Japanese Halo CE | Alterations made for Japan

The infamous Halo CE changed gaming as we know it, and I don't need to explain the monumental changes it made to gaming. In Japan though? Not so much... You see, Japan and FPS games don't typically get along. It's a genre which has thrived well in the west, but struggled to make any kind of impact in the east. Nevertheless Microsoft felt the critical impact of Halo during its US and European launch and took their chances in Japan.

The first notable change is the box art of the game. The iconic cover art we all know and love is gone and is instead replaced with a less visually impressive design. I'm unable to find the reasoning behind such a change but it is a strange one. A strong emphasis on Master Chief is clear with what seems to be a close up shot of the holographic Halo ring being the background. It does emit a strong sci-fi vibe but st the cost of stripping away the iconic Halo imagery. To be honest, it does feel like a very low budget and shoddily put together cover.

Fries was told he couldn't release Halo the way it was in Japan because Japanese players wouldn't be able to deal with the dual sticks. “So we ended up having to make a bunch of modifications for Japanese players and dumb the game down, make an easier version.”

What features was Fries talking about?

Well Microsoft's Corporation Program Manager Tagera explained during an interview that play test sessions were set up for Halo to record feedback from Japanese gamers. With Bungie's oversight, feedback was consistently aimed towards it's difficulty being too hard. Minor adjustments were made to the checkpoint system to make it easier for Japanese gamers but not too much as Tagera didn't want to meddle with the games balance.


Further changes made from these play sessions were the localisation of Japanese voice acting and text; with subtle changes in the text to make gestures more understandable for Japanese audiences. No subtitles were included however, Tagera decided to go against subtitles due to the games heavy action focus. With voice acting, Japanese audiences can listen to the story without being taking their eyes away from the action.

Finally there is discussion on the games difficulty. Due to the poor localisation provided by Google, I'm not entirely sure whether Tagera is stating their were changes in the difficulty on Easy mode for the Japanese release, or just explaining how Easy mode works. So take the information as you will:

"Apart from checking the parameters, if you select the difficulty you select first as a beginner, the hardness of the enemy's armor will change. It collapses relatively easily. The number and appearance points appearing with it will also change. In that sense, I think that it will not die so easily if you start the game in beginner mode."

When the game finally released on the 25th of April the decision was to bundle the game with a guide book. Tagera explains how they weren't able to make too many drastic changes due to Bungies strict rules. Therefore a guidebook would be a great way of helping Japanese gamers to Halo without having to forgo changes to the games code.


Links:

• http://www.ebay.com/itm/HALO-Survival-Game-Guide-Japan-XBox-Book-EB955-/361237042554
  
• http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20020508/halo.htm
  
• https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rUODlNffWmU  17.10