Gondomania

The year was 1987, and flat-bottomed rowing boats were clogging our nation's canals like bacon-smothered, butter-drenched McRibs. Gondomania was upon us.

Developer Credits#

At address 0xFDDD in the main CPU is an alternate set of credits and a declaration of love:

programd by T.Kitazawa,T.Nishizawa,S.Tamura
planed by Y.Gondoh(paradox)
supervised by T.Kitazawa
copyright(c)1987 DATA EAST corporation
all rights reserved
I love EMIKO

Unused Graphics#

Here are some unused coin denominations. The currency used in game starts at 5 coins and caps at 30 coins.

And here are some unused item prices. The lowest priced item in the game is 30 coins, and the highest is 500 coins—the 450 coin price tag is simply skipped.

Regional Differences#

The US version of Gondomania, seems to be more "complete" than the European and Japanese version, the latter being called Makyou Senshi.

Title Screen#

Japan	US	Europe

Aside from the translated logo, for obvious reasons, DATA EAST CORPORATION was changed with DATA EAST USA, INC. in the US version.

Copyright#

Japan	US	Europe

The Japanese version displays a standard export copyright notice after the title screen. Amusingly, the US version kept the copyright screen, but altered to remove the WARNING IF YOU ARE PLAYING THIS VIDEO GAME OUTSIDE OF THE COUNTRY OF JAPAN... and STOP USE AND EXPORT OF THIS VIDEO GAME OUTSIDE THE COUNTRY OF JAPAN... text parts, thus leaving an unusual blank space.

The European version kept the part about the copyright and the registered trademarks, but rewritten using the standard game font and moved to the center of the screen.

General#

Japan/Europe	US

• The way that credits work is different between versions.

:*In the Japanese and European versions, both players share a credit count. Pressing 1P Start starts a 1 Player game with 1P only, pressing 2P Start starts a 2 Player game.

:*In the US version, each player has their own credit count. Pressing 1P Start starts a 1 Player game with 1P only, pressing 2P Start starts a 1 Player game with 2P only.

• This story screen, seen after inserting a coin, is only present in the US version.
• The Flame, Grenade, Frag Grenade, and both Axe weapons had their ammo count increased by 10 in the US version.
• The player starts with 150 coins in the Japanese and European versions. The US version is more generous, giving the player 200 coins to spend at the start.

Japan/Europe	US

• S. Walton and S. Jarocki, presumably the two people responsible for the bulk of the changes in the US version, were added to the Special Thanks section.

Music#

Main Theme#

The game's main track was rearranged in the US and European versions to be more rockin' and less Chelnov-ish.

Boss Theme#

Even the game's boss theme was rearranged in the US and European versions to be more climatic.

Graphics#

Japan/Europe	US

Both players have the same ship color in the Japanese and European versions, while in the US version, Player 1 has a nice blue ship.

The armor breaking and death animations are flashier in the US version.
These ship shadows can only be seen in the US version. Nice little addition to the game, isn't it?

To make up for Player 1's new color scheme, the ship and jet items changed from blue to yellow.

Japan/Europe	US

In the Japanese and European versions, the basic enemies throw single bit axes, which are easily confused with the player's own axe weapon. So, in the US version, those generic mooks now throw maces.

Stages#

Japan/Europe	US

An extra ship of soldiers was added to the very start of the game. While this does add a bit of challenge, it's also an extra 120 coins if the player can destroy the ship before it leaves the screen.

Japan/Europe	US

Towards the end of Stage 2, the large group of boomerang-throwing barbarians was replaced by a swarm of missile launcher-toting soldiers.

Japan/Europe	US

Starting at around Stage 5, the number of enemies in certain screens (too many to list here) was reduced. While this may seem like a difficulty change, and it is, it's worth noting that the large amount of enemies in the Japanese and European versions also caused the game to slow down quite a bit, something that's not nearly as much of an issue in the US version.

Bosses#

The boss of each stage, barring stage 8, differs between versions. Note that the official names of the bosses are currently unknown.

Note that in both versions there's one boss that's used in two different stages.

Japan/Europe	US

The color of the first dragon is yellow in the Japanese and European versions and blue in the US version. The palette was likely changed to match the blue Headless Dragon found in Stage 8.

The second dragon is not a mere palette swap, as it uses unique graphics and has a new fire-breathing attack.

Giant Mech 1	Giant Mech 2

The second Giant Mech in the US version, however, is just a palette swap. The only other difference between the two is that the second mech has more health.

In the US version, there are added tips (or not) at the start of each boss fight:

References#