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Tom & Jerry (NES)

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Tom & Jerry is an NES game based on the classic animated shorts produced by MGM.

Unused Graphics#

Hearts#

32px|In this game, they say...That the mouse's heart shrunk two sizes that day.

Medium and small size hearts, likely intended for fractional energy loss. In the final, every hit deducts a whole heart.

Unused Items#

This game contains almost as many unused items as there were used. Set 04FA to any of the following values to view the corresponding items in the HUD (pause game to refresh). Most were likely scrapped due to conflicting graphic banks in the stages where they were intended, or merely the risk of breaking the game.

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01 - A jar of jam. One of a few unused throwing weapons, but the only one that is functional.

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It even has finished projectile graphics, but they can only be seen in stages 2-4. Otherwise, they interchange with those of the hammer (stage 1) and mothballs (stage 5).

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02 - An egg. Uses throwing animation. No function, unknown use.

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04 - Soap. Uses throwing animation. No function. Likely intended for stage 5-1.

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What appears to be pick-up/use graphics for this item, which load in stage 5.

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07 - A fly-swatter. Uses swinging animation. No function, unknown use.

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08 - A frying pan. Uses swinging animation. No function - If set to this value.

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Again, this weapon has complete usage graphics, which interchange with those of the fuse (see below) and invisible ink in stage 1, and the plank in stage 2. These graphics can only be seen in the other stages if the plank is equipped by setting the value to 0A. If viewed in stage 5, however, the first frame will be replaced by the key. Likely intended for stage 2-1, but was replaced by the meat cleaver.

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0D - A bug sprayer. No animation or function, unknown use.

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0F - A gold key. Only a silver one is ever used in the HUD (Stage 5-2). Unknown use.

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10 - A fuse. Likely intended as an item required for completing stage 1-1 (like the key in 5-2), as evidenced by the empty slot in the fuse box at the end.

Regional Differences#

US / Europe

Japan

In addition to the publisher being updated for the Famicom version, the background color was changed from black to light gray.

US

Europe

Japan

The different sections of text were shuffled around for the Japanese version, and the "Licensed by Nintendo" text was replaced with a line crediting Hi-Tech Expressions. The copyright date was not updated for the European and Japanese versions, despite the later release dates.

Miscellaneous#

When the game was localized for the Japanese market, some additional changes were made (mostly to make the game easier):

  • The Japanese has unlimited continues with 5 lives per continue. In the Western versions, you only have 3 continues with 3 lives per continue.
  • The Japanese version restores your health after every sub-level. This does not occur in the Western versions.
  • Most of the bosses take fewer hits to defeat.
  • At the start of Stage 4-1, an NES console is shown in the background. This is still present in the Japanese version, but the "Nintendo Entertainment System" text was erased from it.