Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones/Regional Differences

To do: Document the stat changes for characters and classes.source:http://serenesforest.net/general/localisation-changes/gameplay/ and http://serenesforest.net/general/localisation-changes/gameplay/the-sacred-stones-base-stats/

Graphics

Health Warning Logo

There is no health warning screen when starting up the game in the Japanese version.

Opening Demo

In the Japanese version the character names in the intro are written out in English letters and Japanese. Aside from changing "Eirik" to "Eirika", the English letters remain and the Japanese katakana was removed.

Japan	US

The background that the character portraits in the intro appear over was changed. The Japanese version might actually be some sort of animation error, as in context the US backgound makes more sense. The portraits fly in over the blue background, but it then changes to the gold texture and the blue background flickers in and out when the game switches to the next set of portraits in the Japanese version.

Japan	US

Title Screen

Of course, the title screen was translated. The small English "Fire Emblem" was removed, as it would be very redundant in the English version.

The drop-shadow on the primary logo doesn't seem to fall as far in English. "Press start" was changed to "Press START", and the subtitle scroll was adjusted for the length of the English subtitle. The copyright year was also adjusted, as The Sacred Stones released in English the year after its Japanese release.

Japan	US

Miscellaneous

The buttons in the sound room were redrawn and recolored somewhat. The music numbers also seem to have been raised a pixel or two for some reason.

Japan	US

The skirmish occurring at the world map location Bethroen had its Fog of War palette changed from nighttime to ... well, fog.

Japan	US

The flash that plays when a unit of the Assassin class instakills an enemy with the Silencer skill was changed from red to purple. This is somewhat curious, as the previous game had this animation and it was unchanged in all regions.

Japan	US

When engaging a randomly generated enemy on the world map the Japanese version declares "Opening of a Battle!"; in the international versions the text simply reads "Skirmish!".

Japan	US

Gameplay Changes

All localizations

• Joshua does not have the "do not attack Natasha" AI in the Japanese release; he will attack her if she is in his movement range. In the international releases he will not attack Natasha.
• Amelia’s starting Level in Eirika’s Chapter 13 was reduced from 5 to 4.
• Pablo and Riev in their second encounters were changed to have the same stats as the first time you fought them (their stats were higher in the Japanese version).
• Several bosses had their stats and levels increased, and some enemy levels were increased.
• Conversely, enemies on Easy Mode and Hard Mode are now 2 levels weaker.
• The Rapier and Reginleif’s (previously non-existent) effective bonus towards Mage Knights was fixed.
• Many weapons were altered, such as the lowering of Siegmunde’s Might (19 to 17), and the raising of the Brave Axe’s worth (2250 to 7500).
• Several characters had their growth rates tinkered with; Lyon’s in particular were greatly improved (he had lots of 10% growths before).
• A few classes had their maximum stats adjusted.
• The final boss is equipped with a Ravager instead of a Demon Light.
• In the Japanese version the Gorgon class has 'flying' movement type, this allows it to cross over terrain most units cannot (Example: mountains, thicket, which are impassable for most units). The class was changed to have a non-flying movement type in non-Japanese releases. As Gorgons aren't depicted as flying creatures in this game this change was presumably the correction of some sort of error.

Transfer Data

The Transfer Data feature is only used in the Japanese release. Its menu graphics exist for every language, but, as mentioned, was only used in Japanese.

Event Distribution Items

To do: Confirm EU names.

These items were distributed at events in Japan with the above transfer feature, and are unused in every other region. (And essentially Japan too, at this point, as said distributions haven't run in ages.)

ID	Weapon Name	Range	Might	Hit	Weight	Critical	Weapon rank	Durability	Worth	Flavor Text	Notes
81	Shadowkiller	1	5	90	5	5	E Sword	60	Cannot be sold.	Effective against monsters.	Effective against monsters.
82	Bright Lance	1	7	90	8	5	E Lance	60	Cannot be sold.	Effective against monsters.	Effective against monsters.
83	Fiendcleaver	1	8	75	10	5	E Axe	60	Cannot be sold.	Effective against monsters.	Effective against monsters.
84	Beacon Bow	2	6	85	5	5	E Bow	60	Cannot be sold.	Effective against monsters.	Effective against monsters. Probably effective against flying units?
B7	Juna Fruit	--	--	--	--	--	--	1	Cannot be sold.	Give this to a worthy unit and see what happens.	Has a very unique effect for the series at the time. When used by a unit at level 10 or above, this lowers said units level by a random amount between 1-5 without changing the unit's stats. This would allow for that unit get get more level ups-and thus stat points.

(Source: Fireemblemwiki.org)

Text Changes

Character Names

Some character name changes occurred from the Japanese to English localization.

Japanese	Translation	English
コーマ	Coma	Colm
アスレイ	Asseray	Artur
ターナ	Turner	Tana
ヒーニアス	Heanus	Innes
ジスト	Xyst	Gerik
マリカ	Marica	Marisa
クーガー	Cugar	Cormag
ケセルダ	Cethelreda	Caellach
アーヴ	Irv	Riev
フォデス	Fodeth	Fomortiis

European Version

The US English and European English revisions have no name differences. However, several other names were changed for other European languages:

German Version:

• Duessel's name was changed to Duenell possibly because Duessel is a real-life German surname.

Spanish Version:

• Innes`s name was changed to James.
• Fado's name was changed to Vari.
• Tirado`s name was changed to Tatoh possibly because Tirado is a real-life Spanish surname.

Italian Version:

• Tana's name was changed to Dana.
• As stated above, Eirik had her name changed to Eirika for the international versions. However, the Italian localization went further and changed it to Erika.

(Source: Fireemblemwiki.org)

Class Names

As with the previous game, several classes were renamed from Japanese. A few of these are minor tweaks that seem to have been made with limited menu space in mind.

Japanese	Translation	English
ソシアルナイト	Social Knight	Cavalier
山賊	Mountain Thief	Brigand
シスター	Sister	Cleric
かけだし戦士	Novice Fighter	Journeyman
アーマーナイト	Armor Knight	Knight
ドラゴンマスター	Dragon Master	Wyvern Lord
ドラゴンナイト	Dragon Knight	Wyvern Rider
剣士	Swordfighter	Myrmidon
フォレストナイト	Forrest Knight	Ranger
マムクート	Mamkute	Manakete
ゾンビ	Zombie	Revenant
マミー	Mummy	Entombed
ビグル	Bigl	Mogall
アークビグル	Arch Bigl	Arch Mogall
スケルトン	Skeleton	Bonewalker
ヘルボーン	Hellbone	Wight
マグダイル	Macdaire	Maelduin
デスガーゴイル	Death Gargoyle	Deathgoyle
ケルベロス	Cerberus	Gwyllgi
ドラゴンゾンビ	Dragon Zombie	Draco Zombie

Other Name Changes

• The location name Grado had its name changed to Graze in the Italian localization.
• The location name Rausten had its name changed to Raust in the Italian localization.

Removal of Alcohol References

While this game's localized script is generally unchanged from Japanese, the support set for Garcia and Dozla was changed to remove references to them trying out many kinds of alcohol and getting drunk. The localization preserved the general content of the first conversion, but it diverges a bit in the later conversations. In the localization they end up trying out many different weapons (and end up hurting themselves in amusing ways).

In the C support the two discuss what they had for breakfast, and how breakfast is an important meal for a warrior. Dozla mentions he drank nothing but alcohol that morning in Japanese. The English version instead says all he had for breakfast was... knowledge. In Japanese they discuss that the youths in the army don't drink much alcohol, while the English version has them discuss how the youths in the army don't practice with many weapons.

The B support once again removes alcohol references, them discussing the drinks they had earlier is changed to them discussing their sparring match earlier. In Japanese they discuss how axemen and alcohol go together well, and how you meet friends in the strangest places. In the English there are amusing lines about Garcia managing to shoot himself with a bow... somehow. In English the conversation ends with them deciding to try magic next.

The A support is completely different, Garcia talks about his son and Dozla talks about L'Arachel (the princess he is guarding), and the conversation ends with them both sharing a drink. The English version ends with a very amusing but less heartfelt conversation recounting their misadventures with magic. (Garcia manages to burn off Dozla's beard with a healing staff.)

Sound Room

Several of the song names in the Japanese version are spelled out in English. A few of these English names were changed in the international versions.

Japan	International
Follow me!	Follow Me!
Sadness time	Sorrow
Comical time	Laughter
Work out a plot	Solve the Riddle

(Source: Fireemblemwiki.net)

Errors

• In Gilliam and Garcia's C Support, Garcia calls Gilliam "Garcia" during the part where Garcia challenges Gilliam to arm-wrestle him. This same typo appeared in the Japanese version, the US localization did not fix this, though the European version corrected this.

All English Localizations

• In the Japanese version, in Neimi and Gilliam's A Support, Neimi refers to Colm. In the English version, Neimi instead refers to Cormag, which doesn`t make sense since Neimi and Cormag don't interact. This error was caused due to Cormag being written similar to "Coma", which is Colm's Japanese name.
• In Kyle and Syrene's C Support, Kyle calls Syrene “Selena”. Syrene and Selena's names are pretty similar, which explains the names getting mixed-up.