Bomberman Hero version differences (updated)

Bomberman Hero version differences

=Notes=
* The goal of this is to provide a comprehensive list of all changes between regions, partially as a love letter from myself to the game but also for use on tcrf.net. I'm taking screenshots (not emulated; S-Video) of any changes in level geometry or areas that have received significant changes to aid in making the tcrf.net article a better one.
* As English is the newest version, these comparisons are from the perspective that Japanese is the original. Japanese is also the version I am more familiar with, having speedrun it (both Any% and 100%) much, much more than English.
* Many of the items were no doubt just moved around, but for clarity's sake I typically only describe items as having been removed or added.
* English is without question the more difficult version, with more boss health, more enemies, and items placed in more challenging or dangerous locations. In English, 1-ups are scarce and golden hearts are almost always changed to normal ones. Additionally, items that were obscured by parts of the stage have been removed or moved to be visible. (The blue gem behind the prison cell containing a firepower upgrade in Dark Prison has been removed, and the heart behind the circular bit of geometry in Hades Crater has been moved to the left significantly)
* A lot of boxes have been added to the English version, for whatever reason. I think this might be to get the player to worry that a missile might come out of what would have otherwise been a safe, zero risk pickup.
* The numbers listed next to the stage names are the point requirements to obtain a score of 5 in English. The Japanese points requirement follows inside of parentheses.
* English typically requires picking up every item and killing every non-suicidal enemy (e.g., the floating knives, the spiky cyclops bombs in the underwater stages)
* Adok bombs are worth 50 points upon pickup but are removed upon subsequent visits to the stage if completed while having picked it up. As such, they are never required to get a 5 in any level.
* "moved forward" means closer to camera, "moved back" means away from camera.

Link to original: https://pastebin.com/8f39LvNY

=Misc. Differences=
* A screen with text showing the game's title and copyright information has replaced the Hudson logo upon powering on the console
(rest is copied from original, perspective currently reverse of what notes section says lol)
* "NO FILE" on start menu is filled out in red in JP, also in a different font
* Backdrop for "PLANET #, PLANET NAME" is more of a metal plate design in JP. In EN it looks like a crayon
* Bomberman different voice (JP is similar to B64)
* Collected items aren't removed upon exiting the level. In EN, they are. HP is also kept
* Also, upon reset they are all kept. In EN everything is reset
* The Clear Points screen is much more simple in JP. There's no ribbon banner thing like in EN
* Life increases are permanent in JP until game over


===Planet Bomber===

-=Battle Room=- 4500 (3500)
* blue gem in the second pit with the spring man instead of a heart
* R2D2 in pit following the flingers (returning to the other flinger is mandatory to get all the points, so this R2D2 introduces some sense of challenge to the action)
* firepower in path of one of the flingers instead of a heart
* yellow gem on platform reached from the vertical bomb powered platform instead of a 1-up
* heart after trampoline replaced with blue gem
* only two gems on sloped area after spring man and before the chick pit instead of three

-=Hyper Room=- 4000 (3000)
* Card key required for exit leading to Heavy Room
* walkie-talkie placed at start of level explaining the conveyor belt switches
* the blue gems on the right conveyor at the start are now spaced out uniformly
* the right belt in the second set of conveyor belts has a series of 3 blue gems alternating sides (added challenge that forces player to get used to the mechanics of things that change momentum)
* the vest in the left belt of the second set is placed further away from the bomb powerup
* walkie-talkie down and to right of the Heavy Room exit explaining the card key mechanic
* gold heart on opposite side behind the Mr. Bob is removed
* card key is placed just after the first warp pad (it's worth 50 points)
* Mr. Bob protecting the rainbow and pink gems at end of left path
* no 1-up just before the bars after the Secret Room exit
* the bomb powerup in the left box at the far end of the right path has been replaced with a yellow gem

-=Secret Room=- 3500 (3500)
* Chicken spawn moved away from edge of its platform (done to prevent it from spawning and falling off of it, as it falls toward Bomberman's location and could fall to 2nd floor or even ground level if manipulated properly)
* no heart at the right end of 2nd floor
* first pink gem in yellow track platform path moved back a bit and a little to the right
* second pink gem in yellow track platform path moved up slightly, requiring a jump to obtain now

-=Heavy Room=- 4500 (4000)
* red neck guy at start
* the two blue gems underneath the upward path are moved outward so they can be seen
* 1-up guarded by dancing men replaced with pink gem
* blocks placed inside of hole after the tuning forks that require an explosion to progress
* heart above hole after forks has been removed
* blue gem has been added to the left of hole after forks
* red neck guy after falling to second part of stage moved to the right and down a bit
* the lower part of the two blue objects next to the generator can't be grabbed onto
* the blue gems and 1-up above the generator are moved upward
* pink gem at far left end of the sloped upper area replaced with a blue gem

-=Sky Room=- 4000 (3500)
* second spring guy in path following the two conveyor belts is moved closer to the first one
* weird texture bug on platform you land on with the trampoline fixed(?? might just be something I do in 100% runs that causes it and I didn't do it when playing English)
* card key is in a box
* blue gem on path of horizontal moving platform removed
* 1-up in box next to the brown spike man mosh pit replaced with a yellow gem (still in a box)

-=Blue Cave=- 3000 (2500)
* heart after blue man blockade replaced with blue gem
* blue gem on right path of fork removed
* yellow gem added above and to the right of the horizontal moving platform (provides a platforming challenge)
* a blue gem close to the heart at the end has been removed

-=Hole Lake=- 7000 (5000)
* most maoi heads move down upon activation instead of going up and then down
* 1-up after the series of 3 blue gems has been replaced with a yellow gem
* gold heart in front of the two pillars preceding the big boy crabs replaced with a yellow gem
* exit of level reduced in size significantly (done to prevent players from just swimming over the top of the top crab)
* 2nd big boy crab takes 5 hits intead of 3

-=Red Cave=- 5500 (5000)
* bomb pickup at start moved away from wall a bit and encased in a box
* pink gem on rightmost of the higher floating platforms replaced with a blue gem
* golden heart in its comfy little cubby replaced with a mean old turret enemy
* a second big boy bomb has been placed to the right of the one in front of the exit to Dark Wood
* golden heart in the same area as above has been removed
* 1-up above the horizontal moving platform's path replaced with a yellow gem
* blue man in area where you climb to the upper area on the right replaced with a turret
* the comfy little rainbow gem being guarded by the big boy bomb has been replaced with a lesser valued yet equally comfy yellow gem
* turret enemy placed to left of platform moving in a circle
* gold heart beneath yellow spike platform replaced with normal heart

-=Big Cannon=- 7000 (5000)
* the first firepower seen has been moved to the right and back a little bit (placing it behind the tree slightly but also lines it up more reasonably with the gap in the tree)
* gold heart in front of the laser on the left replaced with a pink gem
* cannon guy on ground at the choke point before the big boy at the end

-=Dark Wood=- 2500 (1500)
* second stump after first red tornado has firepower instead of blue gem
* blue gem above faker tree idiot just past the previously mentioned instead of a heart
* blue gem above leftmost faker tree idiot instead of a pink gem
* only three blue gems at the far end of the stage instead of four
* upper area on the left has a blue gem and a yellow gem instead of 1-up and a gold heart
* yellow gem added on top of left big tree stump near exit and a blue gem added on top of the right one (a switch has been added to the stage activating a horizontal moving platform to allow access to these from the upper area on the right)
* blue gem added to right of the red tornado just before the exit (meant to be a risky pickup to provide more challenge)

-=Dragon Road=- 3500 (3000)
* heart in front of and beneath the second geodude removed
* 1-up between the third geodude and the two knives replaced with a blue gem
* blue gem next to the cliff a bit to the left of the big boy geodude instead of a yellow gem
* yellow gem in front of and a bit to the left of the geodude instead of a heart
* a blue gem to the left of the leftmost knive on the lower area has been removed
* big boy geodude takes 5 hits intead of 3

-=Vs. Nitros=- 7000 (4000)
* takes 8 hits instead of 5

-=Clown Valley=- 3000 (3000)
* gold heart at end of lower area replaced with normal heart
* box at end of lower area contains a missile instead of a 1-up
* blue gem on small platform just before the adok bomb replaced with a firepower
* heart on right side of upper bridge removed

-=Great Rock=- 3500 (3000)
* bomb powerup added to bottom left of stage
* blue gem added above faker tree idiot on the left
* above and a bit behind this tree idiot a pink gem has been moved to the left a bit and has been put in a box
* a blue gem has been added beneath the path up to this pink gem
* a turret enemy added to the right of this path
* only two gems vertically on the lower right part of the stage instead of three
* the heart to the left of these gems has been removed
* a box has been added to the heart next to the 2nd lowest tree idiot (god this guy is stupid)
* the blue gem above both of the small floating platforms has been removed
* a turret guy has been added to the lower of the two floating platforms
* rainbow gem at top right of stage has been moved higher and more to right (this places it directly above the raised part of land)
* the heart on the top left of the stage has been moved from the very left to the step in front of the tree idiot (this means running the risk of getting hit by the tree idiot if trying to pick it up before killing his dumb ass)

-=Fog Route=- 3500 (2500)
* blue gem added to cozy spot at the bottom left area of the land where the player climbs to higher ground
* laser spikes added to wall slightly above and to the right of this gem (it covers a platform necessary to jump onto to reach the top)
* yellow gem hidden behind the bombable wall on the lower right side before the upper area instead of a 1-up
* cannon enemy placed on left part of upper area just after the climb
* blue gem added to tiny bit of land on right side of the ascent to higher ground
* only two gems on the slightly recessed bit of land just past the above mentioned gem instead of 3
* the pillar men just before the double big boy bombs have been moved slightly to the right
* a box with a blue gem is off to the left after the wall destroyed by the tactical nuke
* a blue gem has been removed from the pillar a bit beyond and to the right of the rock archway
* 1-up has been moved upward a bit on this pillar
* laser spikes added beneath the 1-up on this pillar (really?)
* a heart has been removed from above the turret on the right of the final descending path
* only two blue gems on the lower right part of the final descending path instead of three
* the gold heart at the bottom left of this path has been replaced with a pink gem
* the big robot enemy blocking the path takes 5 hits instead of 3
* two blue gems have been removed from just behind the big robot enemy

-=Vs. Endol=- 7500 (8000) (interesting)
* no walkie-talkie in arena
* takes 10 hits instead of 6
* lightning balls lock onto your position

===Planet Primus===

-=Groog Hills=- 6000 (5500)
* bomb next to tree at start of stage no longer there
* two blue gems to the right of the bull at the start instead of two pink gems
* the right of these two gems is moved slightly back to align it with the other
* bomb powerup behind and to the right of these two gems instead of a firepower
* a pink gem, a yellow gem, and a pink gem, have been added above the first lake (when the stage freezes over they come down, in Japanese these three gems are exist but are only present when the stage freezes)
* blue gem above second mushroom moved slightly forward and to the right, centering it
* blue gem added above the box before the warp
* box added around the heart past the warp
* firepower on small island area instead of a gold heart
* blue gem at far right of stage instead of pink gem
* blue gem above mushroom to right of exit instead of a heart
* all of the items on the second lake have been moved significantly up (again, they descend when the stage freezes. these ones are always present in Japanese, however)
* instead of a 1-up above the second lake it is a heart
* after freezing the stage, several new bulls have been added. they appear:
- in front of the exit
- to the left of the exit
- to the right of the exit, to the mushrooms
- to the left of the three blue gems on the second lake
- to the right of the three gems on the first lake
- to the left and a bit behind the three gems on the first lake
- at the far left side of the stage where Bomberman spawns in from
- to the left of where the two blue gems at the start were, in the same place as the one there before the stage froze
* the bull behind and to the left of the first lake is no longer there

===Bubble Hole=== 7000 (6000)
* Yellow slime added to start
* Gold gem above bounce pad after bubbles instead of a gold heart
* Blue gem above blue slime on floating platform instead of a heart
* Heart on right upper platform in the floating platform area instead of a 1-up
* No pink gem on left before big bounce pad area at end
* Blue gem on right before big bounce pad area instead of safety vest
* Satefy vest above bounce pads instead of a blue gem


Bonus stage 1
EN: 2:47 in VOD

===Bomber Star=== (Hidden stages unlocked by mashing start as the game boots up, interesting that they're different at all since completion of these gets you nothing)

-=Stage 1=- 6000 (5000)
* no rainbow gem after trampoline
* no yellow gem after the first tornado thrower dude

-=Stage 2=- 5500 (3000) (needs more info)
* a lot more enemies, more brown spiky dudes and car alarm bomb on the furthest back path
* two blue gems on top of the bottom right door enemy area
* a pink gem on one of the bottom platforms
* a pink gem above the yellow spike platform

-=Stage 3=- 6000 (3000) (needs more info)
* firepower at the start instead of a heart
* turret baddie after the bombable lift platform
* rainbow gem in 2nd area replaced with pink gem
* first heart replaced with a bomb upgrade
* yellow(?) gem replaced with blue gem
* third part has more enemies i think (tornado thrower guy)