Progear questions

[Sumez]

Realizing the thread I posted this question in was in the hardware forum, and it's not really related to hardware at all, I decided to open a new thread, hope someone can answer this simple stuff - I'd use an existing thread, but couldn't find a proper one:


Having just acquired a Japanese board, I have some questions about the differences between the US and Japanese boards.

As far as I can tell, from a bunch of other threads, the default difficulty level on the US board is 2, but on Japanese boards like mine, it is 4.
It seems all score tables split up in a US listing and a JAP listing, but are there ANY gameplay differences between a US board and a JAP board both running on the same difficulty? (ie. running my board on level 2 or running a US one on level 4)
I'm guessing people generally consider level 4 to be the "official version" of the game, or am I wrong?


Also, I'm confused about all the posts like this one stating that you need to change the difficulty to 2 in order to be able to continue. But when I got my game yesterday I decided to just pop in 3 credits and give it a spin to see how far I'd make it on my first try, and on the default settings I had no problem continuing. And yeah, I went into the test menu afterwards to check the settings (and enable auto-fire), and everything was set to default.
So is my board a different revision (it's completely legit, confirmed that myself!) or am I misunderstanding something?

[Skykid]

Japanese default level 4 is considered to be the primary setting/region for score play.

There's been some debate over whether or not US level 4 is the same as JP 4, and iirc there are some differences between the two that affect the game slightly, possibly in terms of bullet count and enemy count. That's probably why the score boards are still split.

I think (but not 100% sure) that jpj posted some info on this a long time ago.

[Despatche]

I heard something about enemy and boss resilience being higher in the Japanese version, like Twin Cobra II.

Related question: In (most?) non-Japan regions, Giga Wing and Mars Matrix are set to difficulty levels 2 and 3 respectively (compared to the original 4 for both)... how does this change compare? Is there any other change in either game?

I guess that blows up into another "region differences" thread, but whatever.

[emphatic]

My Progear is a conversion, so that might explain the weird settings needed to be able to continue (hence my thread).

[Sumez]

I heard something about enemy and boss resilience being higher in the Japanese version, like Twin Cobra II.

Well this definitely has some of the longest boss battles of any Cave game I have tried, and to be honest I think this is the biggest (only?) weakness of the game.

My Progear is a conversion, so that might explain the weird settings needed to be able to continue (hence my thread).

Interesting idea, and I guess it makes sense, since there are a couple of other known bugs in the "conversion" version of the game. (or maybe just some of them? I heard of graphical glitches from a guy who accidentally bought one)

[emphatic]

When I did the thread about the Japanese service menu of Progear that you bumped in the hardware section, I used MAME as a reference, and IIRC, I couldn't continue in MAME either unless I had the difficulty set to 2. But you mention that you inserted coins, mine is on FREE PLAY. That might be a factor as well. Glitches mostly appear when the A+B boards aren't properly pushed together. When I have that happen, I just turn the cabinet off, press/rub the boards together and turn the cabinet back on.

[Sumez]

Ok I'll try enabling free play when I get home today, that could be an obvious offender.

[Bananamatic]

IIRC the asian version has the default difficulty on 8 making it unplayable

[jepjepjep]

i have a US version pcb, so let me know if you want anything tested out. It does have level 2 difficulty as default. Also, the screaming of the Japanese children has been edited out (a plus in my opinion). The quality of the sound effects and music is terrific, the clarity has not been degraded at all compared to the other versions.

[Dave_K.]

IIRC the asian version has the default difficulty on 8 making it unplayable

I have a grey asia progear, and the default difficulty is 4 like the japanese region.

[Sumez]

Forgot to get back about this before I left for my easter vacation.

I enabled free play on my board, and continue still works fine on level 4 difficulty. I guess we can assume it's only a bug in the bootleg version.

[emphatic]

Forgot to get back about this before I left for my easter vacation.

I enabled free play on my board, and continue still works fine on level 4 difficulty. I guess we can assume it's only a bug in the bootleg version.

IIRC, it was the Phoenix edition that I tried in MAME when I just got my conversion board to check the settings. Thanks for the update though.

[Sumez]

So an original, legit board will also have the problem once you phoenix it?

[emphatic]

So an original, legit board will also have the problem once you phoenix it?

I'm not at home so I can't check right now what romset I tried, but I think it was this: http://maws.mameworld.info/maws/romset/progearjd There's also a "decrypted bootleg" in MAME, I don't remember which one I tried.

[Muchi Muchi Spork]

I have a Phoenix version Progear Japan that does not have this issue. It sounds like it could be a glitch added by someone who hacked up the program themselves (Razoola has basically given out the instructions) but I'm not sure. You could try reprogramming the 2 program roms to the ones Razoola made (the ones that display "Phoenix Edition" on the boot screen) and see if the problem goes away. There are no program or graphics differences that I've noticed in a properly done Phoenix board other than having the altered boot screen.

[emphatic]

I have a Phoenix version Progear Japan that does not have this issue. It sounds like it could be a glitch added by someone who hacked up the program themselves (Razoola has basically given out the instructions) but I'm not sure. You could try reprogramming the 2 program roms to the ones Razoola made (the ones that display "Phoenix Edition" on the boot screen) and see if the problem goes away. There are no program or graphics differences that I've noticed in a properly done Phoenix board other than having the altered boot screen.

Thanks, not a "problem" per se, as I rarely ever use continues.