BIL wrote:The Acclaim-published NES version "Demon Sword" is very different apparently - both in terms of missing content (NES is smaller ROM - the FC box proudly declares its "3 MEGA POWWA"), and balance (you have a lifebar by default, versus earning hitpoints on FC). To be honest a shorter version of the game sounds good, but I've no idea what they may/may not have screwed up in the localisation process.
I've always been curious about the differences between the two versions myself, so I just ran through both.
Demon Sword has about half as many stages and they're individually shorter, which I think this works to its advantage. Fudou Myouou Den really starts to wear out its welcome with its myriad, gigantic, copy-pasted stages. If each stage in Fudou Myouou were cut in half I think you'd wind up with a good pace. As is I'm willing to give up some of the game's variety to get things moving along.
The item system is very different between the two versions. Fudou Myouou Den has a huge number of temporary powerups, magic spells, and throwing weapons. Demon Sword features much less of that, though I don't think it hurts it too badly. I didn't mind three redundant invincibility items in Fudou Myouou, but I also don't mind going down to one in Demon Sword. The throwing weapons in FMD were particularly lame, where they were nearly all the same thing, except each weapon is one enemy type's elemental weakness and, with some enemies, the only way to kill them. So you use the lightning orb on the stage where enemies are weak to lightning and the fireball on the stage where they're weak to fire and no interesting decisions are made at any point. Demon Sword replaces all of them with a throwing star that can be permanently powered up by collecting an item. In both games you sometimes run across locked doors that require a key to open. Fudou Myouou Den drops a key every few seconds, far more than you would ever want to use. I ended the game with about 50 of them in my inventory. Demon Sword is far more sensible about it, and drops them infrequently enough to make you care about them, but not so much that there's a need to stop and grind. There are a few items I consider to be worthwhile that were cut, such as the falcon powerup that causes a falcon to appear and temporarily circle overhead, damaging enemies on contract, or the shackle spell that freezes enemies in place for a short while.
Fudou Myouou Den starts the player with a single hit point per life, and has powerup items that give you three additional hit points each. Every attack takes away one hit. Demon Sword's system is bizarre. You start with one square of health, and different attacks inflict different amounts of damage. You can collect red and black orb items to increase your health, and both activate once your health meter empties. Any black orbs are permanently converted into additional squares on your health meter, and your squares are then refilled using your red orbs. One red orb fills one square and you keep any leftover red orbs.
The black orbs seem pretty pointless to me. If I have one square of health and twelve red orbs, I can have my health depleted and then refilled twelve times. If I have six squares and twelve orbs, I can have my health depleted and refilled twice, but it will refill six times as much. Isn't this the same amount of health either way? It might even be better to avoid black orbs, so that enemies who inflict more than one square's worth of damage can still only cost you one red orb.
Fudou Myouou Den is definitely the more difficult of the two versions. Enemies respawn more aggressively, are far more trigger-happy with projectiles, and in general, getting hits costs you worse. Getting a health pickup can feel like a big relief, and stopping to grind for health can easily end up costing you rather than helping. In Demon Sword you're rarely in any real danger and it doesn't take long before the red orbs start to feel redundant. The bosses are the only real threat, with the later ones taking huge chunks out of your life bar with each hit.
Rather than one version being a straight improvement over the other, I think they just have different merits. Demon Sword is good as a brisk, mostly casual game. The more relaxed difficulty lets you get away with making huge, flying leaps across the stages, which is fun. Fudou Myouou Den is far more arcade-like and oppressive, along the lines of Kage and Saigo no Nindo, though I'd say it's the weakest of the three.
Anyway, talking about both versions, the strongest aspect is the way the main character controls. The super high wuxia jumps are very liberating, soaring above the stage feels great. There should have been a level or two thrown in where jumping as high and far as you can is advantageous, because at best doing that means you won't get any powerups, and often it'll land you in a spike pit or something similar. The sword attack is nice and quick and makes a satisfying "kling!" sound, and I like the way that it goes from a tiny knife to a great big sword over the course of the game. I definitely prefer something like a bigger hitbox over a damage increase because the former changes how you approach your problems.
Bosses are kinda lame, mostly I either found a way to stunlock them to death or I plinked away with ranged attacks. The biggest flaw in the game is how beneficial grinding can be. It'd be much better if you started each stage with a set amount of health and enemies didn't drop more.
