Professor Layton and the Curious Village

Professor Layton and the Curious Village
Also known as: Layton Kyouju to Fushigi na Machi (JP), Layton Gyosuwa Isanghan Maeul (KO) Developer: Level-5 Publishers: Level-5 (JP), Nintendo Platform: Nintendo DS Released in JP: February 15, 2007, October 23, 2008 (Friendly-ban) Released in US: February 10, 2008 Released in EU: November 7, 2008 Released in AU: April 10, 2008 Released in KR: September 11, 2008 This game has unused graphics. This game has regional differences.

This game's online features are no longer supported. While this game's online features were once accessible, they are (as of May 20, 2014) no longer officially supported and online-exclusive features may be documented as now-unseen content.

To do: Document the many text differences between the US and UK versions (ex. puzzle names being different for the same puzzles). Compare the title screen between different versions.

Originally intended to be a simple improvement over Nintendo’s Brain Age series with the collaboration of Akira Tago, Professor Layton and the Curious Village managed to reach a very high worldwide level of success, despite the first game being localized as the third was already out in Japan. In it, archaeology professor Hershel Layton and his 'apprentice' Luke Triton travel to the town of St. Mystere, where a sought-after enigma known as the 'Golden Apple' is supposedly held.

The game later got a re-release in Japan called the "Friendly Version" (which has furigana over kanji for little kids) with all of the 52 Wi-Fi puzzles unlocked by default.

Sub-Pages

Regional Differences The series tradition of having many regional differences would start with this game.

English Translation Differences (Contains spoilers!) Thankfully not as complicated as the later Layton games.

Lost in Translation The altered puzzles, some of which can be solved without any prior knowledge of Japanese.

Unused Graphics

Prototype Title Screens

This is certainly not the only DS game to have its graphics from the JP version left unused on the localized versions: The odd thing is that an early JP title screen with the 2006 date can be found; the game was released in 2007 in Japan. There is also an old version of the title menu still present with the file-name "temp_select2.arc", indicating it most likely is a placeholder. The most intriguing part is probably an even earlier Japanese title screen, with a completely different title (多湖輝の頭の体操 EX, Tago Akira no Atama no Taisou EX, Tago Akira's Mental Gymnastics EX) with the Akira Tago copyright (In the final, he is not mentioned in the title screen, but rather in the credit roll).

Producer Akihiro Hino mentioned in an interview that the original Layton concept was more of a clone of Brain Age. That concept was revived in 2009 after the release of Layton 4 when Level-5 released the Tago Akira no Atama no Taisou series under the Atamania label: these were four casual puzzle games with less focus on plot which used the DS sideway orientation from Brain Age. Professor Layton and the Curious Village might have been a rebranded Atamania game, just like Layton Brothers for iOS (originally Atamania Mystery Room).

Japanese Leftovers

Some leftovers from the Japanese version of the game exist in the data.

Puzzle 26? (Bottle full of Germs)

The filename "virus_bg.arc" suggest this is the input screen for Puzzle 26. The bare-bones look of this graphic suggests it's an older version used during development of the puzzle.

Puzzle 88 (In a hole)

The Japanese version of puzzle 88. Unchanged in the localized versions.

Puzzle 126 (Red and blue 2)

This puzzle is present in the translated version of the game, in the same way (unchanged). But for some reason this file was kept in the game's data with the Japanese button.

Buttons

Leftover buttons. Yay.

Hint button

"Previous Word"

"Next Word"

Name Entry Screen

These are the keyboards used to enter your name and your dog's name in the Japanese version of the game. Even though the keyboard has been replaced by a handwriting recognition system in the localized versions, the keyboard's graphics can still be found in the data.

File Select Menu

This is an old version of the File Select screen. It has a different design from the final one. It has the filename "testbg.arc" for some reason, which suggests this might have been one of the first actual background images in the game.

Trunk

Not used in either version. It's most likely a old design for the trunk.

Puzzle "intro"

This is an old version of the puzzle "intro" screen used to show puzzle number and title. Since it's an old version which is unused, in all versions it's in Japanese.

One Poor Pooch Description

This is an early description of the puzzle One Poor Pooch. The top right button is for hints and the bottom left says "return."

Puzzle Solved Screen

This is the screen in which the picarats earned and a short explanation of why the solution was correct is given. This is from the "Unfriendly" Japanese version of the game.

Movie Playback Top-Screen

This is the top screen from the movie playback menu from the Japanese version found in the bonus option from the main menu.

Early Puzzle Solve

Graphics exist within the files that resemble an early version of the Professor's 'Correct' puzzle solve animation.

Placeholder Graphics

The introductory scenes- when Layton hands Luke the letter while on their way to the village in the Laytonmobile- have early graphics. They seem to be crudely drawn and have a "hard-subbed" Demo Skip inscription. They were probably intended to serve as placeholder graphics.

This odd Dragon Quest-like monster is used as a placeholder for NPC dialogue graphics.

This checkered background was most likely used during development as a BG placeholder. There is also a completely white background present in the game's data. Its usage is unknown.

This BG was most likely used during development of the puzzles which use scales like, for example, Puzzle 6. This is likely because it has two platforms and a box to put the lightest weight in just like Puzzle 6. The filename of this graphic is "scale_bg.arc".

Unused Demo Graphics

Three buttons, leftovers from a demo.

Unused Puzzle

The European version of the game includes an unused puzzle (internally referred to as the 163rd puzzle) that is potentially a variant of the first puzzle in the game. The puzzle, despite making use of the same "circle the location" formula as the first puzzle, features a different riddle, less detailed graphics and text for the first hint. It's also interesting to note that all text has been translated to all European languages, as well as Korean, despite this puzzle being completely absent from the Japanese and American versions of the game.

(Source: Patataofcourse)