tiger road

[nat]

I recently picked up the US version of Tiger Road in my large haul from electrohaze's giant sale (needed it to complete my US set). I've owned the JP version for quite some time, and the JP version was the only one I'd ever played.

Tiger Road is one of those games that always seemed slightly harder from the outset and got easier as you went along, the first level being the only area that presented any real challenge. On the whole I thought the game was kind of easy. Keep in mind I'd only ever played the JP game up until last night.

Anyone else own both versions? Holy shit, they really dumbed the US version down! I can't believe no one ever talks about this. They removed virtually all the enemies from the first level! In the JP version I recall it took a couple runs to memorize enemy locations and plan a path of advancement to avoid losing life. Playing the US version last night, every time I would turn a corner and expect a baddy to spawn there was..... nothing. The birds from the spike pit area are gone completely making the level virtually pointless except as an exercise in simple platform jumping. No sense of danger, no peril to be found. Man they really sucked the life right out of this game for the US release. And I have to wonder-- why? The game wasn't very hard to begin with.

This is a debacle that should be legendary, and yet it isn't.

[runinruder]

Very interesting.  I have only the JP version, myself.  Maybe they felt those early parts where regenerating enemies could knock you into pits were kind of cheap and irritating--which they were, but more because of the poor hit detection than anything else.  They should've tinkered with that instead of removing the enemies.

[Turbo D]

I bought the US version a few months ago and flipped it. It was really, really easy, lmao. I didn't think anything of it because I hadn't played any other versions.

[nat]

This is one of those instances where anyone wanting any kind of challenge best pick up the JP version and ignore the laughable US release.

Any while I know what you mean about the bad hit detection-- I didn't find it that bad (Impossamole's is much, much worse) and it just added an air of peril and strategy to those segments. You had to plan what weapon you need (the spear is useless during that spiked-pit area, for instance, in the JP version) and time your jumps just right so as not to be thrown to the abyss. In the US version it doesn't matter what weapon you have since there aren't any enemies to contend with at all.

I wonder if there's a code to make the US version harder like the JP version..... Nope.

Yeah, the US version is a bad joke.

[runinruder]

I wonder if there's a code to make the US version harder like the JP version.....

There's an "options menu" code on PCECP.  Try that yet?

[nat]

Yeah just did 5 seconds ago. No difficulty select from that menu. Just # of lives, weapons, and stage select.

[Turbo D]

wow, the Us version can get easier then? lol 

[Tatsujin]

lol..that's hilarious. probably they thought the turbo ain't a that hardcore system in US as it was in japan (from players side of view), so they made the games easier to not shoo all the potential customers.

[Joe Redifer]

Surely the US version at least has better box art???

[Tatsujin]

Surely the US version at least has better box art???

i'm very glad you ended that sentence as a question.

[nat]

I just played through the entire game. The rest of the game is not too bad difficulty wise compared to the JP version, still easy as hell, but the first level is really where you notice the most tampering. The only real challenge in the US version comes at the final boss.

I still recommend those interested in playing this game opt for the JP version.

[ParanoiaDragon]

The spear just sucks, plain n' simple.  One thing that always pissed me off in this game, was the skulls that suck you in, & then you die.  I got better at avoiding them, but, I still always have a problem with that part!

[nat]

The spear just sucks, plain n' simple. 

shit, you're telling me. I got stuck with the spear this time around facing the final boss, and I died on my first try, so I had to come back and try and finish him off with it (I did). What a fucking chore. Beating that guy with the spear is 50% luck, I swear.

Anyway, all the boss fights seem to be the same between regions, it's just the levels themselves that have had the enemy count adjusted (toned down in the US version).