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Below, you can see the U.S. and Japanese endings. While I think the U.S. game is more generic, it actually has the BETTER ending! How do you do that? I have no idea HOW you pull that off exactly, but I think you may agree with me. In the Japanese game, Satan only says one lousy statement when he is defeated. The Japanese ending also doesn't have Jajamaru and Princess Sakura inside of a heart or anything like that. In the U.S. ending, the giant turtle takes them to the beach (and they eventually leave when the screen gets dark) while the Japanese ending has the frog take you to a field of flowers. OBSERVE!

The next string of images show the special weapons that you gain from certain mini-bosses. The items are needed to beat the main boss of the level. The most obvious item change is the one you get from Wolfman. The U.S. version has you use garlic to fight Dracula whereas the Japanese version has you use a cross to defeat him.

So I am finally done...or am I? Despite everything I said, there are still other differences that I have not shown you. I could take images, but they are such small things, I think it would be better to just list them instead:

• Japanese version has 14 stages instead of 15. There are only two underwater levels.
• The enemies of the first stage of the U.S. game are on the last level of the Japanese game.
• In the U.S. game, the screen may turn dark while you are fighting certain bosses.
• While both games have a few different enemies, the U.S. game has Sumo Wrestlers on the last level since it didn't have enough Japanese culture in it.
• In the U.S. game, enemies restore less life when defeated. However, the enemies themselves deal less damage. In the Japanese game, enemies restored more life and dealt more damage, but were easier to handle.
• When you defeat a boss (or mini-boss) in the U.S. game, they burst into many souls that restore life and you have a brief moment to grab some. This does not happen in the Japanese game.
• When you fire harpoons upward (in both games) on the underwater levels, they move slower than when shot in other directions.
• When fighting Dracula, he bursts into bats to attack you. In the Japanese game, four Japanese characters appear when he does this that spell "Ba-Sa-Ba-Sa". "Basabasa" is actually a Japanese term that can mean "rustle" and the Japanese like to use words like that in manga and the sort. It's the equivalent of U.S. onomatopoeia in which we spell out sound effects like "POW!" or "WHAP!". "Basabasa" may be the equivalent of "RUSTLE!" or something similar.
• For some strange reason, Maru will bounce for every shuriken you throw while you are on the ceiling in the U.S. game. This does not happen in the Japanese game.

You must also know....*Vyse gets angry stares from viewers*.......Okay, okay. I don't have much else to say about Maru's Mission. There are probably a couple of small differences that I may have forgotten, but this is about as complete a comparison guide for this game (and its counterpart) as it gets. Why did I do it? I asked myself the same thing when I sat down and made this. It's about as big as 3 or 4 articles in and of itself. In the end, I just slapped the corny "passion of gaming" excuse on it. I don't even like Maru's Mission, but I want you to know something; I feel that all games should have good coverage, not just the ones I like. Take care.

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