Romancing SaGa 2 (Japanese Wii VC) - additional content?!

[engageridleymfkr]

I was randomly checking out one of the wikis on RS2 and it mentioned something about the VC release getting extra content, which I'd never heard about. The only details I've been able to find are these, from GFAQS:

Changes made in the re-release

- now you can see an armor's exact attributes in the inventory screen (i.e. various defense values)
- you can also see a weapon's special tech if you've already sparked it
- rough formation info will also be shown in the formation screen, along with over all mods to various positions
- movement speed can be set at the title
- the imperial library will now show the number of battles you've had thus far
- number of battles will now have an actual effect on number of years skipped (I think this was always there though. Maybe now they're just making it explicit)

- the infinite gold trick is now gone
- one of the shields had a 100% avoidance for just arrows is now changed
- full suit regression bug is apparently still in.

- there are now 4 save slots, I think
- a new city improvement is now available called "Orchard Garden". The improvement primarily improves your income, and has 3 stages of development.

- there is also a new dungeon called "Labyrinth of Memories", which becomes available after you clear the canal fortress. Apparently, this is where you can grind for treasure and experience, since some of the treasure chests have resets after each exit. But apparently this feature will cost you 200 points on virtual console. It seems to be a set of four dungeons set by colors: blue, red, green, and black

- stuff that has been confirmed in the labyrinth of memories:
100000 crown chest
300000 crown chest
magic wine
barrier stone
life recovery
herb perfume
Fire-God's Circlet of Protection (This is a shoutout to ring you get in original RS game from the fire god)

Blue maze
Heavy Suit
Black Galadrial
Tiger Armor
Zircon Axe
Quick Ring
Water Ring

Red maze
Cat's Eye
Earth Sword
Thief Ring
Fire Ring

In Green Maze
Ellis Bow
Sharp Greaves
Power Ring
Wind Ring

Black Maze
Ukomu Harpoon
Earth Ring
Magic Ring

- new game plus is available for 150 points on VC
- just about everything ports over here, apparently, save for story items.

- there's a new stone called the stone of destiny, which can be used for equipment development
- there is also a new formation called "goblin attack" formation, which can only be learned via a book.

- characters are apparently buffed in the early stages of the game so that it's easier to overcome the bosses at early stages
- berserk evade apparently still can't be passed on

- new class: the ninja, a high speed and high dex warrior who you can recruit in Avalon's jail.
- new class: the onmyoji, the only class that starts with dark magic. starts with both high 'darkness" stat and high "magic" stat, making them potentially even better casters than the tactician.

- apparently, some of the ninjas are type 1 and type 0 tech sparkers.

Can anyone with the VC release confirm/deny this stuff, and if so, did they modify the other RS games as well? Has anyone tried dissecting the WAD to see if the changes were made directly to the ROM or if they're applied in real time a la M2's Mega Drive releases?

[RadioTails]

The SNES VC releases basically have 3 files:
- .PCM
- .ROM
- .VAR

The ROM is basically the original file itself.  It can be played in a PC emulator but it won't have any music since the sound is split into a PCM file. The other file is the VAR file which basically makes any changes to the original rom.  One example is on F-ZERO, the VAR file modifiers the game so the screen doesn't flash black every time you hit a wall.

Some of the VC releases like Donkey Kong Country do have the original rom in there as well (aka the .smc / .sfc file) and actually play fine on a PC emulator.  However they just take up more Wii blocks and can actually be deleted and repacked.

Later VC releases do use a compression (LZH8) on the ROM & PCM files but a tool has been made to uncompress them.


Looking at Romancing SaGa 2, the .VAR file is 2 KB.  The stuff you have listed, I would have thought the file would be bigger.  The .ROM uncompressed is 2MB. I'm going to compare it to the original.

With this tool, it is possible to extract the file from the WAD into a working .smc file.  https://github.com/Plombo/vcromclaim

[Round Shell]

All of those extras are from the mobile version, here is a link for more info:
http://andriasang.com/comqwv/romacning_saga_2_detailed/

[engageridleymfkr]

The SNES VC releases basically have 3 files:
- .PCM
- .ROM
- .VAR

The ROM is basically the original file itself.  It can be played in a PC emulator but it won't have any music since the sound is split into a PCM file. The other file is the VAR file which basically makes any changes to the original rom.  One example is on F-ZERO, the VAR file modifiers the game so the screen doesn't flash black every time you hit a wall.

Some of the VC releases like Donkey Kong Country do have the original rom in there as well (aka the .smc / .sfc file) and actually play fine on a PC emulator.  However they just take up more Wii blocks and can actually be deleted and repacked.

Later VC releases do use a compression (LZH8) on the ROM & PCM files but a tool has been made to uncompress them.


Looking at Romancing SaGa 2, the .VAR file is 2 KB.  The stuff you have listed, I would have thought the file would be bigger.  The .ROM uncompressed is 2MB. I'm going to compare it to the original.

With this tool, it is possible to extract the file from the WAD into a working .smc file.  https://github.com/Plombo/vcromclaim

Hmm, all useful info. Thanks! I just wish I was familiar enough with the original games (and competent enough in Japanese) to be able to conclusively confirm/deny all these changes for myself.