Get smart, Japanese
We were afraid of each other as children, back in the prehistoric era before your mother had an online presence. We used to talk a lot in the 1980s and 1990s about the mist-covered region on the other side of the ocean that governed most of the games we used to play. They were mysterious to us, whether it was about the games they so self-centeredly kept to themselves, the games they craved the state-of-the-art systems they received months ahead of us, or the games forever encrypted with their alien language. However, their insane abilities were the one aspect of the other that most alarmed us.
There was a time in my life when I really believed I was living in the world's softest place. For example, it's been said that Square created Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest because they thought Americans couldn't comprehend a true role-playing game, and that they added the Euro Extreme difficulty to Metal Gear Solid 2 because vanilla Extreme wasn't challenging enough for Europeans with their strong thumbs. I've heard both statements made several times, yet none of them are true. The idea that ancestry has anything to do with video gaming ability is a very strange one, yet it seems to be widely held.
The notion was supported in part in the 1980s and 90s by a now-rare practice of publishers and developers who would often adjust a game's difficulty when launching it in a new market. Notwithstanding the self-deprecating notion that games needed to be simplified for our undeveloped thumbs, there was, in fact, little consistency in the direction that the adjustments were made. Japanese video games that have been translated to the United States have fluctuated in difficulty from very hard to extremely easy, and the opposite has also occurred.
I'm not arguing that publishers have had trouble embracing a certain kind of bigotry. After all, our corporate masters find it more economical to simply reduce whole nations' populations to numbers and statistics rather than treating them as unique persons. That's better, then?
The true motivations for these modifications most likely have less to do with demography and more to do with a new strategy for increasing sales. I'll get to it, but first, let's look at a few of the more noteworthy examples to illustrate my point:
Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)I wouldn't be shocked if you were aware of this before, but the isn't the obscure bit of information it once was.The NES version of Super Mario Bros. 2 that we had in North America wasn't the same. Super Mario Bros. 2In Japan, individuals used their Famicom disk systems for playback. The game that was released in Japan was practically a direct sequel to the first one, with much of the same gameplay, sound design, and visual style—the only differences being that the difficulty was increased and then increased again. Not in a positive manner, but like, a lot. Simply attempt to move passed World-2 and see your reaction.
Nintendo made the decision to decline the chance to localize it for the western market. The widely circulated tale is that they feared the actual Super Mario Bros 2. would be too challenging for the audience in North America. Rather, they requested to be given a more amiable sequel that people may, you know, like playing. A version of Yume Koujou: Doki! Doki! Panic was the end product. It has four playable heroes redesigned as Mario characters (Mario). Without a doubt, we benefited more from the arrangement.
To be fair, since Super Mario Bros. 2 (Japan) and Super Mario Bros. 2 (everywhere else) are two different games, this is more of an illustration of the idea of difficulty adjusting across regions than the practice. Ultimately, The Lost Levels would provide us with the true SMB2.– if you think you should be punished — whereas our rendition of the sequel, Super Mario USA, would be released in Japan.
Mega Man 2 (NES) Mega Man 2 is one of the NES Mega Man games. has the distinction of being the only one with a choice for difficulty. If your thumbs are weak and fragile, that's natural; if your palms are hairy, that's challenging. Well, not quite, as there is no difficulty choose in the Japanese version, Rock Man 2.Thus, "normal" would be comparable to the Japanese version, and "difficult" would represent a leveled-up challenge for Americans with strong bodies, is that right? That's why, you know, they refer to it as "Normal." Nope. The task that the creators intended to be "difficult" is the same as that of Rock Man 2. When you run in regular mode, you do a lot of damage and almost every opponent encounter becomes easy. The only remaining task is to avoid bottomless holes and other situations that might instantly kill you, which I'm confident you can do. I have faith in you.When I initially learned about this fraud, I felt a little deceived. While I have nothing against an easier level for those who lack the skills or time to take down a Mega Man title on default, calling something that is obviously a modified version of the challenge as "Normal" is deceptive. It would be equivalent to calling the standard recipe of ranch dressing "Fat Ranch" and leaving the reduced-calorie version unmarked.Dracula's Curse in Castlevania III(NES)When Akumajou Densetsu was localized as Castlevania III, a metric tons of alterations were done to it. The majority of these were minor, almost perceptible adjustments to the artwork, but the most well-known one included the music of Akumajou Densetsu . Some sound channels were absent from the NES but were available on the Famicom. Consequently, the melody of the Japanese version was more intricate.One less well-known, but no less important, adjustment relates to the challenge. varied adversaries in Akumajou Densetsu deal varied amounts of damage; a bat, for instance, could cause a little damage, while a knight will deal a lot more. Every monster and projectile in Castlevania III does the same amount of damage, and this becomes more as the game goes on. This makes things much, much more tough in the end and much easy in the beginning. To be fair, this may have been done to make the difficulty curve more consistent, but it seems like the most lazy solution.Whether you believe that Akumajou Densetsu is the level of difficulty that nature intended or recognize the increased challenge in Castlevania III, the net effect is that Castlevania III was made far more difficult in translation.Battletoads (NES)A contentious subject nowadays is Battletoads, one of Rare's most well-known inventions. While some consider it to be among the most difficult games ever made for the NES, others see it as a hateful grind through a variety of scenarios that killed you before you had a chance to adjust. Though, in my opinion, it may be preferable if there was no restriction on continues.If you're not sure about it, the Japanese version can be more appealing to you since it significantly reduces the level of difficulty and makes it more manageable for those who don't have the time to spend spending hours mastering the Turbo Tunnel.To begin with, compared to North America, where it is three lives and three continues, the Japanese version increases your chances with five lives and five continues. They went above and above what would have been a very small attempt to lessen the harshness of the game. Some of the most difficult stages in the game have had significant modifications, including the turbo tunnel being slowed down, many hazards and traps being removed, and boss health points being decreased.While none of this simplifies the gameplay of Battletoads, it does make it less ridiculous overall. If you're thinking that this is just like playing the game on god mode, keep in mind that the Genesis port of the game included all of the improvements made to the Japanese version.(Genesis)Dynamite HeaddyThe people behind the fabled company Treasure Co., who made Gunstar Heroes, Ikaruga, and several more legendary games, are the creators of Dynamite Headdy. Though it was a Sega Genesis mainstay, it is seldom mentioned nowadays. This, in my opinion, is most likely the outcome of our difficulties with localization changing.In North America, the title was made more challenging this time. The continue mechanism is the focal point of the difficulty shift. The regional version provides you no continues at all, although the Japanese version gave you two at the beginning. Worse, in the Japanese versions, you have to collect 10 continue tokens after beating a monster in order to get a fresh continue. You required 13 in the NA version, which may not seem like much of an increase, but it was just enough to make it much harder to get another continue.In a game that is essentially a scenario rush platformer, having continues is an unfair burden to put on the player. A new challenge is often met with swift abandon, leaving you shattered and dejected as you aim helplessly at the game on the TV. At least the Japanese version has the grace to give you more practice time.The renter who is unsatisfactoryWhat does it indicate, therefore, about how challenging these games are? Not really so much, since no publisher would alter a game during translation only to attempt to annoy the player; everything is done for a purpose, and there are several reasons for that.The rental market is probably the main factor behind games like Battletoads and Dynamite Headdy that have few continuing play options. Even Treasure's Masato Maegawa said as much while discussing the challenge of Dynamite Headdy. You may lose money if players could easily finish your game in a weekend by renting it, playing it through, and then not buying it. Cheap tricks, such as restricting the number of continues, were used to increase the difficulty and keep players from completing the game in order to keep sales from being negatively impacted. The Japanese Copyright Act of 1984 effectively forbade the renting of video games in Japan, thus Dynamite Headdy and Battletoads could relax on the artificial difficulty without worrying about losing sales.The reason for making Castlevania III more difficult in North America might also be explained by this. However, what about Mega Man 2 and Super Mario 2?? Nintendo was tasked with regaining the trust of North American consumers after the video game business meltdown of 1983 caused by a billion unsold Atari 2600 cartridges. Something has to be done about Super Mario Bros. 2's brutal difficulty since it wouldn't earn them any fans to have normally marketable characters call them names and shove them into the mud. Similar to how the first Mega Man sold about as well as a box of fingernail clippings in North America, the sequel's difficulty was lowered to make it more approachable for new players.You must thus ask yourself, "Am I playing the game as the designer intended, or the version that was made with the explicit intent to make children miserable?" the next time you're playing a game with locally customized difficulty.