I have been playing quite a few 8 and 16 bit games lately and I discovered that in quite many cases some pretty notorious games the publishers decided to alter the game not only with censorship or changing the story, but actually making the gameplay worse, mainly making it harder and less balanced so people would stop renting the games and buy them instead
Among these cases I found some from Konami and Sega:
First there is Castlevania 3 on NES, a game known for being increibly hard but actually the japanese version is a little less difficult, since the damage you take from the enemies is more balanced and you can't get pushed from the stairs, which makes the game less frustrating, among other minor changes. Is still a really hard game but is definitely better designed, and also the japanese version had a chip to make the music sound more advanced, like from a PC Engine game, and that wasn't included in the western release
There is also Contra Hard Corps, a game also known for being incredibly hard but in this case the difference with the japanese version is more extreme, since that one has a health bar and unlimited continues, while the american one has 5 continues and no health bar, and the pal one, Probotector (which also changes the humans and the wolfman with robots) is even worse with a continue less and less checkpoints. This is very notorious since Hard Corp is a game designed with a bigger focus in bosses than in levels in comparison to the previous games, so it has a lot of bosses and unfortunately in the western version you will have to learn too many patterns perfectly to beat the game in any of the paths you can follow, which isn't really the way the game was designed at all, because I'd say the japanese version lets you enjoy the game and see what has to offer without having to remember every single detail
Both games are included in the Contra and the Casltevania Collections released recently and they include the japanese version of them
In the case of Sega they already were not fans of allowing you to save the games, or have passwords or even have too many continues in comparison to other companies for some reason, unfortunately there were some cases were Sega of America and Europe made some games even more unforgiving than in their original versions and also changing other details for no reason as an extra slap in the face, with the most well known case being Streets of Rage 3, which was censored, they removed content, changed the story, change some details and also made the game way more difficult than it was in the Japanese version, while if you play that one you will get the experience as it was intended and with a more balanced difficulty more in line with SoR 1 and 2
There is also the case of Dynamite Headdy, which is an action platformer made by Treasure that unfortunately again Sega made more difficult in it's western release, making you start with 0 continues unlike in the Japanese version, but also is more difficult to get extra continues, which in the japanese version is done with a random and kind of annoying minigame after every boss that now is more difficult, all of this is pretty bad since I'd say the limited continues even in the Japanese version is not something positive for Headdy since the game not only is over an hour long but also the first third of it is kind of easy and simplistic, so you will have to play those first few levels over and over again just to play the later ones that actually are more challenging and insteresting, and that gets old, and all of that is even worse in the western release. But that's not all, because they also removed the story of the game, since the japanese version had some cutscenes with text and all of that was removed, making the entire game feeling confusing
Finally there is the case of Ristar, which was also made more difficult with less continues and checkpoints to beat the game. It's not as bad as in the previous games but unfortunately the game does have some trial and error sections where you will take damage or die the first few times, and that can be also frustrating in the western version, while in the japanese one is not as bad since the game is very forgiving
These 3 games are included in the Sega Genesis Collection released a copuple of years ago and they all are part of a select group of games were they included the japanese version as a bonus, because they knew they are better, unfortunately other Sega Collections like the one released on PS3 and 360 didn't have this option
Do you know of games that also changed the gameplay for the worse in the western release? I'd like to know
Among these cases I found some from Konami and Sega:
First there is Castlevania 3 on NES, a game known for being increibly hard but actually the japanese version is a little less difficult, since the damage you take from the enemies is more balanced and you can't get pushed from the stairs, which makes the game less frustrating, among other minor changes. Is still a really hard game but is definitely better designed, and also the japanese version had a chip to make the music sound more advanced, like from a PC Engine game, and that wasn't included in the western release
There is also Contra Hard Corps, a game also known for being incredibly hard but in this case the difference with the japanese version is more extreme, since that one has a health bar and unlimited continues, while the american one has 5 continues and no health bar, and the pal one, Probotector (which also changes the humans and the wolfman with robots) is even worse with a continue less and less checkpoints. This is very notorious since Hard Corp is a game designed with a bigger focus in bosses than in levels in comparison to the previous games, so it has a lot of bosses and unfortunately in the western version you will have to learn too many patterns perfectly to beat the game in any of the paths you can follow, which isn't really the way the game was designed at all, because I'd say the japanese version lets you enjoy the game and see what has to offer without having to remember every single detail
Both games are included in the Contra and the Casltevania Collections released recently and they include the japanese version of them
In the case of Sega they already were not fans of allowing you to save the games, or have passwords or even have too many continues in comparison to other companies for some reason, unfortunately there were some cases were Sega of America and Europe made some games even more unforgiving than in their original versions and also changing other details for no reason as an extra slap in the face, with the most well known case being Streets of Rage 3, which was censored, they removed content, changed the story, change some details and also made the game way more difficult than it was in the Japanese version, while if you play that one you will get the experience as it was intended and with a more balanced difficulty more in line with SoR 1 and 2
There is also the case of Dynamite Headdy, which is an action platformer made by Treasure that unfortunately again Sega made more difficult in it's western release, making you start with 0 continues unlike in the Japanese version, but also is more difficult to get extra continues, which in the japanese version is done with a random and kind of annoying minigame after every boss that now is more difficult, all of this is pretty bad since I'd say the limited continues even in the Japanese version is not something positive for Headdy since the game not only is over an hour long but also the first third of it is kind of easy and simplistic, so you will have to play those first few levels over and over again just to play the later ones that actually are more challenging and insteresting, and that gets old, and all of that is even worse in the western release. But that's not all, because they also removed the story of the game, since the japanese version had some cutscenes with text and all of that was removed, making the entire game feeling confusing
Finally there is the case of Ristar, which was also made more difficult with less continues and checkpoints to beat the game. It's not as bad as in the previous games but unfortunately the game does have some trial and error sections where you will take damage or die the first few times, and that can be also frustrating in the western version, while in the japanese one is not as bad since the game is very forgiving
These 3 games are included in the Sega Genesis Collection released a copuple of years ago and they all are part of a select group of games were they included the japanese version as a bonus, because they knew they are better, unfortunately other Sega Collections like the one released on PS3 and 360 didn't have this option
Do you know of games that also changed the gameplay for the worse in the western release? I'd like to know
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