Doom on Super Famicom / Monster behavior in SNES Doom

[Mattfrie1]

After reading something about the Japanese version of Doom on SNES a week or two ago somewhere on this forum (I forget who said it and what thread it was). I went on Ebay to pick up a copy of it (Cart only sadly, I would have loved to get the box and manual too), and it finally came in the mail today. While the Japanese version isn't that much different from the American version that I already owned. There are a few minor changes to the Japanese version.

• The game was ported by Imagineer, who worked with id to port Wolf 3D to the SNES. Their company logo is displayed when you start the game up instead of Williams Entertainment.
  
  
• You can play any episode at any difficulty level. Perhaps the biggest (and best) change between versions. This goes to show that there were item placements for lower difficulties on the U.S. version, but for some reason Williams Entertainment didn't want to make The Shores of Hell and Inferno available to the lower difficulties. Imagineer didn't care apparently (Maybe because the FPS genre is less popular in Japan and didn't think Japanese players would be as good at the game).
  
  
• Whole different ending sequence when you beat Inferno (I beat it on the lowest difficulty level). Instead of giving the words about the big bad boss dead once and for all, it gives some minor text congratulating you for beating the final boss, and in the end stating "Your work here is done" (Sorry, I don't remember the screen word for word). After this, the game credit screens (2 of them, same as the U.S. version) appear. After this, the game goes back to the title screen.
  

I'm not sure how many people already know this considering the ROM is floating around the web, but I thought it would be interesting info to put out there to anyone interested.

I didn't play through the whole game yet, but I'll guess I'll update this little "list" if I find any more changes.

Also, I do intend to get other Japanese version's of id's games (I think only Wolf 3D and Doom 64 were the only other id games released for consoles in Japan), but if anyone knows any difference's with games off the top of their head, feel free to contact me. :)

If you are looking for the monster behavior facts, click here.

[Ledmeister]

Interesting stuff; thanks. There are also minor differences in the PlayStation and Sega Saturn Doom games released in Japan, if you're looking to add to your library. :)

[Ultraboy94]

I believe it was a thread I started when I got the PAL version of the game for SNES.

Thanks for clearing that up about the Japan SNES Doom, it's useful to know. Gives us more proof that nine times out of ten it's better in Japan.

[printz]

Try the Wolf3d for Super Famicom, if it exists. Maybe it isn't censored.

[Mattfrie1]

Well, I finished playing through the whole game this afternoon, and noticed one sort of major change, all three end screens have different text compared to the U.S. SNES/DOS versions. I wrote them down so I wouldn't forget:

Knee Deep in The Dead ending:

You have won over the Knee-deep in the dead boss.

This is not the end.

You will now enter The Shores of Hell.

The Shore's of Hell ending:

You have won over The Shores of Hell boss.

This is not the end.

You will now enter Inferno.

Inferno ending:

Congratulations! You have won over the final boss.

You have now cleared all the levels.

Because you are the super solder, You can finish here.

As you can see, all three ending screens have been severely dumbed down compared to the English counterparts, nothing mentioning character names, or anything to do with you being trapped on Mars. Doomguy is also a super solder too :) . I guess this was done to compensate for the Japanese not knowing English as well (How many Japanese people say badass?).

Ledmeister said:
There are also minor differences in the PlayStation and Sega Saturn Doom games released in Japan, if you're looking to add to your library. :)

What differences are there in the Japanese PSX version? I'm aware of the differences in the Saturn version (Faster framerate, different music order, etc.). But due to the fact that it's so hard to play Japan games on a US PSX (I really don't want to use a mod chip) I probably won't get around to buying it in the near future.

As for the Japanese Wolf 3D. I think it still might be censored, but it would be awesome to own just for this kick ass box art.

[printz]

If they went through all the trouble to rewrite the Japanese port of Super Famicom Doom, why didn't they use the Japanese language...? I know that either it's Japanese games that use Engrish, or they don't get rewritten at all. Not that American games are translated from English into pseudo-English. Odd.

[J-selva]

Mattfrie1 said:

You can play any episode at any difficulty level. Perhaps the biggest (and best) change between versions. This goes to show that there were item placements for lower difficulties on the U.S. version, but for some reason Williams Entertainment didn't want to make The Shores of Hell and Inferno available to the lower difficulties. Imagineer didn't care apparently (Maybe because the FPS genre is less popular in Japan and didn't think Japanese players would be as good at the game).

I knew about this and pointed it out in a previous thread. On a similar note, the game does have all the 27 levels "in it". Only, trying to access the missing ones gives a black screen. Could that mean that they were planned to be included? Perhaps...

[Mattfrie1]

J-selva said:

I knew about this and pointed it out in a previous thread. On a similar note, the game does have all the 27 levels "in it". Only, trying to access the missing ones gives a black screen. Could that mean that they were planned to be included? Perhaps...

Well I guess I can thank you for pointing this out, it is why I ended up buying the game. :)

How did you figure out about the 27 levels? Did you use an emulator with a Game Genie?

[J-selva]

I think Pro Action Replay. It's been quite a few years since I saw this interesting little tidbit.

Basically I began with 0 as the value for the address which set the level. When I reached 6 (or 5, depending on if 1 or 0 belongs to E1M1), I got a black screen and the game hung. This is unexpected since Central Processing is not in the game, I assumed Computer Station would be E1M6. Then using 7 took me to Computer Station.

[Antroid]

When i had an actual SNES and Doom for it (no idea which version it was though... had a williams logo in the intro), dying at that place in e1m8 didn't bring about any sort of ending, but just booted me back to title screen. The other two endings were fine. I went crazy over that, time after time beating E1 just to try to do something differently at the last map, and still die and get thrown to the beginning of the game. Anyone know if that happened in all the copies? Of that version, at least.

[deathbringer]

printz said:

If they went through all the trouble to rewrite the Japanese port of Super Famicom Doom, why didn't they use the Japanese language...? I know that either it's Japanese games that use Engrish, or they don't get rewritten at all. Not that American games are translated from English into pseudo-English. Odd.

I had assumed he was translating.

Maybe "the engine", being ultimately derived from the PC version (i suppose), still had the text in individual small image files and so only the A-Z letters would be useable. Though they could have done it in Romaji (Japanese in A-Z letters). Or maybe they were just lazy and crapped out some easy short text so they could go for sake sooner.

(How many Japanese people say badass?)

My girlfriend's brother knows almost no English, and what he does know is basically americanised catch-phrases delivered in the tones of some sports coach in a teen movie.

[Mattfrie1]

Antroid said:

When i had an actual SNES and Doom for it (no idea which version it was though... had a williams logo in the intro), dying at that place in e1m8 didn't bring about any sort of ending, but just booted me back to title screen. The other two endings were fine. I went crazy over that, time after time beating E1 just to try to do something differently at the last map, and still die and get thrown to the beginning of the game. Anyone know if that happened in all the copies? Of that version, at least.

Sounds like you were playing the U.S. version. If you play E1 on I'm To Young To Die, then it shoots you back to the title screen with no episode end screen. If you played E1 on any other difficulty, then you will see an ending screen and automatically move on to E2.

deathbringer said
I had assumed he was translating.

The ending screens are completely in English, no translating involved. I've noticed that many games that originate in the U.S. keep the English language when ported over to Japan (At least Mortal Kombat II does, the only other prominent American game I own for the Super Famicom).

[Mattfrie1]

UPDATE (sorry for the double post): I just found yet another new (and awesome) feature on Super Famicom Doom.

Monster markers are shown on the automap

Much like the IDDT code on the PC version, except it only shows markers for monsters, not items.

Because of this, I've been able to observe some interesting things about monster behavior in the SNES port:

• Monsters are placed in any direction.
  Even though the monsters are one-sided on this version, they are shown facing in any direction on the automap.
  
  
• Monsters immediately face you as you come into vision of them.
  As soon as you see a monster, the monster turns to face you, even if they are shown not facing you on the automap. This is why you can't creep up on enemies in this version, whereas you could in the 32X version. Also, when you have an invisibility sphere, the monster's still turn to face you, but they won't move to attack.
  
  
• Enemies always move towards you when they see you.
  This is why monsters are so aggressive in this port. Take an Imp for example, in any other version, they might throw a fireball and walk away from you, and then throw another. In the SNES port, they can throw a fireball and then they move closer, making them harder to get away from. This could also be a precaution so monsters don't turn and infight with each other.
  
  
• When you move out of an awakened monster's view, they turn in any direction to find you.
  Even though monster's always seem to face you, they can still move in any direction to find you.
  
  
• Monster's stop moving if you are out of their vision long enough.
  If you have awakened a monster, and move out of their sight for long enough, they go back to being stationary.

If I find any other change's, I will update the thread.

[Jodwin]

Mattfrie1 said:

Because of this, I've been able to observe some interesting things about monster behavior in the SNES port

Interesting stuff, it would be cool if someone made a fork of some source port to replicate this monster behavior.

[J-selva]

This is indeed some pretty interesting stuff on the Super Famicom Doom. Now I feel like giving it a playthrough just to see these features :)

[deathbringer]

I can actually remember playing SNES doom years and years ago, i "dared" to try the harder difficulty levels, then went to Hell Keep and ended up fighting a Cacodemon with the pistol, i ran right back to the start and "waited" for it for ages (having memories of the PC version around my friends house, where monsters would follow you and open doors). Nothing happened for ages so i went back through the door and found the Cacodemon had "dissapeared". I then walked around a corner and ran right into it!

Does the Cyberdemon still have it's "melee" attack in this version or would you have been killed long before it got near you?

[Mattfrie1]

deathbringer said:

Does the Cyberdemon still have it's "melee" attack in this version or would you have been killed long before it got near you?

I'd guess that it does, judging that the Japanese version seems to be like an extension of the U.S. version, but I haven't messed around with Cybie enough to know. When I did get to him on both E2M8 and E3M9, it only took me FIVE rockets to kill him! Wonder if that was made easier for the Japanese version...?

[scalliano]

Mattfrie1 said:

Also, I do intend to get other Japanese version's of id's games (I think only Wolf 3D and Doom 64 were the only other id games released for consoles in Japan), but if anyone knows any difference's with games off the top of their head, feel free to contact me. :)

I'm pretty sure that the PSX versions of both Doom and Final Doom were released in Japan, and there's a Japanese Saturn version too (which apparently runs a bit smoother than the US/PAL versions. It would need to!).

[Shanoa]

Mattfrie1 said:

I'd guess that it does, judging that the Japanese version seems to be like an extension of the U.S. version, but I haven't messed around with Cybie enough to know. When I did get to him on both E2M8 and E3M9, it only took me FIVE rockets to kill him! Wonder if that was made easier for the Japanese version...?

US/Pal version also needed only 5 to 6 rockets to kill him and very few plasma shots too.

One thing me and a friend noticed. Enemies in the JP version of SNES Doom are less agressives than in the US/Pal version. My friend punched a demon to death unharmed and usually he'd get bitten to death in the Pal version. So its definitely easier/better ported.

@Printz: I just tried JP Wolf3D, its still censored. Only difference is the briefing screen, rather than being BJ and its boss its a black screen with a white japanese word. There's maybe more changes but nothing i noticed.