟
Japan also has stricter censorship
In SMB3, the Famicom version would set you back to mini Mario when you take a hit even with a power up. In the US NES version, you revert to Super Mario from a power up.
One other good example is the "No More Heros Series. The main reason being is that the Japanese government will censor; gore and dismemberment.
Resident Evil 4 has the censorship issue too. JP players don't know to fear the chainsaw man, because his insta-kill decapitation move was cut.
Yes, that has... historical reasons.
Crash getting stomped by tree trunks in Crash 2 is changed in JP because a serial flatliner had an M.O. involving how Crash looks after the tree lifts up.
it's more of CERO (japanese equivalent of ESRB and PEGI) than government
and seems midway and warner knew that censoring mortal kombat will be the 2nd coming of snes mk1
確かに子供向けの少年ヒーローがブーメランを振り回すより、シュワルツェネッガーがブーメラン振り回してる方がより良いアイデアですね！
If you like tough games, another example is Mr Bones for Sega Saturn. The US version was balls to the wall difficult, and the Japanese version released later is greatly toned down in terms of difficulty.
I think the ultimate "better in the international version" award has to go to Doki Doki Panic becoming SMB2
You're absolutely right!
Japanese to English change: Silhouette Mirage. I rented it from a video store and that game was really hard. It turns out that when the company ported it over to the USA, they made it more difficult. The game had a really cool aesthetic.
That's Working Designs for ya. They did this for pretty much every game they ever localized 🫤
Some Japanese versions of Castlevania games (particularly the classics) are extremely easy compared to the western versions. Or maybe it's better to say that they aren't extremely easy, the western versions are just extremely difficult. Basically, if you grew up with Castlevania 3 and beat it as a kid (and aren't Japanese), you're probably a god.
I believe there was a game called Magic John in Japan that was redone as Totally Rad in the US. Apparently while the stages and gameplay are identical, the hit boxes were improved and character designs were overhauled for Totally Rad. Otherwise they were identical. I do feel we got the better game as a result of the overhauled character designs though.
We played Totally Rad on a knockoff NES back in the day. The music still lives in my head!
I prefer Renegade over the Japanese Kunio.
The 1950’s atmosphere is really compelling and makes the game far more fun and exciting.
Had no idea the Japanese version of Power Blade was so terrible. Especially considering how great a game it was in the USA.
I did collect the Famicom Mini over the Nintendo Classic because I much prefer the disk versions most of all and the Japanese versions in general.
All I saw in Renegade was a Warriors knockoff with generic characters and a bare-boned story.
Kunio-kun is where it’s at, Japan even made a live-action series based on the game.
So it's not quite fair as it was an American game first, but Spyro the dragon 1 was made SO much worse in Japan by forcing fixed camera , apparently some people felt ill with the normal camera? Which is weird
Jumping height is part of gameplay, not controls. Most people use the word incorrectly. Things like button delay or uncomfortable button mapping are part of controls. Or whether you use a thumbstick or Dpad etc.
Those first screens of contra in video is not the Japanese version shown. Probotector is the JP version
Probotector is the European version. In Japan, it was Contra
It is with Contra for the Nes...but look at Contra for the Genesis and you will find that we got hosed.
It is very blatantly obvious that Power Blazer (the Japanese version) is a Rockman (Mega Man) inspired game.
At least Power Blade (the US version) is a lot more original and has more original mechanics that separate it from Capcom's blue ass ni- *cough* child.
Japan still got the better box art though, they tend to win that one most of the time.
I'm going to completely disagree on this one. The Japanese box art for Power Blazer is an ugly mess that is not at all even coherent or sensible to look at at a first glance. The US box art is objectively better in every way.
@@the-NightStar Well. that gives me some insight into how Rob Liefeld managed to have a career.
@@johns6265Rob Liefeld also introduced a much more dynamic style to comic books that was a much-needed breath of fresh air. He has problems drawing digits, and actively gives the finger to scale, but he also draws cool-looking pages.
He's also just a nice guy that genuinely loves comic books, and being affable and enthusiastic goes a long way.
The people that don't like Liefeld for the most part aren't the people that buy comic books.
Crash Bandicoot much?
I thought this was insane when I first found out! I remember being able to beat Power Blade, but then couldn't beat a single stage in Power Blazer... the small changes they made really were game-changers. Dying from falling off-screen was bad though, and I guess limited the level-design in some ways. I also personally think the scenario graphics fit perfectly with the realistic art-style, but look too detailed with the anime art-style originals. I could never get into Power Blade 2, it's a very impressive game but tbh, too gimmicky! You forgot to say Power Blade 2 did get a japanese version, and called it Captain Saver. No idea if there were more changes though, but it'd be cool to hear! Good vid tho :D
Another example of a western game better than the Japanese original is Super Mario Bros. 2 vs. Doki Doki Panic. Our SMB2 made a lot of gameplay improvements over Doki Doki Panic. The only downside was that you couldn't save your progress like Doki Doki Panic.
Natsume made some kick ass games. The fact that they were able to fix power blazer makes total sense.
usually in the 80s and 90s they would make USA games harder because RENTAL companies asked them to make them harder to keep people renting them longer.
And we Europeans probably got the worst versions of the games, with the notorious slowdowns caused by the bad NTSC -> PAL conversions, which were very poorly made.
Except for legend on the Super Nintendo weirdly enough. The pal version of that game has a “turbo” mode which makes the gameplay more fast and fluid which helps negate the sluggish base game, and neither the Japanese nor American versions have this setting in the option menu.
Also you got banger exclusive Genesis games like second samurai and daffy duck in hollywood(this is a great game trust me I know the name sounds stupid)
It's not like all European NES releases were garbage, quite a fair share were adjusted and optimized for the PAL standard.
I knew games were faster in the US and Japan back then, but I had never experienced it, so I didn't see the problem. I think it was worse later on like letterboxed versions of games on the PS2 when PAL/NTSC standards should have been irrelevant (Since all TVs in Europe were capable of RGB and S-video.)
Today I of course play the games as they were intended.
That kid from Power Blazer grew up to be Duke Nukem in Power Blade!!!
Pojr, I only found your channel recently but I've ve been having fun going back and watching your old videos. Love seeing you channel grow!
Looks like early versions of duke nukem and megaman
I usually play the first version of the game, not the Japanese version. If they're identical I go for Japanese however
Another example are some Japanese games with gore from Japan get's censored due to CERO however when released overseas there is gore.
Nova: "I'm here to chew bubblegum and throw boomerangs... And I'm all out of bubblegum."
Seriously, dude looks like Duke Nukem.
The US version of SMB3 is objectively superior. The SNES version is pretty good but i don't like the slippery physics of it and the GBA version is near perfect but the screen resolution is pretty bad compared to the other versions
The belief was (and still is) that western gamers prefer realism and macho guys, so a lot of games had different marketing or were completely changed for the western release. This is why you have a lot of bizarre western box art (e.g. mega man) for example. One of the most famous examples of this was NieR Replicant --> NieR Gestalt. On a sidenote, realism is probably the reason you can't fall down onto a lower screen and survive.
I personally wouldn't say that the design of the US version is better but that's probably also because I'm an Indigenous person and don't really get the appeal of these designs.
Although it never officially released during the NES days, Earthbound Beginnings/Mother 1 is also another example.
Game harder thus worse... seriously?
If anything they dumbbed fown the game for the pathetic western audience.
I feel like taito was trying for a MegaMan clone with Power Blazer but didn't quite hit the mark with the gameplay. Honestly sounds like it's an unfinished game. Then US Taito decided to make it more like Contra and finished it up.
Techincally I prefer Japanese for replayable Vale....and it has upgraded graphics and easy mode ...in na version sick insanely hard
American FF7 getting Ruby and Emerald Weapon fights is the best example.
It'd be hilarious if Power Blade's Expert mode turned you back into the kid from the JP version. 😁
This is probably the first time I discovered that the Japanese version is worse than the American version… imagine if the angry video game nerd made a review on this… that would be wild. The character in the American version of power Blazer looks like either Arnold Schwarzenegger or Duke Nukem.
Also Spyro had something like this except the fact that since he was made in America and was brought to Japan, it was sort of the other way around where the original American version was good, but the Japanese version was bad because there had to be some modifications.
This is especially true in terms of difficulty level.If you're someone who likes a challenge, always go with the world/U.S. versions.The Japanese versions, nine times out of ten, will be significantly less difficult to beat.
Probably the biggest example of an American game being better than the Japanese one to me is magical hat on the genesis to decap attack. Magical hat isn’t TERRIBLE, but it’s a painfully forgettable mediocre tie in game with annoying one hit deaths that don’t work with the level design, a boring set of worlds that all follow the base Mario platformer themes such as green island, desert, etc, and has some pretty unnapealing and poorly drawn spritework to go along with it. When porting it to the U.S. as Decap Attack, however, they not only gave the game a more memorable cartoon horror style with tons of really well drawn gnarly monsters, but they also gave it a more rocking grungy soundtrack that like the graphics stick out more, gave you a super forgiving life bar, changed the minigames so you only play them at the end of levels, and now that the game has original characters instead of licensed ones, the game is accessible on nearly every official sega genesis collection out there nowadays. I’d love to see a decap attack comic or sequel game someday since it’s such a unique game with a personality unlike anything else.
I like how the original is just "let's make a rockman-like with a boomerang" and the US version is "okay, megaman isn't cool enough, let's bring in some Contra!"
But it's USUALLY better
Would a video about a Christian town in Qatar be saying that Qatar is Christian.
Small example but Mother 1’s US release had a more complete ending and a run button
I finished power blazer multiple times when I was around 14 years old. My favorite boss is that bee hive where I can grind then after I got buffed from power up dropped by bees, I finish it off.
I feel like the "japanese version is always better" is mainly a square issue. Final Fantasy having this be true all the way to 12. And the last one being the ps3 edition of birth by sleep. Granted we got the ability to play them natively the past few years with additional upgrades and now the steam version is by far the best. But it took a while for square games to release of similar quality overseas as japan.
Check out Zelda 2 and Final Fantasy 7. Zelda 2 seems like a game where they put out the Japanese version to hit a deadline, weren’t happy with it, and took an extra year to polish it up for the US release. In porting it off the disk system, they improved a ton. And FF7 was so much better in the US, that they are-released it in Japan as Final Fantasy 7 International.
You should have skipped talking about power blade 2 since there is no counterpart.
Also the U.S is pro macho man so not changing his appearance to match the audience
Final Fantasy 7: Crisis core for PSP is better outside Japan. Firstly, some of the scenes got little tweaks for better appeal. Secondly, the additional missions became more linear, not to mention the fact that, if you die on these said missions in the Japanese version, you get a game over. If you die on these missions in an international version, you just get sent back to the save point.
Regarding not being able to grab ladders: are you playing on an emulator with an Xbox controller? Those controllers have a bug where if you press up too hard on the d-pad it doesn’t register.
When i bought a cartridge Power Blade 2 about 30 years ago, I thought it was game about Terminator 😢
3:29
This is kinda American bullshit because there are preferences that favor the former SD character than the later generic commando knock off.
The japanese version was worse 99% of the time because the us version came out months later and had time for bug fixes and added content, only game I know with it the other way around was matio and luigi partners in time, which had an english release first and bosses adjusted to he easier in the japanese version because they had way too much health in the US versiob