Regional differences in Toaplan games

[lgb]

I've heard lots about how Toaplan games are somewhat different between regions, very similar to how Progear is; it's so slight that one may never notice unless they're extremely observant or unless they're told.

I hear such differences are present in Same! Same! Same!/Fire Shark and Daisenpu/Twin Hawk; the Japanese version is supposed to be harder. I'd like this to just be a general topic on whether there are regional differences in any port of any Toaplan game, and what they involve.

-Same! Same! Same!/Fire Shark - MD/GEN: Reportedly, the Japanese version is "harder".
-Daisenpu/Twin Hawk - MD/GEN: Reportedly, the Japanese version is "harder".
-Kyukyoku Tiger/Twin Cobra (Sammy): The Japanese version lacks any sort of config menu, so the defaults are pretty much forced upon you (good for tournaments and such). Other than that, no changes I know of.

I'm afraid that's all from me now, other than obvious name changes. Those name changes might mean a lot more though, which is sort of the purpose of this thread. What we *really* need is a gigantic database of regional differences somewhere on the internet.

[Bloodreign]

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... ht=toaplan

There was some talk about this in this thread.

[emphatic]

Japanese versions of Twin Cobra and Twin Hawk in 1-player mode uses checkpoints, American versions does not. This way, boss fights is way harder in the JP versions, especially as Twin Cobra takes the boss life down to just one hit to kill if you survive long enough before dying. You have to no-miss every boss to clear the stage.

In Out Zone, you get to write your name with 6 or 8 letters instead of 3. Same goes for Flying Shark I guess.

[PooshhMao]

All Your Base.

[evil_ash_xero]

Are Belong To Us.

[emphatic]

Damn. Missed the "ports" part of the subject.

[doctorx0079]

All Your Base.

Are Belong To Us.

What You Say??!!

[BrianC]

Truxton is another Toaplan game for Genesis with differences between regions besides the name. The JP version is harder. It's also another game that has both the English and JP versions on the same cart.

The JP Kyuukyou Tiger MD has the configuration. It's accessed by pressing the B button on the title screen.

[lgb]

Damn. Missed the "ports" part of the subject.

That's alright. Figuring out any differences for the arcade versions wouldn't hurt either.

@BrianC: Really? Never thought of that... any other differences? I don't think there are any, because it's a "weird" company doing it (Treco).

[BrianC]

Never thought of that... any other differences? I don't think there are any, because it's a "weird" company doing it (Treco).

I'm not sure, though with the way the bullets are, I'm guessing they are the same. It's not one of those that has different regions in the same cart (though it's not region locked either) and I only have the Twin Cobra version. I tried the JP one via emulation, so that's how I found out about the B button thing for the configuration screen. It's one of those games where the game goes to the real title screen when a button is pressed, so that "fake" title screen can trick you. The B button is pressed on the real title screen, but not the coin inserted style screen that appears when you press a button other than B. Also, these type of configs where you have to press a button are fairly common in older Genesis games. I think Thunder Force III, Space Harrier II, Altered Beast, and a few others have them too.

[Gwürz!]

About Dogyuun (pcb's)

-Japan (licenced by Taito): original full version...indeed!
-Southeast Asia (licenced by Charterfield): no game introduction, only demonstration. And during the game you can only pick-up the purple item (bomb), the blue one (speed-up) is not available... ...but still a great game!

[Ruldra]

Anyone knows if there's a difference between the japanese and non-japanese versions of Truxton II?

I heard the japanese version is harder but I didn't really notice any difference.

[Kollision]

Japanese versions of Twin Cobra and Twin Hawk in 1-player mode uses checkpoints, American versions does not.

The Genesis Twin Cobra is a checkpoint game. Hard as hell...

[gameoverDude]

Japanese versions of Twin Cobra and Twin Hawk in 1-player mode uses checkpoints, American versions does not.

The Genesis Twin Cobra is a checkpoint game. Hard as hell...

Genesis Twin Cobra is really Kyuukyoku Tiger (KT has checkpoints in the Japanese arcade version). Shame Sega didn't add a feature to turn off the checkpoints for the US release to more accurately mimic Twin Cobra.

Both Sega 16-bit console versions of TC/KT are brutal on even the easiest settings- as in tougher than the arcade's default. I'm sure their enemy bullet speed is a bit faster than the arcade.

[toaplan_shmupfan]

Twin Cobra arcade shot speed seems to correspond to the Easy C setting for the Genesis version of Twin Cobra (which otherwise defaults to Hard A).

I am guessing they balanced the somewhat simpler gameplay with faster than arcade speed shots, because some shot patterns are also simplified vs. the arcade Twin Cobra. (Two examples I can immediately recall: only one attack tank boat after the large green ship in stage 2 instead of two; also, the stage 4 bosses only fire half the number of shots when compared to arcade Twin Cobra.)

[Ruldra]

Okay, now that I actually managed to get far in the Japan version of Truxton II, I can say it's muuuuch harder. Holy shit.

[ave]

About Dogyuun (pcb's)

-Japan (licenced by Taito): original full version...indeed!
-Southeast Asia (licenced by Charterfield): no game introduction, only demonstration. And during the game you can only pick-up the purple item (bomb), the blue one (speed-up) is not available... ...but still a great game!

What about the Korean PCB? Anything different apart from the missing Katakana beneath the logo?