Europe VS USA: Virtue's Last Reward - English & Japanese Voice Differences

I LOVE Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward. It holds pride of place in my top 20 games of all time. (Look to your right and scroll down a bit. :P) I loved the prequel 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors, but as it wasn't released in Europe, my version is a US import copy. Thank the lord for the Nintendo DS being region-free.

Anyway, for some reason, despite the first game in the Zero Escape series not being released here in Europe, the sequel Virtue's Last Reward was, on the PS Vita and the Nintendo 3DS. From what I've heard, the PS Vita version is better, due to the infamous save-erasing crash bug that is present in the 3DS version (which I've never ever come across and I've finished it twice) and because you can choose between the original Japanese voice acting and the English dub version. The 3DS version only has the Japanese audio.

In North America, both versions came with the English dubbed audio set as standard, with the CHOICE to change it to the original Japanese. There shouldn't BE A CHOICE. The original Japanese voice acting is AMAZING. The English dub is FUCKING AWFUL. Just like most animes and Japanese films, any dub is just terrible.

Here's my reasons as to why the Japanese audio is vastly superior:

1) The original was recorded with the original script. Some lines had to be changed for the English translation. Some examples are the character Zero III ending his lines of dialogue with "usa", the Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound a rabbit makes. In the English subtitles, he simply makes funny rabbit puns.

2) The voice actors are AMERICAN. They ham it up far too much and make the funnier lines simply cheesy and the more serious lines cannot be taken seriously at all.

3) In the original Japanese voice acting, the character Dio has a slick, sinister sounding voice. In the English dub, he just sounds like some American douchebag who is trying too hard.

4) In the original Japanese voice acting, the character Zero III manages a cute sounding voice while still managing to be evil and cruel. In the English version, it's just cheesy and makes me dry heave.

5) When the English voice actors swear, there's no feeling in their dialogue. It's like a little kid saying a bad word in front of their grandma.

6) The character models' mouths are synched to the original Japanese dialogue. Thus making for oddly synched mouth movements when they are "speaking" English.

7) The game is Japanese. It has a very Japanese art-style, storyline and characters. Why ruin the integrity by replacing the original lines of dialogue?

Just to prove my point, I've recorded a sound clip of the same point in the game of both the English dub and the original Japanese voice acting. The English one was recorded from a YouTube video, the Japanese one was recorded from my 3DS speakers. (They're embedded below, the Japanese one on the left, the English one on the right.)

I hope you agree with the points I've made and if you buy this game, change the DEFAULT fucking language to what it actually should be. You'll enjoy the game much more. I could NOT play it with the awful English dub, a serious game with dark tones like Virtue's Last Reward does not work with cheesy American voice actors.

Europe VS USA: Spyro 2

Welcome to another of my "Frequent Features" - bear with me, in which I shall be pitting the European versions of games against their US versions, sometimes bringing in the Japanese versions to piss all over them both. :D

Sometimes I'll be comparing censorship, differences, extra content or in this case - the TITLES.
(And don't think I'm biased because I am European, I have subjective opinions too. :D)

Insomniac Games released the sequel to the awesome platformer Spyro The Dragon in 1999 in Europe and the US and in 2000 in Japan - all 3 versions oddly enough having TOTALLY DIFFERENT names. In Europe we got "Spyro 2: Gateway To Glimmer" and the USA got "Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage". (And in Japan they got "Spyro X Sparx Tondemo Tours", but I have no idea where to go with THAT one, so I'm not touching it with a PS1 multitap.)

 

As far as I'm aware, there are no major gameplay, censorship or dialogue differences between the two versions - so we're going to compare the two box arts and their titles.

 

Firstly, the European version: "Gateway To Glimmer". For anyone who has actually played Spyro 2, 'Glimmer' is the very first world of the Summer Forest hubworld, a world made from gem-covered fields and mines inhabited by mice wearing hard-hats subtly named "The Gemcutters". As the game starts, The Professor of Avalar is trying to summon a dragon in order to stop the evil Ripto (who HATES dragons!) and thus Spyro is thrown into the world of Glimmer and left to figure things out on his own.

 

OK, so the game takes its title from the very 1st level. I can't think of many games that actually DO that. Also, Spyro doesn't ever actually voluntarily enter the "gateway" to Glimmer - he's simply warped there. (OK, you can re-enter it after finishing the level, but that's not the point.) So I feel this title is a tad redundant.

 

Onto the US version then: "Ripto's Rage" - as I just mentioned, Ripto is the main antagonist (and not to spoil the plot or anything, probably the most badass of all Spyro bosses - you fight him THREE TIMES IN SUCCESSION!) And indeed, upon Spyro's arrival in Avalar, Ripto is certainly filled with rage - more so every time you crush his pet monsters Crush and Gulp in earlier boss battles.

 

Using the name of the main antagonist in titles is something I like - it draws a difference from the original Spyro and its antagonist Gnasty Gnorc who had taken over the Dragon Kingdom. It also draws instantly on how this game departs from the old Dragon Kingdom into the new world of Avalar, clearly stating that Gnasty Gnorc is no longer prevalent and Spyro now has a new foe to fight.

 

And the box art: weirdly, the European box art has Spyro running away from a Lava Lizard (which aren't from Glimmer, they're from Skelos Badlands) - and Spyro shouldn't be running away from them; he should be roasting their arses before they eat the cavemen! The US box art shows Ripto in the background simmering in rage, surrounded by flames. 'Nuff said. :P

 

VERDICT:

 

 

The USA version has the better box art and the better title. :D

 

 

(See, told you I wasn't biased. :P)