Is Raiden III harder in NTSJ than the other versions?

[stryc9]

Recently I have been filling the holes in my japanese PS2 collecion and one of the shooters I picked up was Raiden III. The thing is, I used to have this title for PAL, and I remember actually jacking up the difficulty from Normal to Arcade at one point. I returned to the game with this NTSCJ version only to have my ass severely kicked on the default (Normal) setting seemingly a lot harder than I remember. I certainly won't be playing Arcade difficulty now. My skills can't be deteriorating because I'm better at shooting games than I ever have been so it's not that. Can someone confirm this?

PS I would be playing CC or Ketsui downstairs but I live in South Australia and it was 42 degrees celsius today, and I only have air con up in my bedroom, along with the PS2

[Hibachi]

I have the NTSCJ version but would ask this question.

Does the PAL version have a 60hz option?

Could be the speed difference between the two but that would my only reasoning.

[stryc9]

Yeah sorry I should have mentioned that, but yes it did, so it's not that either. I'm wondering if they toned the difficulty settings down for the world versions.

[DrTrouserPlank]

It certainly wouldn't seem unusual for a localised PAL version to have had the difficulty adjusted for the European audience. The converse is certainly true when European action games are localised for Japan, thier difficulty is sometimes toned down for the Japanese audience who aren't as big consumers of action games and in general aren't as good at them.

The same could easily hold true for Europeans needing Japanese difficulty in shmups toned down to better suit their tastes.

[TVG]

I really doubt 505 games would fickle with the code considering it's a simple quick localisation. I don't think there's even non english text, and my french copy misses the end of a sentence on the back of the box, which read as "and bosses full of" with the last word missing.
It could be two things, you were playing on a different setup or were more used to the style of raiden dodging, which is quie a different beast than cave etc.

[Obiwanshinobi]

The converse is certainly true when European action games are localised for Japan, thier difficulty is sometimes toned down for the Japanese audience who aren't as big consumers of action games and in general aren't as good at them.

For whom were the likes of Devil May Cry, God Hand, Shinobi (2002) and Ninja Gaiden (2004) made, then?

[E. Randy Dupre]

The western releases of DMC games have routinely been fucked around with in order to increase the difficulty over the Japanese originals.

[DrTrouserPlank]

The western releases of DMC games have routinely been fucked around with in order to increase the difficulty over the Japanese originals.

I know that Resident Evil is a game that is usually easier in the NTSC-J version.

[Despatche]

We really need dedicated websites and lists to this sort of thing.

[dunpeal2064]

I will say, Raiden III was one of my first shmups, and after playing a lot of slow-dense bullet games and then going back to Raiden, I actually am worse at it, even though I am better at a lot of other games.

I have only played the US version though, so idk

[DrTrouserPlank]

I will say, Raiden III was one of my first shmups, and after playing a lot of slow-dense bullet games and then going back to Raiden, I actually am worse at it, even though I am better at a lot of other games.

I have only played the US version though, so idk

I think it's a different set of skills that need to be maintained and I classify shmups in my head in two distinct ways.

1)Shmups that are all about filling the screen with "relatively" slow, incredibly dense bullet "mazes"

2)Shmups that are more about reacting to fast bullets that are aimed at you specifically by enemies; or at the very least, faster less dense bullet patterns rather than "mazes".

Whilst they are from the same genre, I believe they actually require quite different skill-sets and practice of those skills (both of which are slowly lost over time away from their particular sub-genre)

[Despatche]

It's not so simple as that. Within a single game, you will see combinations of "curtain" and "manic" in a given section, some stages being one or the other, and even the two combined into a single attack pattern.

There can be no left/right without up/down. Except for Space Invaders, of course.

[toaplan_shmupfan]

In addition to the curtain and manic shot type in Raiden III, one has to also watch out for the small yellow pellet bullet attacks in addition to the pink bullets during the boss battles. (I've often been hit by the yellow pellets while watching out for the fast pink bullet attacks.)

[stryc9]

I really doubt 505 games would fickle with the code considering it's a simple quick localisation.

No, but maybe UFO interactive messed with it as part of the NA localisation and the PAL version was converted from this with a 50 Hz mode onboard.

In addition to the curtain and manic shot type in Raiden III, one has to also watch out for the small yellow pellet bullet attacks in addition to the pink bullets during the boss battles. (I've often been hit by the yellow pellets while watching out for the fast pink bullet attacks.)

[/quote]
I hate those damn yellow pellets. They are so quick and are easily masked by the glow from explosions and the effect of the Blue Laser at full power. Anyway, anyone else played both versions on default and noticed a difference or am I just woefully out of practice?
PS I just checked in the High Scores section here and no attempt has been made to split scoreboards or anything so its possible I'm just retarded.