As such, this time of year always makes me think of the Resident Evil series. If it wasn't already evident from the myriad of posts I've previously made about it, Resident Evil is one of my favorite video game franchises of all time. To talk about everything I enjoy about it at this point would be exceedingly redundant, so suffice it to say that it's one of my absolute favorites. And of course, once this time of year rolls around, I always get the itch to play it again. Itchy/Tasty, that is.
Anyway, this year I decided to try something a mite bit different. Heading over to the 'ol interwebs, I went ahead and purchased these two items:
A simple Sony Playstation 1 and a game called Biohazard. At first glance, the unassuming reader might ask, what does this have to do with Resident Evil?
Well dear reader, as it happens, Biohazard is Resident Evil, just the Japanese version of the game. When the game was brought over to the U.S., it was renamed due to a swath of trademark issues with the name Biohazard, and thus Resident Evil was born. However, that's not all that was changed. The game was also censored in a few places and rearranged a tiny bit. Being the hardcore RE fan that I am, I wanted to get a closer look at these aspects and find everything I could see that was different.
However, I first needed something to play it on. Japanese PS1 games are region-locked, meaning that they will only play on a Japanese PS1. Therefore, I went ahead and picked one up. Thankfully, only the games are an issue; U.S. controllers, cables, and memory cards will work perfectly fine (though memory cards do need to be reformatted to work, meaning all previous data on them needs to be wiped. Also, the power cable needs to have a "figure-8" ending, as opposed to the U.S. power cord that ends with one square side, which won't fit in the power slot of a Japanese console).
Aesthetically, the console is nearly identical to a U.S. region PS1. In fact, the only way you can really tell the difference is by looking at the sticker on the bottom of the console:
The NTSC-J code marks the console's region as Japanese, meaning that I had everything set to get the game going.
I decided to play through Jill's scenario, since it's the easier of the two. The very first thing I noticed was that both Jill and Chris' scenarios are actually marked easy and hard, respectively, as opposed to the U.S. version where the player is left to just play it and figure out which one is more difficult on their own. An interesting omission.
Of course, there's the infamous censored scenes in the beginning of the game. During the opening FMV cutscene, there's three moments that were censored. When Chris begins discussing the bizarre murders that have been occurring, a mutilated corpse is actually shown; in the U.S. version, it cuts to newspaper headlines describing the murders instead. Later on, when the S.T.A.R.S. team is investigating the forest, one of the members finds a severed hand and is subsequently attacked and brutally killed by dogs, which his teammates then fire at and kill. His gruesome death is shown in full detail, as well as the mutant dogs being shot at; in the U.S. version, the scene cuts away just before the severed hand is shown fully and his death is edited down to a few jump cuts of dog teeth and feral growls. Lastly, during the character introductions, Chris Redfield is shown lighting up a cigarette and taking a drag from it; this scene was censored in an odd way in the U.S. by pasting other footage of Chris over it, while the other character intros were left the same.
Another interesting tidbit, I always thought that the Japanese version was colorized, as opposed to the U.S. version which is in black and white. However, this is not the case, as both versions are in black and white. I thought this was odd because I have actually seen the full uncensored cutscene on YouTube, which is colorized. As such, I thought this was the Japanese version. As it turns out though, this intro is actually from the PC version of the game. The Japanese one is uncut but is still in black and white, which was kind of a downer, but was likely due to hardware limitations of the time.
Moving on, while playing through I noticed that the Japanese version is actually easier, oddly enough. Usually it's the other way around because us dumbass Americans can't seem to handle the difficulty, or at least that's what the corporate suits thought (see: Super Mario Bros. 2, NES). Anyway, everything is a lot easier. Enemies are weaker, auto aim is enabled, and the amount of ink ribbons found is higher, meaning game saves can be made more frequently. Also, in some areas where three enemies might attack you in the U.S. version, only two or one will be present.
There's also a few minor differences that only an eagle-eyed RE veteran would notice. For example, for each of the file texts, a picture of the file will appear behind the text, unlike the U.S. version which just shows the text on a blank screen. At least it gives me something to look at since I can't read Japanese. Also, the Plant 42 boss has some, um, interesting music to say the least. However, this music was replaced with the music of another boss in the JP version, that of the giant spider. Small details, but noticeable if you've played the game as many times as I have.
So that's Biohazard on the Japanese PS1. Was it necessary for me to buy it? Not really, since I already have the original, the Director's Cut, the Director's Cut Dual Shock Edition, and the Sega Saturn port of Resident Evil, meaning that this is literally the 5th different version of it I now possess. But it was cool to play it as it was originally intended for the folks in Japan, and it's also generally cool to me that I've played the game so many times in my life that I can beat it without even needing to read the text. I define "cool" quite differently from most people, as you can probably tell.
Anyway, I have one last thing to share as far as collection additions, and it's just as redundant as having a 5th different version of the same exact game I already own: a Game Boy Advance.
But not just any Game Boy Advance! No, this is the special "Target" edition, only sold at Target stores (obviously) with a big old corporate logo plastered right on the front of it. Whatever, I thought it was unique. And all I need is two more and then four copies of Mario Kart Super Circuit and I'll be able to get a sweet four-player Mario Kart advance race going! Or, at least I can tell people that I can if I wanted to. Thanks for reading.
