Sonson (Arcade)

Sonson
Developer: Capcom Publisher: Capcom Platform: Arcade (custom) Released in JP: July 1984 Released in US: 1984 This game has unused enemies. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused items. This game has regional differences.

Sonson is an action game loosely based on Journey to the West. Sonson and Tonton must fight their way to Heaven to save some guys.

Unused Graphics

	Unused characters in the game's font: A number sign, alpha, beta, and pi. These could have appeared in the game's High Score name entry.
	Unused Game Over graphic. In-game, "Game Over" just uses the game's font.
	Two sets of unused bonuses. The big food items give 1,000 points, 2,000 points, 3,000...etc. The X500 point variants aren't used. The other set contains bonuses much larger than 10,000 points, the highest bonus in the game.
	Unused small enemy bonuses. The only enemy point values are 50 and 150.
	An unused ghost-type enemy. It has animations for walking and dying.
	It's a rice ball. This is an unused big food item.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Early Graphics

These graphics are stored in the graphics ROMs and are earlier versions of existing graphics.

Stage Graphics

Early	Final

The older red pepper has no shading at all.

Early	Final

An alternate version of the Round 14 graphics. These blocks are in a much worse state of disrepair.

Object Graphics

Early	Final

In addition to lacking the little confetti around the number, the design of the 2 and 3 have changed.

Early	Final

The older Chain enemy design has a purple shirt, green shoes, and no black outlines. This is the only frame left in the ROM.

Early	Final

The bow around the scroll is yellow and missing its black outline, and the ends of the scrolls are yellow instead of silver.

The older scroll uses palette 17, and the final design uses palette 19.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Regional Differences

Dip Switch Changes

In the North American game, Dip Switch 2C, when not flipped, will allow a 2 Player game to be started for only 1 Credit rather than 2 Credits.

In the Japanese game, Dip Switch 2C does nothing. 2 Credits are always needed for a 2 Player game.

(Source: MAME sonson driver)

Name Entry

Japan	North America

The Japanese High Score letter set is mostly Hiragana and Katakana characters, with some symbols mixed in.
The North American game uses the standard alphabet but shares the same symbols as the Japanese set.

Additionally, in the Japanese game, the blank space in-between each set of characters can be selected and entered as a character.
The blank spaces can no longer be selected in the North American game.

(Source: Original TCRF research)