LED Storm (Arcade)/Version Differences

This is a sub-page of LED Storm (Arcade).

The first version of the game, titled Led Storm Rally 2011, went through a substantial number of changes in both gameplay and character design. Strangely, this version was the one used as the basis for almost all of the game's home ports!

Gameplay Changes

Player

• One big difference between versions - in the earlier version, the player can transform between a car and a motorcycle by pressing Button 2. There doesn't seem to be much point to this, though: The car seems a little more resistant to crashing, and the motorcycle has a slightly higher top speed, but that's about it.

• In later versions, the player chooses one of three vehicles at the start: The F-1 Machine, which is very fast but prone to crashing if it hits anything; the Porsche 959, which is average in both speed and crash resistance; and the Convoy, which is the slowest vehicle but can bump into most vehicles and isn't affected by oil slicks.

• Once the player has completed their first loop, they're sent back to the player select screen, where they have to pick one of the two remaining vehicles.
• In all versions of the game, letting go of the gas and then quickly hitting it again will allow the player to perform a wheelie. In the early version only, if the player is doing a wheelie and they hit a car or one of the border rails, they'll jump into the air as if they've hit a jump ramp. This feature was removed from later versions.
• The aforementioned wheelie methods and jump ramps are the only way to perform a long jump - pressing Button 1 only performs a short hop. In the revised sets, pressing Button 1 always does the longer jump.

Fuel

• In the early version, the player uses one unit of fuel every 96 frames. In the revised game, the amount depleted depends on the difficulty setting: It's one unit every 76, 71, 66, or 61 frames.
• Exploding or falling into a pit doesn't use up any fuel in the early version. The later sets' punishment is much harsher; The player loses 3 / 4 / 6 / 8 units of fuel depending on the difficulty setting.

• In the earlier version, each stage has three checkpoints per stage, and passing one gives the player 7 units of fuel. These were removed from the revised game.

Items

• The small gas tank power-ups work differently in the earlier set. Instead of immediately granting fuel, they fill up the player's "ENERGY" meter. Once the player collects six of them, they'll get 10 units of fuel back.

In later sets, they just give 5, 4, or 3 units of fuel, depending on the difficulty level.

• The balloon-based energy pick-ups give just 1 unit of energy in the early version, and 5 / 4 / 3 units in later versions.

• In the initial version only, there are flying item carriers found throughout the game. If the item carriers run into a different enemy, they'll explode and drop their payload: "Barrier", "Energy", and "Points" pick-ups.

Initial	Revised

• The barrier and point power-ups work identically in each version, but in later sets they appear sans carrier.

• The "Energy" pick-up gives the player 2 units of fuel. There's no equivalent to this in the revised game.

Scoring

• In the early set, the player gets 54 points per frame at top speed. This was reduced to 10 points every 20 frames in later revisions.
• Every time the player explodes or falls down a pit in the revised game, they receive a single, shameful point.

Initial	Revised

• While the time bonus values are the same in all versions, the times to beat are formatted differently.

In the early version, it's presented as a Top 5 list, with each stage having different default names:

	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	5TH	Notes
Stage 1	CAN	TON	MEN	KUE	TAI
Stage 2	NOM	URA	SHO	JIE	RAI
Stage 3	Y.A	M.A	S.I	T.A	HRD	Probably refers to the "Masayan" listed in the Hardware credits.
Stage 4	T.A	T.E	I.S	H.I	BGM	This is Takashi Tateishi, a former Capcom composer.
Stage 5	M.A	D.A	M.A	D.A	Y.O	"Madamada yo" in this context might mean "You've got a ways to go".
Stage 6	K.K	M.A	I.T	S.U	T.A	"K.K" refers to programmer "Ken Ken" in the credits.
Stage 7	S.N	AKI	K.K	KOJ	IMA
Stage 8	K.K	S.N	T.T	M.Y	S.T	Initials for five of the game's team members.
Stage 9	KAN	EKO	BAN	ZAI	END	N. Kaneko is another of the game's programmers. These names aren't used - The game jumps to the ending after stage 9.

Later versions just list the time thresholds with no fanfare.

• In later versions, the player gets 5,000 points for each enemy they destroy in the stage.

No Hit Clear	Normal Clear

• In the initial release, the player receives 1,000 points for each unit of fuel they had at the end, and an extra 30,000 points if they get through the entire stage without exploding or falling down a pit.

Attract Mode

Initial	Revised (Older)	Revised (Newer)

• The title screen is different between versions. The older version of the revised game use a shortened version of the early version title with an updated logo, while later versions completely change the title graphics.

Initial	Revised

• The stories are presented differently in both the early and revised versions:

In the early version, the story seems to be about a man in a red suit (The player) and a man in a blue suit (The rival) making some kind of bet for a race around the world. These story screens appear after the player starts a new game.

In the revised versions, the story is about Fred (Hero The player) entering a daredevil's race of his own accord. The story is at the very start of the attract mode loop.

• In the initial version only, the attract mode includes a gameplay tutorial to teach players how to transform...

• ...how to do a long jump...

• ...and how to destroy enemies and collect the floating fuel cans.

• Mad Gear replaces the tutorial with a cast roll, featuring Fred, Snake (Replacing the rival from the early version), and new characters Hougan, Arnold, Vebroag, and Mohikan.

Initial	Revised

• In all versions, the default high scores names are abbreviations of 70s and 80s computers. Later versions add two more computers: C64 (Commodore 64), and SMC (Sony SMC-70). FM8 (Fujitsu FM-8) was replaced with AP2 (Apple II).
• All of the high scores are much higher in the earlier set.

Stage Changes

Since the stages are far too long (both in distance and vertically) to include in this article, this section will only highlight the major changes between versions.

General

Stage Distance

• In the early version, each stage is exactly the same length...

Stage 1, 3, 8	Stage 2	Stage 6	Stage 4, 5, 7, 9

• ...but later versions allow for certain stages to be shorter than others.
• In general, the early version puts more emphasis on avoiding obstacles and enemies, while later versions puts more emphasis on jumping over bottomless pits.

Removed Stage Elements

There are a few enemies and features that only appear in the initial release.

These ramps will automatically launch the player in the air at a high speed.

These traffic barrier enemies are harmless -- they're used to mark when a pit is coming in early stages.

These yellow rats only show up in stage 2. They cling to the player's vehicle like the running robots in the early version and the motorcyclists in later versions.

Only appearing in stage 3, these skimmer robots pop out of the ocean from both sides of the screen and try to ram into the player.

These boxing robots try to punch the player away. They appear in stages 3 and 8.

Stage 1

Initial	Revised

The opening of Stage 1 was changed to feature the drivers seen in the game's cast roll.

Initial	Revised

The path split after the first checkpoint was replaced by the first of many jumping sections.

Initial	Revised

There are a convoy of trailers near the end of the stage in the initial release. In later versions, this is replaced by a single long trailer truck that the player has to avoid.

Stage 2

There's a long section in the earlier version with yellow rats, ostrich robots, and oddly shaped trees that was completely cut from later versions.

Stage 3

Revised sets starts off with a long section of jumping between platforms...

...then follow up with more clingy motorcycle guys and the first helicopter appearance in the game. This enemy takes until stage 6 to show up in the earlier version.

About halfway into the level in the initial release, the player is attacked by the aforementioned bug-like water skimming enemies.

After the third checkpoint, the early version-exclusive boxing robots make their first appearance.

Stage 4

A section where the player has to dodge or jump over many precariously stacked tires was added to later versions.

Initial	Revised

The tractor trailer was replaced by a cargo truck in later versions.

The screen flashing enemies appear in two sections rather than one in revised sets, with the second section being a thin winding strip of road at the end of the level. Pretty rude.

Stage 5

The drive-through skeletons appear about a quarter of the way into the stage in later versions. In the initial release, they're only seen at the end of the stage.

Initial	Revised

There are many more TNT trucks in later sets, each of which will explode after driving a short distance.

The clingy enemies seen in Stage 1 make a reappearance here, but only in the earlier version.

The early version has a special screen at the end of Stage 5 that encourages the player to keep going.

Stage 6

The road is in much worse condition in later sets, so the player is at further risk of falling off the stage.

And yes, this does turn into a jumping section. The helicopter doesn't help matters.

The cargo truck section used in the updated version of Stage 4 was originally found in Stage 6.

While the helicopter does show up in about the same spot in the earlier version of the game, it shows up again three-quarters of the way into the stage.

Stage 7

There's an extra area with the clingy robot enemies in the earlier set.

The glass pane area appears in all versions, but later versions ramp up the difficulty by adding the TNT trucks from Stage 5.

After that, the stage becomes a long series of pretty difficult jumps until it mercifully ends.

Stage 8

In the early version, the boxing robots from Stage 3 make their second (and final) appearance here.

A rather uneventful section that consists of a few mild turns and a couple of motorcycles was cut completely from later sets.

Stage 9

Initial	Revised

A mildly difficult section with cars and oil slicks was changed to a much more difficult jumping section in later versions. The jumps are spaced where the player has to precisely control their speed to avoid jumping into one of the pits.

The trailer convoy seen in Stage 1 of the earlier release finally shows up here, now with helicopter!

If you thought the revised game wouldn't end with a difficult jumping section, think again!!

Ending

Initial	Revised

• Obviously the name of the person who beat you in the bad ending had to be changed. The early version shows a short scene of the rival passing the player at the end, while later versions just fade the screen.

Initial	Revised

• In the initial release, the player gets a 300,000 point bonus for winning. In later versions, they just get the standard stage end bonus.

Initial	Revised

• Later sets obviously had to delete the earlier car design from the ending. "GOOD LUCK. GOOD bye" (a rare use of lowercase letters) was removed from the second screen.
• The condition to get the secret credits to show up was changed:

In the early version, the special credits are shown if the player is on their second loop and there's exactly one extra credit in the machine.

In later versions, the special credits are shown if the player is on their second loop and their score ends in 0. So, the player has to either get through the game without exploding or falling down a cliff, or they have to get hit a number of times divisible by ten.

Graphical Changes

General

Initial	Revised

The unique futuristic font was simplified, and now is much closer to the typical Capcom game font.

Initial	Revised

The cartoonish hoverboard that lifts the player out of pits was transformed into a more realistic...hoverboard? Huh. The early version's hoverboard has three stages for the lights, letting the player know when they have to jump off, while in later versions, the board only tells the player when they can get off.

Initial	Revised

The font for the stage names changed as well, which unfortunately introduced some spacing and spelling errors.

Initial
Revised

The "E" and "F" markers of the energy gauge are in larger type and closer to the actual start and ending of the meter.

Initial	Revised

The countdown numbers are red and more detailed in later versions.

Initial	Revised

"Let's Go!" has a flashing palette and uses the same font as the stage names in the earlier set. In later versions, they have no animation and the font they use is unique to this graphic.

Initial
Revised

Due to the game's story changing, the "CHECKPOINT" graphic was changed to "GOAL". Plus, they're blue now.

Initial	Revised

Pretty much the same change as the Checkpoint graphic. At least the font stayed the same.

Items

Initial	Revised

The small gas can pick-up is no longer dripping all over the place. That's not safe, man!

Initial	Revised

The nebulous "E" canister was changed to a larger gas can.

Initial	Revised

The balloon pick-up went through the same change, except for that flashing "E".

Enemies & Obstacles

As you may have noticed, the intial graphics use heavy amounts of dithering, something that the final game doesn't do. The shadows that objects cast are also much larger and are similarly dithered in the early set, though this doesn't apply to all graphics.

Initial	Revised

The clinging enemy was changed from a yellow robot to a man in motorcycle gear.

The clinging man doesn't run like the robot does; Instead, it appears from a motorcycle sidecar.

Initial	Revised

The standard car enemy is substantially less colorful and substantially more modern.

Initial	Revised

The compact car is more compact in the earlier set.

Initial	Revised

More modernizing, more dull colorizening.

Initial	Revised

Even though their designs are pretty different, both trailers have the same janky two-frame wheel animation.

Initial	Revised

The revised design is more modern and therefore less interesting.

Initial	Revised

The flashing enemy was changed from a blue...something to a more reasonable airplane.

Initial	Revised

The trailer connector has windows in the initial design. Not in later versions, though, no sir no ma'am.

Initial	Revised

These are the trailer units. The graphics are different, you see.

Initial	Revised

There's certainly no ambiguity in the TNT car's first design.

Initial	Revised

The early version's design for this desert enemy doesn't look like a car at all! Obviously that had to be rectified.

Initial	Revised

Besides the new paint job and the jittery blade, the bulldozer didn't really change that much.

Initial	Revised

The cargo truck has more wheels in later versions, and the hatch opens about twice as fast.

Initial	Revised

They even changed the cargo graphics! Not sure what the initial design is supposed to be.

Initial	Revised

The fancier car enemy was clearly too fancy for the redesign, so they toned it down a bit. Still fancy, though.

Initial	Revised

One of the biggest changes here; The ostrich enemy was turned into a four wheeler in later versions, which also solved the whole tripping problem. Cars can't trip. Pfft.

Initial	Revised

While the actual helicopter designs are obviously different, the propeller is actually the same shape in both designs, just colored differently.

Initial	Revised

The helicopters don't drop cannonballs in later sets. That's ridiculous. They drop missiles instead.

Initial	Revised

The motorcycles appear to be self-driven in the earlier version.

Initial	Revised

Yes, even the obstacles in the road had to be changed. The large boxes used in the initial version made way for the tire stack in the revised design.

Initial	Revised

Now, this change was just done to make the boulders easier to see against the brown backdrop of the desert. That was nice of them.

Unused Graphics

A blue "S" canister, similar to the standard "E" canister. Maybe it completely filled the player's fuel gauge?

This giant version of the robotic grabber enemies was probably meant to appear in the game's bad ending.

There are slanting and jumping animations for this enemy that aren't prompted by anything in the earlier version.

These are odd busted versions of the flasher and water skimmer enemies, both of which are taken down in one hit.

The desert runners have falling and spinning animations, but they're not used: They ignore collision damage unless it would destroy them, and they just glide right over pits!

Seems to be an alternate design for the boxing robots. Not all of the necessary graphics are in the ROM anymore - note the incomplete right-facing sprite.

Another design for the boxing enemies - this one doesn't even have hands!