8 NES Games That Had Character Sprites Swapped (Nintendo Entertainment System)

[@darkerson]

Its simple, I see a new Big Ole Words video, I click like!

[@senseicorey9979]

Are you saying you immediately check this shit out ?

[@GenerationPixel]

I most certainly immediately check this shit out 😎

[@Elucidus]

Fun fact: the Snoopy game is a sprite swap of the Donald game which is a port and asset swap of “Alternative World Games” for the C64, Andreas and Zac Spectrum.

[@GermanPeter]

Doki Doki Panic was basically an advertisement for an event where masks (and many of the characters in the game) were a central focus. So that explains why some of the objects are just funny-looking faces. Also, what might be an interesting video would be taking a look at games that were censored for certain European regions. Like how Contra became PROBOTECTOR and replaced all the humans with robots. Identical otherwise, but still a massive change!

[@BigOleWords]

Yeah I’ve seen several Probotector comments, it is really interesting, so maybe I’ll pick up those two games at some point.

[@jamesmiller206]

Yeah, this game never would have gotten localized had it not been mariofied as the characters were made for the festival and due to its nature of such characters ddp characters will never be used again now that the festival is over as fuji tv owns the rights to them which is why nintendo later made super mario usa and only that version ever got rereleased. If anything doki doki panic is more of an all night nippon mario type release as nintendo were huge sponsors of the event(theres tons of merchandise of the doki doki panic and mario characters interacting with each other) and iirc mario 2 was always meant to be a mario game but due to thier sponsorship of the festival needed a quick game to promote it so they reskinned an almost finished mario game and the western version reverted it back to the original vision which also explains why nintendo didn't hesitate to make mario usa for japan once the festival became a fleeting memory as they knew theyd never be able to rerelease doki doki panic in its original form.

[@carn9507]

0:36 Amusing you showing Contra when over here in PAL regions it got sprite swapped into Probotector. :)

[@BigOleWords]

Yeah thought I’d skip that in there. Turns out lots of people demand Probotector!

[@rolen47]

I'm surprised you didn't put Contra and Probotector in the list. The European version had a serious overhaul. Apparently humans shooting each other was too violent so they changed all the characters to robots.

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

German laws were VERY strict on depictions of war. As it's easier to just give everyone the same version, it was Probotector for us all. I still prefer it honestly, cool robots beat out a couple of commando squaddies.

[@carn9507]

@@TheSmart-CasualGamer Yeah, I even thought the name 'Probotector' sounded cooler than Contra (and perhaps more than the other name 'Gryzor'). Also far preferred the box art of the player robots over Contra's 'Arnold', 'Stallone' and 'Xenomorph' too. :)

[@Gatorade69]

I'm the opposite. I liked the name Contra and the humans better but I did enjoy how Contra Hard Corps had a lot of different playable characters including a robot and a wolfman, etc.

[@carn9507]

@@Gatorade69 contra always just sounded silly to me. Especially when growing up and learning the word 'contraceptive'. Like are the main characters named 'Condom' and 'The Pill'? :P

[@Gatorade69]

@@carn9507 Haha, now that you mention it I've never thought of it in that way however the actual definition is "in opposition or contrast to" and I think the game was named after the Nicaraguan Guerillas. "A member of a guerrilla group opposed to the Sandinista government in Nicaragua in the 1980s" I think they named the second game Super C because the Iran Contra scandal happened and made the word have bad connotation. What was Super C called in Europe ?

[@RahanPlays]

Mickey Mousecapade is a weird one, as the swaps are *only* for bosses and enemies, going from an Alice in Wonderland theme to mostly generic bosses.

[@HylianFox3]

Which is weird since the game still ends with Mickey (and Minnie) rescuing Alice.

[@BigOleWords]

Huh did not know that!

[@maniacaldude]

To list another example that you didn't include, there's Totally Rad from Jaleco, which was released in Japan as Magic John. They're mostly the same except for the characters. Magic John had typical Japanese-style preadolescent kids, but Totally Rad redesigned them as Californian adolescents who talk in 80's surfer lingo. This is especially noticeable in some of the cut scenes, in which we have this cartoony style magician man talking to these more realistic looking teens.

[@mattsweeney3790]

I'm not 100% on this but I've heard the Japanese Magic John also has magic energy pickups, which makes the game MUCH more playable. Could be wrong

[@BigOleWords]

Man, yet another game I’ve reviewed already but totally forgot to include! Thanks, next video for sure!

[@asa-punkatsouthvinland7145]

I always love how enthusiastic you are even over minor things. Just lightens the day.

[@BigOleWords]

It's the little things at this point that get me excited :)

[@GoodVibeCollecting]

Oh yeah, there are tons more. Some games had a complete reskin like Yo! Noid, but most just had a particular sprite swapped. The japanese version of Conquest of the Crystal Palace comes to mind. On stage 3, the background resembles the Scream painting but was altered in the US version and the enemies are baby fetuses which were changed to spiders.

[@BigOleWords]

I'm not sure why I didn't mention that when I reviewed Conquest but yeah that stage is wild!

[@Justin-Hill-1987]

According to what Shigeru Miyamoto and his crew said, Doki Doki Panic began as a prototype for a two-player vertical Mario game, before it was developed further and re-themed into a promotional game for Fuji TV's Yume Kojo '87 Expo in Tokyo and Osaka. When Nintendo of America wanted a fresh new game, the developers of Doki Doki Panic, Shigeru Miyamoto and his crew, reskinned the characters and modified the gameplay in many areas to make it feel even more like a Mario game, as it already felt Mario-like since day one... The Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2 would've been too hard for a casual gamer, so I think Nintendo did the right thing by waiting to give us the game until Super Mario All-Stars for the Super Nintendo, which they retitled Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels...

[@jasonking3182]

There was an interview with Darlene Lacy the women who was in charge of making sure video game publishers fellowed Disney standard’s in the 80s that involved her watching vhs tapes of gameplay. She was watching the Donald Duck Famicom game you posted and one of the levels was Donald clubbing baby seals! She said it was a struggle to explain why that had to be taken out of the game!

[@MaxOakland]

That's hilarious

[@BigOleWords]

Hahahaha no way!

[@Jason_Bryant]

It's interesting that Power Blade was such a total conversion. I guess they decided the engine was good, but everything else needed a do-over.

[@foxyfoxington2651]

I'm really disappointed that the Night Mayor didn't get more character development... I love the concept.

[@BigOleWords]

He loves red noses, that’s all I got!

[@burgerinabox6063]

Fantastic video! Another thing about Trolls in Crazyland is that the Samples used in the music are reduced. While Doki! Doki! Yuuenchi has the drums, Orchestra Hits, AND Bass, Trolls only has the Drums. You can notice it the most in the opening cutscene, when the girl gets kidnapped.

[@BigOleWords]

Huh, didn’t notice!

[@Riz2336]

That's crazy with power blade, changed the whole game. Great vid man

[@darktetsuya]

Apparently crazy castle could be a video all its own, there must've been four or five different licenses throughout the years! yeah shout-out to journey to silius almost being a terminator game it definitely still shows in the final game!

[@BigOleWords]

I actually talked about both pretty recently in my last Gameboy Games on the NES vídeo and another about games that lost their pop culture licenses ;)

[@mightyfilm]

There was a series of Ban-Dai video games based off of Toei anime series in the mid-80's that were inexplicably brought over here with major changes as none of the anime aired in the US at that point. Though there is one weird outlier. The Japanese Kinnikuman Tag Team Match becoming M.U.S.C.L.E.. While we never got the original Kinnikuman anime, we got a series of their little rubber figurines as a toyline called Millions of Unusual Small Creatures Lurking Everywhere (abbreviated as M.U.S.C.L.E.) So, naturally, as a cheap cash in, the game based on the anime was release as a toy line tie-in with little alteration. Obviously, the title was different, but the major changes were replacing the character Brocken Jr (a German soldier wrestler who wore the certain WW II era insignia you'd think, and therefore never made it into the US toy line) with Geronimo (another character from the series that did make it into the line), and replacing the anime theme (Burning Kinnikuman) with generic sounding music. Even the manual referred to most of the characters with their Japanese names where the US toyline never named them.

[@KasumiKenshirou]

The US version with the swapped characters then got released in Japan as some kind of contest prize.

[@BigOleWords]

Interesting!

[@mightyfilm]

@@BigOleWords It's probably one of the worst wrestling games, though. You can basically just spam an opponent to death by constantly bouncing off the ropes, or forcing him to the ropes and clotheslining them. It's basically fun for all of a minute, then the novelty of being a bad game wears off and it becomes tedious.

[@mevb]

In Europe Contra have been sprite swapped because of Germany's strict censorship rules that humans characters weren't allowed to shoot one another, so all human character have been replaced by robots and the title was changed to Probotector. This practice for the series continued until the SNES era with Contra III: The Alien Wars.

[@Godzilla1982]

"Bobby Hill turned juggalo" caught me off guard lmao

[@83Chrisaaron]

Cool video! I got a laugh out of "The Great Bamboo Forest of New Mexico".

[@Andres33AU]

Shatterhand is known as Tokkyuu Shirei Solbrain in Japan, and instead of playing as a tough, rad dude, you play as an awesome looking cross between Robocop and a Power Ranger, haha. Apparently it's based on a TV show, similar to something like Super Sentai, and it includes a stage that isn't seen in the Western release (complete with an awesome new level track). As for some PAL releases, as mentioned here, Contra in PAL regions was known as Probotector, where "Arnie and Stallone" were swapped for robotic mech suits, as well as the enemies. I'm surprised the original Japanese version isn't the one with robots to be honest, lol.

[@sonofafitch85]

"Doki doki" is a Japanese onomatopoeia for a heart beating, through excitement, being in love, etc. It's often shorthand for "exciting", so the game more accurately translates in the west as "Exciting Amusement Park" or "Thrilling Amusement Park", something like that.

[@dalemuir1105]

Chubby Cherub was a reskin of Obake no Q-tarō WanWan Panikku

[@joeangeles1215]

Great video! It looks like Mickey Mouse 3/Kid Klown totally ripped off the robot fish from Bubble Man's stage in Mega Man 2.

[@BigOleWords]

I think you’re right!

[@rchassereau2]

You really do make interesting videos on topics I hadn't thought of before, really great video

[@BigOleWords]

Hey thanks so much!

[@あらすとる]

I think the most notable case missing here is Shatterhand, which is both a pretty nice game and also a reskin of Tokkyuu Shirei Solbrain, a game based on some Japanese Metal Heroes series.

[@intel386DX]

Nice you included Powe Blade and Power Blazer :) Now check our Felix the Cat and Kero Kero Keroppi 2 Rhey are somehow like mentioned above . The same engine, different games .

[@BigOleWords]

Whoa cool! Definitely not a reskin, but you're probably right that they use the same engine.

[@intel386DX]

@@BigOleWords absolutely, they use the same engine . I beat both of them .

[@coopleofnerds]

Fantastic video! I love the tweeks between different regions

[@mattsweeney3790]

You MUST have remembered while playing Doki Doki panics bonus game to try and get a cherry in the 1 slot!

[@BigOleWords]

I finally learned my lesson!

[@brianparker5323]

Nice video! Somewhat similar are the 'oops we lost the license' games. Werewolf: the last warrior and Journey to Silius come to mind, might be a good video idea. Keep up the good work.

[@BigOleWords]

I did exactly that! NES Games That Lost Their Pop Culture Licenses (Nintendo Entertainment System) kzbin.info/www/bejne/rnWnk2SfabR1odk

[@ilikecurry2345]

You never said what the original game that became Yo! Noid was called. Just that it's a game about a ninja with a hawk friend and a pogostick jumping across a feudal Japanese world and playing hanafuda.

[@BigOleWords]

Ha you’re right! “Kamen no Ninja Hanamaru”

[@Dug88]

Another one's Dragon Power in Japan it's a Dragonball game but in America it's been reskinned to look a generic American martial arts movie while still mostly telling the first few chapters of Dragonball. All the character names are different. The dragon balls are called crystall balls and some of the scenes were censored.

[@BigOleWords]

Yeah not sure why I left that off. Next time!

[@ivansimarroaparicio]

Yo tengo otro caso. El Castelian en su version japonesa se llamaba Kyorochan y manejas a un tucan o algo parecido y es la imagen de unos snacks de chocolate tipo conguitos.

[@BigOleWords]

Muy interesante!

[@toddburgess5056]

I checked this out, and was satisfied learning about more re-skinned NES games. Thanks again for sharing!

[@BigOleWords]

You got it!

[@michaelturner2806]

The story of Doki Doki Panic runs much deeper! From a game design perspective, it was worked on by Shigeru Miyamoto and a few other designers that went on to make Super Mario Bros. 3. And it was designed with the possibility of reskinning in mind, since it was a time-limited licensed property. Nintendo had been burned in the past by King Features by not being able to keep selling their Popeye games after King didn't want to renew the license. Mentioned here is that you have to start over with each character. That's because the game is on the Disk System, where you can save your progress, and effectively have unlimited continues. To get the full ending, you need to beat the game with all four characters. Since smb2 was a cartridge without a battery, it was changed so you only need to beat the game once with any combination of characters. Yume Kojo, roughly Dream Machine or Dream Factory, was a super big deal in Japan as a technology and cultural expo, showing off the latest developments in art and entertainment. One of the themes of the expo was Carnival - the international Catholic-affiliated Shrovetide celebrations, not traveling circuses - which heavily feature masks. That's why the "clown heads" referred to here are each elaborately detailed differing mask shapes, including the level end portal. The mascots of the expo were an Arabian family, again going for a wider international theme. So that's why the characters were used for Doki Doki Panic, even though the rest of the game doesn't really feature heavy Arabian themes. The KZbin channel GTV Japan has an excellent documentary on Yume Kojo that I can't recommend highly enough.

[@yuriiherbenko8381]

Thanks for the story! Finally, I have the answers to my childhood questions about DDP and SMB2!

[@mevb]

The reason Super Mario Bros. 2 was a sprite swap of Doki-Doki Panic, was because the japanese version of Super Mario Bros 2. was mostly the same as Super Mario Bros. with similiar graphics but a lot harder. Howard Lincoln didn't enjoy the game while play testing it and Minoru Arakawa, then president of Nintendo of America, turned to Nintendo of Japan asking them if they had another platform game which could be reskinned into Mario Bros 2. Fortunatley, they made Doki-Doki Panic which had a vibe similiar to a Mario game and produced by Shigeru Miyamoto, so they took that game which became the US and EU Mario 2. Since the Doki-Doki Panic main characters were owned by Fuji Television, Nintendo can't re-release Doki-Doki Panic anymore but they have released the western Mario 2 as Super Mario USA which is still availble in Japan to this day.

[@hekanymous]

Zombie Nation is one more, in the Japanese version, it's a tengu head floating around instead of a zombie.

[@BigOleWords]

There’s another one I reviewed and forgot to mention! I’m slippin’b

[@thedeadpoolwhochuckles.6852]

I did not know The Babadook ran for office back in the day. 6:36 Also Power Blade runs like Arthur from Ghouls and Ghost.

[@BigOleWords]

Heyo!

[@Scott-fj9uf]

This is such a rad topic. You’re one of my favorites.

[@BigOleWords]

Hey thanks for saying that!

[@MaxOakland]

2:30 "These capsule things" Those are mushrooms. WHAT!?

[@Gatorade69]

Weird looking mushrooms. When in fact you pick up mushrooms that actually look like mushrooms to increase your life. I always thought they were some kind of stool simulated to look like mushrooms. Edit : The original manual calls them "Mushroom Blocks."

[@HylianFox3]

I've always heard them referred to as "mushroom blocks"

[@MaxOakland]

@@HylianFox3 That's what the manual calls them :)

[@MaxOakland]

@@Gatorade69 I love the interpretation that they weren't mushrooms but they were stools that were made to *look* like mushrooms. That makes the world feel more real

[@BigOleWords]

Look like capsules to me!

[@barttheraven]

Was there ever a part 2 made?

[@bluebraixen]

The one that comes to mind is Shatterhand. The Japanese version is a tie-in for the TV show Solbrain and has a different player character, some altered cutscenes, a gun instead of the robot suit, and a brand new stage replacing one from the American version.

[@BigOleWords]

Definitely one for the next video:)

[@androsuryaaditiawan-we1ov]

There also nes games called "Dragon Power" that games is actually re-skin to Dragon Ball Shen Long No Nazo

[@BB-te8tc]

Gotta love that Kemco NES soundfont.

[@BigOleWords]

Agreed!

[@toddburgess5056]

LMAO @ Bobby Hill turned Juggalo when describing Kid Klown 😂

[@BigOleWords]

Thank you, thank you ;)

[@cjv84us]

Here's a good list- 1: (NA) Kid Niki--- (JP) Kaiketsu Yanchamaru 2: (NA) Dragon Power- (JP) Dragon Ball: Shenron no Nazo 3: (NA) Ninja Kid- (JP) GeGeGe no Kitaro 4: (NA) Renegade - (JP) Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun 5: (NA) Dragon Warrior Series- (JP) Dragon Quest Series 6: (NA) A Boy and His Blob- (JP) Fushigi na Blobby: Blobania no Kiki

[@BigOleWords]

Thanks! So a boy and his blob was a reverse sprite switch?

[@cjv84us]

@@BigOleWords Yes. They made the sprites more cuter for the Japanese audience.

[@bananonymouslastname5693]

I can think of a few, most of which other folks have called out already. Ninja Kid-GeGeGe no Kitaro Dragon Power-Dragonball Menace Beach-Sunday Funday Crystal Mines-Exodus Renegade-Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun Tecmo Cup Soccer-Captain Tsubasa I'm sure I'll think of more later. Fun topic.

[@BigOleWords]

Awesome, thanks!

[@Martinsspiegel]

I first learned that Mario 2 wasn't the "real" Mario 2 when Mario All Stars was released on SNES. My mind was blown!

[@Gatorade69]

Still though, they only call the real Super Mario Bros 2 "The Lost Levels" and still call the US version SMB2.

[@KasumiKenshirou]

@@Gatorade69 We did know back then that "The Lost Levels" was the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2. It must've been mentioned in Nintendo Power or some other magazine because I definitely knew about it before everyone when All-Stars was released.

[@Gatorade69]

@@KasumiKenshirou Fair enough. I can believe it was probably mentioned in a magazine. Me personally didn't really know until much later but then again I had a genesis (originally had a NES as my first console) and didn't read Nintendo Power. Like I didn't learn that until roms and emulation became a bigger thing in the early 2000s.

[@ROJOyNARANJA]

5:56 IT'S THE MEGAMAN 2 FISH!

[@BigOleWords]

That’s it!

[@nahumgardner]

FDS images way back in the early days used to be distributed with the previous owner's save files. Very early on in 90s era of emulation, people weree saying that Luigi's analog in YKDDP didn't have to play level 1. That's clearly not true, but the commonly distributed image had that level beat by that character and everyone thought that's the way it was on all copies.

[@MaxOakland]

That's very interesting

[@goatbone]

That is fascinating, like the Oregon Trail's "peperony and chease"

[@geoffgero6081]

Bionic Commando removed Hitler for obvious reasons in the west. It is super satisfying to watch Hitler's head explode in the Japanese version though

[@KasumiKenshirou]

I thought Hitler's head still exploded in the US version, too. That's literally the only thing I know about that game.

[@geoffgero6081]

@@KasumiKenshirou In the US version he's not technically Hitler, they changed all the names and removed the swastikas. But the sprite is the same, so yeah it's the same

[@BrainSlugs83]

It's worth calling out, that the "Thump Thump" which "Doki Doki" translates to, is specifically associated with heavy heart beats. Usually "Doki Doki Panic" is translated as 'Heart Pounding Panic" (so SMB2, was "The Dream Machine: Heart Pounding Panic" -- I personally feel like a more figurative translation could be, "Nightmare in the Dream Machine". And the Trolls / Crazy Land game is probably more like, "Heart Pounding Crazy Land" -- obviously it's more natural to say "Land" as a suffix than the literal "Amusement Park" -- but I feel like a better figurative translation could have been "Danger in Crazy Land". 😁

[@goatbone]

It's onomatopoeic, difficult to translate because we don't usually use a heart thumping sound without more context.

[@BigOleWords]

That makes more sense for sure!

[@mightyrobot42]

The first Saiyuki World is also a sprite-swap, being a port of Wonder Boy in Monster Land.

[@BigOleWords]

That is true, but just slightly outside my NES focus :)

[@soundspark]

Thanks for encoding in 4:3 so I can watch on my second monitor.

[@BigOleWords]

Haha all for you!

[@NateTheGnat]

The noid is back at dominos. But he's no longer the menace he used to be.

[@BigOleWords]

He is?!? No way!

[@ViewpointProd]

Shocked to not see mention of dragon power on here, I don’t know if you’ve covered that game before, but I’d say it’s almost as infamous as Mario 2. It’s actually a sprite swap of One of the early Dragonball games, since that franchise didn’t really exist in the American outside of the dub that harmony gold had produced (which saw very small distribution).

[@BigOleWords]

Oddly enough it was one of the first games I reviewed! No idea why I left it off of this list: kzbin.info/www/bejne/joKrl6GbfLKVeMU

[@gridly.todd.h]

Punch Out! Ok, we all know about Mr. Dream by now. But it is interesting that Iron Mike wasn't in the original game, then he was, then he wasn't again. Nintendo got their 50k's worth out of that license, for sure.

[@Wyldfyre.84]

6:06 - MM2 Quick Man flashbacks!

[@BigOleWords]

There’s actually a lot of Mega Man visual references in that game.

[@funisinfinite6171]

Okay, I had to like/subscribe as soon as I heard that intro

[@jiminboo]

Avoid the Noid… Kenneth Lamar Noid.

[@BigOleWords]

I just learned about that!

[@Nesenda]

the gathering just ended so thanks for the juggalo joke! that was funny

[@BigOleWords]

Snap, good timing!

[@NoobixCube]

If you ever see "doki doki" in a title of a Japanese game, it means more than "thump thump". The Japanese language has onomatopoeia for everything, and doki doki is the beating of a heart. It's almost the same as in a cartoon when you see someone's heart punching its way out of their chest as it beats. As for Doki doki Panic, Gaijillionaire TV has a great video that goes really deep into just what Yume Koujou itself was. Doki doki Panic was basically a promotional tie-in to a World's Fare style event, like a festival of art and technology. Yume Koujou itself means "Dream Factory" or "Dream Machine".

[@michaelturner2806]

I was about to say I loved GTV Japan's in depth video on the subject, so I really wanted to look up this Gaijillionaire's take on it. But a youtube search for that brings up GTV. I guess that's what the G stands for? I never knew. Anyway, seconding the brilliant documentary. (And if you mean someone else, let me know what to do to refine my search!)

[@NoobixCube]

@@michaelturner2806 oh, yeah. I think his channel name used to be Gaijillionaire TV, and his social media. He might have rebranded everything to simply GTV for searchability.

[@BigOleWords]

That makes sense!

[@Raziel_77]

Tecmo Cup Soccer Game = Captain Tsubasa Flying Warriors = Hiryuu no Ken II+III Clash at Demonhead = Dengeki - Big Bang!

[@BigOleWords]

I've never played the Famicom Demonhead, is it really different?

[@Raziel_77]

@@BigOleWords not really - at the beginning you can read letter (japanese of course, skipped in english version) and different title screen (anime style).

[@jackplumley3308]

Thanks!

[@BigOleWords]

What?! No way! Thanks so much, it really means a lot!

[@EuSouRCS]

Another great example is PANIC RESTAURANT with an old man as the protagonist while the Japanese version called WANPAKU KOKKUN NO GOURMET WORLD have a kid as the protagonist instead. Great game BTW,S-Tier for sure!

[@wadewilson6628]

Crazy Castle was my Moms favorite game on the NES.

[@BigOleWords]

It seems like a Mom classic!

[@alkristopher]

Does Dragon Power count as a reskin, or is that one too subtle as well? Also, did you know that Super Mario Bros was a reskin of St. George and the Dragon? I mean, when you think about it...

[@BigOleWords]

It does and it is! Yeah that whole game is a reskin but visually it still looks pretty similar unlike Yo Noid or something.

[@scottbogfoot]

Can you do a video about 1999 Hora, Mttakotoka! Seikimatsu?

[@BigOleWords]

Never heard of it!

[@rootbeer_666]

Jeremy Parish recently did an episode of NES Works about Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle, going over the whole sordid history of Kemco and their licensing rigmarole, which includes Kid Klown. It’s all kinds of convoluted and stupid.

[@gridly.todd.h]

To add another comment to the tally, I'm curious what games came out in NA and never had a Famicom release. My ole guilty pleasure, Fun House, comes to mind.

[@BigOleWords]

That is a topic on my list, but there’s actually TONS of them

[@jefflindquist6138]

Nice coverage. 🙂

[@noirlavender6409]

thank you, I, in fact, will check that shit out

[@Lunitarium]

I loved Yo Noid. I had it and played the heck out of it. Never did beat that one cause it’s pretty long and very difficult.

[@pqsk]

Journey to Silas was originally a game based on thee terminator film at least that's what I saw in a video. I think the company least the license because they took to long. Somebody did a rom hack and tried to recreate it, I know it's not the same, but thought it was a little relevant to share if nobody ever heard of this.

[@michaelmcgee2026]

Yo Noid was probably my favorite NES platformer

[@BigOleWords]

Oof!

[@Ruudos]

Contra vs Probotector. Humans replaced by robots! Dragon Ball vs Dragon Power. Goku replaced by a monkey boy. There's also those Color Dreams/Wisdom Tree games. Crystal Mines vs. Exodus and Menace Beach vs. Sunday Funday.

[@BigOleWords]

Ooof those unlicensed ones!

[@JohnSmith-2koolaid]

Mr show in the intro lol 😂

[@BigOleWords]

You know it!

[@mr.g4990]

A good example would be Tecmo Cup Soccer Game (US)-Tecmo Cup Football Game (EU) being reskins of Captain Tsubasa games. The characters were changed to anonymous, more western-looking ones. There are more differences though. In hindsight, given how massive of a success the animated series was in Europe, this wasn't a good move. All they needed to do was localize the main characters' names to match what we saw on TV. Not even sure this was released outside of Spain in Europe. Lost opportunity there.

[@BigOleWords]

That’s a solid one!

[@howitusedtobe]

Dude that yo noid japanese version is pretty awesome except the turn based bits

[@BigOleWords]

It looks way cooler for sure

[@howitusedtobe]

@@BigOleWords I like the game play certainly it’s challenging but doable. I happened to stumble upon it one night on my 50k game emulator box doing a deep look into NES/FDS stuff

[@Tailstraw_xD]

I totally thought Probotector would be in this one

[@BigOleWords]

I thought about it, but I’ll get to it :)

[@EuSouRCS]

BTW Power Blazer is one of the most hardest games on Famicom,but Holy Diver still got the gold medal 🏅!

[@geraq0]

The music in Power Blade is phenomenal, I'm glad that's the only aspect the localizers decided to keep from the awful original game. The composer is the same from Castlevania 1 so it had to be amazing. I think another game that could fit in this video is Shatterhand, the Japanese version features some character from a TV show or something. Oh and the complete story of the Crazy Castle series is wild, it's a total trainwreck of licenses and franchises.

[@BigOleWords]

Didn't know it was the same composer! Neat.

[@geraq0]

@@BigOleWords yep! The very Kinuyo Yamashita herself! I think she was credited as James Bananas or something like that in CV 1.

[@sergiosoto7056]

I'm sorry Shatterhand fans. The game is Tokkyuu Shirei Solbrain developed by Natsume. Same guys from Power Blade, Shadow of the Ninja, Dragon Fighter, Choujin Sentai Jetman, and many others ❤

[@ersatz_cats]

I was surprised, when I went to play the original Japanese Dragon Quest 3, when I saw some of the cleric/priest sprites were swapped. In the original, they were more overtly Christian/religious.

[@BigOleWords]

Huh, did not know that!

[@penuts17]

Surprised not to see Superman nes

[@BigOleWords]

Does the Famicom version use different sprites?

[@doordashdriver]

speaking of skin swaps, can we swap hair? I'd love to have a silver mop top over my... nothing. lol

[@BigOleWords]

You got it!

[@novelezra]

I'd love to see an episode that is the opposite of this; games where the Japanese cultural imagery is left in its entirely. Obviously a great example is Pocky and Rocky on the SNES but I'm no expert on the NES selection so I'd love to see what you could conjure up

[@MaxOakland]

That's a good idea. I'd watch that episode

[@goatbone]

Great idea you could find a lot of examples I think. The leaf from Mario 3 is a good example.

[@BigOleWords]

Hmm interesting!

[@reyvgm]

Circus Caper is also completely different from its Japanese counterpart.

[@N3Selina]

i am thankful we got our own version of Mario 2. Mario 2 JP is not a good time and Mario 2 US i would play any day over the JP one

[@BigOleWords]

For sure!

[@josephbradshaw6985]

Wasn't Battletoads easier in Japan? I think there are some games that were made harder in the US release in order to combat the rental market. So you couldn't beat the game in a weekend.

[@josephbradshaw6985]

Yeah I know it's not a sprite swap, but the difficulty differences came to mind.

[@BigOleWords]

Don’t think I’ve tried the Japanese version!

[@josephbradshaw6985]

@@BigOleWords I play a lot of romhack and translations. Castlevania 3 and Ninja Gaiden 3 are also easier. And better, IMO. So I play the translations. I know you are an original hardware guy, but emulation opened up a ton of fun hacks and translations for me.

[@shikabaneconga]

fun fact, the gigaleak revealed even yoshi's island is a reskin

[@Gatorade69]

What !? What was it reskinned from ? From what I remember hearing is that it started development as a different game but was ultimately changed into Yoshis island. I don't think it counts since the game didn't release as one thing and then get changed later.

[@diamondsmasher]

Another fun fact: while not heavily advertised, Gyromite is a complete re-skin of a dog turd. Once you play it, you’ll easily recognize the similarities!

[@BigOleWords]

Hahaha dayum!

[@mark6302]

ahh i loved whompem

[@BigOleWords]

It’s got it’s charms!

[@Matty0mega]

"you're killing me here guys...." 😂😂 Clearly SMB2 is the better of the 2!

[@BigOleWords]

In so many, many ways!

[@Tm_Slink]

What? No mention of Shatterhand? It was originally a game based on a Tokusatsu show Super Rescue Solbrain. Think something along the lines of Power Rangers and Kamen Rider.

[@BigOleWords]

It was on my list to cover but I don’t know why I Left it off. Next time!

[@ТимПеристов]

Gorin, is that you?

[@earthguardian2]

I use have power blade 1 but lost it but las a pirate Chinese copy and was terminator instead of power blade as name slap i only have pirate copy pb2

[@DeaDBeaT187]

Fun fact big Ole world is a sprite swap of Greg Newkirk..

[@habloverdi7047]

Probotector & Contra.

[@therealhardrock]

You should have put Dragon Ball/Dragon Power on this list.

[@BigOleWords]

Next time!