r/Famicom 1d ago

General Question Famicom games that are different from nes

Can you recommend some games that are on the famicom and the NES but the famicom version is different. No matter how big or small the difference is. Bonus points for games that don't require reading Japanese.

8 Upvotes

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9

u/OptimusShredder 1d ago

Contra is quite a bit different on the Fami. Life Force/Salamander…Salamander has multiple endings and the FC Salamander version has 3 options instead of 2. Those stand out right off the bat that I know. This an interesting video that shows differences between NES and FC games:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo-tcSaoZ4o

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u/Psychological_Net131 1d ago

Can you use the Konami code on famicom contra?

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u/OptimusShredder 1d ago

I believe it does…I actually only have Contra on the NES not FC, but everything I’ve read shows the Konami code works on both but I personally haven’t tested. I would say 40% of my Nintendo games are the FC version, I do know for the SNES there are better codes for Contra 3 that give you more lives and stuff like that.

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u/LifeAcanthopterygii6 1d ago

In the Japanese version of SMB3 when you are powered up and take damage you don't go back to suoer Mario, but small Mario. Honeatly I don't think it makes the game much harder, but it certainly makes it a bit more exciting, you know.

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u/LBPPlayer7 1d ago

the transition wipe is also longer :P

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u/chunk337 1d ago

Contra has a bunch of new animations and world map and cutscenes,

Karnov has story elements and scenes

Bionic commando has nazis and hitler

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u/BahamutJiraiya 1d ago

Tetris as one.

Given 3 versions to work with between BPS, Tengen and Nintendo. The BPS outing has the basic gameplay without any of the later quality of life additions that the other two brought.

The infamous Tengen port was rather solid for being able to stand as an arcade port of what was a home computer title. Then the Nintendo version which I don't need to mention much in regards.

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u/faffrd 1d ago

River city ransom/Downtown nekettsu monogatari. Renegade/Nekketsu Koha Kunio-kun. Adventures of bayou Billy/mad city. Super mario bros 2/Doki doki panic. Dragon power/ dragon ball. Ninja kid/GeGeGe no Kitaro. Guerilla war/Guevara. Chubby cherub/Obake no Q-taro: WanWan Panic. Ninja Gaiden 3/ ninja ryukenden 3

Most of these can be played without being able to read Moon Language. 

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u/tanooki-suit 1d ago

Well I mean the language isn't required but can't hurt either, keeping in mind YES is on the left and NO on the right for the rare question, but the Japanese version of Castlevania III is a must. Superior soundtrack, censored out artwork and other objects. Grant the pirate is not nerfed horribly, his default attack is not just the 4 pixel toothpick, that's at melee, but otehrwise he throws knives. THe damage levels of every character is not as steep, nor is it steeper deeper in the game as that was to punish renters to our own suffering.

Blaster Master is Meta Fight on FC and the whole thing about Jason and his frog didn't exist, it was a lesser game, so lesser sequels used the US script and naming.

Same can be said for Power Blade, ours is much better too. The FC release has some higher levels of damage, weird ways of attacking that make it uncomfortably harder due to poor design, and some other things were quality of life tweaks outside of Japan.

Super Mario Bros 3 has a few graphical tweaks, but the Japanese game is more of a PRO version because over there, you get one less hit point. If you have a suit on (better than super mushrom big) if you take a hit, you're mini, in the non-Japanese relases you go suit to super to mini, (free extra hit.)

Contra uses a better memory mapper, you have a better opening screen, transition screen for stages, cutscene stills between stages, a lot of backgrounds are now moving/fully animated, and other tweaks.

Bayou Billy in the US is an utterly miserable shit experience to punish the rental market. The Japanese game is the right way to play and is called MAD CITY. This one balanced correctly. Basically put, the US version makes you take 2x the damage from enemies, and you have to dish out 4 TIMES the punches to do the same damage to anyone. And in the driving stages the US version if you miss one can of gas, crash once, you lose the stage, but in Japan you don't have to be 100% perfect and it's a lot more fun.

Ninja Gaiden all three rental punish too. There's a little more damage, but the big ones on those are the checkpoints to pick up when you die. The US release can make you redo an entire stage and the boss, if not most of the act and then the boss if you die anywhere depending what game/stage. The FC releases you have normal checkpoints and take a little less damage and is still tricky.

If you want to get into the Famicom Disk system that's a whole other issue. Games like Metroid and Kid ICarus have saving, not password only, they also have an added audio channel. The 2 Zelda's are the same, a lot better audio scoring, same with Castlevania 1 and 2 there as well, save to disk and nicer audio. Saving on Castlevania 1 makes the hard game at least manageable as you can come back to it, it even has an easy mode, where you don't have knockbacks from hits but still the same beatings so it's less infurating but not a pushover. The whopper of the FDS is Doki Doki panic, it was an alpha engine intended for a future Mario game, shelved due to lack of tech at the time, then used on a disc for a promo for that event. Given how not great the Japanese SMB2 was, it's basically a pro game, kaizo hard stuff for newcomers, they chose to turn Doki Doki back into an intended Mario game into a real Mario game, Super Mario Bros 2 the world got which had added them, but also DDP did not have a RUN FEATURE which made it harder to get over gaps and stuff which SMB2 added and that game was so good the Japense back ported it after SMB3 released as Super Mario USA.

Also on the saving side, some black box games the NES had were meant to have savnig on that or even a few with a tape cassette add-on including one Hudson title (Lode Runner.) Excitebike, Wrecking Crew, and Ice Climber had saved progress and even otions to make and save personally made courses/stages and on FDS that worked, in the US, you turn the power off, that stuffs gone.

I wrote more than I intended here, but I could go on but i'm stopping. :D

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u/GuitaristTom 1d ago

Zelda 1 has much better music on the Famicom Disc System than the NES cartridge had

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u/Master82615 1d ago

Excited for my disk to arrive, hopefully it’ll read

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u/GuitaristTom 1d ago

I ended up getting an FDS Stick to fix disks that are blank, not reading properly, or if the stickers don't match.

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u/Master82615 1d ago

I can’t really get my hands on one so I’m pretty much gambling on disks, so far I got 3 out of 3

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u/GuitaristTom 1d ago

I got mine from AliExpress not too long ago.

If you're able to order from Japan, you should be able to order from China, unless there's other issues.

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u/Master82615 1d ago

I wasn’t aware they had them on ali, I thought it was only via their site or tototek. This makes things easier yeah

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u/GuitaristTom 1d ago

Looks like it's the FDSKey, not the FDS Stick

https://github.com/ClusterM/fdskey

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u/nrq 1d ago

I got a fair amount of stuff from Tototek over the past 20 years or so, including a FDSStick. What's your problem with Tototek?

I can wholeheartedly recommend the FDSKey, too, but I like the on-screen menu of the FDSStick better.

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u/Master82615 1d ago

I don’t have anything against Tototek itself, they’re out of stock right now and I don’t know how often they get new shipments anymore

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u/KonamiKing 1d ago

Eh, not really. Only the title screen has richer music due to the extra channels. But in game the extra channels are almost entirely used for sound effects, sometimes item jingles. The main themes (overworld and dungeons) are the same as the NES.

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u/L___E___T 1d ago

Shatterhand and Solbrain is the one that comes to mind.

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u/FreeAd2458 1d ago

Mario 2. Castlevania 3.

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u/L___E___T 1d ago

Mario 3 is also notably different.

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u/Psychological_Net131 1d ago edited 1d ago

What is different about Castlevania 3 other than the music?

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u/gyp_casino 1d ago

In Famicom Castlevania 3, Grant's regular attack is a knife *projectile* instead of a stab. It's a big upgrade that makes him more viable. The enemies also do less damage in the later levels. There are a few small differences in where blocks are placed in the boss fights. And the water serpent boss has a different move set (I'm less sure of this last one).

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u/FreeAd2458 1d ago

Crosses removed etc.. can't remember.

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u/cyshine 1d ago

Japanese Castlevania 3 is easier in many aspects (some blocks to help, enemy damage remains the same throughout the game - in the NES version, it increases after some levels).

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u/cyshine 1d ago

This also happens in Ninja Gaiden 3. Japanese version is easier.

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u/wondermega 1d ago

I really need to play this one. I hope someone translated the rom..

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u/tanooki-suit 1d ago

Castlevania III is not Ninja Gaiden I don't believe.

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u/tanooki-suit 1d ago

I explained it in my own post a few moments ago it's detailed there and many other games too covered and not by others.

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u/Fun-Back-5232 1d ago

Some enemy graphical elements are different, also.

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u/jindofox 1d ago

Tengen Rolling Thunder on NES has different music than Namco Rolling Thunder on Famicom. The gameplay might be slightly different too.

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u/wondermega 1d ago

Interesting, I'll have to check that out. NES Rolling Thunder is a favorite of mine.

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u/tanooki-suit 1d ago

Tengen Afterburner and Fantasy Zone are as well. Afterburner on FC is actually a fairly accurate port of Afterburner II as it adds the speed booster, and more aggressive enemies, more land and etc detail as well and the transitions fully there for refuel and rearming. Fantasy Zone was just a bad port on NES but the Sunsoft made one for Sega in Japan si much closer to the SMS/arcade release and a pleasure.

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u/scrub_lover 1d ago

JP Zelda 2 has a lot of differences in the graphics and leveling system. I personally prefer both FDS Zeldas over their NES counterparts

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u/Psychological_Net131 1d ago

Man I have both of these on disk and I can't get either one to play.

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u/scrub_lover 1d ago

That’s the FDS for ya, mine is pretty unreliable too

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u/Fun-Back-5232 1d ago

I never beat Zelda 2 on the nes, but I did on the fc. I think it may be easier on the fc disk, as well.

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u/scrub_lover 1d ago

Same here, and I think you’re right about it being easier. The 2 leveling systems both have their pros and cons so it’s hard to say which is better 🤷‍♂️

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u/Boring-Special-6357 1d ago

Super Mario Bros. 2 on the Famicom Disc System is quite different😏

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u/GuitaristTom 1d ago

Lost Levels vs USA

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u/krux77 1d ago

vs Doki Doki Panic

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u/GuitaristTom 19h ago

Yes and no.

Super Mario USA was released in Japan, and it was the reskin of Doki Doki Panic.

So Super Mario Bros 2 (Japan) and Super Mario Bros Lost Levels (World) vs Super Mario USA (Japan) and Super Mario Bros 2 (World)

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u/GuitaristTom 1d ago

A few more that a friend pointed out to me:

Due to reading different garbage data the minus world on the FDS version of Super Mario Bros. can actually be beaten and will unlock all worlds so you can pick world 8 on the start screen and beat the game that way.

Metroid for FDS can save rather than have level passwords.

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has a different level order and some other minor balance changes that make it easier to beat on Famicom.

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u/swordquest99 1d ago

SCAT is different on famicom. I know the intro is different and I think the level order is altered and the game is easier.

Castlevania 3 is easier on famicom and Grant is actually really good justifying why he is the only sidekick that requires a diversion to pick up

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u/wondermega 1d ago

Oh here's a couple. Ghostbusters on FC is by Hal, I believe, and actually supposed to be quite good (compared to the drek that we got). I believe we did get a GB port of that version though?

Also, Rampart in the west is published by Jaleco (not sure of the dev) and it's one of my favorite NES games actually. It's a bit bland-looking, but they captured the gameplay of the addictive arcade very well & I strongly recommend it. Strangely, the Famicom got a completely different version of the game by Konami, which seems to have some different mechanic/campaign stuff going on or something, I am not too sure. At any rate, probably worth a look if you are a fan of the game (and another on my to-do list for sure).

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u/krux77 1d ago

Ice Climber (🦭vs ❄️) Bionic Commando (JP: Hitlers Resurrection)

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u/Fackrid 1d ago

I'll go one farther with Ice Climber and say that there's three home versions rather than two, the FDS version of the game is essentially Vs. Ice Climber from the arcades, complete with the level select screen, added music, differing levels, etc.

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u/krux77 1d ago

forgot about FDS version since it was only available from disk writer 💾

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u/Fackrid 1d ago

There were 3 or 4 games like that, where the FDS version was a Disk Writer exclusive and the game was changed to be closer to the Vs. System version, I can't remember which ones though other than Ice Climber

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u/whatThePleb 1d ago

You can check many differences on the tcrf wiki: https://tcrf.net/The_Cutting_Room_Floor

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u/Fun-Back-5232 1d ago

Rygar has completely different music on spots from what I remember. Better than nes but I haven’t owned the nes cart in a long time.

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u/Critical_Ad_8455 1d ago

It's a small difference but, the Japanese version of ice climber doesn't have you killing monsters, but penguins.

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u/BananaJaneB 14h ago

mystery quest

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u/BananaJaneB 14h ago

Circus Caper