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Localisation comparisons
Intro
Story text was added to the introduction sequence at startup in the International versions of Ristar.
The Japanese version shows a flickering image of the Star Goddess, Oruto, when the Elder's wish reaches Ristar's planet. She selects Ristar to fight Greedy. The International versions remove her due to the storyline being altered to instead have Ristar's father be kidnapped by Greedy.
Despite this change, Oruto still appears in the Game Gear version's introduction sequence regardless of the game's region.
Title screen
The Japanese version of the game adds "The Shooting Star" as a subtitle, and the title screen was changed to reflect this. In PAL regions, the full 320x240 resolution is used.
Round 1 title card
Angry sprites
Ristar and most of the enemies were altered in the West to appear more "angry". The reasoning behind this is not known, though many games of the era (e.g. Kirby) received similar treatment.
Next area
The Japanese version displays a "Next Area" box on the right of the screen. This was removed internationally as some of the different planet names might have been too big to fit.
Level comparisons
Planet Undertow
The first wall in Round 2-1 has a hidden gem that can be found by headbutting the spot it's located in. In the Japanese version, revealing this hidden gem won't make the water rise right away, but it will in the International versions.
The International versions add a cycloptic starfish-like object to Round 2-2 that clings to Ristar, slowing him down and decreasing his jump height. While they don't appear in the Japanese version, their sprite can be seen drifting in the turbine sections.
Planet Sonata
The Japanese version would display a musical note above a robot bird's head when it's about to slam down during the mini-boss. This tell was removed in the International versions, making the fight less predictable.
Planet Freon
The International versions add a cutscene to the beginning of Planet Freon which shows Ristar sliding down a snowy slope before falling back and reappearing with a set of skis.
Itamor, the boss of Planet Freon, has a wildly different design across different versions. In the Japanese version, Itamor is a cat monster, which is a reference to a Japanese idiom: A person who doesn't like hot/spicy food can be said to have a "cat tongue", which explains why throwing hot soup into his mouth hurts him.
As overseas players would not get the reference, Itamor's design was changed to a typical ice monster, removing all of his cat features. Since he is an ice monster, throwing hot soup into his mouth to defeat him still makes sense.
Planet Automaton
Round 6-1 has a section halfway through where Ristar swims in the air through invisible water. There is no explanation on how he does this in the Japanese version, so the International versions add a pair of anti-gravity shoes to justify the sudden ability to swim in the air. An animation of Ristar admiring his new footwear was also added in.
Ending / credits
In the International versions, Ristar's fingers were decreased from five fingers to four in this still, and although Itamor's credits sprite was changed to account for his design change, Sega of America forgot to remove his cat tail. Oops.
What should be the brightest color in the Aurora Borealis is darker than the surrounding colors in the Japanese version. This was corrected in other versions.
The ending screens at the end of the credits are radically different. The Japanese version shows that Greedy, Inonis and Uranim have survived the destruction of Castle Greedy, but are now stranded on an unknown planet, with Greedy staring contemplatively at a flickering image of Ristar in the sky.
Due to the altered story, the ending screen was changed in the International versions to show Ristar being reunited with his father. He also has four fingers again.
References
