Driving Emotion Type-S

Driving Emotion Type-S
Developer: Escape Publishers: Square (JP), Square EA (US), Electronic Arts (EU) Platform: PlayStation 2 Released in JP: March 30, 2000 Released in US: January 29, 2001 Released in EU: January 26, 2001 This game has regional differences.

Driving Emotion Type-S was Square's first outing on the PlayStation 2, featuring a stellar soundtrack and less than stellar physics. Its international release was delayed to address some issues... in which the menus got a massive overhaul and the physics were slightly improved. Electronic Arts' involvement with Square at the time also allowed the inclusion of Ferrari and Porsche vehicles, on which EA had the licensing monopoly on these two luxury sports brands.

Feel the Sports Driving Emotion!

To do: This one isn't gonna be fun. Unfortunately, this game just doesn't emulate all that well on PCSX2, meaning that doing some comparisons won't be easy. Japanese intro needs to be ripped. I need to figure out how to rip the .DAT video files properly.

Regional Differences

Interestingly, the North American and European versions of the game are near identical, save for NTSC/PAL resolution and frame rate differences and the omission of both the Square EA publisher screen and year 2001 copyrights from the European version. Both versions have English (US & UK), French, Italian, German and Spanish text options.

Copyright Screen

Japan	International

The copyright screens are considerably different, both in length, font and wording, strangely enough. The International copyright screen denotes that the game has been updated since its original Japanese release. The North American version adds 2001 to the copyright years.

Title Screen

Japan	International

The title screens for the Japanese and International releases not only are completely different, but they're also rendered at different resolutions! The Japanese title screen is rendered at a full 640x480 while the International title screen is rendered at 512x448 for North America and 512x512 for Europe.

The "S" logo in the International versions' title screen is also animated. The North American version updates the copyright info to include the year 2001 for its International release.

Main Menu

Japan	International

The main menu was also redesigned visually, although everything functions about the same between the two versions.

"Racing School" was renamed to "Line Training" and "2P V.S" was renamed to "VS Mode".

Car Select

Japan	International

The car selection screen was also redesigned, but functions about the same between the two versions. In the Japanese version, car models displayed in the car selection screen shine their headlights when they shine directly in front, while the International versions lack this.

Any Japanese car in the International release will say "Japanese version of model" under the car name to denote that fact.