VP1 NV - OVERSEAS DIFFERENCES

[Sir Arthur ahf]

Hello everyone,

I have been looking a few months for a JP board of Viper Phase 1 NV.

It seems it is far easier (and cheaper) to find an European / US one.

Apart from the loop, can anyone tell me if there is any other difference?

If you clear the 1st loop do you get the same bonus as the JP iteration?

The thing I am trying to know is that if the 1st loop of the overseas version of VP1NV is exactly the same as the JP one (VP1NV; that only have this first loop)

Thanks a lot guys,

[Crafty+Mech]

This may be information you already know, but here is a link (cached, the website is gone now) to a Raiden series guide that has some info on version differences of VP1 (scroll down and click on the VP1 image):

http://web.archive.org/web/200204042014 ... om/raiden/

[Ed Oscuro]

Wow, that goes way back. All the same info should be here, I hope:
http://rf-emporium.ghegs.com/

[Crafty+Mech]

Sweet! Glad to see that website found a new home, a lot of the images on the cached version were broken.

[spadgy]

The links above only seem to detail the differences between the original VP1 and New Version.

I too would be keen to here the differences between, the JPN and US/PAL releases of New Version.

What are the loop differences you mention Sir Arthur ahf?

[Sir Arthur ahf]

I too would be keen to here the differences between, the JPN and US/PAL releases of New Version.

What are the loop differences you mention Sir Arthur ahf?

As you know the non JP boards loop once.

I would like to know if the 1st loop is exactly the same JP/non JP.

How difficult is th first loop?

[spadgy]

As I know?! I must have forgotten! Quite likely

So the JPN boards loop more than once do they?

(Not really sure, as I'll likely never get into a loop!).

[Sir Arthur ahf]

So the JPN boards loop more than once do they?

(Not really sure, as I'll likely never get into a loop!).

The JP board doesn´t loop!

[IseeThings]

There are a lot of code revisions for most of the SPI games beyond even the regional differences / old version / new version..

Take for example the German tuning version, I seem to remember it has a different logo colour and acts like the new version even if it doesn't display any text indicating that.. that one is really odd because it seems to be a unique compile of the game code.

At some point it would be interesting for somebody to document Seibu's revisions..

[nZero]

@Haze - IIRC Old Version only exists in Japan region? I've never seen an export board indicating New Version even though they use that system.

[Sir Arthur ahf]

@Haze - IIRC Old Version only exists in Japan region? I've never seen an export board indicating New Version even though they use that system.

Yes, I reckon the OV never came out of JP

[spadgy]

So the JPN boards loop more than once do they?

(Not really sure, as I'll likely never get into a loop!).

The JP board doesn´t loop!

Got it! I own a New Version JPN board, so I guess I don't have to worry about looping!

EDIT: And to confirm that I understand it right:

New Version JPN - no loop (just the first eight stages).
New Version US/PAL - one additional loop (on top of the original eight stages).

[Sir Arthur ahf]

Yes, and I would like to know if the first loop is exactly the same (JP vs. overseas)

Cheers!

[Sir Arthur ahf]

No one knows!?

[Furry Fox Jet Pilot]

Straight from Wikipedia: A newer version of Viper Phase 1 was released with gameplay changes. The New Version is known as Viper Phase 1: USA in the United States. The known differences between the versions:

Secondary Weapons Systems: The original version of Viper Phase 1 has an exhaustible secondary weapon system. The amount of ammunition remaining in a secondary weapon is indicated by a meter on the screen. All secondary weapons in the original version are fully powered up, and are more devastating than in the new version, which gives the secondary weapons levels of power in lieu of unlimited ammunition and reduced firepower.
Bomb Deploy Times: The new version speeds up the deploy time of the Bomb, of which becomes the standard for when the ship appears in the Raiden Fighters series.
Medals: In the New Version, medals stop shimmering for a brief moment, during which their point values are higher than usual. This feature was also present in Raiden DX. Additionally, the egg-shaped medal carrier pods appear much more frequently in the New Version.

[Sir Arthur ahf]

Straight from Wikipedia: A newer version of Viper Phase 1 was released with gameplay changes. The New Version is known as Viper Phase 1: USA in the United States. The known differences between the versions:

Secondary Weapons Systems: The original version of Viper Phase 1 has an exhaustible secondary weapon system. The amount of ammunition remaining in a secondary weapon is indicated by a meter on the screen. All secondary weapons in the original version are fully powered up, and are more devastating than in the new version, which gives the secondary weapons levels of power in lieu of unlimited ammunition and reduced firepower.
Bomb Deploy Times: The new version speeds up the deploy time of the Bomb, of which becomes the standard for when the ship appears in the Raiden Fighters series.
Medals: In the New Version, medals stop shimmering for a brief moment, during which their point values are higher than usual. This feature was also present in Raiden DX. Additionally, the egg-shaped medal carrier pods appear much more frequently in the New Version.

Thanks Emo, but the princess is in another castle...

The thing I am trying to know is that if the 1st loop of the overseas version of VP1NV is exactly the same as the JP one (VP1NV; that only have this first loop)

Thanks guys!

[spadgy]

Yeah - those Wiki differences are just the distinctions between the 'original' and 'New Version' VP1, right?

[Sir Arthur ahf]

Yeah - those Wiki differences are just the distinctions between the 'original' and 'New Version' VP1, right?

EXACTLY!

[IseeThings]

@Haze - IIRC Old Version only exists in Japan region? I've never seen an export board indicating New Version even though they use that system.

Yes, I reckon the OV never came out of JP

Actually I'm going to correct myself here.

It was pointed out to me that the Swiss 'NEW VERSION' release of the game appears to be an older revision than the other ones (except Japan OLD) because it has a number of typos including 'UPDATEING' on the update screen instead of 'UPDATING' as in all the other sets.

However, what's really weird is the Germany Version. It's clearly a newer revision than said Swiss 'NEW VERSION' release, it has the correct 'UPDATING' text and all the typos fixed, but the gameplay is OLD VERSION style, with the timed powerups and slow firing (no rapid fire). It's also got really funky colours on the game logos. It seems like Tuning liked the OLD VERSION gameplay rules better and got Seibu to give them their very own special version with the new codebase, but OLD VERSION rules..

also the HK version is a similar situation, OLD version gameplay.. unusual colours in places, again possibly at the request of Metrotainment who were the HK licensee?

there are a number of other differences to colour scheme across the games too, including the effect that is used to clear the screen
viperp1 (new version, world?) - yellow clears
viperp1s (new version, swizterland) - yellow clears
viprp1j (new version, japan) - red clears
viprp1u (new version, usa) - red clears
viprp1ua (new version, usa) - red clears
viprp1oj (old version, japan) - grey clears
viprp1ot (old version, germany, tuning) - green clears
viprp1hk (old version, hong kong) - blue clears (nothing else uses blue)

also note that the colours of the logo on the flash screen / attract mode differ depending on if you have the old / new version
viprp1jo - VIPER (blue) PHASE 1 (red)
viprp1j - VIPER (red) PHASE 1 (blue)
of course the germany version is weird here too.. because like I said, it seems to be some special version, newer codebase, older gameplay.
viperp1ot - VIPER (green) PHASE 1 (orange)
the HK set is as you'd expect from an old version (blue/red)

in other words a number of regions got the OLD version, but quite a few of the OLD versions actually seem newer than some of the NEW versions..

[Crafty+Mech]

I'm starting to think the number of Seibu revisions is akin to the "infinite number of monkeys with typewriters" thought experiment.

[alamone]

I believe there's no differences in the 1st loop, but I have not checked this very carefully.

As a side note, you can easily adapt a cart to your region by simply modifying the region byte at the end of the program rom code.
If you have an EPROM burner that is. You can also just burn the program roms from the set that matches your motherboard region.

Note that the region byte seems to be used to affect the game settings.
I was able to have a Japanese 2-loop ROM by using a US rom and changing the region byte to Japan.

Also a nice thing is that you don't need to do the whole flash reprogramming procedure to switch between different versions (old and NV) of VP1.
Thus I just keep one motherboard for both versions of VP1, and just swap the cart. There maybe also a way to do it by installing a switch for the EPROMs.

[spadgy]

I'm starting to think the number of Seibu revisions is akin to the "infinite number of monkeys with typewriters" thought experiment.

You're right! They made it equally bloody complex with all these Raiden II and DX New Versions.

[Crafty+Mech]

Note that the region byte seems to be used to affect the game settings.
I was able to have a Japanese 2-loop ROM by using a US rom and changing the region byte to Japan.

By 2-loop do you mean original stages + 1 loop, or an actual 2nd loop? If there is a second loop to VP1 in addition to all the other variations my head might just explode.