The title pretty much sums it up. I'm eyeing a game from Canada on Ebay right now, but I want to make sure it's the same as the US version before I buy it.
Anyone else can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the game itself should be the same. The label may have both English and French on it (or maybe the French requirement was on the box and manual only)
In the actual game itself no. I've heard of some playing in French but I have never seen it, don't think it's true. If you check the product code on the label it'll end in -CAN if it's a Canadian version. If it ends in the US code (can't remember it off the top of my head) it's the American version
Yeah I didn't know if it was true either until I popped it in! I had no problem following along, but just felt bizarre playing an NES game in French haha.
Maybe one of the old school Canadians knows if any other games were released in French. Bronty? The Wizard? Dr. Morbis?
Was it just French? No language option? That seems odd. French is the second language but I don't know that many people who speak it. Maybe they made it specifically for Quebec, and brought US versions for the other provinces?
^ I believe you are right, it seems marketed specifically to francophones (Quebec and maybe some of New Brunswick). I don't believe there's a language option.
To add- I just looked at the box and it says "Version entierement francais"
Link to The Past also has a dedicated French version on Snes. Not sure if there are language options. That and Kirby are the only 2 I've ever seen / heard of.
Hard to say but I suspect they were released at the same time in 94. Lttp came out earlier but it was continuously in print and I suspect this variant didn't get released on day 1. Marketing effort to francophone Canada, probably shelved when it didn't move the needle on sales of these titles would be my guess
All through the GBA and GCN years I noticed certain US retailers having the Canadian variants of the same games where other US retailers had the non-Canadian variant. Often, this was at-launch, so it wasn't product variation over time. It seems that the major distributors would use one variant or the other depending on who they distributed to.
My point is that Canadian versions are often also US versions even if they differ slightly.
Canadian NES games have a french / english box, cart label and manual. The contents of the manual are in both french and english as well. They were originally distributed by Mattel and the earlier ones have a mattel logo on the boxes
The ROMS are identical to the US releases apart from that wierd kirby release
edit: I guess the cart labels aren't really french / english they just have a CAN in the ID on them instead of US. The games that didn't print an ID on the cart label just have the "CAN" by itself where the US versions had nothing
There are a few chips that are slightly different versions between US and CAN though.. You can see them at nescartdb if you want to compare
Shared from a friend of a friend who's second cousin dated someone that had seen the following graffiti'd on the bathroom wall of a truck stop somewhere near Otay in Eastern Tijuana:
"Early on, Nintendo of Canada was run out of the US office with manufacturing orders and inventory essentially co-mingled. Separately, Quebec law required that French language materials be included in products sold into the province. Because it was too costly to localize the in-game text for Quebec only, and the alternative was to not sell product there, a compromise was reached to add French localized manuals and text on packaging. A hassle for the few thousand copies sold into Quebec, but not really a big deal since light assembly and packaging could be done in Redmond."
So to answer the OP's question, yes, the US and Canadian NES games are identical. If you really want to drill down into collectibles, look for obscure Canadian NES games (not the Mario's, but the lesser known licensee titles) that have the localized French language packaging and manuals . . .
In 3, 2, 1 . . . NA collectors are off and running!
Shared from a friend of a friend who's second cousin dated someone that had seen the following graffiti'd on the bathroom wall of a truck stop somewhere near Otay in Eastern Tijuana:
"Early on, Nintendo of Canada was run out of the US office with manufacturing orders and inventory essentially co-mingled. Separately, Quebec law required that French language materials be included in products sold into the province. Because it was too costly to localize the in-game text for Quebec only, and the alternative was to not sell product there, a compromise was reached to add French localized manuals and text on packaging. A hassle for the few thousand copies sold into Quebec, but not really a big deal since light assembly and packaging could be done in Redmond."
So to answer the OP's question, yes, the US and Canadian NES games are identical. If you really want to drill down into collectibles, look for obscure Canadian NES games (not the Mario's, but the lesser known licensee titles) that have the localized French language packaging and manuals . . .
In 3, 2, 1 . . . NA collectors are off and running!
Only first party titles have CAN versions I believe.
Comments
Kirby's Adventure definitely has a Canadian release with in-game French. Not sure if that is the extent of it or there are others...
interesting, that's the one I've heard about. Well good to know
Maybe one of the old school Canadians knows if any other games were released in French. Bronty? The Wizard? Dr. Morbis?
To add- I just looked at the box and it says "Version entierement francais"
Let's see if Guillavoie chimes in....
My point is that Canadian versions are often also US versions even if they differ slightly.
The ROMS are identical to the US releases apart from that wierd kirby release
edit: I guess the cart labels aren't really french / english they just have a CAN in the ID on them instead of US. The games that didn't print an ID on the cart label just have the "CAN" by itself where the US versions had nothing
There are a few chips that are slightly different versions between US and CAN though.. You can see them at nescartdb if you want to compare
"Early on, Nintendo of Canada was run out of the US office with manufacturing orders and inventory essentially co-mingled. Separately, Quebec law required that French language materials be included in products sold into the province. Because it was too costly to localize the in-game text for Quebec only, and the alternative was to not sell product there, a compromise was reached to add French localized manuals and text on packaging. A hassle for the few thousand copies sold into Quebec, but not really a big deal since light assembly and packaging could be done in Redmond."
So to answer the OP's question, yes, the US and Canadian NES games are identical. If you really want to drill down into collectibles, look for obscure Canadian NES games (not the Mario's, but the lesser known licensee titles) that have the localized French language packaging and manuals . . .
In 3, 2, 1 . . . NA collectors are off and running!
Shared from a friend of a friend who's second cousin dated someone that had seen the following graffiti'd on the bathroom wall of a truck stop somewhere near Otay in Eastern Tijuana:
"Early on, Nintendo of Canada was run out of the US office with manufacturing orders and inventory essentially co-mingled. Separately, Quebec law required that French language materials be included in products sold into the province. Because it was too costly to localize the in-game text for Quebec only, and the alternative was to not sell product there, a compromise was reached to add French localized manuals and text on packaging. A hassle for the few thousand copies sold into Quebec, but not really a big deal since light assembly and packaging could be done in Redmond."
So to answer the OP's question, yes, the US and Canadian NES games are identical. If you really want to drill down into collectibles, look for obscure Canadian NES games (not the Mario's, but the lesser known licensee titles) that have the localized French language packaging and manuals . . .
In 3, 2, 1 . . . NA collectors are off and running!
Only first party titles have CAN versions I believe.