Xexyz

Xexyz
Also known as: Kame no Ongaeshi: Urashima Densetsu (JP) Developers: Atlus, Sofix Publisher: Hudson Soft Platform: NES Released in JP: August 26, 1988 Released in US: March 1990 This game has regional differences.

To do: Game doesn't contain an intro outside of the Japanese version and has loads of other small differences. This video documents most of them. Here's a page with all of the JP endings. There also seems to be unused sprites in the game.

Regional Differences

To do: Get the intro screenshots.

Story

In Kame no Ongaeshi: Urashima Densetsu, there is an intro that plays out after starting the game. According to said story, it's a more futuristic version of the famous Japanese fairy tale, Urashima Taro, a story of a fisherman who is taken to an underwater world after saving a turtle. The main character, Ken Urashima, a descendant of Urashima Taro, while on a beach, saves a turtle from a crab by firing a hand wave at it. The turtle thanks him and tells Urashima that their kingdom, the Dragon Kingdom, is being attacked by the "Machine Beast Empire". Urashima then gets in some space armor and the turtle takes him to the kingdom, and then the game begins.

In Xexyz, this intro is no longer present, and it jumps straight into the action. The only way to know the story in Xexyz is the manual, which explains that it takes place in 2777, in a post-apocalyptic future. After much nuclear devastation and war, only five small islands remained. These five islands form the nation of Xexyz, where humans, fairies, and spirits lived in peace for hundreds of years, ruled by King Xeu Star at the time prior to the game’s events. One day, an alien, mechanical being known as Goruza attacked Xexyz, and due to their lack of weapons, the latter was forced to surrender. Afterwards, Goruza built mechanical castles on each island and captured their queens. Xeu Star was also murdered, and his daughter, Maria Star, was also kidnapped. The soldier Apollo, unable to endure Goruza’s cruel treatment of the people of Xexyz, decides to armor up and takes the fight to Goruza.

Due to this story change, many bits of turtle symbolism in the game are removed, except for Area 10's Cyborg Rider, which looks like a turtle. Oddly, that Cyborg Rider still appears in Xexyz's title screen.

Title Screen

Kame no Ongaeshi	Xexyz

Of course, the title screen is different, but much more detailed, with a turtle flying in space. Xexyz's title screen is much simpler, but has a nice little 3D-looking title. Also, the music played on this screen in Kame no Ongaeshi is also the ending music, while Xexyz uses the music used in Area 9, 11, and the fight with Goruza's base. Also, the cursor is a turtle in Kame no Ongaeshi, while it's a star in Xexyz, due to the aforementioned removal of any connections to the Urashima Taro tale.

Sprite Differences

To do: There's a few more.

Kame no Ongaeshi	Xexyz

The cannon robots were replaced with more alien-looking robots in Xexyz.

Kame no Ongaeshi	Xexyz

These frogs that can heal you have only a minor change. The hand-rest on the throne is lower. In Kame no Ongaeshi, there's also ケロ ("kero", meaning the sound a frog makes in Japanese) on the side of the throne.

Kame no Ongaeshi	Xexyz

The heads of the statues that give the Force Stars are different between both versions.

Kame no Ongaeshi	Xexyz

The floating heads seen in the trapped fairy rooms and the bathtub rooms (in Xexyz, though) were given a bit of a facelift in Xexyz.

Kame no Ongaeshi	Xexyz

The bathtub ladies were given a complete overhaul in Xexyz.

Kame no Ongaeshi	Xexyz

The fish-on-legs robots were replaced by another alien-looking robot in Xexyz.

Kame no Ongaeshi	Xexyz

The hint-giving robots were given a more futuristic design in Xexyz, instead of the goofy look in Kame no Ongaeshi.

Kame no Ongaeshi	Xexyz

This change also applies to the money game and power-up/magic item seller robots. The palette shown is the one of the money game robot's.

Kame no Ongaeshi	Xexyz

The piranha-looking Cyborg Rider in some of the mechanical castles are given a wide-eyed appearance in Kame no Ongaeshi, as well as given a different design. Xexyz changes it to be more robotic.

Other Differences

• The floating heads in the captured fairy rooms also appear in the bathtub lady rooms in Xexyz, but not in Kame no Ongaeshi. In the latter, you have to hit the faucet multiple times to save the bathtub lady.
• In Kame no Ongaeshi, beating the bosses of Areas 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9, you get a sequence of the just-rescued queen dancing with random things circling around them. These sequences were removed in Xexyz.
• In Kame no Ongaeshi, after beating the game, you are given a cutscene with a turtle and a treasure chest. The turtle gives three options that all have to do with the treasure chest: Open it, leave it, or throw it. If you open it, Ken ends up on the beach from the intro, and meets a girl who looks similar to Otohime XVIII. The two then marry and live happily ever after. If you leave it, Ken ends up in front of Otohime XVIII, and the two marry and Ken becomes king of the Dragon Kingdom. If you throw it, Ken ends up on the beach once more, but all alone. He then gets transformed into some plankton creature as divine punishment for throwing the chest away. In Xexyz, only one ending - the "leave it" ending - is seen, with Apollo marrying Maria Star and becoming king of the Xexyz Kingdom. To compensate, two passwords are given in Xexyz, one allowing you to do the odd-numbered levels, and the other allowing you to do the even-numbered levels.