About the pols voice. I remember the manual mentioned that it hated certain kinds of noise, which was a leftover reference to the Japanese version. When I discovered the arrow trick, I just assumed the kind of noise it disliked must be the whooshing sound the bow and arrow made. The game came out when I was ten, and that made perfect sense to me back then. 🙂
I'm just a few years younger than you, and I remember being really confused about the noise. I didn't even know about the microphone until I watched this video
I remember reading that too, and trying to kill them by blowing the flute, then wondering why it had no effect. Didnt help ease my confusion that the first time you encounter them in the game, is also the same dungeon you get the flute.
Yes! Region Break! I'm glad you're continuing the series even though it under preforms compared to you're other content. It's really interesting to see both the major and minor differences based on region.
The other notable thing about Pol's Voice and arrows: Normally when an arrow strikes an enemy, the arrow disappears. That doesn't happen when an arrow hits a Pol's Voice. The arrow continues on until it strikes another object or reaches the edge of the screen, meaning a single arrow can potentially kill multiple Pol's Voice.
The "1" might not have been added in-game or been used on the package for Zelda 1's re-release, but the US box art has a giant "THE ORIGINAL" stamp on it, to make it distinct from Zelda 2.
Yes, you're right it does say "THE ORIGINAL," but the re-release of Zelda II has that same stamp. It was a staple of all the Classic Series releases they did in the ‘90s. It’s not there to distinguish Zelda I from Zelda II (since they both have it) but to tell consumers these games are straight re-releases of their favorites instead of brand-new games. Fun fact, though. In-game, the first game does call itself The Legend of Zelda 1, even in its '80s releases. If you beat the game's harder Second Quest, it will call itself The Legend of Zelda 1 in the end credits. And this was before it had a sequel at all!
@@MistareFusion Fun fact, I'm eagerly awaiting your Dragon Ball GT series breakdowns, and anybody in Sheesez' comments should check out your dissections of the manga and anime.
@@MistareFusionIf I had to guess, I'd say that Zelda 1 being in the US version is because Zelda 2 had already come out in Japan, and they were already working on the cartridge re-release for the Japanese market.
If you go to Gannon's front gate at the start, armed with the Bible, he won't open it and will pretend he's not there. If you mash the action button 90 times, he'll eventually relinquish and you can enter. What follows is an animation of Link entering, followed by a static image of Link and Gannon, with over 30 minutes of text involving Link telling Gannon about the amazing story of Jesus Christ and the Latter Day Saints. Gallon eventually loses the will to live and leaves the castle after that.
@@primalconvoy A cutscene will play where Link tells Ganon the story of Jesus Christ, whereupon the Holy Spirit descends upon Ganon. He then accepts Christ as his personal Savior. Ganon then transforms back into Ganondorf, ceases to be an evil Gerudo thief, and begins to live in service to God and the Kingdom of Heaven. All the Hyruleans rejoice and begin to praise the Lord. The End.
Love how the Book of Magic 'bible' is facing backwards which is proper in Japan. Would've been an easy sprite edit to flip it around so it's more like our books in the US but didn't bother. LOVE stuff like this video!
I was always surprised that they didn't change the Pol's voice to be weak to the flute in this game, either. It just makes sense- if you don't have the famicom mic, why not use the in-game item that makes sound...?
Same vibe I got after defeating Bowser in SM64 for the first time. After seeing the princess re-materialize from her stained glass prison and levitate slowly down to Mario, I expected a grand award ceremony of sorts but instead all he got is "Hey everyone, let's bake a cake for Mario!" BITCH I averted death, danger, drowning, ground pounded goombas, fought ghosts, got shot out of a cannon for christ sake, burned my buttcheeks, battled a giant bob-omb, got electrocuted dozens of times, barely avoided quicksand, and even fell into a lava pit...AND I won't mention how long it took to grind up to 70 of the 120 stars either. And after that ordeal ALL I'M GETTING OUT OF IT IS CAKE??!?! I want a lap dance and some balloons.
I feel like that casual tone might have informed Zelda's depiction in early Western material, like the cartoon. Where her and Link tend to share a lot of banter. Funny how that small bit of personality can affect spinoffs so much, back when the games themselves didn't have much story.
The code for using sound to kill Pols Voice is still in the US version and works. If you use an emulator and a microphone or use a Famicom w adapter you can still use the 2nd player microphone to kill them.
Hey, the first time I got my own copy of Zelda 1 as a kid, I immediately went to Elimination Mode because I thought the same thing. I thought Elimination Mode sounded really cool, and I wanted to play it. I'm glad that wasn't just me! =P
I've noticed the thinner fonts even with Japanese on computer. The actual roman text will look very different. I think it's just to match the stroke width of all the Japanese characters, which are too complicated to be that thick.
Usually, romanised fonts, even on modern Japanese keyboards (Android, Windows PC, etc) are "thinner" than standard western fonts (at least with the default westernized font that can be chosen when trying with a Japanese keyboard).
Also little known fact the music in the famicom disc system version of the first Zelda sounds slightly difrent mostly due to the disc system having better memory capacity then the normal NES/famicom cartridges
@@The_Blue_Otaku that's partially true. FDS does have different music, but it has nothing to do with memory. FDS has an extra sound channel that the NES doesn't have, and also has support for soundchip extensions inside game cartridges (a feature that was frequently used by Namco and Konami)
In the final room of The Legend of Zelda, you can use the candle and run into the fire. Link will change colors to show damage; Zelda will change colors as well.
All npc sprites share the same color pallet as link so depending on his colors merchant's and all other npc's will dare his colors. I believe this is the case with some enemies or projectiles if I remember right but I'm not sure on that front.
@@ChristopherGoddard-du7gk not all NPCs, only Zelda and the shopkeeper. The old man and old woman sprites use a different palette, which is why their colors don't change. It also affect other items like the boomerang (i.e. Goriyas will throw a boomerang that looks identical to Link's), but not arrows, for some reason.
What's funny is that I'm actually more used to the Japanese sound effects given that those are what's used in Super Mario Maker 2, no matter the version. It's interesting but I guess it makes sense with how little region differences there are in most modern games. Hmmm. Great video as always Shesez!
in the english version the old man in level 8 sais: '10th enemy has the bomb' while in the japanese version he talks about something completely different. everyone thought this was a mistranslation and it took over 20years to figure that one out. basically it means, if you dont get hit for 10 enemykills, and you kill the 10th with a bomb, its a garanteed bombdrop. one of the most valuable tricks in speedruns nowadays. this is nowhere mentioned in the japanese version.
The FDS version’s font is thinner because the font comes from the FDS system’s built-in ROM. FDS games can use a library of assets built into the FDS ROM so they can fit more on the disk.
That Pols' Voice entry in the US manual messed me up for years. I tried the recorder so many times because the instructions said their weakness was sound. To the point where every few years when I returned to the game, I would remember the entry in the manual, but forget that it didn't work and always try the recorder first, then remember, "oh yeah, arrows" lol. When I was in high school, I learned of the differences between our NES and the Famicom and had an epiphany when I read about the microphone on the 2nd controller.
The way this one was handled was different. I liked the little "maps" you made that showed which segments you was about to goto, and what was planned. Either way, thanks for sharing this ^_^ Always a treat to see Region Break.
@@BoundaryBreak No problem. This one seemed slightly disorganized, as it felt like the older ones had a structure in mind. But, that could just be me and finding change weird in my brain XD Still was a fun watch, and fascinating learning experience.
I used to think the meaning of pols voice weakness is sound was to blow the whistle and was confused why it didn't work, seems like that would have been better than the arrow
What's even more interesting about the opening music is that is was hastily made (basing it on a slowed down version of the overworld theme) because they had originally planned to use Bolero by composer Ravel. But just days before the deadline, they realized the copyright would not expire until almost a year later and had to decide how to proceed, ultimately choosing to have original music for the song.
I love that you said "If you feel I've earned your sub" instead of the ubiquitous, "Don't forget to like follow and subscribe!" Been watching your videos for a bit now, but that humility sealed it. I wish the world saw more of that.
It's tiny details like that for me I've been subbed for years because of it honestly. Besides, I can tell he put work into his content. He's earned it from me.
The Japanese title screen music was the arrangement Koji Kondo made in a single night after they learned that Bolero, which was the original title screen music, was still under copyright.
Cool thing about lost woods is it allows you to sequence break the entire game by grabbing end game loot early on. It's like down, left, up, left to get through it iirc. Been 30+ years but this was my favorite game as a kid.
That was the coolest way to include a sponsor in a video I have ever seen. It felt like such a natural addition to the video that I didn't even realize it was a sponsor until you said so. Good job!
This is fascinating. In particular the delete option being called "kill mode" caught my attention. It calls to mind (my mind, at least) file deletion in Ocarina of Time. The link between the file number and the info card breaks, the card fades away as it descends, and you hear the dissonant sound of Link falling into a bottomless pit. By deleting a save file, you erase that iteration of Link from existence - removing the link (pun, LOL) between the real world and the fantasy world of Hyrule. Apart from Majora's Mask, which is identical, the only other foreboding erase SFX comes from A Link to the Past, and it's not that scary. But deleting save files in Ocarina always disturbed me, and at last I'm realizing why. It really sounds like the player is destroying Link. 😳
I always wondered why they didn’t have you play the flute to kill Pol’s Voice in the US version. I mean, it’s right there in your inventory, and it could have been programmed to killed them all as well.
Regional differences are always fun! I knew most of these already, but you covered some stuff I didn't know about regarding the manuals. Another difference I remember: The Famicom Disk version also had longer loading times than the cartridge versions, but didn't have the slowdown from having too many sprites on screen that the cartridge versions had. Also, I believe the cartridge version had the same sound track programmed into them, but since the extra channel wasn't there, it couldn't play the extra sounds resulting in the version of the sound track we all grew up in the west. If they came out with the disk system in the US and/or had some way to add that missing channel to the NES for the cartridge games, we'd all likely be hearing the music the same way they did. As for Link and Zelda disappearing at the end, that's probably just a bug that was fixed for the western release. It's not the first time bugs have been fixed while a game has been sent overseas. Another famous example is how the original Japanese version of LTTP had the glitch were Link could run with the hammer, but this was fixed for the US release. Either that, or Link and Zelda were in a hurry to "celebrate the defeat of Ganon" behind closed doors in the Japanese version, but had more restraint in the US version. :P
Great video Shesez! One little detail: in the NES Classic Edition version of the game, the "penninsula" hint was corrected to "peninsula"! Although the hint is still completely misleading, haha.
I remember reading people noticing a strong connection between early Zelda (at least up until ALttP) and christian imagery compared to later Zelda titles which had their own mythology going on. It's not just the games themselves, the manuals and promotional material (especially in the japanese versions) also contributed to this. So knowing all this, the "Bible" item doesn't feel that out of place.
I believe the colors of objects/npcs changing to match Link's tunic as a result of a technical limitation of the NES/Famicom system. There was a fairly low number of colors (around 56) that could be displayed on-screen at a single time, so developers had to find creative solutions around that limit.
More specifically, the NES only has space for four different sprite color palettes at any one time (each containing three of the 56 available colors). So making different sprites share the same palette was very necessary.
@@AjaxGb I suppose technically they could have one of the other sprite palette slots change whenever you entered an NPC's room, but chose not to for whatever reason.
So, the NES did have a microphone controller at some point (I had one). I think having it plugged in would actually allow you to kill all the pol’s voices.
You see, the thinner english font in the FDS version is a result of the Japanese font that is used. Because of the detail required in writing these characters, the devs used 16x16 tiles, which ultimately meant that the english alphabets could fit without trouble. But because of the all-uppercase text used in the NES version, the crew used 8x8 tiles instead, which took up less memory.
I think it's more impressive that you got a working Disk System than the game disk. The belts in that thing are super proprietary, so take good care of it. Parts are a ballache to find.
Something super intresting is that the "Lost Woods" term Mayoi no Mori could be understood as forest maze this is because Mayoi is something like "lost" or confused etc but when paired with a location, yes it reads literally as "lost woods" or like confusing woods etc it can be understood that this is going to be a maze when you pair mayoi with a place name because mayoi when paried with "road" is just straight up maze ALSO the term Mayoi no mori shows up in tons of games
I'm surprised they didn't think of making the Pols Voice vulnerable to the recorder when they made the US version. At least, they thought of that in all future games that had Pols Voice in them. As for the clue, I think it might just be a coincidence that both clues seem related to Pols Voice, as usually when the old man is talking about secrets, he means actual secret areas. I might be mismatching quests, but in the Death Mountain area, there's a screen with an arrow on it, where you can push a block to reveal a hidden cave; I think that's what the clue is referring to.
I remember trying the flute on them back in the day as I read the manual and that's what made sense from the hint, though I did discover the bow took them out.
I have a Japanese Zelda diorama that plays the hidden sound, I didn't realize the JP version holds the last note longer, so all this time I assumed mine was broken 😂
Ganon was originally spelled with two N's in Zelda 1 and the Japanese version of Zelda 2, but the US version of Zelda 2 went with one N and that was stayed consistent ever since.
What’s interesting is that those figures shown have Link with his shield in his left hand and his sword in his right. OG Link is left handed, and the character remained so in every iteration until recently.
could be that the reason for "kill" mode instead of elimination mode is just that it's an english word that younger japanese people who play the game are more likely to know.
Been working on an Atari 2600 port of this game and just recently implemented the Lost Woods effect so I knew it was called Lost Woods, but I didn't know that the Lost Hills had a name.
Legends of Localization also demonstrates that the original sword is never referred to as being made of wood in the original game nor manual. It's still unclear to me if it was ever meant to be, although the artwork doesn't really make it seem that way. Apparently Capcom assumed it was wood too, though, as they do refer to the Hero's Sword as being wooden, according to the translation guide on GameFaqs.
when you see something translated from japanese as "ti" it often means the sound "chi". the katakana for testitart i looks that way.. but the japanese "chi" sound is somewhere between "ti" and "chi" so thats why it gets put as "ti" in testitart. its also how you would typically type "chi" when typing on a jp keyboard typically if you wanted to reference a "tee" sound they use different letters, combining "te" and "ee" letters
hey that's right. but is that a newer thing? I know that some rules have changed since old zeldas were out, hence two different ways the games have spelled Volvagia. at least Testitart sort of makes sense, they were clearly trying to construct some kind of fantasy lingo, so tartknuck and testitart have a common root.. which other monster names sometimes also do.. I can't imagine it was actually meant to be teschitart. But yeah the old romanizations in the manual clearly do not represent the creators' intent, since moriblin is obvious. forest goblin. but they wrote it 'molblin' not fully understanding how roman letters work
@@KairuHakubi Yeah I guess I don't know how it was done so long ago, so it may be different now.. either pronunciation sounds strange to me so I don't know.. perhaps its a pun of some kind.. that's funny about moriblin though.. it was just forest-blin haha, moblin is a good name even if accidental.
@@Ienjoylotsofstuff I mean I think it's just straight up a pun on testicle.. they're nuts about nuts across the pacific, you ever check out what a Tanuki statue is packing?
@@KairuHakubi There are multiple systems for writing Japanese in roman characters - ti and chi both represent the same kana ち - in the same way, the kana じゃ can by typed either as ja or jya. Although these are from different romanization systems (Hihon-shiki for ti and ja and Hepburn for chi and jya), they represent the same sounds and the input system on a computer will typically accept either.
@@TrimeshSZ I mean, sort of. that's only right if you really squint and only look at part of it. it's always chi for them, but when they want to write a foreign word with ti, sometimes they use chi, sometimes they use like a to with a little i next to it. or is it a te...
What's funny is that the jp sound effects are actually whats used for super mario maker 2 even in the english version, most notably the skype noise that plays when you fall into a pit with the link suit
14:07 So that's why the flute sounded so nostalgic to me, I never noticed they did a callback to it on Ocarina! For context: I played OoT first as a kid and multiple more times in my life afterwards, but I didn't do an actual playthrough of NES Zelda until I was an adult.,I mean, it was so late into my life I can say it was thanks to covid lockdowns that I finally sat down and played the whole thing. The flute really made me feel things I only now understand, it's like a case of reverse nostalgia lol
Hey ! Cool video. Full of interesting trivia. By the way, the book you're showing at 5:12 is actually not a player's guide. It's a zelda themed "choose your own aventure" style manga.
Regarding that "Tartnuc", it's closer to "Darknut" than the Romanized text lets on- if you switch the ト'to' and ク'ku', you get Tarcnut/Tarknut. after that, you just add the " to タ'ta' to get ダ,'da'. Darknut.
Love this series, and it was fantastic seeing a Legend of Zelda regional comparison! It was the very first video game I ever played, so it'll always have a special place for me.
It seems like the differences between the US/JP of Zelda 1 are much more superficial than the extensive refinements the US version of Zelda 2 had over the Japanese version. Pretty wild that the Famicom cassette release came not only after Zelda 2 FDS, but also after the Japanese release of Link to the Past. I think the boss sound effects are definitely better in the cartridge version, but the music using the FDS sound hardware is definitely quite nice.
I think this is one of the Best Example of sponsor ad. It's so natural and fits with the topic of this video. other youtubers usually go way too scripted and Cringe with their sponsor ads and they don't even match with their videos at all. Worst Example being Nostalgia Critic who always has 2 to 3 Minutes unfunny skit. You are the first UA-camr I watch that didn't make me skip sponsor ads during video. Nice Job!
13:10 I was listening to the 25th Anniversary album recently, and the orchestrated version of the main theme included the bells from the Japanese version. Never thought much about it until I learned this though, I always figured they just fit well into the intro
Buyee is good, but do be aware there is less than no warranty for anything you buy. If you pay extra $10 for packing, they will pack it rediculously good. I bought a desktop computer and it took about two weeks. Shipping was $76.
Great vid! In my opinion, the text is thinner in the original version to make the style more uniform between the japanese and english characters to be sure they both fit the 8x8 tiles. Otherwise, they'd have just used a similar font to SMB. Fun fact, the extra FDS channel is technically an FM modulator, so it can give a lot of different textures and I had fun trying to make cool sounds with it in FamiTracker.
I really like this series, regional differences are one of the most interesting parts of a game's real-life story to me :) I appreciate how well-incorporated the sponsor was, although I think that it could've been made clearer a bit earlier on that it was a sponsor, if that's alright.
46 y/o guy. I got this game for Christmas 1987 (I was 11) and what a flood of memories your video brought me! I've had the secret tone at 14:16 as my iPhone text notification for over a decade.
It's strange that even though they updated certain sprites for the US version, they left the Magic Book in "backwards" Japanese format. This confused me as a kid haha
Funny thing, I never actually played Legend of Zelda as a kid and my only experience with the game was an old flipnote on Hatena where it played the intro using the FDS version of the theme. So to me the NES intro sounds alien without the flute and the bells lol
13:10 The "large bell" is actually a (synth) set of tubular bells, and it's one of the coolest percussion instruments in an orchestra. You'll hear them in old clock towers like the Campanile at UC Berkeley. If you listen closely, it's the bells echoing the main theme in that phrase.
I think the letter font change is to make it not stick out against Japanese characters because having really thin hiragana followed by really thick letters to make english words would look pretty off, and they can't make Japanese characters thicker otherwise they risk illegibility, so letters become thinner to compromise
i honestly think they had a thinner font because if the japanese text was any thicker it would probably be pretty close to unreadable. the general font a lot of people associate as “The NES Font” existed earlier in arcade games such as Galaxian, so my guess is that they made it thinner to match, because it’d look weird. although i might be wrong, it’s speculation after all
In the age of youtube, I've NEVER heard a Famicom Disk soundtrack that tops the NES counterpart, the NES wasn't missing anything without the extra sound channel
Users that create an account through the link will get a 2000 yen off coupon on their first order on Buyee. bit.ly/Buyee-Shesez
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I played Zelda 1 on Switch during vacation, you could imagine my surprise when I booted up the JP app and the game’s audio was completely different.
That extra famicom sound channel is like a completely different sounding experience
It would be nice if they had an option to play the game in English with the Japanese audio.
@Retro yeah i dont wish to experience sounding
I changed the language on the Zelda Game and Watch, and the audio is different there too! Both Zelda 1 and 2 have different sound.
@@packerman1203 is it weird, that I think it's way better sounding on the NES?
About the pols voice. I remember the manual mentioned that it hated certain kinds of noise, which was a leftover reference to the Japanese version. When I discovered the arrow trick, I just assumed the kind of noise it disliked must be the whooshing sound the bow and arrow made. The game came out when I was ten, and that made perfect sense to me back then. 🙂
I'm just a few years younger than you, and I remember being really confused about the noise. I didn't even know about the microphone until I watched this video
Glad I'm not the only one to come to that conclusion.
Granted, it was a missed opportunity to make them weak to the flute.
I remember reading that too, and trying to kill them by blowing the flute, then wondering why it had no effect. Didnt help ease my confusion that the first time you encounter them in the game, is also the same dungeon you get the flute.
That's a great interpretation, ngl.
It's kind of amazing how we used to rationalize every instance of bullshit or crappy translation that games threw at us, huh?
Yes! Region Break! I'm glad you're continuing the series even though it under preforms compared to you're other content. It's really interesting to see both the major and minor differences based on region.
It sucks I love this series but I never know he posts anything because youtube won't show me iy
The other notable thing about Pol's Voice and arrows: Normally when an arrow strikes an enemy, the arrow disappears. That doesn't happen when an arrow hits a Pol's Voice. The arrow continues on until it strikes another object or reaches the edge of the screen, meaning a single arrow can potentially kill multiple Pol's Voice.
The "1" might not have been added in-game or been used on the package for Zelda 1's re-release, but the US box art has a giant "THE ORIGINAL" stamp on it, to make it distinct from Zelda 2.
Yes, you're right it does say "THE ORIGINAL," but the re-release of Zelda II has that same stamp. It was a staple of all the Classic Series releases they did in the ‘90s. It’s not there to distinguish Zelda I from Zelda II (since they both have it) but to tell consumers these games are straight re-releases of their favorites instead of brand-new games.
Fun fact, though. In-game, the first game does call itself The Legend of Zelda 1, even in its '80s releases. If you beat the game's harder Second Quest, it will call itself The Legend of Zelda 1 in the end credits. And this was before it had a sequel at all!
@@MistareFusion Fun fact, I'm eagerly awaiting your Dragon Ball GT series breakdowns, and anybody in Sheesez' comments should check out your dissections of the manga and anime.
@@MistareFusionIf I had to guess, I'd say that Zelda 1 being in the US version is because Zelda 2 had already come out in Japan, and they were already working on the cartridge re-release for the Japanese market.
@@SonofSethoitae It was also in both Japanese releases (Disk and cartridge.).
Oh boy, I can't wait to beat Ganon with my _Bible!_
If you go to Gannon's front gate at the start, armed with the Bible, he won't open it and will pretend he's not there.
If you mash the action button 90 times, he'll eventually relinquish and you can enter. What follows is an animation of Link entering, followed by a static image of Link and Gannon, with over 30 minutes of text involving Link telling Gannon about the amazing story of Jesus Christ and the Latter Day Saints. Gallon eventually loses the will to live and leaves the castle after that.
@@primalconvoy so it’s a Mormon Bible 😪
@@primalconvoy Ganon got so devasted by that his name changed to an unit of measurement. Behold, the Demon King Gallon!
@@primalconvoy A cutscene will play where Link tells Ganon the story of Jesus Christ, whereupon the Holy Spirit descends upon Ganon. He then accepts Christ as his personal Savior. Ganon then transforms back into Ganondorf, ceases to be an evil Gerudo thief, and begins to live in service to God and the Kingdom of Heaven. All the Hyruleans rejoice and begin to praise the Lord. The End.
That says the Bibble.
Love how the Book of Magic 'bible' is facing backwards which is proper in Japan. Would've been an easy sprite edit to flip it around so it's more like our books in the US but didn't bother. LOVE stuff like this video!
Yeah, that's one of the really odd things, especially considering the sprite was edited anyway. (Edit: Wait, confused it with another edit I guess.)
The way some people read the psalms, it is a book of magic.
Honestly, it makes me wonder if the removal of Christianity from Link is due to lore reasons or due to Nintendo of America.
Fun thing: in the Oracle games, Pol’s Voice is still weak against sounds. If you play the animal buddy’s flute, it’ll kill them.
I was always surprised that they didn't change the Pol's voice to be weak to the flute in this game, either. It just makes sense- if you don't have the famicom mic, why not use the in-game item that makes sound...?
Annnnnd now I'm frustrated.
this also works with the harp in oracle of ages
I'm not 100% sure but I think music kills them in Link's awakening and link to the past too?
It only just hit me how chill the ending is in English. “Thanks, Link. You’re the hero of Hyrule.” Funny how informal it feels! 😂
Same vibe I got after defeating Bowser in SM64 for the first time.
After seeing the princess re-materialize from her stained glass prison and levitate slowly down to Mario, I expected a grand award ceremony of sorts but instead all he got is "Hey everyone, let's bake a cake for Mario!" BITCH I averted death, danger, drowning, ground pounded goombas, fought ghosts, got shot out of a cannon for christ sake, burned my buttcheeks, battled a giant bob-omb, got electrocuted dozens of times, barely avoided quicksand, and even fell into a lava pit...AND I won't mention how long it took to grind up to 70 of the 120 stars either. And after that ordeal ALL I'M GETTING OUT OF IT IS CAKE??!?!
I want a lap dance and some balloons.
"Thank you. But our Princess is in another castle... Just Kidding! Ha ha ha! Bye bye." - Princess Peach, Super Mario 3
Like, wtf?
I feel like that casual tone might have informed Zelda's depiction in early Western material, like the cartoon. Where her and Link tend to share a lot of banter. Funny how that small bit of personality can affect spinoffs so much, back when the games themselves didn't have much story.
Which game was it that said "you are great?"
Thx Link
The code for using sound to kill Pols Voice is still in the US version and works. If you use an emulator and a microphone or use a Famicom w adapter you can still use the 2nd player microphone to kill them.
i need to figure out how to get that working
And Link's awakening would call back to it. If you use the ocarina on Pols voice they die.
@@red5158077 The Oracle games also did it with the animal buddy flutes.
@@grn1 Oh it did? I didn't know that.
What if you mash select on player 2? I think I've heard the mic input was connected to the start/select buttons.
Also I thought the flute killed them?
I accidentally lost my Zelda 2 save because they call 'delete' elimination mode. I was dumb and thought it was an extra mode to play.
Hey, the first time I got my own copy of Zelda 1 as a kid, I immediately went to Elimination Mode because I thought the same thing. I thought Elimination Mode sounded really cool, and I wanted to play it. I'm glad that wasn't just me! =P
It does sound like a game mode. Unfortunately I didn't get to play the original Zelda games until much later (I had a Genesis growing up).
lol I did the same. I wonder if they thought people wouldn't know what "delete" means? Could have said "erase" though.
I was well on my way through Zelda 2 when I lent it to my cousin, yep good by sweet save slot
Sameeeee
This is honestly my favorite series you do. IDK why but it's just very interesting to see the comparisons between regions.
I Donkey Kong?
@@roddydykes7053 He Donkey Kong
Me donkey Kong?
I've noticed the thinner fonts even with Japanese on computer. The actual roman text will look very different.
I think it's just to match the stroke width of all the Japanese characters, which are too complicated to be that thick.
Usually, romanised fonts, even on modern Japanese keyboards (Android, Windows PC, etc) are "thinner" than standard western fonts (at least with the default westernized font that can be chosen when trying with a Japanese keyboard).
Also little known fact the music in the famicom disc system version of the first Zelda sounds slightly difrent mostly due to the disc system having better memory capacity then the normal NES/famicom cartridges
@@The_Blue_Otaku that's partially true. FDS does have different music, but it has nothing to do with memory. FDS has an extra sound channel that the NES doesn't have, and also has support for soundchip extensions inside game cartridges (a feature that was frequently used by Namco and Konami)
@@theninjaguy2 thanks for corecting me i knew it had somethig to do with an extra sound channel i thought it needed more memory to do it.
In the final room of The Legend of Zelda, you can use the candle and run into the fire. Link will change colors to show damage; Zelda will change colors as well.
All npc sprites share the same color pallet as link so depending on his colors merchant's and all other npc's will dare his colors. I believe this is the case with some enemies or projectiles if I remember right but I'm not sure on that front.
@@ChristopherGoddard-du7gk not all NPCs, only Zelda and the shopkeeper. The old man and old woman sprites use a different palette, which is why their colors don't change. It also affect other items like the boomerang (i.e. Goriyas will throw a boomerang that looks identical to Link's), but not arrows, for some reason.
What's funny is that I'm actually more used to the Japanese sound effects given that those are what's used in Super Mario Maker 2, no matter the version. It's interesting but I guess it makes sense with how little region differences there are in most modern games. Hmmm. Great video as always Shesez!
I like how some of the cartridge version's sound effects were recycled in Super Mario Bros. 2 USA, which was _also_ a conversion from Disk System...
in the english version the old man in level 8 sais: '10th enemy has the bomb' while in the japanese version he talks about something completely different. everyone thought this was a mistranslation and it took over 20years to figure that one out. basically it means, if you dont get hit for 10 enemykills, and you kill the 10th with a bomb, its a garanteed bombdrop. one of the most valuable tricks in speedruns nowadays. this is nowhere mentioned in the japanese version.
The FDS version’s font is thinner because the font comes from the FDS system’s built-in ROM. FDS games can use a library of assets built into the FDS ROM so they can fit more on the disk.
That Pols' Voice entry in the US manual messed me up for years. I tried the recorder so many times because the instructions said their weakness was sound. To the point where every few years when I returned to the game, I would remember the entry in the manual, but forget that it didn't work and always try the recorder first, then remember, "oh yeah, arrows" lol. When I was in high school, I learned of the differences between our NES and the Famicom and had an epiphany when I read about the microphone on the 2nd controller.
Same. I was so frustrated and confused.
The way this one was handled was different. I liked the little "maps" you made that showed which segments you was about to goto, and what was planned. Either way, thanks for sharing this ^_^ Always a treat to see Region Break.
Just trying things and looking at feedback so thank you for this!
@@BoundaryBreak No problem. This one seemed slightly disorganized, as it felt like the older ones had a structure in mind. But, that could just be me and finding change weird in my brain XD Still was a fun watch, and fascinating learning experience.
that transition into the ad is super natural, legit felt like it was apart of the video without being taken out of the experience
I used to think the meaning of pols voice weakness is sound was to blow the whistle and was confused why it didn't work, seems like that would have been better than the arrow
Especially since playing the whistle works on Digdogger
Sooooo i actually DIDN'T know you could speak into the mic to kill them all, holy shit thats cool
i think they have wong ears btw.
What's even more interesting about the opening music is that is was hastily made (basing it on a slowed down version of the overworld theme) because they had originally planned to use Bolero by composer Ravel. But just days before the deadline, they realized the copyright would not expire until almost a year later and had to decide how to proceed, ultimately choosing to have original music for the song.
I love that you said "If you feel I've earned your sub" instead of the ubiquitous, "Don't forget to like follow and subscribe!" Been watching your videos for a bit now, but that humility sealed it. I wish the world saw more of that.
It's tiny details like that for me
I've been subbed for years because of it honestly. Besides, I can tell he put work into his content. He's earned it from me.
The Japanese title screen music was the arrangement Koji Kondo made in a single night after they learned that Bolero, which was the original title screen music, was still under copyright.
Funny I didn't know 'Lost Woods' wasn't widely known because I spent a good bit of my childhood staring at that map
Cool thing about lost woods is it allows you to sequence break the entire game by grabbing end game loot early on. It's like down, left, up, left to get through it iirc. Been 30+ years but this was my favorite game as a kid.
North West South West Pleb and shame on you for neglecting your Zelda skills.
That was the coolest way to include a sponsor in a video I have ever seen. It felt like such a natural addition to the video that I didn't even realize it was a sponsor until you said so. Good job!
I always think it's so classy to have the end theme of the games as the end theme of the videos.
one thing to note is while the english text says book of magic in the Japanese re-release it still says "バイブル" (baiburu or Bible) above in katakana.
This is fascinating. In particular the delete option being called "kill mode" caught my attention. It calls to mind (my mind, at least) file deletion in Ocarina of Time. The link between the file number and the info card breaks, the card fades away as it descends, and you hear the dissonant sound of Link falling into a bottomless pit. By deleting a save file, you erase that iteration of Link from existence - removing the link (pun, LOL) between the real world and the fantasy world of Hyrule.
Apart from Majora's Mask, which is identical, the only other foreboding erase SFX comes from A Link to the Past, and it's not that scary. But deleting save files in Ocarina always disturbed me, and at last I'm realizing why. It really sounds like the player is destroying Link. 😳
I like most of the sound effects better in the US version, but the music is better in the Japanese. This is my favorite game of all time.
Zelda 1 was one of the first games I ever owned. It seemed so massive back then.
It's pretty massive today too when you consider the context
I always wondered why they didn’t have you play the flute to kill Pol’s Voice in the US version. I mean, it’s right there in your inventory, and it could have been programmed to killed them all as well.
Regional differences are always fun! I knew most of these already, but you covered some stuff I didn't know about regarding the manuals.
Another difference I remember: The Famicom Disk version also had longer loading times than the cartridge versions, but didn't have the slowdown from having too many sprites on screen that the cartridge versions had. Also, I believe the cartridge version had the same sound track programmed into them, but since the extra channel wasn't there, it couldn't play the extra sounds resulting in the version of the sound track we all grew up in the west. If they came out with the disk system in the US and/or had some way to add that missing channel to the NES for the cartridge games, we'd all likely be hearing the music the same way they did.
As for Link and Zelda disappearing at the end, that's probably just a bug that was fixed for the western release. It's not the first time bugs have been fixed while a game has been sent overseas. Another famous example is how the original Japanese version of LTTP had the glitch were Link could run with the hammer, but this was fixed for the US release. Either that, or Link and Zelda were in a hurry to "celebrate the defeat of Ganon" behind closed doors in the Japanese version, but had more restraint in the US version. :P
Great video Shesez! One little detail: in the NES Classic Edition version of the game, the "penninsula" hint was corrected to "peninsula"! Although the hint is still completely misleading, haha.
"oH My GaWd THeREs a SwAsTiKa" gee almost as if the Nazis didn't invent the symbol themselves and has actually been used for over a millennia
I remember reading people noticing a strong connection between early Zelda (at least up until ALttP) and christian imagery compared to later Zelda titles which had their own mythology going on. It's not just the games themselves, the manuals and promotional material (especially in the japanese versions) also contributed to this. So knowing all this, the "Bible" item doesn't feel that out of place.
Not really related to religion but in the french version the master sword is named Excalibur.
The original religion of Hyrule was Christianity. I think you know why it was changed...
I believe the colors of objects/npcs changing to match Link's tunic as a result of a technical limitation of the NES/Famicom system. There was a fairly low number of colors (around 56) that could be displayed on-screen at a single time, so developers had to find creative solutions around that limit.
More specifically, the NES only has space for four different sprite color palettes at any one time (each containing three of the 56 available colors). So making different sprites share the same palette was very necessary.
@@AjaxGb I suppose technically they could have one of the other sprite palette slots change whenever you entered an NPC's room, but chose not to for whatever reason.
Yeah. I also noticed when you play the flute to open level 7, as the water changes colour the bases of the green bushes surrounding it do to!
When the Pols Voice came back as an enemy in Phantom Hourglass, the classic method of defeating them (or at least stunning them) also returned.
So, the NES did have a microphone controller at some point (I had one). I think having it plugged in would actually allow you to kill all the pol’s voices.
The ending theme / death theme for Zelda 1 always shoots me in the feels, no matter the region. And I didn’t even grow up with the game.
Great video! I have always found the US audio to be mostly better, which is interesting because they were more limited with what they could do.
You see, the thinner english font in the FDS version is a result of the Japanese font that is used. Because of the detail required in writing these characters, the devs used 16x16 tiles, which ultimately meant that the english alphabets could fit without trouble. But because of the all-uppercase text used in the NES version, the crew used 8x8 tiles instead, which took up less memory.
I love that flanging or whatever it is in the opening of the theme for the US version.
The Japanese version of the title theme gives it a Christmas-y vibe to it with that bell like sound!
@14:10 That Super Mario Bros. 3 callback made my day.
I think it's more impressive that you got a working Disk System than the game disk. The belts in that thing are super proprietary, so take good care of it. Parts are a ballache to find.
Something super intresting is that the "Lost Woods" term Mayoi no Mori could be understood as forest maze
this is because Mayoi is something like "lost" or confused etc but when paired with a location, yes it reads literally as "lost woods" or like confusing woods etc
it can be understood that this is going to be a maze when you pair mayoi with a place name because mayoi when paried with "road" is just straight up maze
ALSO the term Mayoi no mori shows up in tons of games
I'm surprised they didn't think of making the Pols Voice vulnerable to the recorder when they made the US version. At least, they thought of that in all future games that had Pols Voice in them.
As for the clue, I think it might just be a coincidence that both clues seem related to Pols Voice, as usually when the old man is talking about secrets, he means actual secret areas. I might be mismatching quests, but in the Death Mountain area, there's a screen with an arrow on it, where you can push a block to reveal a hidden cave; I think that's what the clue is referring to.
I remember trying the flute on them back in the day as I read the manual and that's what made sense from the hint, though I did discover the bow took them out.
I have a Japanese Zelda diorama that plays the hidden sound, I didn't realize the JP version holds the last note longer, so all this time I assumed mine was broken 😂
Ganon was originally spelled with two N's in Zelda 1 and the Japanese version of Zelda 2, but the US version of Zelda 2 went with one N and that was stayed consistent ever since.
The Switch port changed the spelling from Gannon to Ganon.
14:07 Nice bonus there for anyone who didn't recognize it as the Title Theme for OoT.
What’s interesting is that those figures shown have Link with his shield in his left hand and his sword in his right. OG Link is left handed, and the character remained so in every iteration until recently.
Using kill or even elimination to describe erasing a save file is definitely strange I never noticed that before
Huh! I did not know about that cool feature with the microphone! I didn't even know the Family Computer had a microphone!
could be that the reason for "kill" mode instead of elimination mode is just that it's an english word that younger japanese people who play the game are more likely to know.
The monster roars in the Japanese version sound like an engine revving imo.
Been working on an Atari 2600 port of this game and just recently implemented the Lost Woods effect so I knew it was called Lost Woods, but I didn't know that the Lost Hills had a name.
Woooww, the opening sounds so incomplete without the bell after hearing it - you broke me.
Legends of Localization also demonstrates that the original sword is never referred to as being made of wood in the original game nor manual. It's still unclear to me if it was ever meant to be, although the artwork doesn't really make it seem that way. Apparently Capcom assumed it was wood too, though, as they do refer to the Hero's Sword as being wooden, according to the translation guide on GameFaqs.
Always love Region Break. Very fun and endlessly fascinating topic.
I will never understand why they didn't just make the Pol's Voice weak to loud in-game sounds; like bombs or the flute.
I can definetly see Tunic's inspiration by the Japanese manual now! Thanks for the video!
The "some monsters are vulnerable to sound" is also a hint to use the whistle on the digdogger.
when you see something translated from japanese as "ti" it often means the sound "chi". the katakana for testitart i looks that way.. but the japanese "chi" sound is somewhere between "ti" and "chi" so thats why it gets put as "ti" in testitart. its also how you would typically type "chi" when typing on a jp keyboard
typically if you wanted to reference a "tee" sound they use different letters, combining "te" and "ee" letters
hey that's right. but is that a newer thing? I know that some rules have changed since old zeldas were out, hence two different ways the games have spelled Volvagia.
at least Testitart sort of makes sense, they were clearly trying to construct some kind of fantasy lingo, so tartknuck and testitart have a common root.. which other monster names sometimes also do.. I can't imagine it was actually meant to be teschitart. But yeah the old romanizations in the manual clearly do not represent the creators' intent, since moriblin is obvious. forest goblin. but they wrote it 'molblin' not fully understanding how roman letters work
@@KairuHakubi Yeah I guess I don't know how it was done so long ago, so it may be different now.. either pronunciation sounds strange to me so I don't know.. perhaps its a pun of some kind.. that's funny about moriblin though.. it was just forest-blin haha, moblin is a good name even if accidental.
@@Ienjoylotsofstuff I mean I think it's just straight up a pun on testicle.. they're nuts about nuts across the pacific, you ever check out what a Tanuki statue is packing?
@@KairuHakubi There are multiple systems for writing Japanese in roman characters - ti and chi both represent the same kana ち - in the same way, the kana じゃ can by typed either as ja or jya. Although these are from different romanization systems (Hihon-shiki for ti and ja and Hepburn for chi and jya), they represent the same sounds and the input system on a computer will typically accept either.
@@TrimeshSZ I mean, sort of. that's only right if you really squint and only look at part of it.
it's always chi for them, but when they want to write a foreign word with ti, sometimes they use chi, sometimes they use like a to with a little i next to it. or is it a te...
What's funny is that the jp sound effects are actually whats used for super mario maker 2 even in the english version, most notably the skype noise that plays when you fall into a pit with the link suit
14:07 So that's why the flute sounded so nostalgic to me, I never noticed they did a callback to it on Ocarina! For context: I played OoT first as a kid and multiple more times in my life afterwards, but I didn't do an actual playthrough of NES Zelda until I was an adult.,I mean, it was so late into my life I can say it was thanks to covid lockdowns that I finally sat down and played the whole thing. The flute really made me feel things I only now understand, it's like a case of reverse nostalgia lol
Regarding the font, I think consistency is why the English font is 1 pixel thick in the Japanese version because the kana is also 1 pixel thick.
Then again, the English font in JP Zelda also looks amatuer/too simple.
I never knew that the Famicom version allowed you to defeat Pols Voices with a microphone.
I'd like to see a deeper comparison between the Japanese disc and cartridge versions.
Hey ! Cool video. Full of interesting trivia. By the way, the book you're showing at 5:12 is actually not a player's guide. It's a zelda themed "choose your own aventure" style manga.
That's awesome! Thanks for the info!
Regarding that "Tartnuc", it's closer to "Darknut" than the Romanized text lets on- if you switch the ト'to' and ク'ku', you get Tarcnut/Tarknut. after that, you just add the " to タ'ta' to get ダ,'da'. Darknut.
Love this series, and it was fantastic seeing a Legend of Zelda regional comparison! It was the very first video game I ever played, so it'll always have a special place for me.
It seems like the differences between the US/JP of Zelda 1 are much more superficial than the extensive refinements the US version of Zelda 2 had over the Japanese version. Pretty wild that the Famicom cassette release came not only after Zelda 2 FDS, but also after the Japanese release of Link to the Past. I think the boss sound effects are definitely better in the cartridge version, but the music using the FDS sound hardware is definitely quite nice.
I love how the title theme sounds with the bells
This was a wonderful comparison and even historical throwback! Thank you.
When the flute comparasion came i thohght "wouldnt it be funny if he showed the smb 3 flute" then oot and it came. Got a big chuckle out of me
I think this is one of the Best Example of sponsor ad. It's so natural and fits with the topic of this video. other youtubers usually go way too scripted and Cringe with their sponsor ads and they don't even match with their videos at all. Worst Example being Nostalgia Critic who always has 2 to 3 Minutes unfunny skit.
You are the first UA-camr I watch that didn't make me skip sponsor ads during video. Nice Job!
13:10 I was listening to the 25th Anniversary album recently, and the orchestrated version of the main theme included the bells from the Japanese version. Never thought much about it until I learned this though, I always figured they just fit well into the intro
The instruments in the Disk System version of the ending music sound very similar to the instruments in the arcade version of Bubble Bobble.
Buyee is good, but do be aware there is less than no warranty for anything you buy. If you pay extra $10 for packing, they will pack it rediculously good. I bought a desktop computer and it took about two weeks. Shipping was $76.
Great vid! In my opinion, the text is thinner in the original version to make the style more uniform between the japanese and english characters to be sure they both fit the 8x8 tiles. Otherwise, they'd have just used a similar font to SMB.
Fun fact, the extra FDS channel is technically an FM modulator, so it can give a lot of different textures and I had fun trying to make cool sounds with it in FamiTracker.
Shugery Miyahon's games never dissapointed me back in the NES/SNES era
I can’t even be mad about that sponsor transition; it was so damn smooth I didn’t even know it was a sponsor ‘till it was nearly finished!
I really like this series, regional differences are one of the most interesting parts of a game's real-life story to me :)
I appreciate how well-incorporated the sponsor was, although I think that it could've been made clearer a bit earlier on that it was a sponsor, if that's alright.
Today we learned the Emile Zola is in the game, shouting "J'accuse!" from his big neck to Link.
46 y/o guy. I got this game for Christmas 1987 (I was 11) and what a flood of memories your video brought me!
I've had the secret tone at 14:16 as my iPhone text notification for over a decade.
It's strange that even though they updated certain sprites for the US version, they left the Magic Book in "backwards" Japanese format. This confused me as a kid haha
Funny thing, I never actually played Legend of Zelda as a kid and my only experience with the game was an old flipnote on Hatena where it played the intro using the FDS version of the theme. So to me the NES intro sounds alien without the flute and the bells lol
13:10 The "large bell" is actually a (synth) set of tubular bells, and it's one of the coolest percussion instruments in an orchestra. You'll hear them in old clock towers like the Campanile at UC Berkeley.
If you listen closely, it's the bells echoing the main theme in that phrase.
This is such a amazing video, very informative, i love seeing the differences.
Thanks for uploading this .
Didn’t know about the microphone!
I think the letter font change is to make it not stick out against Japanese characters because having really thin hiragana followed by really thick letters to make english words would look pretty off, and they can't make Japanese characters thicker otherwise they risk illegibility, so letters become thinner to compromise
i honestly think they had a thinner font because if the japanese text was any thicker it would probably be pretty close to unreadable. the general font a lot of people associate as “The NES Font” existed earlier in arcade games such as Galaxian, so my guess is that they made it thinner to match, because it’d look weird. although i might be wrong, it’s speculation after all
the Japanese opening song with the bell reminds me of the bell when you fight a strong enemy in wind waker.
Also I am not deep enough into this subculture to have previously known that microphone fun fact thing. But happy to learn!
In the age of youtube, I've NEVER heard a Famicom Disk soundtrack that tops the NES counterpart, the NES wasn't missing anything without the extra sound channel
More Region Break!! Love this series, and I’m excited to see what you’ve got in store this time!