Regional Differences

This is a sub-page of Professor Layton and the Curious Village.

Title Screen and Logos#

Nintendo Logo Changes#

The international releases of the game open with the Nintendo logo. The Japanese versions (both the original and 'friendly' version) do not have the Nintendo logo within the starting sequence.

US/EU	Korea

Level-5 Logo Changes#

The Level-5 logo screen is different between the Japanese and international versions, adding the official website to the Japanese logo.

Japanese versions	US/EU/KR

Mobiclip Video Codec Logo#

The original Japanese and US versions show an older ACTIMAGINE video codec logo, whereas the EU, KR and Japanese 'friendly version' games show a mobiclip video codec logo. This is due to the original JP and US version releasing earlier, before the rebrand happened.

Original JP/US	JP Friendly Ver./EU/KR

Title Screen#

Small differences can be seen in the title screens of all versions, most notably the placement of the copyright logo.

Japan	Japan (Friendly Ver.)

US	Korea	Europe

Name Input Screen#

The American version uses hand-writing recognition for the screen where the player inputs their name. It was, however, very clunky, which led to this feature being excised in the European and Korean versions.

The Japanese release used also a slightly traditional keyboard.

U.S.	Europe/Japan

Voice Acting#

The European and Korean versions both use the American dub for all languages, with one notable change: all of Luke's lines were re-recorded by a native British voice actress, as the American actress's British imitation was reportedly borderline offensive to UK play testers. This change was retained from the second game onwards, along with adding native language dubs for each regional version.

Text Changes#

• In the Japanese and US versions, it's stated that Chelmey's favorite food is sweet-potato fritters. In the UK version, however, it's stated that Chelmey's favorite food is cake.

Name Changes#

Many names were changed between the Japanese and international versions.

The US English and European English revisions have a few name differences.

Graphical Changes#

• In the original japanese release some sprite/backgrounds have dithering, this was removed in later releases
  • this caused some sprite to have different color palettes depending on the version

Puzzle Screen#

Between all versions of the game there are several changes in the puzzle screen

• The European and Korean versions uses a symbol of a hat and a symbol of a coin to state the puzzle number and the amount of coins you have. The US and Japanese versions write the puzzle number and coins in actual text. This change would carry on to all future Layton games.
• The border on the top screen is thinner in the International and korean releases. This border is even thinner in the Japanese friendly version.
• Buttons in later versions have a different style compared to the original Japanese release.
  • In the original Japanese version, the hint tab shows stars while the Japanese friendly version and the international versions use numbers 1, 2, 3 instead.
  • The "Clear" button was originally darker and has an eraser graphic.
  • The "Submit" button was originally red.

Japan	Japan (Friendly Ver.)

US	Korea	Europe

Hint Screen#

Although there aren't as many as the puzzle screen, there are still some changes in the Hint Screen.

• The original Japanese release has a Key icon on the right, this was removed on both the international releases and the Korean release. In the Japanese friendly version it was replaced with a Lock icon on the left.
• The arrow on the "Back" button was removed in the Korean release.

Japan	Japan (Friendly Ver.)

International	Korea

Result Animation#

• When you solve a puzzle in the Japanese version a graphic with the text "ナゾ解明!" appears on top of the character, this was removed on international releases. The text was lowered and kept as "문제 해결!" in the Korean version.

Japan	International	Korea

• besides the text, The sprite when Luke solves a puzzle was zoomed out in International releases, this change was carried over to the korean version.

Japan	International	Korea

• These changes were also applied to the animation when you give an incorrect answer with the text "残念" in japanese and "실패" in korean.

Japan	International	Korea

Other changes#

• During the part where Layton and Luke read a newspaper article about Chelmey, the original Japanese version incorrectly spells Chelmey's name as "Chellmie". This was fixed in the Japanese friendly version and the international versions.

Japan	International

• While the question and answer for Puzzle 49 remains the same, the international versions changed the graphics related to the puzzle.

US	Europe