List of Famicom/NES game differences

[UglyJoe]

This thread should be stickied.

I agree, this is worthy of a sticky.

We have a lot of good list threads, but the first page would be very cluttered if we stickied them all.  We made a "List of lists" thread and sticked that instead.  This thread and many others can be found there:

http://www.famicomworld.com/forum/index.php?topic=2350.0

[nerdynebraskan]

Oops. Maybe that list of lists could use a different name that better encompasses all of the info stored within.

[P]

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.

I can corroborate this. They really beefed up the enemies in the NES version so every enemy takes tons of hits to defeat. The alligators can just be ignored in Mad City but in the NES version some of them needs to be defeated (something that's quite tedious) to proceed.

The car stages are also very different. In Bayou Billy the palm trees and lamp posts on the sides of the road was changed to simple wooden poles, and you throw handgranades instead of dynamites. The car stages are much harder with more corners and the gameplay seems to have changed a bit somehow (for the worse IMO). In Mad City you have the same life meter in the car stages as in the rest of the game but in Bayou Billy you die in one hit to your car.

Mad City has three different endings as was said earlier in this thread. Bayou Billy only has one as far as I know. I've never actually beaten the final boss in the NES version. lol

There's also lots of smaller changes like a different title screen, a few voice samplings (NES) and the girl has skimpier clothes (NES) instead of the one-piece dress she wears in Mad City.

In short, the Japanese version is quite easy while NES version is pretty hard.

[UglyJoe]

I don't think that Mad City supports the light gun for the shooting sections, either.

In short, the Japanese version is quite easy enjoyable while NES version is pretty hard impossible to enjoy without a Game Genie.

Fixed that for you

[P]

Hahaha! I actually think Mad City is a bit TOO easy and the NES version is a bit more of an enjoyable challenge. But some parts of it like the alligators and the car stages are just plain annoying.

I have Mad City and I can confirm that it actually does support the light gun. But it doesn't have the screens in between stages that makes it clear that "This stage is played with the controller/zapper" and I couldn't find anything about the light gun it in the manual either.

[nerdynebraskan]

Just played a little bit of Bayou Billy and Mad City back to back. The level layout is different, with the FC version being easier. (Especially the islands that get between you and the gators.) And the enemies take fewer hits to bring down. I burned right through the first stage on the FC version, maybe dying once. I couldn't even beat the US version's first stage with three continues.

And the FC version does support light gun play. It's just the second game option, while gun-support is the first game option in the US version. Unfortunately, my Zapper doesn't work on my AV Famicom.

[Nightstar699]

Saiyuki World 2 (Whomp 'Em in the U.S.) Many of the graphics were changed for the U.S. version.

In SW2, the main character was Son Goku, while in Whomp 'Em they changed him to a Native American warrior named Soaring Eagle.
In SW2, the Sacred Woods features a panda as an enemy. They recolored him to resemble a grizzly bear in the U.S. version.
In SW2, the hero is collecting items for a giant Buddha Statue, this statue was changed to a totem pole in the U.S. version.
The items look completely different between the versions, but these are only cosmetic differences, they both act the same.

[Nightstar699]

Alright, well I looked through this thread and was unable to find anyone reporting on the vast differences between Kamen No Ninja Hanamaru and its U.S. counterpart, Yo! Noid, so here you go.

Nearly all the graphics are entirely different between the two games, from the character sprites, backgrounds, cutscenes, there are very few similarities between the games when it comes to graphics. Since Kamen No Ninja Hanamaru involves your hero going through various amusement park attractions, while in Yo! Noid, you're going through a giant city... the level themes differ greatly for the most part.

Similarly, most the music is entirely different between the two games, aside from a select few tracks which are the same in each version. The soundtrack in Kamen No Ninja Hanamaru is much more traditional Japanese sounding.

As you'd expect, the boss battles (which are played out in the form of mini-games) are slightly different between the two versions, but share the same gameplay style. While Noid battles differently colored clones of himself, Hanamaru battles various rivals in Ninja Duels. In Yo! Noid, the goal of the battles is to fill up your pizza meter, in Hanamaru, the goal is to drain your opponent's health. But they both play out basically the same.

There are a couple slight level design changes. First off, in stage 13. This level contains a segment where the screen automatically scrolls upward, leaving the hero to jump along logs (in Hanamaru) or platforms (in Yo! Noid) to reach the top. I noticed the platform placement was different between the versions, with Yo! Noid's jumping segment being much easier, because many of the platformers were moved closer together. Hanamaru's version of the same jumping segment had a couple last-second jumps.

And the other level design change is in the final stage. In Yo! Noid, the final stage equips you with more (and better) items to use against the final boss, so generally the final battle in Hanamaru will end up being more difficult than that in Yo! Noid.

[cmv2]

ghost and goblins famicom no continues

[nerdynebraskan]

Kickle Cubicle (NES) vs. Meikyuu Shima (FC): These observations are limited to full playthroughs of the first "land" (world), first boss fight, and first stage of the second land.

Kickle Cubicle

1) The US version is linear. The stages within the "lands" are played in a simple, counter-clockwise order. You're shown the map screen between stages, but only as a way of showing you how much progress you've made.

2) The enemies are fairly limited, both in variety and numbers. The round, blue cannon fodder enemies that you turn into platforms seem to be limited to one on-screen at a time per dispenser in the stage. (E.G.: Two dispensers, two blue guys)

3) I believe the first boss went down with three hits.

Meikyuu Shima

1) The Japanese version is not so linear. All stages within the "land" must be cleared to face the boss, but they can be played in any order. The map screen is available at any time during stage selection by pressing the "A" button. You navigate the land during the stage select phase with the D-pad. Once you find a stage, you actually get to see most of its layout. You can choose to keep moving with the D-pad, or start the stage by pressing "B" to drop from your balloon.

2) The enemies in the stages are greater in both sheer numbers and variety. I saw at least one enemy type in the first land that wasn't even present in the US version (at least not this early in the game). There was also greater use of the dangerous running bomb enemies. And the enemies did tend to appear in greater numbers. The blue cannon fodder guys frequently get on screen two or perhaps even three per dispenser. I was routinely dodging swarms of them.

3) I think I had to hit the first boss five times to put him away.

4) The level design itself is different from the US version, with stages being more complex and complicated in the Japanese version. While a few stages looked exactly the same, most were slightly different. A few were even completely different.

[Nightstar699]

Good finds, Nerdy. A question for you. I've never played Kickle Cubicle, but one of the things I've heard about that game is that there is a cameo appearance by Yanchamaru in it. From Wikipedia:

"Kid Niki makes a cameo appearance in Irem's NES game, Kickle Cubicle. To see Kid Niki, hold down the A button on Controller 2, and then turn on the game. Continue holding A until the title screen appears, and Kid Niki will appear. This trick also works on the Famicom version of Kickle Cubicle."

One thing I wonder is if Yanchamaru's sprite in the cameo looks different between the U.S. and Japanese versions of Kickle Cubicle, since the sprite in his original game looks different depending on which region it is. I wonder if this change carries over to Kickle Cubicle, can you test this?

[nerdynebraskan]

Man, I always wonder how people find some of this stuff.

Yes, he does appear in both versions by holding the "A" button. But his appearance is exactly the same, in green clothes and a ponytail with a green hair-tie. I've not played the Japanese Yanchamaru, but I'm guessing this is his Japanese sprite. Because I have played Kid Niki, and I remember him in his hot-pink jumper in the NES version.

Anyway, it's a very solid game either way, and you should pick up one or both versions of it. I suspect I'll try to beat the US version before getting serious with the Famicom copy (as the differences would likely make the FC version significantly more difficult as the game goes on).

[nerdynebraskan]

Desert Commander (NES) vs. Sensha Senryaku: Sabaku no Kitsune (FC)

Desert Commander (NES)

A solid military strategy game set during World War II, and a childhood favorite of mine. The armies commanded by Player 1 and Player 2/CPU are generic. The headquarters unit's icon is a general's hat for both armies.

Sensha Senryaku: Sabaku no Kitsune (FC)

In this version, Player 1 plays as Nazi Germany while Player 2/CPU plays as Britain. Yes, the protagonists in the game are the Nazis! Player 1's headquarters unit's icon is a swastika, while the second army has a miniature British flag for its headquarters unit's icon. The Nazi German and British flags also respectively appear on the battle screens, below the animation showing how things are going. And after a scenario ends, and you're treated to the ending cutscene, Hitler's face (!) appears on the mission statistics telegram.

Gameplay wise, they seem pretty much the same. The troop strengths and computer's strategy seemed identical; the only possible exception I noted was that the computer seemed more aggressive on the final scenario ("North African Front" in the NES version). On the NES, the computer often (always?) only throws about 15 of its 40 units at you aggressively and will make you come to the bulk of its forces to have any shot at its headquarters. On the FC version I played last night, it threw pretty much its entire army at me in the same aggressive style that it played in the first four scenarios.

[DDCecil]

Rollerball:

NES: Donkey and Elephant during Match Play, HAL 1988 text copyright screen
FC: Giraffe and Elephant during Match Play, no HAL text copyright screen

Wizards and Warriors/Densetsu no Kishi Elrond:

NES:
FC: No enemies in the first forest, some chests are changed around, new display for your lifebar, and some bosses have new attacks.

Mickey Mousecapade/Mickey Mouse: Fushigi no Kuni no Daibouken:

NES: Generic enemies
FC: Disney enemies from random movies

Also Argos no Senshi and Rygar should be combined

[Issun]

Metroid on the Famicom Disk System:

Some enemies behave more randomly, increasing the difficulty slightly.
You always start in Brinstar regardless where you've saved your game.
The ending prerequisites, i.e. the times that you need to beat are different.
The game writes data to disk when you change area. So if you pick something up and move to a different area, the item will be collected (you have it in your inventory) and gone if you reload your game, even if you haven't properly saved your game. This can of course never happen in the NES version, as it has got password saving.