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Thread: N64 Imports or poorly localized games better there

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    Default N64 Imports or poorly localized games better there

    This kind of creeped into that other thread of the $20 and under understated N64 game post I made and it got me thinking when it did.

    I had mentioned something about being after bigger fish with a smirk in there in relation to this. I stumbled upon a non-game (person sells shoes on ebay almost exclusively) seller who happened to list Bangaioh, Sin & Punishment and an adapter for them to use in a US system. The price was $150, but I got it knocked down a 1/3. An awesome game I liked on DC and the other was fun on the Wii VC and also 1/2 broken as a rom on an emualtor a decade earlier.

    Now what I'm wondering is that going forward with the adapter what are someones options with JP games?

    Also are there games that may have been marginally to greatly changed when brought over to the US where the original uncut release in Japanese is superior enough to bother??

    I know I said in that other thread Tetris 64, Evangelion, Dezaemon and Rakuga Kids looked decent but what else is there to look at and why?

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    http://forum.digitpress.com/forum/sh...st-N64-imports

    There's a link in that thread to another one. There are three threads on the front page of the import mania forum on this topic that are pretty recent, too. That sub forum needs more love.

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    If you really like the rumble feature, there are Japan-exclusive versions of Super Mario 64 and Wave Race 64 that add rumble support. Beyond that, I'm not aware of any Japanese versions that have significant differences (outside of language) from their US counterparts that make the Japanese versions notably better (or even notably different). A lot of games have a small number of very minor changes to graphics and/or audio, though.

    You could just as well check older topics, but I'll dump some recommendations and comments here too since I've bought a ton more N64 imports over the years:

    64 Hanafuda: Tenshi no Yakusoku - solid enough Hanafuda game if you like that sort of thing
    64 Trump Collection: Alice no Waku Waku Trump World - whole bunch of various card games (that is, the standard deck of hearts/diamonds/spades/clovers that Americans are used to), also solid for what it is, and the Alice in Wonderland theme is cute
    Bomberman 64 - totally different game from what was named "Bomberman 64" in the US (which is actually Baku Bomberman); a 2D Bomberman with multiple modes of play
    Custom Robo & Custom Robo V2 - great Virtual On-style mech combat; try the US releases on other systems to see if you'd like these
    Densha de Go! 64 - super demanding but fun train simulator; the train controller really adds to the fun
    Fushigi no Dungeon: Fuurai no Shiren 2 - Oni Shuurai! Shiren Jyou! - not very English-friendly but if you're familiar with the US releases in the Shiren the Wanderer/Mystery Dungeon series, you could possibly fumble through
    Getter Love!! - one of my favorites but not English-friendly; the most unusual N64 import, it's part dating sim/part board game
    Goemon: Mononoke Sugoroku - card-based board game similar to Culdcept; it's got nothing on the Goemon games that were released in the US on N64 but it's still a lot of fun
    Nushi Tsuri 64 - N64 version of Legend of the River King, also not very English-friendly but it's worth messing around with if you're a fan of the series; I hear the sequel is more of a straight fishing game but I've never played it myself
    Puyo Puyo Sun 64 & Puyo Puyon Party - if you like Puyo Puyo, get 'em; the latter may be a little tricky/expensive to land, though
    Robot Ponkottsu 64: Nanatsu no Umi no Karameru - Robopon for N64; not English-friendly but try the US versions and all that jazz to see if it's worth fumbling through to you
    SD Hiryuu no Ken Densetsu - if you like Flying Dragon, get it, simple as that
    Super B-Daman: Battle Phoenix 64 - kind of a stupid game in that it's basically a light gun game for a system that has no light gun, but it's modestly entertaining
    Super Robot Taisen 64 - not English-friendly but it's another solid Super Robot Wars game
    Susume! Taisen Puzzle Dama: Toukon! Marutama Chou - great Konami puzzle game similar to Puyo Puyo
    Ucchannanchan no Honou no Challenge: Denryuu IraIra Bou - get it if you like The Irritating Stick
    Wonder Project J2 - in my personal opinion, this is the very best Japan-exclusive N64 game, but it's also not English-friendly at all; there is, however, a patch out there

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    Not a bad list, and I while Wonder Project J even looked good to me back in the 90s without the ability to read it looked like a dead end as did a few others there like the text walls in Custom Robo and Densha de Go so I really hadn't considered them. Is Last Legion any good on N64 as that looks like a straight forward robot fighting game with far less text to bother with?

    The decade old now link there has a few things, but not long list just like the one in this thread so far which is a shame. I did not know that there was Irritating Stick for N64 in Japan under Denryuu Iraira Bou though.

    Perhaps some of the language wall games wouldn't be too bad if one had a translation guide in front of them in print or a tablet.

    I had forgot about vibration based Mario and Wave Race. If they were had so cheaply I would be tempted, especially with Wave Race since it's on the water.

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    The rumble version of Super Mario 64 can be had pretty cheap. I just picked up a complete copy myself last month for under $15 shipped. Just gotta get some AAAs for my rumble pak and I'll be all set to give it a go. I don't think prices on the rumble version of Wave Race 64 are too bad either, but since I've still played so little of the US release, I've yet to decide if I want to double-dip. Usually I only import N64 games that didn't come out in the US.

    Last Legion UX doesn't seem to appear for sale that often, so it's eluded me all these years so far. I wouldn't be surprised if it's at least kinda fun, though, since I've yet to be disappointed by any Japan-exclusive N64 Hudson game. They seem to have more non-sports Japan exclusives for the system than any other developer, and all of the ones I've nabbed so far have been at least decent.

    I haven't gotten too far in Custom Robo V2, so I don't know if it throws any curveballs at some point, but I can vouch that the first one is really easy to fumble through even if you don't know a lick of Japanese. The world you have to explore in-between fights may seem intimidating, but it's pretty small and there's not much to do in it besides talk to people. It's as easy as wandering a little to find the right person to talk to and trigger the advancement of the game, so moving from battle to battle is real quick. I dunno if the story is worth giving a hoot about (seems rather Pokemon-ish), but the battles alone were enough for me to really enjoy it.

    But yeah, there are quite a few Japan exclusives that have guides on GameFAQs, and that helps a lot if you're not fluent in Japanese.

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    I didn't know Last Legion didn't come up much. I saw a couple videos and it seemed kind of Gundam/Custom Robo-ish or virtual on like not really sure. It seemed to run fluidly in video and had good range close and far for attacks plus didn't seem to be too wordy.

    I can't say with any fair reason I've touched much of anything N64 in the last 10 years except in little bursts when I could (much when I had the NES TV) and it was usually new stuff I picked up. Wave Race and Mario too have been so long they'd be more than fresh again but like you double dipping when you own it feels kind of weird....Mario I don't see a benefit to rumble other than just a cheap thrill while I'd think in Wave Race it would consistently rattle and thrash as you scoot along and slap into waves and wakes. I've got a pair of both controller paks and rumble paks too so it wouldn't be a problem to dig in.

    I got my copies of Bangaioh and Sin & Punishment along with the 'Adaptor Wonder' converter but I can't play for now until I'm off work and I clean them first.

    I think with age my N64 is being slightly pissy, took a bit to get a couple games going the other day and at first I thought it was them, then one of my old titles didn't want to work either. I think I need to get an OEM cleaning kit which oddly I've never owned. I'm also out of controller pak space since Hexen is a nearly full card eating pig.

    The translated menus/more faqs I was aware of so I kind of brought that up. I'd have to see them on a case by case basis, but if it made it so bloody easy to just have it in front of me and do something like Wonder Project J2 I'd consider it.

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    Outside of the usual US releases, I've enjoyed the following on the N64.

    -F1 Racing Championship (PAL)
    -F1 World Grand Prix II (PAL)
    -Frogger (Prototype; Nice rendition of the arcade classic is why this incomplete rom is worthwhile)
    -HSV Adventure Racing (The Australian version of Beetle Adventure Racing, with HSV Commodores)
    -Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Master Quest
    -Lylat Wars 64 (PAL; Optional SuperNes style animal voices in place of the annoying voice work)
    -Super Mario 64: Rumble Edition (Japan)
    -Wave Race 64: Rumble Edition (Japan)

    I've had some fun with Densha de Go, but I'd hesitate to recommend it. But it's neat to see an attempt at a train simulator on the N64, so it has a bit of novelty value. Same goes for SimCity 2000, although the lack of English and technical limitations mean it's not a serious replacement for the PC original.

    Some of these necessitate the use of an Everdrive. That's a purchase I'd suggest you consider since 1st party releases, Rare titles, and some of the more popular 3rd party titles with small print runs can go for a good bit of money these days. And there are other interesting uses for it as well like two titles in my list above that would otherwise only be available on the N64 via reproductions.

    And at least for me, it somehow makes PAL releases run fine on my NTSC N64. I'm a big fan of Monaco Grand Prix on the N64 and have enjoyed finally getting to play its sequel, F1 Racing Championship, at long last thanks to my Everdrive.
    Last edited by Leo_A; 10-13-2015 at 01:02 PM.

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    Yeah true there's the everdrive, just didn't know PAL games would work on the US system. I guess since it's a ROM on a bootleg chip in an everdrive it would bypass that mess. That is an interesting list of reasons with the likes of Lylat Wars and Frogger. I have to admit I'd find doing Master Quest an enjoyable experience on original hardware I believe. It's a shame the stuff is so complicated compared to various other systems (or is it lack of popularity?) why there aren't a crap ton of bootleg N64 games out there. You'd think the pirates would have a field day with the imports and the few titles that creep over the $100 mark now. The thing is I do know there are a select few like Mario 64, Wave Race and I think there were a couple more. I believe NES World ran a spot on it years ago.

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    Not sure if you like wrestling games or not but the Aki N64 wrestling games Virtual Pro Wrestling and Virtual Pro Wrestling 2 are really good. They were what eventually got translated into the WCW(and later WWF/E) games that came over to the US. And while I've played the Japanese version of Perfect Dark I have yet to play the Japanese version of Goldeneye 007 but have been told it has extra weapons not found in the US version but was never able to confirm that.
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    Not really, though I did like a Fire Pro game or two with the GBA, but beyond that I last really liked those titles with the earlier NES Pro Wrestling and Data East Tag Team Wrestling. That one capcom did that hit the SNES Slam Masters was not bad either. I've heard that about Goldeneye too. As loved as that game is I never got HUGE into it, felt it was a bit FF7-like overrated, but it's Bond and it's fun so it gets the attention.

    I put time on my 2 imports last night, and from what I recall Bangaioh on N64 is more fun, also less cluttered as the DC had a lot more crap going on in the background layer in detail, animation and color along with a differing resolution that just made it more annoying to focus on, and the controller sucked more too. S&P I got to get used to, I'm dying in that game and it's annoying because it's not from a loss of life but a loss of time -- that clock once you get the 2-X stages is a curse.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tanooki View Post
    Yeah true there's the everdrive, just didn't know PAL games would work on the US system. I guess since it's a ROM on a bootleg chip in an everdrive it would bypass that mess.
    There are a few that don't work properly (or at all) on NTSC systems even with the EverDrive, but I think there are NTSC prototypes or ROM hacks to cover pretty much every PAL exclusive.

    IIRC, Taz Express is one where only the NTSC proto works properly on a NTSC console. Fortunately, the proto is said to be complete.

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    Alas, few care about those two F1 titles despite the original F1 World Grand Prix being a critical success and a million seller.

    So you're not going to find anything like a NTSC conversion of F1 World Grand Prix II. And I don't believe that either saw a Japanese release that could be combined with the English text of the UK releases, to provide a hybrid NTSC translated release.

    I've yet to encounter a PAL title that didn't play nice with my Everdrive 64.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Leo_A View Post
    I've yet to encounter a PAL title that didn't play nice with my Everdrive 64.
    Give Taz Express a try, if you have a chance? Unless the people reporting issues are making things up (or KRIKzz has done something to get around the issue), if you load the PAL ROM, you should see some combination of a rolling screen, a black-and-white display, glitches, and/or nothing at all.

    EDIT: BTW F1 Racing Championship was released in Brazil, so that ROM will work on NTSC consoles (since Brazil uses a 60Hz TV standard).

    EDIT #2: From what I've read, 40 Winks (proto), Airboarder 64, Centre Court Tennis, F-1 World Grand Prix II and Rakugakids should all work on the EverDrive with the appropriate region patching. So, Taz Express and Premier Manager 64 may be the only PAL exclusives that cause problems, though I don't know about games like the Australian reskin of Beetle Adventure Racing.
    Last edited by goldenband; 10-14-2015 at 05:16 PM.

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    Brazil is PAL, according to the map on Wikipedia of tv standards by region.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Leo_A View Post
    Brazil is PAL, according to the map on Wikipedia of tv standards by region.
    Brazil has its own weird standard called PAL-M (sometimes referred to as PAL/60Hz), but its games are all 100% compatible with US televisions and consoles. Here's an article:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAL-M

    PAL is just the color encoding; the important part is the number of lines and frames being drawn per second, and in Brazil that's 525 lines and 60 fps (actually 59.94).

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    Quote Originally Posted by goldenband View Post
    Brazil has its own weird standard called PAL-M (sometimes referred to as PAL/60Hz), but its games are all 100% compatible with US televisions and consoles. Here's an article:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAL-M

    PAL is just the color encoding; the important part is the number of lines and frames being drawn per second, and in Brazil that's 525 lines and 60 fps (actually 59.94).
    Actually PAL-M is different from PAL-60 in that PAL-M uses 525 lines and 30 frames with PAL color at 3.575611 MHz, while PAL-60 uses 625 lines and 25 frames with PAL color at 4.43361875 MHz.

    Also, if you send a PAL-M signal to an NTSC display you will have a black and white picture.




    EDIT: Correction: PAL-60 is 525 lines and 30 frames with PAL color at 4.43361875 MHz
    Last edited by RP2A03; 10-15-2015 at 08:40 PM.
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    Well if it's in black & white that sucks, but it would work at least. But what did Brazil get we didnt? That's not something even the wikipedia all supposedly inclusive games list has as they have US, JP and PAL(50hz)

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    F1 Racing Championship came to Brazil as well as Europe, for one.

    If you want a good 3rd party domestic game that's cheap and which nobody played, give Monaco Grand Prix (its predecessor) a try. They did an excellent job and it's easily the best semi-realistic N64 racer that North America saw. Very pleasing physics while still staying true to the basic handling that you'd expect from a modern F1 vehicle.

    F1 Racing Championship is an improvement and takes advantage of the expansion pack while adding Indianapolis (At the expense of Argentina that fell off the F1 calendar between those two games) and finally having an official F1 license that allowed the real-life cars, teams, and drivers to be represented. But I doubt you'd care about the fictional race teams in Monaco Grand Prix.

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    Quote Originally Posted by RP2A03 View Post
    Actually PAL-M is different from PAL-60 in that PAL-M uses 525 lines and 30 frames with PAL color at 3.575611 MHz, while PAL-60 uses 625 lines and 25 frames with PAL color at 4.43361875 MHz.
    True. I should've been more precise and written "PAL-M (sometimes incorrectly called PAL-60, which is a different thing)".

    Quote Originally Posted by RP2A03 View Post
    Also, if you send a PAL-M signal to an NTSC display you will have a black and white picture.
    Also technically true, but the color encoding is all handled by the console so it's a moot point unless you buy a Brazilian console for some reason. IOW, you can play Brazilian games on a US console with zero color issues.

    I think F1 Racing Championship was the only N64 game that Brazil got and the US didn't, but there are tons of examples on other consoles (Genesis, Master System, Odyssey˛, etc.). There's even a 32X exclusive for the Brazilian market, though only 2 copies have ever been found.

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    Quote Originally Posted by goldenband View Post
    True. I should've been more precise and written "PAL-M (sometimes incorrectly called PAL-60, which is a different thing)".
    If it makes you feel better, I totally screwed up and my correction to your incorrect information is a bit wrong. I was right about PAL-M being 525 lines and 30 frames with PAL color encoding at 3.575611 MHz (almost, but not quite, NTSC frequency); however, PAL-60 is 525 lines and 30 frames (NTSC signal timings) with PAL color encoding at 4.43361875 MHz.
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