Princess on Ice

Princess on Ice
Developer: Arc System Works Publishers: Aksys Games (US), 505 Games (EU/AU), Arc System Works (JP) Platform: Nintendo DS Released in JP: December 4, 2008 Released in US: November 5, 2008 Released in EU: April 25, 2008 Released in AU: April 24, 2008 This game has uncompiled source code. This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused graphics. This game has regional differences.

The world will never know how many aspiring preteen figure skaters thought this piece of shovelware masquerading as a rhythm game put them off the sport forever.

The DS being the DS, it got a sequel (Diva Girls: Divas on Ice) and a Wii port anyway.

Early Japanese Graphics in EU Version

As the JP version was released after the EU version, it can be assumed that at the time of the latter's release, the former was still in development if at all. Leftover Japanese graphics in the EU version prove this further.

Early	Final

Possibly an early logo for the Dream Palette series, apparently originally named Tinkling Princess.

Early	Final

An early version of the top half of the title screen. Aside from featuring a less interesting logo, it also implies that the JP title screen was going to inherit the background from the EU version.

Debug Menu

The game has text for a debug menu. A sample can be found at B7C38 (US version).

** DS Princess Debug Menu **
1. ICE SKATE 3D Demo
2. Character Select
3. Main Menu
4. Adventure Mode
5. Customise
6. Moves
7. INGAME1
8. INGAME2
9. Stage Debug

Development Text

Localization Test Files

The texts folder contains various test files. These are not present in the Japanese version.

en/test1.txt

hahaha it! works!!!

fr/test1.txt

Original	Translation
Ou sont les toilettes ?	Where are the toilets?

en/test2.txt, fr/test2.txt, jp/test2.txt

this is text number 2~!

Interestingly, jp/test1.txt appears to be corrupt.

Cscript Batch Files

UI/Narration/cscript contains two Windows batch files, seemly for generating a list of dialogue file names, which would be hardcoded into the game code.

composeFileList.bat

del file_structure.cpp

set /a numFolders = 0
for %%i in (alyssa gabrielle kelly madison) do (set/a numFolders = numFolders + 1)

@echo #define NUM_CHARACTERS %numFolders% >> file_structure.cpp
@echo sDirStructure script_folder[NUM_CHARACTERS] = { >> file_structure.cpp

for %%i in (alyssa gabrielle kelly madison) do (call listCscriptFiles %%i file_structure.cpp)
@echo }; >> file_structure.cpp

move /Y file_structure.cpp "c:\MyProjects\NitroProjects\DSiceskate3\src\Core\Story\"

listCscriptFiles.bat

set /a numFiles = 0
for %%f in (%1/*.cscript) do (set /a numFiles=numFiles+1)
@echo {"%1", %numFiles%,>> %2
@echo 	{ >> %2
for %%f in (%1/*.cscript) do (@echo 	"%%~nf", >> %2)
@echo 	} >> %2
@echo }, >> %2

Regional Differences

To do: Check more thoroughly. Does it apply to the Australian Version?

Japan	Europe/US

The Japanese version of the game features a completely different set of characters from the European/American version. The European/American version features Kelly, Alyssa, Madison, and Gabrielle, who also appear in the sequel Diva Girls: Divas on Ice. The Japanese version replaces the characters with the same quartet featured in (the non-European versions of) the otherwise-unrelated game Rockin' Pretty: Mahiru/Mai, Kanami/Kara, Mio, and Riko/Reena.

Aside from names and appearances, the Japanese version replaces each character's favorite color with their blood type. The birthdays are the same in both versions, but the Japanese version removes the corresponding zodiac signs.

Japan	Europe	US

The title screen was reworked to accommodate the aesthetics of the new Japanese logo and altered character designs.

Ending CGs

Both versions of the game feature a total of twelve endings, three for each character (A bad ending, a normal ending and a good ending). All of them are changed between the US/EU and JP versions, with the JP illustrations having much more effort put into each of them.

To do: These are sorted based on the order in RP, does it make sense?

Kelly/Mahiru

Europe/US	Japan

Alyssa/Kanami

Europe/US	Japan

Madison/Mio

Europe/US	Japan

Gabrielle/Riko

Europe/US	Japan

Company Logos

The logos that appear before the title screen are different between versions.

• The European version displays a 'Licensed By Nintendo' screen on the top screen first, then the logo for 505 Games on the top screen and the logo for Arc System Works with a link to their Japanese website on the touch screen.
• The US version displays the same 'Licensed by Nintendo' on the top screen and the logo for Aksys Games on the touch screen, then the logos for 505 Games on the top screen and Arc System Works (sans the website link) on the touch screen.
• The Japanese version displays the Arc System Works logo first, then the logo for "ドリーム パレット" (Dream Palette), the franchise consisting solely of this game and Rockin' Pretty (not counting the other Diva Girls games). Both screens only display logos on the top screen and nothing on the touch screen.

Japan	Europe	US