Battle Clash

Battle Clash is one of Nintendo's flagship Super Scope games involving mechanical weapons called "Standing Tanks" (STs), their pilots, and a dash of Mad Max for taste. Two mecha enter, one mecha leaves. The game was apparently popular enough in the west for a sequel to be released just a year later.

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Prerelease Info

Unused Graphics#

These unused pilot portraits are found immediately after the one for Mike, the player's partner and pilot of the ST Falcon, in RAM. All three of the characters face left, as Mike does, suggesting that they would be selectable partners (all of the enemies face right in their portraits).

This idea is further supported by the presence of these non-animated, borderless versions, which match the style of Mike's portrait displayed at the lower-right corner of the screen during gameplay.

Each one of these images is loaded in RAM following a non-animated pilot portrait. The first is the katakana syllabary for the name "Michael", the formal name of the protagonist and your pilot partner. The other three read "Carol", "Lightning" and "Maki", most likely meant to be the names of the three unused characters.

These katakana syllables are located near the weapon and item icons in the ROM. Unsurprisingly, it reads "icon."

What's interesting to note that "Carol" is the name of an unlockable character in the sequel, Metal Combat: Falcon's Revenge. Given the events and backstory concerning her in that game, it seems that Battle Clash's story was going to be more complex than was seen in the final product.

There are also two unused ST cockpit/HUD designs, for the Tiger and Tomahawk respectively. That leaves one pilot out - because the design for a fourth is actually used! You can see the design for the ST Mosquito when playing in 2-Player mode as the second player. However, there is not even a hint of any of these STs in the main story mode.

This style of text is reserved for enemy names displayed in the bottom-left of the screen during a fight, while the Falcon's own name is displayed with a flat text at the bottom-center in a different style altogether. Interestingly, the "N" appears to be missing part of an outline.

Used	Unused

This weapon icon isn't used in any part of the game. The default gun icon that is used looks closer to the actual Super Scope itself, as opposed to something like the Zapper or the Sega Menacer like you see here. Given that the game came out roughly a year after the SNES was released, this could hint that the design of the Super Scope was yet to be finalized.

Used	Unused

Yet another unused weapon icon. It seems designed in the same vein as the other two icons, which would mean that this would be the ST's main weapon. Unlike the more modern, futuristic designs of the others, this one has more in common with a hunting rifle than anything else.

This image isn't actually unused so much as it's obscured. Turning off all but one of the background layers and disabling sprites on the title screen gives us a clear view of the ST Falcon opening fire.

During the main menu and world map sequences, the game loads this earlier version of the Battle Clash logo. Any instances of the logo in the final product are either the stylistic metallic lettering found in the final logo, or simpler capital letters.

Regional Differences#

To do: Add in relevant media (i.e. images and music) and a .gif of the animated title screen.

Logo Sound#

The sound effect that accompanies the Nintendo logo on startup is different between regions. Battle Clash has more of a robotic beep, while Space Bazooka sounds more like collecting a coin in Mario Bros.

Title Screen#

The title change also resulted in the logo being overhauled. The title screen also had its background's color changed, and even added a vibrant burning animation to the logo text as well.

World	Japan

Ending#

• In the international version, you're shown the amount of time taken to finish each individual boss. In the Japanese version, it also shows you the number of continues used.
• The game title shown at the beginning of the credits reflects the regional change, with "SPACEBAZOOKA" conspicuously missing a space.

World	Japan

• Gunpei Yokoi's name is spelled "Gumpei Yokoi" in Space Bazooka. The space between "Producer" and his name has also been reduced in Space Bazooka. The credit font also appears to have been redesigned with larger letters and sharper detail.

World	Japan

• The screen displaying the description to unlock the difficulty modes is different between regions.

World	Japan

• In the Japanese version, finishing the game after entering the difficulty mode cheat shows a new background during the credits. The higher the difficulty selected, the more characters appear on top of the standing tank.

References#