Professor Layton and the Last Specter

Prototype Info Lost in TranslationThe altered puzzles, some of which can be solved without any prior knowledge of Japanese.

Unused Graphics#

Question Mark Character Icon#

When tapping on specific areas on the bottom screen, the characters will often make comments about it, with an icon to represent who's saying what. This one of a silhouette with a question mark appears alongside the others in lt4_main_en.fa/ani/win_tobj.ca/AP00.lp, and was likely used as a placeholder.

Loosha Sprite#

In the Professor Layton series, the player can see which characters are currently in the party by checking the top screen, which displays a map along with small sprites representing each party member. One of these sprites exists in lt4_main_en.fa/ani/en/icn_gmp.ca/AP06.lp for the character Loosha, an ancient creature who joins the party in the final battle. However, her sprite can never actually be seen in-game, because the only point at which she is in the party is during a cutscene that replaces the map and the character list with a background image.

Toy Train Testing Sprites#

test_bg.ci and test_obj.ca/AP00.lp in mini are graphics meant for testing the 'Toy Train' minigame.

file:PL4- test_bg.png file:PL4- test_obj.png

Test Map#

A graphic to test the upper-screen maps in the London Life minigame. This image shows up multiple times within the files.

Regional Differences#

To do: Document the many text differences between the US and UK versions (ex. puzzle names being different for the same puzzles). Difference in puzzles between the US and European version can be found here: http://layton.wikia.com/wiki/Professor_Layton_and_the_Last_Specter/List_of_puzzles

Opening Logos#

The Japanese version shows the logos for Level-5 and Mobi Clip Video Codec upon boot. The US version instead shows "Published by Nintendo" and the Level-5 logo.

Title Screen#

Japan	US

UK	Germany	Italy
Spain	France	Netherlands

Witch's Mark Design#

Japan	US

The witch's mark visible on the door of Brock's destroyed house, as well in a cutscene, has a different design in the Japanese and US versions.

London Life Minigame#

Fantasy Life is a life-sim game co-developed by Brownie Brown and Level-5 that was released for the 3DS in December 2012. It initially began development on the DS, which had sprite art heavily reminiscent of Mother 3. After that version was cancelled, its assets were reworked as a bonus mode for Last Specter, with completely different gameplay and controls from the usual Layton games. It also featured cameos from other Layton games.

London Life can be accessed from the main menu, much like the bonus chapter from Diabolical Box's Japanese version. The Japanese version required the player to complete the main story to unlock it, though in the US and Australian versions, it was made available from the start. The mode was completely removed from all European versions, including the UK version, likely to avoid a delayed release from having to translate its text into multiple European languages. The button in the in-game menu to access London Life was dummied out from those versions as well.

Japanese Fish Minigame#

Not unlike the Parrot minigame from the third game, the Fish minigame was completely changed in the localized versions. Granted, the original version of it was untranslatable: it required you to transform one Japanese word into another word, by feeding it to fish that manipulate its Japanese hiragana characters based on certain rules. For example, fish can shift character(s) horizontally or vertically in the gojūon grid, add or remove a dakuten, or swap the positions of two characters.

In the US/EU versions, the fish move diagonally and are reflected by walls and bubbles placed by the player, with the goal being to make them move in a way that crosses all of the coins placed in the level.

Change in Picarats#

The international versions of the game changed the amount of Picarats obtainable for several of the puzzles. The maximum amount of Picarats obtainable remains the same, however.

Character Name Changes#

Several characters' names were changed in the localization process.

Puzzle Result Screens#

Like previous entries in the series, the puzzle result screens in the Japanese version will show either ナゾ解明!! "Puzzle Solved!" or 残念 "Too Bad..." as appropriate, whereas there is no text in the US version.

New to Last Specter is a different animation if the player has correctly solved at least five puzzles in a row. Similarly, the Japanese versions will show either ナゾ連続解明!! "Puzzle Solving Streak!" or 残念 "Too Bad..."

Anti-Piracy#

This game utilizes the DS Protect anti-piracy library to ensure that it is not being run off a flashcart or emulator. If any of the DS Protect checks fail, the game will proceed normally until you get to the first puzzle. When you tap "Submit", you get Luke's animation, and regardless of whether you are correct or not, the puzzle will restart with no picarats lost, effectively trapping you in an endless loop.