Knight Rider (NES)

The NES Knight Rider is based on the 1982 TV show of the same name.

Bugs

Level Select#

In the international versions, you can enable the level select in two ways: by holding B and resetting, or by inputting MIYAZAWASAKAI as a password. Miyazawa is Toru Miyazawa, a programmer for Pack-In-Video at the time of the game's release. Like most other games by the same developer, the game itself contains no staff credits. The name Sakai is unknown, but is presumably another programmer.

Regional Differences#

Some of the levels are shorter in the international versions and have less time to complete, resulting in a more difficult game. To compensate for some of these changes, some of the cars in missions have been altered to carry more powerups.

The European version has the text speed increased slightly.

Title Screen#

The Japanese version has a purple title screen, in a similar vein to the beginning of the original opening sequence for the TV series. For whatever reason, the international versions changed it to a shade of teal.

The international versions added a small animation of KITT driving, along with Michael Knight (who was missing from the Japanese title screen).

Japan	International

Mission Briefing Screen#

The level order is very different in the international versions, and the map was centered. With El Paso being replaced by Chicago, the level order was shifted to accommodate for the changes. Some of the text was also changed, such as N's are now lowercase, the mission list was moved to the left, and some of the names were truncated.

The path from St. Louis to Toronto was also redrawn due to the addition of Chicago.

Japan	International

Weapon Select#

In the Japanese version, you can select up to five upgrades for the Engine. The international versions dropped this to a maximum of three. In addition, you can skip Bonnie's talks by pressing Start on the international versions.

Also, the Energy and Damage gauges were renamed Gas and Shield, respectively.

Japan	International

Driving Screen#

Japan	International

The HUD is different in the Japanese and international versions. DM (Damage) is now Shield, while GS (Gas) is now...Gas.

Japan	International

As a result of the changes, the failure screen is different between versions.

Level changes#

With the aforementioned level changes, some of the levels' objects were changed due to every three levels sharing sprites. However, interestingly, St. Louis/Toronto in the Japanese version had the sprite addresses swapped in international versions, resulting in barrels and trees in St. Louis, and trees and rocks in Chicago.

The levels from Missions 7-12 have also been slightly changed.

El Paso/Chicago:

Japan	International

In addition, the enemy red helicopters that appear halfway through the level now throw dynamite instead of bullets, the only level in the game to have this distinction.

Toronto:

Japan	International

Boston:

Japan	International

New York City:

Japan	International

The palette change has been reduced to three changes as the level progresses in international versions.

Washington DC:

Japan	International

Miami:

Japan	International

Interestingly, El Paso's sprite address in the Japanese version was moved to this level, resulting in cacti appearing for no apparent reason.

Houston:

Japan	International

Sound Effects#

In the Japanese version, whenever someone is talking, it uses the sound effect for when you type a letter in the password. The international versions changed this to a typewriter-like sound effect.

Game Over#

In the Famicom version, after a game over, it automatically used a continue. The NES version changed this to being an option, introducing a typo in the process.

Japan	International