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Japanese DS Game Substantially Different Than US?
Eurogamer has the story that the Nintendo DS title Mr. Driller may have a very different feature set in the US and Japan. From the article: "According to widespread reports - which we've been unable to confirm as we haven't got a copy of either version - the Japanese version allows players to engage in various multiplayer battles in groups of up to four players using just one of the DS's game cards, whereas the US version requires multiple copies to achieve the same result." Interesting, if cynical, decision.
The games don't have region codes, so provided you can locate an import copy and don't mind reading Japanese, you can do this as well.
Monstar L
So what's this saying? Americans are suckers and would pay extra for "functionality" while its rubbed in our face that the functionality is not only possible but available to other people.
I'm sick of getting screwed over for games and technologies. If this is the greatest country in the world, why does our technology suck so hard? Why do we let companies screw us?
There have been a couple times where US and Europe get a superior game while Japan gets shafted with an inferior version. See Maniac Mansion and Battletoads.
The Japanese version of battletoads had the difficulty level toned down by a large factor, while the US version of Maniac Mansion was a superior rewrite.
Both of the games you mention were anomalies, due to the fact that they were both Western-developed. They were then localized for Japan, so the dev stage for the Japanese was longer. That implies that all of the changes were more likely the result of deliberation than time constraints. To think about it going in the reverse direction (as it affects Western gamers), Capcom's Dreamcast fighting games with online vs. mode in the Japanese versions all lacked online vs. mode in the U.S. versions. That decision was deliberate.
With Drill Spirits, time constraints reportedly forced the release that had to be finalized first (U.S.) to lack features included in the release that had a longer development stage (JP). Was this decision deliberate? Namco Hometek claims that it wasn't, although there are compelling reasons that would explain if it was. I'll leave these reasons as an exercise for the reader.
Actually, while I was on vacation in Tokyo I picked up Mr. Driller Ace for the GBA (GBA has no territory lock. Yay!) and it allows you to download the game to connected GBAs as well. Several GBA games do this.