The Different:
It's in Japanese - DUH! All the text and voices are in Japanese. I do not read, write, speak or understand Japanese. (I do have some resources that help me translate text). The voice acting seems good to me. None of the same actors are used and spyro's voice is much higher.
3D Text - The text does not have the same 3D look as the US version. This is most likely to make the Japanese characters more readable
World names - All the world name are in Katakana which is the Japanese Character set used to write English words so the names are easy to translate. The worlds are also referred to by number to help you figure out where you found the Dragonfly eggs for the PocketStation game
- Artisans Home - 1:0 Green Garden Home
- Dark Hollow - 1:2 Night Square
- Peace Keepers Home - 2:0 Combat Garden Home
- Magic Crafters Home - 3:0 Magic Garden Home
- Beast Makers Home - 4:0 Beautiful Garden Home
- Dream Weavers Home - 5:0 Dream Garden Home
- Gnorc Gnexus - 6:0 Gnasty Corridor
Demos - There is no demo for Crash Bandicoot: Warped on the Spyro disc but a separate disc is included with a demo for the Japanese version of Ape Escape called "Saru! Get You!" (セルゲッチュ).
The Good:
The Manual - The manual is something to see. The first half (25+ pages) is dedicated to telling the Story of Spyro the Dragon and is illustrated with beautiful stencil art and pencil like drawings.
Pocketstation -
Saving -
Spyro Noises -
Balloonists -
Keys -
The Bad:
Camera - In the US version you have a choice of 2 camera modes Passive and Active. In the Japanese version there is one camera mode that can only be described as "INACTIVE". The camera is about twice the distance from Spyro and stays at the same angle unless bumped or manually adjusted. It does not atempt to stay behind Spyro at all. You can hold the triangle button to keep it behind Spyro while charging but doesn't work to well while walking, jumping or gliding. They have the sense to make the camera follow Spyro closly while flying (in flight levels) and Super charging.
Signs, signs, everywhere signs! - there dozens of red, white and blue signs strewn about every level except the flight levels. Spyro can read these signs by walking up really close to them or flaming them. I assume these signs give you tips on how to play the game (I have not translated any of them yet) but isn't that what the dragons are for? These signs seriously detract from scenary. There should be an option to turn them off, or they could have chosen colors that go with the surroundings.
Sparx Color - Sparx is always green, never blue, never yellow. This make it harder to tell how many hits you can take. He still has the yellow glow and sparkles when he's at full health, and the multicolored sparkles when he should be blue.
Deleted Scenary -
Transitions -
Quality -
Codes -
Also some minor bugs were fixed. I have heard that there are no territorial lockouts on any Gameboy Advance so you can play the Japanese version on US Gameboys and vice-versa
Buying Imports: I am not very experienced in buying imports but I do have a few tips here. Be careful when buying imports. It may be best to buy from a company in, or has an office in, your country who already has the game in stock. It is more likely that the game was imported legally and will actually be sent to you and in a reasonable time. If they have phone # that's a plus. Secure online ordering is also good. If they use some kind of security software check it out an see if it's legit. Examples of security software are VeriSign and MerchandiZer. Ask around message boards for other peoples experiences but remember that some people lie or exaggerate and their experience will not always be your experience. Everybody has their own expectations and every business has dissatisfied somebody.
Getting it to Load: The first concern when playing import games is getting it to load on your PlayStation. I do not know a lot about this but I will add information as I learn about it.
Mod Chip - This involves opening up your PlayStation and soldering a chip inside. Installing a mod chip should let you play both imports and copies but some games can detect mod chips and will not work even if they are original and local. There are stealth chips that are supposed get around any security measure but that is not guaranteed. Some people install a switch to disable the chip. I have not installed a mod chip in my PlayStation and don't intend to unless I start playing many more imported games. I can not recommend this unless you are experienced with soldering and can easily replace your PlayStation.
Disc Swaps - The disc swap trick may be an urban legend and if not it is very dangerous to your PlayStation and Discs. It involves putting an original local disc in your PlayStation and turning it on. Then at the right second you must quickly remove the disc while spinning and quickly replace it with your import/copy. you also need to hold the door switch down with something like a spring or tooth pick. I tried this once and when I realized I was fighting the drive motor, I decided to never try it again. All sources say it requires practice and one source says it only works on the original version of the PlayStation. Don't try this at home!
Boot Discs - This is a disc actually made for the purpose of swapping and it is actually stopped when you swap. The PS-X-change 2.0 seems to be the most popular boot disc available. It includes a spring (for Playataion SCPH-900x and earlier) and a cardboard tab (for PS One). These are used to hold down the release button while swapping discs. The PS-X-change will boot up Spyro The Dragon just fine but Spyro X Sparx Tondemo Tours has anti mod protection. The PS-X-change allows you to enter codes to bypass the anti-mod protection. I do not currently have the proper code to load SXS:TT. If you know of this code please let me know.
Cheat devices - You've probably heard of the GameShark and similar devices. These are designed insert specific data into specific memory locations and as a result alter something in the game. Most often these are used for cheating purposes or just making weird stuff happen in the game. I've heard about these device being able to allow imports to be played. but none of the codes I've tried have worked. I have a disc based GameShark and apparently the hardware based ones work better. You need an older playstation to us a hardware based cheat device. Interact (the creator of the GameShark) claims no such capabilities for the AS version but the DreamCast version does work. There is another hardware device called a "GoldFinger" but this also requires an older PSX.
Codes may also be used in conjunction with boot discs or mod chips to get past anti-mod protection.Foreign PlayStations - This may be the best though most expensive way to play imports. Just Buy a Japanese PlayStation. In the USA our AC power is 120 volts at 60 Hz. In Japan I believe the standard is 100 volts at 50 Hz. Many electrical devices that are rated for one standard work fine on the other. Japan also uses the NTSC video standard so it should work on US televisions.
In Europe and Other places they use 240 volt, 50 Hz standard. You would need to purchase some sort of converter to use a Japanese or US PlayStation in Europe and vice versa. They also use the PAL video standard instead of NTSC. I have heard that any PlayStation will output PAL or NTSC depending on the game inserted but you still need a television that is compatible with the standard that you wish to display. Some televisions support both standards and there may be adapters available.
Translation: The second major concern is understanding the manual and the game.
Basics of Japanese: I should make it clear that I do not speak or read Japanese, I just learned enough about the language to enter the characters into a translator. Everything I know I learned on the web.
Kana - The collective name for the two phonetic 'alphabets' used in Japanese; Katakana and Hiragana. Phonetic means that each character represents a specific sound but no set meaning.
Katakana - Often used to write words from other languages.
Hiragana - Used to write Japanese words.
Kanji - Characters based on Chinese. Each Character has a specific meaning but can be pronounced multiple ways. One source I've seen said there are as many as 50,000 Kanji characters.
Furigana - Kana, usually Hiragana, written above or to the side of Kanji to tell you how to pronounce it.
Romaji - Japanese words written using the English alphabet.
English? - Yes, you may see English words thrown in as well
Tools
Babel Fish - AltaVista has a translator called Babel Fish that can translate almost any language to English and vice versa.
Microsoft - If you want to use Babel Fish to translate from Japanese to English you need to be able to display and input Japanese characters Microsoft has several add-on for Internet Explorer, usually 3 different ones for each language they support.
Language Support - display characters
Input Method Editor - input characters
Menus and Dialogs - not really needed
JWPce - a Japanese word processor
Manual Translations
続きの嘆願書
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