Mickey Mousecapade JP Version Notes & Findings

Mickey Mousecapade JP Version Notes & Findings

I've been curious about this version of Mickey Mousecapade for awhile so I finally decided to look into this. The general consensus seems to be that the US version is "better" due to the life bar differences. While US is considered better, I'm almost certain it's not faster based on the testing I've done.

The TL;DR version is that there is a net savings of 2 seconds in Fun House due to the life bar difference. RTA runs use a death abuse after the chest gamble. Less life means less damage needed to be taken. Of course, it's not as simple as that and there's a few things to consider.

Now, onto the boring details:

Taking damage is a 30 frame animation. The US version starts with 10 bars of health; Japanese version starts with 6 bars. Most enemies in Fun House take 1 bar of health when making contact. The only exceptions are the falling chandeliers and the mini-boss which will deal 2 bars of damage.

The main issue is navigating the Fun House without trying to take damage. This is already considerably difficult due the unpredictability of enemy spawns in each room. Taking damage may even be unavoidable in some situations. You can also lose time just from trying to dodge enemies.

Then, there's the late chest route, which adds another layer of difficulty. Skipping the 1st chest has a raw time save of about 4 seconds. This time save does not consider the extra maneuvering needed in some rooms. With that said, you will not save a full 4 seconds in most cases. If you're being extra cautious or having to wait for an enemy to pass (since you cannot attack), you will chip away at that protentional time save.

It's worth noting that taking an intentional death at the boss is not as big of a time loss as it is on the US version. In fact, it makes the ending of Fun House more consistent. Since you start with 6 bars of health, you can safely make it to gamble chest. You can even tank a hit from the chandelier to save a half second.

There is only 1 additional difference I noticed outside of the Fun House. The J version of The Woods starts you with 10 bars of health instead of 14. This causes the Autumn section to be a bit scarier as you can't even get hit once. The Bears do 8 bars of damage, and getting hit anytime before will lose you 3 bars. Which means, if you get bad Bear RNG (where they instantly charge then jump) near the pit, you die.

Other than that, that's pretty much it. The game plays exactly the same as its US counterpart. This goes for static enemy spawn, mechanics, RNG, etc. Only difference is sprites and health bars.

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Findings/Timings:

[Life Bar Differences]

+-------------+----+----+
|    STAGE    | US | JP |
--------------+----+----+
| Fun House   | 10 |  6 |
| The Ocean   | 12 |  8 |
| The Woods   | 14 | 10 |
| Pirate Ship | 14 | 12 |
| The Castle  | 14 | 14 |
--------------+----+----+

[Fun House Route Comparison]

Early Chest Route:

~905 frames | Room 2 > Bottom Chest > Upstairs
~74  frames | Death Abuse > Room 2
Total: ~979 frames (~16.3 seconds)

Late Chest Route:

~330 frames | Room 2 > Upstairs
~410 frames | Death Abuse > Bottom Chest > Room 2
Total: ~740 frames (~12.3 seconds)

TOTAL SAVED: ~4 seconds skipping the 1st chest

[Fun House Boss Comparisons]

~663 frames | Damageless > Walk under 2nd Jump

~872 frames | Double Projectile Damage > Walk under 4th Jump
*~3.5 seconds slower than damageless

~954 frames | Double Projectile Damage > Intentional Death (~4.85 seconds)
*~4.85 seconds slower than damageless
*~1.3 seconds slower then taking a death (with 2 projectile hits)

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With all this in mind, the J version should still be faster IF the stars align. Getting a run going is incredibly challenging and will rely on some form of luck. I often found myself resetting or dying before the 1st boss.

However, the one run I managed to complete was a 7:38 (+2.1 seconds on my US PB as of writing this). And this was with an additional death in the Fun House. So, there's definitely potential utilizing this version of the game. I'll know more when I crank out more runs.

Anyway, thanks for reading my essay.