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Proto:Donkey Kong Land III/Japanese

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This is a sub-page of Proto:Donkey Kong Land III.

How about a nice leek in this trying time?
This page or section details content from the September 2020 Nintendo Leak.
Check the September 2020 Nintendo Leak category for more pages also sourced from this material.
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This article is a work in progress.
...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes.

An early prototype of the Japanese version of Donkey Kong Land III was part of the September 2020 Nintendo leaks. This prototype was likely built off of English v1.1. It also notably lacks any Game Boy Color support.

General Differences

  • The game's title differs from both the final English version and the final Japanese version. In the Japanese prototype, the title is Donkey Kong Land 2, continuing from the previous title which was Donkey Kong Land in Japan. The logo is based on the English v1.1 logo, where "Donkey Kong Land" is all on one line, but the 2 is new. The final version uses katakana instead and renames it to ドンキーコングGB ディンキーコング&ディクシーコング, which translates to "Donkey Kong GB: Dinky Kong & Dixie Kong".
English (v1.1) Japanese (Proto) Japanese (Final)
DKL3 GB Title v2.png DKL2 J Proto Title.png DKL3 GBC Title.png
  • As noted above, the Japanese version lacks Game Boy Color support, but still has Super Game Boy support. The final version completely removes Game Boy and Super Game Boy support in favor of Game Boy Color support.
  • The Japanese prototype has a 512 KB ROM and is an MBC1 cart, like the English version. The final Japanese version expands the ROM size to 1 MB and is an MBC5 cart instead.
  • World map animations were removed in the Japanese prototype, which were present in the English version. This was possibly done because new code or data was added to ROM bank 05, which seemingly necessitated the removal of code to animate the maps (though the graphics for each frame are still present in both the prototype and final, starting at ROM offset 7CF24).
    • The subroutine to animate the maps contains a single "ret" instruction at 1483E in the Japanese prototype (it starts at 1641A in the English version). Strangely, even though the ROM size was doubled in the final Japanese version, with several empty ROM banks, the code to animate the maps was not added back in, still containing a "ret" instruction (at 14910 in the final version).
English Japanese (Proto) Japanese (Final)
DKL3 GB animation.gif DKL2 J Proto map.gif DKL3 GBC map.gif
  • In Time Attack mode, the Japanese prototype does not display the player's last time, unlike in the English version. The code to display this was removed completely. Tiles that read さいごのタイム (the Japanese translation of "last time") appear in VRAM from 9580 to 95EF, but are never displayed in-game. This remains unchanged in the final Japanese game.
    • As with the world map animations, the ROM bank that where the code to display the player's last time resided in the English version (05) seemingly did not have enough room for this code to remain in the Japanese version (possibly due to addition of other data, text, or code in the same bank, including but not limited to the credits text for the Japanese translation team, which is in the same bank), which might explain why the code was removed. Again, as with the world map animations, even though the ROM size was doubled in the final, and ROM bank 05 had empty space, the code was inexplicably not restored.
English Japanese (Proto) Japanese (Final)
DKL3 GB Time Attack.png DKL2 J Proto Time Attack.png DKL3 GBC Time Attack.png
  • Bear's animation was removed in the Japanese prototype and remained that way in the final version. The reason for this is unknown. All of the graphics for Bear remain in both the prototype and final Japanese versions, in ROM offsets 1F420-1F97F.
English Japanese (Proto) Japanese (Final)
DKL3 GB Bear.gif DKL2 J Proto Bear.png DKL3 GBC Bear.png
  • The Japanese prototype fixed the bug where it was possible to enter the Lost World early in the English version if the player loaded a saved file that already had unlocked the Lost World, soft reset with A + B + Select + Start, and loaded a different file with the path to the Lost World already accessible.
    • However, the variation of the bug where the player can access K. Rool's Last Stand (by loading a different file with six Watches and access to the level, soft resetting, and loading another file with the path to the level accessible) was not fixed in this prototype. However, it was fixed in the Japanese final version.
  • The text (when talking to Bear or Wrinkly) scrolls one kana at a time, unlike the English version which displayed all the text at once. This change remained in the final version.
  • Because the prototype is still a GB/SGB game, the Jetty Jitters demo does not desync, unlike in the final Japanese version which has GBC double-speed support.

Text Changes

English Japanese (Proto) Japanese (Final)
DKL3 E Bear Teleport.png DKL2 J Proto Bear Teleport.png

コイン5枚でしんテレポートの
テストドライブができるよ
For 5 coins, you can take the new Teleport for a test drive.

DKL3 J Final Bear Teleport.png

コイン5枚でテレポートの
テストドライブができるよ
For 5 coins, you can take the Teleport for a test drive.

When Bear proffers the Teleport, it's "new" in the prototype, but apparently it aged significantly by the final. Strangely, this makes the final translation less accurate than the prototype's.

English Japanese (Proto) Japanese (Final)
DKL3 E Final Bear Hint Surface Tension.png DKL2 J Proto Bear Hint Surface Tension.png

ひょうめんのドキドキ
KOをかくまえに
おちろ
Tension on the Surface:
Drop down before you write KO.

DKL3 J Final Bear Hint Surface Tension.png

ひょうめんのドキドキ
Oをとるまえに
おちろ
Tension on the Surface:
Drop down before you take the O.

This hint for the bonus stage in Surface Tension (located beneath the level's KONG "O") was rephrased to be more direct.

English Japanese (Proto) Japanese (Final)
DKL3 E Final Bear Hint Karbine Kaos.png DKL2 J Proto Bear Hint Karbine Kaos.png

ファイアーボール カービン
これはちょっと
むずかしいよ
Fireball Carbine:
This is a little tricky.

DKL3 J Final Bear Hint Karbine Kaos.png

ファイアーボール カービン
スクイッターで
上にいけ
Fireball Carbine:
Go up with Squitter.

The hint for Karbine Kaos is meant to suggest that Squitter is required to reach the bonus area, but the prototype translation rephrases it in a way that completely obscures the intended meaning. It was fixed for the final by...just telling the player exactly what to do.

English Japanese (Proto) Japanese (Final)
DKL3 E Final Bear Hint Rickety Rapids.png DKL2 J Proto Bear Hint Rickety Rapids.png

ながれに気をつけろ
ほしがみえるまえに
ころべ
Beware the Current:
Roll before you see the stars.

DKL3 J Final Bear Hint Rickety Rapids.png

ながれに気をつけろ
ほしがみえるまえに
おちろ
Beware the Current:
Drop down before you see the stars.

The Rickety Rapids bonus stage, found by dropping down a pit near the Star Barrel, had its hint slightly tweaked for the final. The verb used in the prototype translation can mean either "fall down" or "roll over"; this was possibly misinterpreted as referring to the Kongs' rolling ability.

English Japanese (Proto) Japanese (Final)
DKL3 E Final Bear Hint Whiplash Dash.png DKL2 J Proto Bear Hint Whiplash Dash.png

ダクトコースター
さいしょに目にするものの
もっと先にむかえ
Duct Coaster:
Go beyond the first thing you see.

DKL3 J Final Bear Hint Whiplash Dash.png

ダクトコースター
コイン1つで
まんぞくするな
Duct Coaster:
Don't be content with one coin.

Whiplash Dash's second Bonus Barrel is hidden via an invisible Blast Barrel slightly beyond the first one. The prototype uses a direct translation of the original hint for this, but for some reason it was completely changed for the final (becoming much less helpful in the process). Perhaps test players mistook it to mean the bonus stage was near the start of the level?

English (Proto) English (Final) Japanese (Proto) Japanese (Final)
DKL3 E Proto K Rool secrets not found.png DKL3 E Final K Rool secrets not found.png DKL2 J Proto K Rool secrets not found.png

時計を6こみつけて、
おれとしょうぶしな
You need to find the six Watches and fight me.

DKL3 J Final K Rool secrets not found.png

時計6ことDKコインを
ぜんぶもってきたのか
それならおれがあいてしてやるぜ
Did you bring the six Watches and all the DK Coins?
If you do, you're up against me!

This message appears in K. Rool's Last Stand when the player tries to enter the level without having enough DK Coins or Watches. In addition to being beefed up for the final, the Japanese prototype's message makes no mention of the DK Coin requirement. Interestingly, the English prototype's message didn't mention DK Coins at all either, suggesting that the Japanese prototype's message was based off the English prototype's one. However, DK Coins were not actually required in the English prototype, whereas they are everywhere else, including the Japanese prototype.

English (Proto) English (Final) Japanese (Proto) Japanese (Final)
DKL3 E Proto K Rool secrets found.png DKL3 E Final K Rool secrets found.png DKL2 J Proto K Rool secrets found.png

時計を6こみつけたのだな
じゅうぶんつよいとおもうなら、
かかってこい
So you found the six Watches.
If you think you're tough enough, bring it on!

DKL3 J Final K Rool secrets found.png

時計6ことDKコインをぜんぶみつけたな
じゅうぶんつよいとおもうなら、
かかってこい
So you found the six Watches and all the DK Coins.
If you think you're tough enough, bring it on!

Similarly, the message for when the player has collected everything doesn't mention the DK Coins either.