Final Fantasy IV (Japan) & Final Fantasy IV (Japan) (Rev A)

[layzee]

For those of you who don't know/forgot (just about everybody), Final Fantasy IV [SHVC-F4] for the Super Famicom was released in Japan twice. Apparently, the first release was unsatisfactory enough to the extent that it was quickly replaced by the second release (Revision A, or if you prefer Version 1.1). According to this website, the initial release was or is "extremely rare".

I have two copies of the game: one with the "A" imprint on the back, and one without. Without having the tools to open up the cart and without planning to get the tools in the future (I'm not a dumper and don't plan to be one), is there a way to confirm early in-game whether the latter cart is for sure, the initial release or not? I don't know if I recall it correctly, but I think the initial release had bugs or something similar. If true, then identification of the respective carts should be easier.

Perhaps "Yakushi Kabuto" (if I remember his name correctly) from France (if I remember his nationality correctly) can assist? He is, after all, the one who released the initial FFIV release for No-Intro several years ago. I think he went through 100+ Rev A FFIV carts or something. It's like trying to find a needle in a haystack!

Found his release thread: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=658

Re: SNES New Dump - Y~K's Super Famicom \ Yakushi~Kabuto on 30th December 2007, 17:29 wrote:

Final Fantasy IV (Japan)

A little history. Final Fantasy IV (Japan) had a bug in the program which was discovered very shortly after the release, a Revision A has quickly replaced the initial release in stores. The initial release is now extremely hard to find. According to the data I gathered, there is an average of 100 Rev A carts for every initial release cartridge. Some japanese hoarders are also stocking initial release cartridges to decrease the chance of finding it.

[Sir VG]

I think the bugs if I remember correctly are actually involved with the Zeromus fight, at the end of the game. My memory is really fuzzy, so I don't know for certain.

[layzee]

I think the bugs if I remember correctly are actually involved with the Zeromus fight, at the end of the game. My memory is really fuzzy, so I don't know for certain.

End of the game? I might have to do a speed run then (the cart currently has no save file).

[layzee]

Bump because I'm still interested.

[C. V. Reynolds]

This guide lists some differences:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/snes/588330-fin ... faqs/54945

It's by Deathlike2, one of the foremost authorities on the game.

[layzee]

Thanks for your reply. Actually, I have read that guide before and it's actually missing the ROM that I am after.

Here's a summary of all known SFC/SNES FFIV ROMs:

Final Fantasy II (USA) 65d0a825 (derived from 6cda700c)
Final Fantasy II (USA) (Rev 1) 23084fcd (derived from 6cda700c)
Final Fantasy IV (Japan) 21027c5d
Final Fantasy IV (Japan) (Rev 1) caa15e97
Final Fantasy IV - Easy Type (Japan) 6cda700c

The one in bold (middle) is missing from the guide. I also posted a thread on that game's board and Deathlike2 himself confirmed that he wasn't aware of this specific ROM: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/522596-f ... i/59213374

Furthermore, shortly after, Deathlike2 posted a thread on his own forum (which I assume is for hardcore FFIV enthusiasts) regarding this issue: http://slickproductions.org/forum/index ... pic=1609.0

Since they expressed some doubt over the existence of the v1.0 JP ROM, they probably weren't aware of it either.

[Rifu]

Here's a summary of all known SFC/SNES FFIV ROMs:

Final Fantasy II (USA) 65d0a825 (derived from 6cda700c)
Final Fantasy II (USA) (Rev 1) 23084fcd (derived from 6cda700c)
Final Fantasy IV (Japan) 21027c5d
Final Fantasy IV (Japan) (Rev 1) caa15e97
Final Fantasy IV - Easy Type (Japan) 6cda700c

The one in bold (middle) is missing from the guide.

Attached an xDelta3 patch to go from CAA15E97-Final Fantasy IV (Japan) (Rev 1) to 21027C5D-Final Fantasy IV (Japan) and back again

To apply, use xdelta3z (download from xdelta.org) and use the command line:
xdelta.exe -d -vfs "old.sfc" "patch.xdelta" "new.sfc"

Hope this is what you needed

[layzee]

Hope this is what you needed

Not really, but thanks for trying anyway.

[C. V. Reynolds]

Strange. The guide actually does reference Japanese carts 1.0 and 1.1 and lists a few differences between them, such as the row bug. You're saying that there is another Japanese cart besides those two and the Easy Type?

[layzee]

Strange. The guide actually does reference Japanese carts 1.0 and 1.1 and lists a few differences between them, such as the row bug. You're saying that there is another Japanese cart besides those two and the Easy Type?

The guide only references the following:

SNES: Final Fantasy II (USA) v1.0 and v1.1
GBA: Final Fantasy IV Advance v1.0 and v1.1 (all regions including Japan and USA)

When talking about the SNES/SFC FFIV game bugs, it only lists as such:

(affects FF2US [both 1.0 and 1.1] and FF4)

So at the time of writing, the FAQ author obviously wasn't aware of a v1.0 SFC FFIV (JPN).

[C. V. Reynolds]

Oh, oops. I see now. I was looking at it like this:

FF4A US/Jap 1.0 Version - Any character in the back row suffers from the
back row penalty outlined in the physical damage algo. The game totally
ignores the back row bit, so even weapons that are naturally back row
compatible such as whips automatically suffer by default.

FF4A Euro/Jap 1.1 version - In a poor attempt to "fix" this bug, any
character in the back row will never suffer from the back row penalty. In
fact, it doesn't even matter if the weapon is back row compatible or not.
A whip in the back row is just as good as a knife or dagger. However, Bows
and Arrows are the exception...

I must have been reading it wrong, because I thought it meant "FF4 Advance USA / FF4 SNES JPN, etc. If I find anything out, I'll let you know. However, it might be worth it to try out some of the Advance differences on the SNES versions and see what you get.

[layzee]

I must have been reading it wrong, because I thought it meant "FF4 Advance USA / FF4 SNES JPN, etc. If I find anything out, I'll let you know. However, it might be worth it to try out some of the Advance differences on the SNES versions and see what you get.

No problem. Yeah, it was only comparing FFIV Advance USA (v1.0 and v1.1) and FFIV Advance Japan (v1.0 and v1.1).

Anyway, a user here (Devis0r) has advised me of the new Retrode2 device which I am considering buying. With that, I can determine once and for all what version of the game I've got.

If I end up not buying it, I guess I'll have to manually test out the bugs and by trial and error, try to find the version that way.

[badinsults]

You could just buy a screwdriver bit to open your cart. They cost like $2. The revision of the game is printed on the ROM chips.

[layzee]

You could just buy a screwdriver bit to open your cart. They cost like $2. The revision of the game is printed on the ROM chips.

For some reason all this time, I was under the impression that finding the necessary equipment to open a cart would be somewhat costly but it looks like I was terribly wrong. Oh well.

Anyway...

Thanks to a PM from a person on a different forum, it has just come to my attention that my question has been answered (by the same person no less):

http://tcrf.net/The_Legend_of_Zelda:_A_ ... ast_(SNES)

Version Differences
Bug Fixes
Japanese version 1.0 to version 1.1

A significant bug exists in the Japanese 1.0 release which occurs during battle initialization. The programming beginning at SNES address 00896B checks memory addresses 7E1701-7E1702 to get the 16-bit value of the player's current location. If it's location 015A-015C or 0167-017E (all lunar dungeons), the game sets a flag to load a different table of enemy related data. However, the current location isn't accurate on a world map because of a shared memory byte.

On world maps, 7E1702 will continue to store the second byte of the last location visited, but the other half in 7E1701 is now used to store which world map you are on (00 = overworld, 01 = underworld, 02 = moon) The problem starts when you leave location 005A-005C or 0067-007E. These location values include the Misty Cave, Mt. Hobs west entrance, Antlion cave, Toroia basement rooms (use Exit spell), and the water dungeon caves between Kaipo and Damcyan. If you take the airship to the underworld, the result is you now have a current location in the 015A-015C or 0167-017E range even though you're not inside a lunar dungeon.

When you get into a battle on the underworld map, the game uses the wrong table and the enemy AI for most formations is completely broken. In many cases, the enemies cast Stone on themselves over and over until successful, and will never attack your party.



This bug was corrected in the Japanese 1.1 version by first checking if 7E1700 is 03, which signals the battle was started inside a dungeon and not a world map.

No other changes were made between Japanese version 1.0 and 1.1 besides the bug fix.

Now to check if I can reproduce it with my own cart.

[TheShadowRunner]

So this is the story behind this rare v1.0..!
Very interesting, thank you.