ICO - North American vs Japanese Versions

[@Mystic_Ode]

I forgot to mention it in the video itself, but soon I'll make an unofficial 'changelog' detailing each difference from every video segment in plain text. So you won't be forced to play Spot the Difference yourself. It will be in the description when its ready. Until then, the 10 second skip feature of KZbin might help you notice the sudden texture differences in certain shots. Every comparison shot was timed with the 10 second skip feature in mind.

[@mosilew207]

Amazing! Are you going to include PS3 and European PS2 versions?

[@Mystic_Ode]

@@mosilew207 PAL = European PS2 version. As I mentioned at the start, the only major version differences between JP and PAL are technical, they changed the presentation of the Save screen a bit, translated the subtitles into multiple European languages, allowed the game to run at 50 hz (which incidentally resulted in a unique high jump maneuver that speedrunners have abused), and… I think that’s about it? Again, there weren’t any environmental changes I was aware of so in a video where that’s the primary focus it felt out of place to bring up. The PS3 remaster is based on the PAL version with higher resolution (and a few remade) textures. I shared some texture changes between NTSC-U and later versions in this video, but mostly because they were rare and stood out when they happened. But since every texture in the game was altered for the PS3 remake, how can I hope to highlight each part? The only other difference between PS2 and PS3 is the short video that plays when you wait on the main menu. The one that plays “The Castle in the Mist” track. Bluepoint had to reshoot the entire thing, but apparently they didn’t have the means to make the debug camera move like it used to for certain shots. Nor could they remove Yorda from some rooms like the PS2 cinematic seemed to. I say they couldn’t do these things because they clearly tried to get it as close to the original as possible and I think they would’ve gone further if they had the ability to.

[@johnbravemusic]

@@Mystic_Ode Does the Japanese version run natively in 50hz or 60hz?

[@Mystic_Ode]

@@johnbravemusic It should run at 60hz. Also, I guess I should've read this comment first. See my other reply for more info.

[@NomadColossus]

Nice - amazing details here. So subtle it would be hard to notice the differences, but you have made them clear.

[@Snugboy]

Great collection of all the changes! Was very confused when I played the game for the first time with the PS2 USA version and then a couple of days later played the PS3 version and experienced all the changes. Great to see a documentation of all the differences. Keep it up!

[@Jaikhay231]

A common theme I'm seeing so far is changing the level geometry to better communicate to the player what they need to do. The added fence to the top of the windmill shows that you have to jump from the windmill instead of just dropping from it. The chandelier is also easier for the players to see.

[@kklum6998]

Very informative. Didn't know about this fact. Now that there are emulations, I can go back to playing the pal version. The US box art though. Kudos

[@Mystic_Ode]

Thanks. I'm glad to be a help with the information I provide on this channel. I didn't get to bring it up in the video, but we do know the story behind the US box art, too. There was an article about it published last year. Team ICO was too busy wrapping development of the NTSC-U copy to work on the game's packaging themselves, so Sony hired a third party, called Beeline, to make the cover and manual. It's a good read. I would link to it, but KZbin doesn't like links in the comments, so to be sure you can find it, use the keywords: [The Story Behind Ico's "Terrible" North American Box Art Time Extension]

[@kklum6998]

@@Mystic_Ode Don’t worry about it. There is already a whole video dedicated on all the consoles box art of yesteryears between Japan vs US vs Europe which is borderline atrocious and misleading. Thanks anyway.

[@walterwhite8164]

Now this is what i like to see man!!!! Looking forward to this, I'll be sure to comment when I'll have time to sit down and watch this vid. Absolutely love the idea of longer videos! God bless! 🙏🙏

[@Whoslet]

i still remember that i played the ntsc version first and then the pal/ps3 later and thinking "hm there is some differences" now i see that there is a lot more differences than what i found to have

[@liplepeoberty5815]

Amazing, I won’t need to play NA version by myself now.

[@yashveersingh6633]

does yorda give hints in both versions?

[@Mystic_Ode]

@@yashveersingh6633 No. But I already mentioned this in a different video. There I showed how Yorda has some limited ability to hint in the North American version by approaching objects of interest and looking between Ico and the object, but she couldn’t point out anything until the later versions were published.

[@johnbravemusic]

It's quite strange to see, mytersiour even, why they changed so many little things. I think the Japanese version looks better. A big weakness of the visual style was it can be far too bright and the contrast quite low so things have a faded look to them. The Japanese version has much better contrast levels and slightly more saturation on certain colours. Feels warmer and darker. I definitely prefer the Japanese look overall. Cool thing is that because the game has no real language in it or anything like that I can easily jump into the Japanese version and try it myself. Thanks for sharing. Next playthrough of this classic game I will definitely be trying the Japanese one out

[@Mystic_Ode]

I suppose my terminology may have lost some people, but the PAL region refers to a large swath of countries that used Phase Alternating Line encoding for their analog TV sets.* Many of those countries, like the UK, have English as their primary language, so English (alongside French, German, Italian, and Spanish) is in the subtitled language options. You can find a PAL copy of the game and not miss out on anything being said. (*NTSC is a different standard of analog television that both the US and Japan used. Games distinguished regions by the TV standards because it was important for the display. Display concerns are also why the PAL version will ask you whether you want to run the game at 50hz or 60hz, because some European countries in 2001 were locked into 50hz displays rather than 60hz.) Also, it's not really a mystery why they tweaked so many little details when you consider the North American version was pushed out much sooner than the devs wanted. I think it's easy to say that this is, essentially, a published late-stage beta build. Put simply, they didn't consider the game finished, but they had to push it out regardless.

[@johnbravemusic]

@@Mystic_Ode Ah, I see, yeah I'm from the UK so I grew up with the PAL version anyway and when I saw this I assumed that the western release in US and EU was the same. So its actually the NTSC version that I've never seen before. I'll keep that in mind for emulating in the future though because I normally get the US version for ROMs on playstation games since its more compatible with modern monitors and 60FPS. I wonder why they rushed it? That's a shame. So it really is the inferior version not even an alternative one. That sucks.

[@Mystic_Ode]

@@johnbravemusic If I had to guess, I'd say someone high up at Sony of America respected ICO's graphical beauty, but only in so far as it would attract eyes and make money. According to records from IGN at the time, they seemed to initially want the game shipped out by July 2001, but then Team ICO got a single month's extension to August, which at some point was pushed back another month, for the final time. Three delays and you're out, I suppose. They were probably eager for a summer release because they wanted it to rank among 'The First Year' of American PS2 releases and summer was a great block to fit it into from a marketing perspective.

[@johnbravemusic]

@@Mystic_Ode I see, perhaps it was a logistical scenario as well were on the American side for manufacturing they might have already invested into retail distribution, advertising, and making discs that they decided they couldn't deal with a delay. Cash flow problems or something. Guess we'll never know I've always been happy as a Euro gamer as generally our releases are better than the American ones back in the day but not always.